Montréal to Manchester: why UK cities are falling in love with poutine Consisting of French fries, squeaky fresh cheese curds and gravy, Canada’s national dish, poutine, was born in rural Québec in the […]

Consisting of French fries, squeaky fresh cheese curds and gravy, Canada’s national dish, poutine, was born in rural Québec in the 1950s.

Whether they have Canadian heritage or simply discovered poutine while travelling, many chefs across the UK have started to see the appeal of the comforting delicacy as it finds its way onto menus from London to Glasgow.

‘We were hooked’

For Manchester-based street food traders, The Blue Caribou Canteen (who hail from Montréal and Bolton), chips, cheese and gravy have been a part of their lives for as long as they can remember.

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“I first had poutine when I visited Vincent in Québec, and it quickly became something that I ate wherever I could,” says co-founder, Graham Bernier.

“You could get it at every level, from McDonald’s to Michelin starred establishments. I couldn’t get enough.”

On returning to the UK, the Blue Caribou owners noticed a distinct lack of poutine, so set about making it by themselves to their own exacting standards – a journey which took two years.

“We have a lot of Québécois customers that are not too shy to tell us where we are going wrong,” says Bernier.

A post shared by The Gravy Train (@thegtpoutine) on Mar 7, 2017 at 11:22am PST

For Sheffield street food traders, The Gravy Train, their love affair with poutine began in a similar fashion, during a trip around Canada, when they visited La Banquise in Montréal.

“We were intrigued to try poutine as we’d heard a lot about it from our Canadian friends, but nothing could have prepared us for the warming, gooey, belly-filling delight that awaited us,” says The Gravy Train’s Ben Miller.

“Safe to say, after that fateful night we were hooked, trying poutine at every opportunity, and came back to the UK with slightly bigger waistlines than when we left.”

‘We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel’

“It may sound weird to some, but trust us – 35 million of us can’t be wrong.” Paul Dunits, founder of The Poutinerie

Canadian Paul Dunits, a chef for 20 years, founded London’s The Poutinerie after discovering that “nowhere really did poutine in the UK, or did it right.”

“We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. We are just trying to produce food that we can be proud of and that will make other Canadians proud,” explains Dunits.

“There was a massive hole missing for us, culinary-wise, and poutine is the one thing that unites us. It may sound weird to some, but trust us – 35 million of us can’t be wrong.”

A post shared by The Poutinerie (@the_poutinerie) on May 17, 2017 at 9:37am PDT

Getting the recipe right for what appears on the face of things to be a deceptively simple dish is vital to the chefs bringing poutine to UK cities.

“It’s a very simple dish that can go easily wrong,” says Bernier.

“It’s a very simple dish that can go easily wrong.” Graham Bernier, co-founder of The Blue Caribou Canteen

“We think we do it justice. We use an authentic recipe and locally sourced cheese made to our exacting standards.”

“The problem with trends is that everyone jumps on them without the proper understanding of what they are doing,” agrees Dunits.

“The beautiful thing about poutine is its simplicity, and that’s where people get it wrong. I compare it to Italian cooking – three or four top quality ingredients, and nothing to hide behind.”

A new staple

“They now supply us exclusively with around 100 to 150 kilograms of cheese curds a week.” Ylli Dushi, founder of Bread Meats Bread

Ylli Dushi, founder of Edinburgh and Glasgow restaurant Bread Meats Bread, started serving poutine in 2013.

“We can easily claim that ours was one of the first ever poutines served in Glasgow,” he says.

Having come across it during a visit to Canada, Dushi thought poutine would make a great offering to the Scottish burger-loving crowd as a twist on the classic chips, gravy and cheese.

A post shared by Bread Meats Bread (@breadmeatsbread) on Feb 5, 2017 at 9:03am PST

“Its popularity has skyrocketed, and poutine is now a staple dish here,” says Dushi.

“We have also seen it appear across Scotland, albeit many not sticking to the original – especially when it come to the use of real cheese curds.”

Dushi had initially struggled to convince local dairies to make real cheese curds for Bread Meats Bread, but a small Ayrshire dairy agreed to trial them.

“From initially making a small five kilogram bag a week, they now supply us exclusively with around 100 to 150 kilograms of cheese curds a week,” reveals the restaurant owner.

Putting a UK spin on a Canadian classic

Chefs in the UK are adapting poutine to suit local tastes, and the dish is increasingly moving from street food vans to restaurant menus.

Chicken poutine first appeared at Hawksmoor’s Spitalfields Bar – which opened in 2012 – following a research trip to Montréal, and it quickly became one of their most popular dishes.

“It was only a matter of time before we managed to source the cheese curds required to put it on in London,” says Hawksmoor Group Executive Chef, Richard Turner.

Having experimented in London with oxtail, pig’s head and chicken versions of poutine, Hawksmoor tweaked the dish to create a poutine barm for their Manchester opening in 2015.

The chicken poutine barm is a bread roll stuffed with herb-fed chicken, a fried egg, triple cooked chips, Westcombe Cheddar curds and gravy.

“It is very popular in Manchester, great with a beer or for a quick lunch,” explains Turner.

“It feels like a more Northern sandwich to me, my family hailing from Yorkshire, and it’s really just chips, cheese and gravy, in a buttie.”

‘We’re open to a little blaspheming’

Mobile vendors, The Gravy Train – who can be found at GRUB in Manchester, Peddler Market in Sheffield, Eat North in Leeds, Digbeth Dining Club in Birmingham and more – have also tweaked the dish for UK palates.

“We’ve stayed fairly loyal to the original Québécois dish, but we’ve put a bit of a British spin on it,” says Miller.

The Gravy Train use a porter from Thornbridge Brewery in the Derbyshire Dales and British beef dripping to form the base of their gravy.

“The holy trinity of fries, cheese curds and gravy needs no improvement, but we’re open to a little blaspheming,” says Miller.

“We add toppings too, such as mapled bacon, sautéed garlic mushrooms, buffalo chicken, blue cheese sauce, caramelised red onions, soured cream and more.”

A post shared by Bread Meats Bread (@breadmeatsbread) on Dec 30, 2016 at 9:46am PST

‘It’s like Canadian crack’

“Many of us were raised on chips and gravy. Poutine is the refined version of a dish that we are all already familiar with.” Graham Bernier, co-founder of The Blue Caribou Canteen

Whether sticking to the original recipe or playing with different ingredients, one thing the traders agree on is that the dish is surging in popularity across the UK.

“It has taken off because it’s delicious and once you try it, it hooks you,” says Dunits from The Poutinerie.

“It is very addictive. I always joke that it’s like Canadian crack.”

Blue Caribou’s Bernier sees poutine as the perfect fit for UK palates.

“Many of us were raised on chips and gravy. Poutine is the refined version of a dish that we are all already familiar with.”

A post shared by Blue Caribou Canteen (@bccanteen) on Jun 26, 2017 at 5:43am PDT

“We see it cropping up on more and more menus these days,” says Bernier.

“We have some pretty high standards for the dish we love, though, and not every poutine lives up to its name.”

The Gravy Train’s theory behind the success of poutine is that it’s a “safe adventure”.

“In other words, people are really familiar with all of the components, so putting them together isn’t too much of a stretch of the imagination, but it’s still a little exotic,” explains Miller.