Poutine

Poutine is a national Canadian dish, made with layers of hot crispy chips, salty cheese curd and delectable gravy.

Credit: Lee Chan's World Food Tour

• makes

  1 kg

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  3:15 hours

• difficulty

  Ace

Ingredients

• hot cooked fries
• shredded mozzarella
• gravy

Cheese curd

• 7.6 litres milk, plus 80 ml extra
• 1 g calcium chloride
• 0.4 g rennet tablets

Chilling time: overnight

Instructions

1. Pour 7.6 litres milk into a large sterilised saucepan over medium-low heat. Use a thermometer to heat milk to precisely 33°C. Warm at this temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Dissolve calcium chloride in 50 ml of extra milk. Dissolve rennet in remaining 30 ml of milk. Once dissolved, pour into heated milk and stir. Cook slowly for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes.
3. Once milk starts to thicken, remove from heat. Transfer to a cheese cloth set in a steamer tray. Stand to drain.
4. Preheat a steam oven to 42°C. Transfer milk mixture to oven. Cook for 1½ hours. Remove from oven. Weigh down and press in fridge overnight, or until cooled and firm.
5. Weigh and tear curd, adding salt at a ratio of 1% salt to curd.
6. Place fries in a serving bowl. Top with cheese curd, mozzarella and gravy. Serve.

 

This recipe is from Lee Chan's World Food Tour on SBS Food (Channel 33). Stream episodes via SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.