What are you cooking?

Well Ted, as far as i know (i'm French but i never went to Quebec or Canada), this is a pure French Canadian stuff, for the dish and for the word. Concerning the term "poutine", again afaik, that doesn't exist in French, the only Poutine that i know is Vladimir.

My french teacher made our class read an article about the history of poutine once. He managed to work it into a lesson on conditional verbs (of which, all I remember is "si"). Apparently, the word came from Quebec, and is derived from the word "Pudding". (Pudding means a mix of leftovers. Since poutine is a mix of ingredients, they changed the word).

Real poutine is made with gravy and cottage cheese melted over fries.

thanks a lot, guys, all I wanted to know

Ah ah ah, the conditional in French grammar... All take cover in shelters !!!
Note, i say that, i also sweat like a convict with English grammar...

Here is a copy/paste of what is said about that on the website "Le guide du routard", a popular reference travel guides here. Pasted, I repeat...

- L’une des spécialités du Québec est la poutine, devenue rapidement un symbole d’une culture culinaire bas de gamme : des frites molles sur lesquelles on ajoute du « fromage en crotte » fondu, le tout nappé de sauce brune. Cependant, certains restos tentent de proposer une poutine de qualité (comme La Banquise à Montréal).

- À ne pas confondre avec la poutine acadienne : la patate crue est râpée, puis mise à dégorger et cuite. La pâte obtenue est additionnée de patate pilée, façonnée en boule et farcie de lard ou de viande de porc.



- One of the specialties of Quebec is poutine, that quickly became a symbol of low range culinary culture : soft chips on which is added "cheese turd" melted, all topped with gravy. However, some restaurants are trying to offer a quality poutine (as The Ice Montreal).

- Not to be confused with the Acadian Poutine: raw potato is grated and put broaching and baked. The resulting paste is added with crushed potatoes, shaped into a ball and stuffed with bacon or pork.



Here we are.

This is a classic recipe here in Brittany, easy to do and really nice and tasty. The only problem is that you must have a top-quality and first freshness fish and, if you don't do it by yourself (or if you're afraid by his ugly look), you must give the job of preparing the fish to a true professional fishmonger. Also, the sauce can accept some variants so i provide here the one that i use.

This dish is usually served with Basmati rice or steamed potato. For the wine, i suggest a classic dry white wine, as French Muscadet or Gros-Plant . If you have the means, you can also look for a nice Chablis .







Lotte à l'Armoricaine (Angler in Armorican way)


Preparation : ~ 30 minutes
Cooking : ~ 45 minutes


For 4 persons

- 1 kg of tail of angler ( Lophius piscatorius )
- 3 shallots
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 can of peeled tomatos
- 100 g of tomato coulis
- 25 cl of dry white wine
- 2 glasses of Cognac
- 1 sachet of saffron
- Hot Cayenne pepper
- Chervil
- 1 bouquet garni
- 50 g of flour
- 1 soup spoon of fresh cream
- 1 glass of concentrated lobster bisque
- Olive oil
- Cooking salt and pepper



Clean the fish, remove the black skin and the almost invisible white skin. This white skin is a little bit difficult to remove but it's important to remove it because it can makes the fish "rubbery".

Remove all the non-noble parts of the fish but keep them.

Cut the noble pieces (the tail) in sections and keep them in the fridge.

Flour the "ugly" non-noble pieces, brown them very gently with the olive oil, then blaze with the half of the Cognac. Remove them from the pan and keep them.

In the same pan, brown the shallots and the chopped garlic.

Cut the tomatoes in dices, add them, wait 5 minutes then add the white vine, the same quantity of water, one teaspoon of cooking salt, the pepper, bouquet garni, lobster bisque, tomato coulis and a pinch of hot Cayenne pepper. Mix well and add the previous "ugly" pieces. Cover and let simmer on low fire for about 45 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and the "ugly" pieces (these "ugly" pieces were here only for giving taste). Mix the sauce, check the seasoning.

In a stewpot, brown the floured noble parts of the fish with olive oil. Blaze with the second half of Cognac.

Heat the sauce on low fire. When it starts to boil add the saffron and mix. Then add the fish. Simmer ~15 minutes.

When ready to serve, add the cream, just mix gently a little bit and serve immediately.



Enjoy. A slice of fresh crusty bread, a bit of salted butter... Well, you're almost in Brittany !