WWTBAM Bored

All,

I'm finally back in Austin after some travel delays and it is great to be back with the rest of the family. It was a great trip and a great time - I also appreciate the various threads regarding me being in the hot seat or not - it gave me a great boost. I have a bunch of info to report on and will be writting that up for those who are interested, but I'm a bit tired as it is either very late or very early (hard to tell).

I have a favor to ask of you - if anyone happens to live in Montreal or anywhere in Quebec or that region of Canada or knows someone who does, I'm trying to find as many different locales (Restaurants, Cafes, food vendors or published recipes) of poutine made with mushrooms, champignon or truffles (not the chocolates). Ideally, if they have a web site that has their menu on line, that would be best, but I would also like to have either a fax, scanned, or photo version of the menu - but knowing the name of the establishment and its address would work as well.

I believe there is a 'classic' version of poutine called 'all dressed' that includes mushrooms as well - any additional details on that or resturants that serve it that way will be useful.

Whatever info that can be gathered would be greatly appreciated - again any version of Poutine with any variations of mushrooms or equivalent terms (champignon, fungi, truffle, etc.) with or without french fries and the details of who serves it is what I'm trying to get.

If you do find any info for me and want to send it to me directly (through my personal email or any other method) let me know by PM and I will send you additional contact info.

I would also appreciate it if everyone didn't try to speculate on why I'm asking for this info or what I want it for. For all you know I might just be looking for a caterer for my son's upcoming Bar Mitzvah!

Thanks in advance and keep those cards and letters coming!

---Jay

You were delayed going back too?

Try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

I am not speculating.

frogman042 wrote: I would also appreciate it if everyone didn't try to speculate on why I'm asking for this info or what I want it for. For all you know I might just be looking for a caterer for my son's upcoming Bar Mitzvah!

Oh. Right. No speculation going on here at all.

I just had a flash of being intuity this morning.

We have two BBs who live in eastern Canada, etaoin22 and ontellen. And I believe macrae1234 is originally from those parts, before he moved down to sunny Arizona. If they don't see this thread and reply, you might want to send them a PM.

Ah, Poutine.

Heart attack in a bowl.

Try this link for some research starters of servers of it.

http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/poutine.html


Lived in Montreal and Toronto for several year of my life, and ate a lot of poutine. The term all dressed is best searched by using the phrase tout-garni, for real recipes.

Must say I have never heard or seen of it served with Mushrooms or Truffles. It is possible an option, but not a common one.

Poutine, my favorite thing on earth! Everyone gags when I tell them what it is - puh-lease - what's better than french fries, gravy and cheese. Oh how I jones for real poutine, and not the crap from KFC!

Anyway, I have never heard of poutine with mushrooms and definitely not without fries but I am going to Montreal and Quebec city on the 16th of Aug. If that is not too late for you I will definitely ask around (while I am eating lots o' poutine).

If someone knows how to say mushroom in French, that would help...

juliea344 wrote:Poutine, my favorite thing on earth! Everyone gags when I tell them what it is - puh-lease - what's better than french fries, gravy and cheese. Oh how I jones for real poutine, and not the crap from KFC!

Anyway, I have never heard of poutine with mushrooms and definitely not without fries but I am going to Montreal and Quebec city on the 16th of Aug. If that is not too late for you I will definitely ask around (while I am eating lots o' poutine).

If someone knows how to say mushroom in French, that would help...

Champingnon.

Well, you spell it:

champignon


I know how to say it, but I don't know how to spell how to say it.

t.

I will google how to say it, lol.

Here is a website which reviews various restaurants for their poutine (2 days in Montreal, I'm thinking at least 10 pounds):

http://www.montrealpoutine.com/reviews.html

I only see 2 with mushrooms (and pepper and onions). One calls it vegetarian, but Resto Du Village calls it "with everything". Hope this helps!

So ummmm what is poutine? I've never heard of it??? French fries, gravy and cheese, is that it??

Frogman - just a helpful hint, if you didn't want speculation you should have said it was for a party or you wanted it as a celebratory food! I won't say anything else but I'm guessing I know the context here. We all talk about such random things, it wouldn't have been weird.

Good luck in finding the documentation that you need!

sunflower wrote: French fries, gravy and cheese, is that it??

Oh, the humanity!

Borrowing from a1mamacat's link above:

"The French Fries - The potatoes must be hand-cut and very fresh. Fast-food-type fries will not taste quite as good. Also, you must fry the potatoes in pure lard.

The Gravy - French-Canadian gravy (also known as BBQ Chicken Gravy) is very different than American gravy. First of all, it is very dark and thick, like molasses. Secondly, it has a very flavourful taste which cannot be described...

The Cheese - The cheese is the most important part of good poutine. You must use FRESH white, cheddar cheese CURDS. These curds have a taste and texture very different than actual cheddar cheese. The cheese curds will actually squeak in your teeth as you bite them.

When the curds are placed on the fries and the hot gravy is poured on top, the three flavors combine to produce what can only be described as the BEST junk food taste sensation on earth.

...Frogman has created a monster

A Google search for the key words "poutine" and "mushrooms" provides 22,300 entries. Searching for poutine and "champignons" brings up an additional 29,600.

Not all of those entries would be relevant, but some of them appear to be the kind of stuff you're looking for.

Those darn caterers. You know what you want, and they know what they want to serve your guests!

Ooops... Initially posted my trip report as a reply to this thread as opposed to it's own topic - see Muppets Take Manhatten...

I remember reading an article about the spread of poutine in the New York Times about a year ago. Here's a link, but it may be behind the subscriber wall:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/dining/23pout.html

The article also mentions a website called http://www.montrealpoutine.com.

I have family in Montreal, and am going to be there for a bar mitzvah at the end of August. I enjoy a poutine occasionally, but when I go to Montreal, I have to go to Schwartz's on the Main (boulevard St-Laurent) for the best smoked meat sandwiches in the known universe.

I don't think that it should be too hard to find a caterer who will make poutine with whatever you want in it.

After all, the poutine just serves as the base of the dish: brown gravy, hand-cut fries, and cheese curds.

I did find this reference to a Bourguignon poutine served at Ma’am Bolduc on Marie-Anne at de Lormier, which conists of ground beef, mushrooms, onions, and a sauce made with white wine and lots of garlic, in addition to the poutine.

http://chicagomontreal.wordpress.com/20 ... y-journey/

I remember George Bush's poutine incident during the 2000 campaign. We got a candid look at Bush's grasp of world affairs, thanks to a Canadian comedian named Rick Mercer, who asked him a few questions during the Michigan primary. Playing a reporter, Mercer asked Bush how he felt about getting an endorsement from Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine," which was an obvious inside joke to Canadians, but it went over Bush's head. Here's the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mi2kUebJy8

I haven't been to La Belle Province since 1975 so I wouldn't be any help at all. Our resident Doc and FNGD moderator, however, lives in Montreal and could be some help.

BTW Ed, thanks for the trip down memory lane. I loved it!

Many of the Wildwood restaurants serve poutine in the summer.

For years, Wildwood has been a popular destination for visitors from Quebec. I believe that some of the locals learned to make the gravy so it would be close to back home.