Poutine: The Ultimate Comfort Food for the Cold

Caramelized Honey-Braised Short Rib Poutine

“Poutine… Quebec’s national dish. It’s a real comfort and a guilty pleasure for a lot of Québécois and for myself, a native Montrealer. It’s one of those things that really hits home. For this take, I decided to do a beautifully braised short rib; to add a different texture, I crisped up my cheese curds in a nonstick pan. Throw a little jalapeño and red onion on for spice, and there you have it!” says Tony Nassif of Mile End Deli in New York City.

Ingredients

• 5 lb short rib
• 4 cups sliced onions
• 2 cups diced celery
• 2 cups diced carrots
• 5 pieces star anise
• 1 cup of honey
• 3 cups red wine (Chef recommends using a Pinot Noir)
• 8 cups beef stock (in a pinch, chicken stock will work if you don’t have beef stock)
• 1/4 bunch thyme
• 2 sprigs rosemary 
• 3 sprigs sage 
• 1 head garlic, cut in half
• 4 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into French fry sticks
• canola oil
• cheese curds
• pickled jalapenos
• pickled red onions (or raw red onions, sliced thin)

Caramelized Honey-Braised Short Ribs 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300º. Pour the honey in a large pot and begin heating up carefully, stirring with a spatula to prevent burning. Let it get to a boil so it caramelizes — this will give your beef a deep roasted-honey flavor. 

2. Once the honey is light brown, pour in the wine, onions, celery, carrots, star anise, rosemary, sage, and garlic halves; stir to incorporate. Bring to a boil and continue until the mixture has been reduced by half. 

3. Next, add your stock, and bring the mixture back to a boil. 

4. While your braising liquid is reducing, season your short rib heavily with salt. Sear each side of the meat in a hot, nonstick pan. Alternatively, grill them before braising to get a barbecue flavor note. Once all sides are nicely seared, put the short rib in a roasting pan and pour the braising liquid over the meat. 

5. Put the meat in the preheated oven and cook for about 2.5 hours, or until the meat is tender. Allow to cool completely in the liquid.

6. For serving: once the braised short rib is entirely cool (this can be done overnight), skim the fat off the top of the braising liquid and discard. Pour the braising liquid back into a pot and reduce again by half. Heat up your short rib in the thickening braising liquid for serving.

French Fries

Directions

1. In a boiling pot of water, blanch sliced potatoes until soft (several minutes). Let cool.

2. For deep-frying: pour 2–3 fingers’ depth of canola oil in a pan and heat up. Carefully place blanched French fries in the oil; oil is the right temperature if the French fries float when placed in the oil. Make sure that the blanched French fries are completely dry before frying to avoid any dangerous splatter. Fry the French fries in easy-to-manage batches to avoid burning; when each batch is nicely browned, remove from the oil and toss quickly in salt.

3. For baked fries: preheat oven to 425º. Dry blanched French fries entirely. Toss in oil and salt. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet for 8 minutes; finish in the oven with the broiler on high to crisp the outside (but keep an eye on them! They can go from beautifully brown to burnt to a crisp quickly). 

Poutine Assembly

1. Quickly crisp your cheese curds in a nonstick pan. To assemble your poutine, place your fries in a bowl or a pan; gently pull the meal apart into large chunks, and put on top of the fries. Pour braising liquid over the fries (the amount of gravy is up to you!) and top with crisped cheese curds, pickled jalapeños, and pickled red onions. Enjoy!

Harvest Poutine

“Poutine is a Canadian classic: French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. What’s not to love? At Sammy D’s, we pay homage to this amazing dish, putting our twist on the classic. Our Harvest Poutine combines fried brussels sprouts and potatoes, cheese curds, bacon lardons, bacon-red wine gravy, scallions, and crisp shallots,” says Sammy DeMarco, celebrity chef and restaurateur of several spots, including Sammy D’s at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City.

Ingredients 

• 3 cups roasted fingerling potatoes, scalloped ¼*
• 2 cups roasted brussels sprouts, cleaned & halved
• 1 cup bacon gravy                                               
• ½ cup bacon lardons, cooked off                    
• 1 cup white cheddar cheese curds                        
• 2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped                             
• 2 tsp thyme, finely chopped                                   
• 2 tbsp fresh grated parmesan cheese                    
• 1 tsp salt                                                                 
• ½ tsp pepper                                                            
• 2 tbsp crispy shallots *                                            
• 2 tbsp scallions                                                         

Directions

1. Fry the potatoes in canola oil at 350º till golden brown. Once the potatoes are done add the brussels sprouts and fry no longer the 1 minute.
2. Once you’re done frying, add the potatoes and brussels sprouts to a mixing bowl and toss with rosemary, thyme, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Then add the cheese curds, bacon lardons, and mix till incorporated.
3. Transfer the potatoes and brussels sprouts to a small casserole dish and bake in a 350º oven for 6–8 minutes or till all the cheese is melted. Once the cheese is melted, add bacon gravy. Top of with crispy shallots and scallions.

Chef’s notes              

1. It’s best to have the fingerling potatoes, brussels sprouts, and bacon lardons already cooked off before starting this dish.
2. Use your favorite store-bought brown gravy and add chunks of uncooked bacon till the bacon flavor is infused with the gravy. Crispy store-bought onions are a good substitute for crispy shallots.

Twice-Baked Poutine Potato: Poutine

Chef Chris Coombs changes up the baked potato by twice-baking it and packing it with cheese curds and gravy that he then injects back into the potato. He enhances the side dish with fresh herbs, bacon, and crispy fried potato wedges. “When I was researching ideas on sides for my steakhouse, Boston Chops, I was surprised that people were just serving a plain, old boring baked potato and charging $8 for it. I knew that I wanted to jazz the baked potato up a bit and give it a little excitement,” says Coombs. “I have always loved to combination of cheese curds and gravy that generally cover fries to make poutine, and so I thought to myself, ‘Why not make a twice-baked potato in the style of poutine and really make it a standout dish?'”

Ingredients

• 5 each potatoes ( washed/scrubbed clean)
• 1 cups milk (hot)
• 1/3 lb cubed butter (cold)
• 4 oz sour cream
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 pinch cayenne
• 4 oz parmesan (grated)
• 1/3 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt
• 2 ½ oz sliced chives

 Directions

1. Clean potatoes, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook at 375º in a convection oven for 1 hour or until tender.

2. Cut off top ¼ of potato, lengthwise and reserve. Spoon out potato into ricer and reserve the shells in the refrigerator, place cold butter in with potatoes and turn through a potato ricer.

3. Add hot milk and all other ingredients to potatoes and mix gently with rubber spatula till fully incorporated, mixture should still be hot.

4. Place small amounts of mixture in into piping bag fitted with star tip and pipe back into the potato shells. When piping the potato filling into the shell, reserve a well in the center so that you may fill the potato with the poutine gravy later.

5. Remove excess potato from the reserved potato tops, scrape with knife if necessary, and cut into triangles. Fry at 350º until very crispy, season with salt and allow to dry/cool on a tray lined with paper towels.

Poutine gravy

Ingredients 

• 2 oz butter
• 2 oz flour
• 1 qt chicken stock
• 1 oz demi-glace
• 1 tsp fine chopped sage
• 1 tsp fine chopped thyme
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 tbsp. cream
• To taste Fresh ground pepper
• To taste salt

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a pot and incorporate the flour. Cook until the flour becomes brown.

2. Add the chicken stock, demi-glace and herbs, let cook until it becomes a gravy consistency.

3. Add lemon juice and cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To finish loaded potatoes

Ingredients 

• 1 cup sour cream
• 15 parsley leaves
• 15 celery leaves
• 1 sliced scallion
• 1 cup cooked bacon (bits or lardons)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese curds

Directions

1. Re-bake the potatoes in the oven at 450º until golden brown. 

2. Once brown, remove from oven, fill the well in the center of the potato with the poutine gravy and top with the bacon and mozzarella cheese curds. Place the potatoes back in the oven for 4–5 min.

3. Garnish the loaded potatoes with sour cream, herbs and potato skins reserved from baking the potatoes.

Lobster Poutine: Poutine

“Lobster poutine is our take on the classic dish. At Lobster ME, we love to create lobster-focused spins on comfort food. Our Lobster Poutine replaces gravy with a smooth lobster bisque, adding traditional cheese curds and butter-poached sustainable lobster for a Maine-style indulgence,” says  Kristen Bailey, Lobster ME COO.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup lobster meat; claw and knuckle
• 1/2 cup lobster bisque; heated
• 3/4 cup cheese curds, crumbled
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of Pepper
• 1 1/4 cups french fries

Directions

1.    Fry fries in a deep fryer until golden brown and crispy.

2.    Place the french fries on a plate.

3.    Ladle the lobster bisque over the french fries.

4.    Sprinkle a layer of cheese curds over the French fries and top with the lobster meat.

5.    Drizzle with the olive oil and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Hangover Poutine Montreal Style

David’s Cafe, a newly opened casual French/American spot on Saint Marks Place in New York City offers Hangover Poutine Montreal Style, a plate of crisp french fries topped with a house-blend short rib and brisket patty, loaded with mozzarella cheese and smothered in a green peppercorn gravy with the option to add a fried egg for a cascade of yolky goodness. Just what you need to soak up the aftermath of an evening where maybe you had a bit too much fun. “Before opening David’s Cafe, we took an inspirational trip to Montreal to explore the Americanized French cuisine. What we noticed was that after a long night of drinking, everyone eats poutine. We tried many varieties, but settled on a truly French au poivre gravy that goes perfectly with the fries and beef patty. The poutine is a great brunch dish and fuel for the entire day,” says executive chef and co-owner Chef David Malbequi.

Ingredients

• 12 oz ground beef
• ½ cup diced celery stalk
• 5 medium shallots sliced
• 5 garlic cloves sliced
• Bouquet garni of thyme and bay leaves
• 3 tbsp green pepper corn
• 4 tbsp brandy
• 4 tbsp white wine
• ½ qt chicken jus
• 1 qt heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• french fries  
• seasoned and cooked beef patty
• fried egg (optional)

Au Poivre Gravy

Directions

1. Season the beef patties with salt and pepper and sear in a wide, shallow pot over medium heat until they start to color.

2. Add the celery, shallots, sliced garlic, and bouquet garni and cook for 4 minutes. Add the green pepper corns and deglaze with brandy. Add the white wine and cook for 3-4 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

3. Add the chicken jus, cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 10 minutes or until desired creamy consistency.

4. To Assemble: Turn on broiler. Place prepared french fries on an oven-safe plate or baking sheet. Top with mozzarella cheese and broil until melted. Ladle gravy on top of fries, add beef patty and fried egg. Garnish with chives.