Sorry, I’m getting very confused. Isn’t poutine a dish of potato fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. Why gnocchi is considered poutine? Because there are potatoes?
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I think Saregama, naf and many others are confused because the gnocchi dish you linked in your OP does not resemble poutine in any way. The cheese, except for a grating on top to garnish, is mostly worked into the gnocchi, and the sauce is simply browned butter, a classic with gnocchi that could not be farther from the gravy that traditionally comes atop poutine. While I am all for reinterpretations of classic dishes, likening this dish to poutine is at best a confusing disservice, especially if your post was aimed at beginner cooks who don’t know what poutine is.
Traditionally yes, Poutine is Fries, Gravy and Cheese Curds.
As I posted above we have Gnocchi Poutine here:
Gnocchi (not fries)
Veal stock sauce (not gravy)
Goat cheese (not cheese curds)
Fried onions (not traditionally in Poutine)
Please read my post above for more clarification.
Please read @BoneAppetite and
@prima posts (Pierogie Poutine) as well as they explain things very well.
Also, I posted Dessert Poutine and Italian Poutine links above.
As my OP states anything goes.
Thank you for asking and if you have any more questions please let me know.
Part of the fun of cooking for me is to shake things up.
Olunia
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Thanks, I’m not confused.
It makes for a livelier and more interesting post too. Asada fries northern cousin!
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That looks great.
There are a few poutines across the street from each other on Fairfax in LA.
To the west, there’s the oxtail poutine at Animal.
To the east, there’s tikka (and channa) masala poutine at Badmaash.
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One of these days, I am actually going to get out to LA and I am going to try both of those.
That being said - is the tikka masala one standard fries with a makhani sauce and paneer? Because I think I could probably make that here to tide me over until then…
They used curds last time I ate there a month or so ago. I think the masala flavoring sorta crisps onto the fries…
menu says:
Chicken Tikka Poutine:
canadian eh!? masala fries topped with cheese curds, doused in piping hot beef gravy, all topped with tandoori chicken tikka & cilantro
The chana one is even better there…
masala fries topped with cheese curds, and smothered with our Punjabi chickpeas - all topped with pickled onion & cilantro (ask for it vegan without the cheese)
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Wow! Yes. I would cheerfully eat both of those!
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The gnocchi are the substitute for the fries. It’s called poutine, despite using gnocchi as a base, because it is topped with gravy/sauce and cheese.
Perogy poutine uses perogies instead of fries, topped with gravy and cheese.
Whereas, butter chicken poutine is butter chicken on top of fries, sometimes with added cheese.
Shawarma poutine is shawarma meat or chicken on top of fries, drizzled with tahini and hot sauce, but no cheese.
Poutine is uses rather loosely, but it tends to have a carb as a base, a protein and a sauce or gravy.
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We forgot the American version known as chili cheese fries in hamburger and at least one fast food joint.
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I think the chili cheese fries, disco fries, etc prob existed in America before poutine spread beyond Quebec and Canada. My first taste of poutine was in Toronto in 1990. By 1995, it was popular everywhere in Canada. I’m currently vacationing in a part of Canada where you could substitute poutine for your fries at almost every greasy spoon or family restaurant for a surcharge of a few dollars.
Chili Cheese fries are definitely a relative of poutine, as are chowder fries, Irish nachos, Greek fries, etc.
Thanks for the clarification, @Olunia ounia and @Phoenikia. Poutine is something I don’t get to see often, maybe only recently, there is a place here started doing it.
The definition seems to be me, very loose. For example, if I have a potato gratin, with cheese on the top and I make a tomato sauce to serve with it, can I call it poutine?
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Hi @naf,
Absolutely, if that is what makes you happy !
We are not painting Sistine Chapel ceiling here but we are painting an abstract painting.
I just am happy if you are cooking and participating.
I want to avoid the scenario of : “I don’t have cheese curds available to me so I can’t participate”.
Olunia
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Now you’re talking!
I have only recent discovered pierogis. It’s only in the last few years that East European food shops have opened, reflecting the surge in immigration that we’ve seen. And it’s only in the last year that I’ve come across one near me.
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I would have to imagine that there would be some purists that would push back and say fries, a gravy, and cheese curds have to be involved. But the word means “mess” in Québécois slang, so it seems the scope of the dish has broadened to any potato and gravy adjacent mess!
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The original poutine of fries, curds and gravy is what one receives if they order poutine with no modifier. It is served in a basket lined with wax paper, or the type of box or container fries are served in.
Adding a modifier like butter chicken, gnocchi, it still is served in a box or container like fries would be served, so the modified poutines look like the original.
It is a messy looking dish. Often eaten with one’s fingers. The poutines with fries should be eaten quickly before the fries get soggy. This isn’t the case with potatoes au gratin.
That said, poutine is a fast food invaented at a truck stop in Quebec in the 50s. It doesn’t have rules like cappuccino and weisswurst.
While similar in concept, potatoes au gratin or nachos don’t look like poutine, and no one in Canada would call them poutine!
The original
Some modified poutines
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Follow up question - is the masala the fries are seasoned with chaat masala? I do have some of that in the house (and have discovered that it is superlative on tater tots with some tamarind chutney to accompany it!).
I’ll be the purist here and agree with prima that no one in Canada (or really anyone, anywhere who knows what poutine is) would call potatoes au gratin, nachos or gnocchi with apricots “poutine.” While creativity in cooking is a wonderful thing, words have to have meaning or humans lose the ability to communicate effectively. Calling those dishes poutine or even poutine-adjacent would be like referring to a hot dog as a BLT. They’re both meat served on bread, so why not? Would you be happy if you ordered a BLT in a restaurant and received a hot dog?
It is one thing to change one element of a classic dish and define it as a riff on that dish. From a communication standpoint, a dish of gnocchi with gravy and cheese on top can reasonably be defined as “gnocchi poutine” because it resembles the definition of poutine closely enough that by adding “gnocchi” to the title, most reasonable people will come to the conclusion that they will be getting a dish of gnocchi dressed like poutine (i.e. with gravy and cheese curds). Expecting people to make the jump from “poutine” to “potato gratin” is a major stretch, especially when we already have a generally agreed-upon definition for the word “gratin.”
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