{"id":7576,"date":"2021-04-07T12:53:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T16:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/?p=7576"},"modified":"2021-04-07T12:53:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T16:53:18","slug":"in-praise-of-poutine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/2021\/04\/07\/in-praise-of-poutine\/","title":{"rendered":"In praise of poutine"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7578\" style=\"width: 665px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7578\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-1024x819.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"665\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-665x532.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine-325x260.jpg 325w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/sumi-smoked-meat-poutine.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 665px) 100vw, 665px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The superlicious smoked-meat poutine served at SumiLicious in Scarborough.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Cheese. Meat. Potatoes. Gravy. Maybe with a pickle or slaw on the side. Comfort food beyond compare, that\u2019s poutine.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Small wonder poutine has become such an iconic dish, and no longer only in Qu\u00e9bec where it originated in the 1950s. Over the years, we\u2019ve enjoyed poutine in its many variants clear across Canada.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our current favourite is the smoked-meat poutine served at <a href=\"https:\/\/sumilicious.ca\">SumiLicious<\/a> at Steeles Avenue East and Middlefield Road in Scarborough, just a few minutes from home. Perfectly fried potatoes, Montreal-style smoked meat with all its juices, and fresh curds from <a href=\"https:\/\/fromagestalbert.com\/?lang=en\">Fromagerie St-Albert Co-op<\/a>. The result is superlicious.<\/p>\n<p>We always order the meat fatty so it literally melts in your mouth. When we\u2019re not up for a poutine, we go for a smoked-meat sandwich piled high with deliciousness. Either way, we\u2019re in heaven, even when eating in the car on account of COVID-19 restrictions on dining in.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"In praise of poutine\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2hySRzee6Sg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sumith \u201cSumi\u201d Fernando learned his craft over 17 years of working at iconic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schwartzsdeli.com\">Schwartz\u2019s Deli<\/a> in Montr\u00e9al. When Sumi and his wife, Shalika De Fonseca, both Roman Catholics, immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka two decades ago, neither had ever encountered Jewish food before.<\/p>\n<p>During his time at Schwartz\u2019s, Sumi became obsessed with the spicy, wood-smoked, mile-high meat sandwiches that drew crowds at all hours of the day. \u201cI would see people going crazy when they took that first bite, shaking their head [in awe],\u201d Sumi explained in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saveur.com\/meet-canadas-brisket-whisperer\/\">interview in Saveur magazine<\/a>. \u201cI wanted to do something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, how did two Catholics from Sri Lanka end up serving Jewish food in a predominantly Chinese neighbourhood in Toronto? They picked that corner of Scarborough, on the Markham border, because, during his years at Schwartz\u2019s, Sumi noticed most customers from Great Toronto lived in Markham. Market research completed, they opened SumiLicious in May 2018\u2014to rave reviews.<\/p>\n<p>Sumi turns tough beef brisket <em>\u00fcber<\/em> tender by marinating it in spices for 10 days, followed by smoking overnight. The meat is steamed just before it\u2019s sliced by hand to order. As we said, the result is superlicious.<\/p>\n<p>Our all-time favourite is the most decadent poutine served in Canada. At famed <a href=\"https:\/\/aupieddecochon.ca\/en\/\">Au Pied de Cochon<\/a> in Montr\u00e9al, the poutine is topped with foie gras. Not only that, the crunchy fries are made with duck fat! The curds, when we last enjoyed the dish, came from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fromageriechampetre.com\/?lang=en\">La Fromagerie Champ\u00eatre<\/a>. Chef Martin Picard\u2014Who remembers him as Wild Chef on TV?\u2014has served the foie gras poutine since 2001, helping to make Au Pied de Cochon a destination restaurant for foodies from around the world.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7582\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7582\" style=\"width: 665px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7582\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"665\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-665x443.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras-390x260.jpg 390w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-foie-gras.jpg 1284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 665px) 100vw, 665px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>At Au Pied de Cochon in Montr\u00e9al, Chef Martin Picard crowns his poutine with foie gras. Photo by Andr\u00e9-Olivier Lyra.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just look at the slices of foie gras, the squeaky curds and the crunchy fries in the mouth-watering photograph by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lyraphoto.com\">Andr\u00e9-Olivier Lyra<\/a> published in a feature on Montr\u00e9al poutine in <a href=\"https:\/\/nuvomagazine.com\/palate\/best-montreal-poutine\">Nuvo magazine<\/a>. Oh, to be back in Montr\u00e9al right now!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7584\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7584\" style=\"width: 665px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7584\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-1024x767.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"665\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-1536x1151.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-665x498.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits-347x260.jpg 347w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poutine-bergy-bits.jpg 1812w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 665px) 100vw, 665px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7584\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>So nice to see local cheese curds made by Five Brothers Artisan Cheese used in the poutine at Ches&#8217;s Famous Fish &amp; Chips in St. John&#8217;s, Newfoundland.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During a visit to St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland, we ate twice at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chessfishandchips.ca\">Ches&#8217;s Famous Fish &amp; Chips<\/a> where we were delighted to learn the poutine is made with Bergy Bits Curds from <a href=\"https:\/\/fivebrotherscheese.com\">Five Brothers Artisan Cheese<\/a> and not some industrial operation on the mainland. Local and artisan always tastes better.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/history-of-poutine\">Click here for a history of poutine in The Canadian Encylopedia.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/squeakycheese.ca\">Cheese Ambassador David Beaudoin<\/a>, our friend in cheese, hosted an informative webinar on poutine recently sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada, featuring three recipes you can try at home. Watch it now.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Poutine Webinar\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e5uBxUxWrvw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>\u2014Georgs Kolesnikovs<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Georgs Kolesnikovs, Cheese-Head-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca, has never met a poutine he didn\u2019t like . . . well, hardly ever. Follow him on YouTube at Strictly Cheese.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cheese. Meat. Potatoes. Gravy. Maybe with a pickle or slaw on the side. Comfort food beyond compare, that\u2019s poutine. Small wonder poutine has become such an iconic dish, and no longer only in Qu\u00e9bec where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[332,535,534],"tags":[],"brand":[],"class_list":["post-7576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poutine","category-strictly-cheese","category-sumilicious-smoked-meat"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7576"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7593,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576\/revisions\/7593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7576"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=7576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}