Friday, March 18, 2011

Poutine

I had never eaten cheese curds. But, after inexplicably becoming surrounded by people from the Midwest where these succulent morsels of disguised fat are battered and deep-fried, I had to try them. We bought a plastic package of cheddar curds from the bagged cheese section of the COOP six months ago. I ate two or three, discarding the rest. Seriously, cheese curds? You were supposed to be delicious, not disappointing!

Maybe, I though back then, the only good way to eat them is at a state fair in a paper holder. I borrowed a deep fryer from a friend and was ready to test this hypothesis. Then, I discovered poutine.

as drawn by me in MS Paint.
I should qualify this picture by saying that John was wonderful and bought me a tablet for my birthday which was not used in the making of Anatomy of Poutine. I am, however, very very grateful.

Technically poutine is Canadian. The dish traditionally consists of fresh cheese curds on top of french fries, all doused in a healthy helping of (preferably thick and canned) beef gravy. I'm pretty sure I discovered this plate of disgusting awesomeness on This Is Why You're Fat, which doesn't appear to exist anymore, may it rest in artery-clogging peace. I kept my peepers peeled in our restaurant endeavors in case we should run into this snack south of the border, as it were. On our last trip to Montpelier for beer, we struck gold.

We had just returned from the farmers' market and Sean Lawson. After sampling some of his excellent beer and picking up some bottles, we were ready for an early lunch. Since Three Penny Taproom didn't open until one that day, we courted Rhapsody Cafe (which makes the best tempeh I have ever purchased in the states) and a couple of pizza joints before settling in at our old Burlington favorite, The Skinny Pancake. Before I could look at the regular menu, I spotted something on the specials list that I couldn't pass up:

Breakfast poutine.
Breakfast Poutine
Basically the same as regular poutine, but with sausage gravy and a poached egg on top. I was so excited at having found a poutine that I didn't notice the regular poutine on the menu until long after the food had arrived.
Run, yolk, run.
We also ordered the apples and brie crêpe (John and I are both on something of a soft cheese kick) and a Love Maker which, unfortunately, arrived without nutella. Probably for the best.
Brie and apples with greens.

Slightly less love making in this crêpe.
We didn't finish all of it, but the rat enjoyed some leftovers.

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