#15 Poutine

I have a terrible secret. I’m Canadian, and...and...I’m so ashamed...I’ve never eaten poutine. I’ve eaten plenty of French fries, gravy, and cheese, but not all in the same greasy boat. I could imagine how they would taste together, and yeah, it’s probably mmmkay.

After several years of trying to change the topic whenever poutine came up in conversation, finally this summer I gave in to curiosity and celebrated by best buddy’s bday at Smoke’s Poutinerie in Hamilton’s Hess Village (Hess is kind of the clubby area of the city).

For my inaugural poutine, I picked the pulled pork version - I probably should have gone with the classic, but I freaking love pulled pork and can rarely resist its siren call.

Smoke's Pulled Pork Poutine 

Score: B-,  but I really think it's just personal taste, not a reflection on Smoke's. I mean, it did the job – I was no longer hungry after eating about half of the serving, but…I wasn’t blown away. First off, I kind had to pick around the cheese curds. “Curds” is just not an appetising word, and for some reason I have a kind of mental block when it comes to eating food with gross names. Like cobbler, or scallops. 

Second, I’m really, really attached to ketchup on my fries, gravy on meat, and cheese on pizza. Especially the ketchup – when I was little, I used to eat ketchup sandwiches (white bread, no crust, ketchup in-between) and when the other little kids started to mock me I pretended that the ketchup was jam, and thought I was very cunning. 

I’ll probably still get shaming glares when I say I’m not a huge fan of poutine, but at least I can say I’ve tried it. Maybe I can now move on to other Canadian staples, like beaver tails and smoked salmon. Stop glaring at me.