Paneer Poutine

Welcome back for another wonderful edition of the best unknown blog on the net. For this post, I'm gonna try and be a bit more relaxed. The last couple posts, I went from talking shit about homeless people to doing a beer review. Weird, huh? Well, when things get weird, the best thing to do is get back to the basics. For me, that's cooking, foul language, and being a bit of a perv.

What you see above is my take on the Canadian dish poutine. There are a lot of variations out there for this dish, but the basic deal is french fries, cheese curds and gravy. I know, it sounds pretty damn delicious to me too. Truth is, I had never had this dish before making it. It sounded good, but there isn't any place in my area that serves it. So what's a brotha to do? The only thing I know how! Get my big ass in that kitchen and do the damn thing!

To be clear, what I made is not a true poutine. The original dish calls for cheese curds. I don't know where to buy them and I didn't feel like making my own cheese curds. Honestly, making cheese curds was a bit more work than I really wanted to do for this. Remember, there are no rules or safe-words in the kitchen. If you want or need to change things up, go for it. You might end up creating something better then what you had in mind.

To replace the curds, I decided to try and make paneer cheese. What I ended up with I couldn't really classify as a true paneer, either.

Making paneer is very much like making ricotta cheese. Don't know the process? Click here for a refresher course. The big difference with paneer is that at the end, you try and strain out as much liquid as you can from the cheese. What you should get is a spongy little block you can cut into cubes and will hold up against some heat.

After doing a little searching, I noticed that most paneer recipes had only lemon juice and milk. The recipe I used had a small amount of heavy cream in it. So, it seemed like the ricotta I like, just a little bit drier than normal.

With the cheese part done, it was time to move on to the gravy.

I don't have a recipe for you, but you can really stick with any brown gravy recipe you know and go with that. I usually start my sauces with a roux and go from there. I got my roux nice and dark. I know that my scare the piss out of your average french chef. Even in culinary school books, they always show the darkest roux at a light brown. But if you have ever made gumbo, or want to make gumbo, you have to get the roux to a chocolate-like color to give gumbo that great flavor.

I actually did this a couple weeks ago, so I can barely remember what I put in the gravy. I do remember that the main flavor was sage. After that, I added salt, pepper, and some other shit.

The fries were frozen. No big deal there.

When it comes together, it is a sight to behold.

Potatoes and gravy are always a good combination. Throw some cheese in there, and you've got something your doctor might warn you about.

I've heard that this is considered Canadian comfort food. After one bite, I knew it was true. It's a warm, rich dish that will stick to your ribs and any other bone in the vicinity. The cheese was just creamy enough reel in the richness from the gravy. The fries were crispy, so they didn't turn into a soggy mess after being hit with the gravy.

Aside from being a comfort food, it's also great bar food. Poutine and Beer? I'll take 3 of each please!

See, Canada has brought us much more than hockey and disease-ridden whores like Pamela Anderson. Next time you are visiting our neighbors to the north, put down the blunt and all those prescription pills you are getting for your Nana, and get some hot poutine!

J. Miller