Sitting in a little café in Vancouver, eating authentic French-Canadian poutine, was one of our favorite memories from a trip to Canada with three students. Getting proper immigration papers overnighted to us at our flat for one of the students was another.
Prepare about 1 ℓ of good chicken gravy, either from a package or (much better!) using the recipe given for turkey gravy. Of course, leftover turkey gravy will also work. Warm the gravy through and add:
30 ml vinegar
15 ml sugar
5 ml ground mustard
2.5 ml cayenne pepper
15 ml ketchup
Whisk to blend well, and leave warming on the stove.
Cut into 1-cm cubes ½ kg of any mild, soft white cheese. An authentic poutine uses cheese curds – the very youngest form of cheese, but you can use mozzarella or another mild white cheese.
Wash or peel and then slice into ½ x 1 cm strips:
4-6 large potatoes
Place in ice water for 30 minutes.
Heat oil to 160 in a deep pan or fryer. Remove the potatoes from the water and dry thoroughly – any droplets of water on them will explode into steam when you put the potatoes into the oil, causing spatters and burns on your hands and arms.
Fry the potatoes for 3 minutes, then remove them and drain them on a brown paper bag lined with paper towels. Increase the oil temperature to 190. Return the potatoes to the oil for 4 minutes, until they are brown and crisp.
Arrange on a plate or in a shallow bowl. (From a Montréal street vendor, it would be a cone of newspaper, but that’s unreasonably messy!) Add a generous scattering of cheese, and then pour the gravy over it and serve.