Skye Astara wrote:When I first heard about poutine several years ago, I decided I had to try it. Being from California, there were no cheese curds to be found so I substituted grated jack. The kids and I loved it, while recognizing its innate alien nature. I made it a bunch of times over a period of a couple of months.
Now somehow it has morphed into sick food. On the couple of occasions that I have gotten the flu, nothing will do but this dish. If I'm feeling particularly ill the french fries are replaced with egg noodles, and in all cases the cheese is American slices or Velveeta. I cringe to admit this, even to myself. This is the only time that I will buy that type of cheese (?? is it cheese??).
Oh, I think we're dealing with something different here, Skye.
I certainly understand your dish---but by changing the ingredients, you've essentially changed the nature of the dish. You're talking about cheese fries, basically. And I sure understand the attraction of that. Being of Irish heritage I believe in my soul that anything that can be good food can be improved by putting it on top of a potato
.
And if you substitute egg noodles for the fries, well, you've got some esoteric macaroni and cheese, thassall.
But you're still a far cry from poutine, my dear. Curds don't have a lot of flavor; the taste isn't at all like grated cheddar. Hell, it isn't even as assertive as Velveeta! So when you put very bland curds on top of fried potatoes...and then drench it all in gravy...you've got a pretty bland glop of food. It's edible when it's hot, I'll give you that. But when it cools off slightly---which it begins to do before it's served---it's pretty horrible stuff
And take note: this is from a guy who likes to do cheez whiz in a can on top of Triscuits when on long road trips, so it's not like I have the highest standards in the world.