Dying a Hash related death...

[wombat]

Poutine is not just gravy on fries, it's cheese curds too.  Never mind having a name for it - how did any one person ever decide this was a good combination, let alone a whole culture?

[Golfhaus]

I tried to trick a co-worker and her sister into eating it once. They were going to Montreal for a few days of vacation, and mentioned that it was their first time in Canada. They asked me for some advice, since I was a Canadian pro (having been to Toronto all of one time, for one day, and making several excursions across the Niagara River into the cesspool that is Niagara Falls, Ontario when I visited family on the American side). I told them that one piece of Canadian cuisine they HAD to try was poutine. I do believe I used the phrase, "It's a delicacy." I was very sad to learn they did not try it while they were there.

[side_show]

I love that Canadians have a name for "French fries with gravy on them."  Poutine is an awesomely awful thing but it has a good name.

Also, is it not pronounced POO-TEEN?

That web site you linked to is wacky.

What makes this food name even more cool?  Anglo-Canadians pronounce it "poo-teen," Franco-Canadians pronounce it poo-tin with a harder "n" at the end, but the most important thing to realize is the that in French (and also the Filipino dialect of Tagalog) "putain" means slut, and since the pronunciation of the two words are only subtly different, hilarity often ensues.  I've heard people in both official languages make jokes about how whore-ish this food dish actually is.  I mean it's all greasy and cheesy.

I managed to not eat poutine today even though I wanted to.  It helped that I forgot my wallet at home all day.

[Lister]

I've never eaten poutine, but when I heard about it I immediately linked it to Outback Steakhouse's [urlhttp://www.outback.com/ourmenu/menu.asp]Aussie Cheese Fries[/url], which are basically constructed like this:

Take a starchy root vegetable.
Cut into strips and fry in oil.
Put a bunch on a plate with salt and pepper.
Shred cheese and dump on top.
Prepare bacon, crumble it into bits, and dump that on top, too.
Bake long enough to melt the cheese.
Serve with a gigantic bowl of ranch dressing.

It, too, is a heart attack on a plate, and it is SO GOOD.  Goddamn.

[miles]

Somehow I missed this topic until just now.  I must say I'm very disappointed that it had nothing to do with getting high.  But damnit if that recipe doesn't make me salivate.

Oh, and Dawg, those Chicken Fries from Burger King?  They aren't good.  And I had the munchies when I ate them.

[side_show]

KFC had chicken fries just like that when I was working there about, hell, 11 years ago - it was my first job.  I had to walk around the food court giving out free samples, but most people were just disgusted and didn't want anything to do with them.  The ones at Burger King look totally identical, but I'm not even going to venture to try them - they're way to gross looking.

I ended up eating a McChicken.  Just talking about things that are bad for you seems to trigger this desire.  Yuck.   And I did have the regret as I sunk my teeth in. 

Anyway.  Last night I made and old school dinner and I felt like a 1950's housewife:  meatloaf, mac n' cheese (home made, not from a box) and spinach.  It was actually really nice.

Come on people, you know you've eaten bad for you stuff that terrifies you, so confess.  Confess.

[wombat]

Last night I made and old school dinner and I felt like a 1950's housewife:  meatloaf, mac n' cheese (home made, not from a box) and spinach.  It was actually really nice.

You made meatloaf and mac and cheese at the same dinner?  You are truly a domestic goddess.  I'll cook, but I'll be damned if I'm going to make a side dish that's as complicated as the main course.

[jough]

Neither meat loaf nor mac 'n' cheese is complicated, really.

I mean, meatloaf is a pretty easy dinner to prepare, no?  You put in the spices, mix it up with your hands, form it into a big loaf, top it with bacon and katsup, put it in the oven for an hour and a half.  Difficulty: 2

Mac and Cheese is a little more complicated, but not really.  If you're going to bake it you don't even need to cook the macaroni first - just make the sauce a little wetter.

Anyway, that sounds like a lovely 50s dinner.  I know people would sometimes eat M&C as a main course, but everyone knows that it's a side-dish.

[side_show]

See the whole meal was indirectly inspired by the Hash - I had half a brick of left over Velveeta, and I was looking at it, thinking how I was surprised that they still even made Velveeta, I mean as a product it's so 1950's housewife to me. 

It was actually the first time I've even made meatloaf, mostly because I don't like to make or eat what I consider "pedestrain" food.  I'll normally cook on the gourmet side of things, so meatloaf and hash are so outside my boundaries.  Making the hash for the SO kind of awaked my senses to the pleasures of old standards, hence the meatloaf, which was very, very good.  I think what scared me away from these sorts of foods was that my mother was like the classic bad cook - I mean everything she made was terrible, and her repetoir of cooking was totally in the 50's housewife style (even though she was a late 70's housewife).

[wombat]

Well, I want Jough's recipe for mac and cheese, because when I make it, it is so complicated that I have to go and lie down.

I keep meaning to say that I am sure I have eaten interestingly evil things, but they are all wiped out of my mind every time I think of that hash recipe, leaving me with nothing but a vague craving for Popeye's fried chicken.

[side_show]

See, every Canadian I know who has tried Popeyes chicken while visiting the U.S. says it forever ruins Canadian chicken for them.  They crave the Popeyes, to the point where I think it best to not even try.

The Mac n' cheese I make is super easy too.


1) boil noodles (about 3 cups dry noodles) on high in large pot
2) while noodles boil, set out other ingredients to bring to room temp: 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup Velveeta of cheese whiz, 2 tbls butter or margarine and fine grated 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of cheddar (use what you like - I like old cheddar), salt and pepper to taste.
4) once noodles are soft, drain well, set element to low (3 on my oven) then return noodles to empty pot, add butter and stir until butter is melted.  Slowly add half of the shredded cheese to melt in, add Velveeta, working to break the lump-o-cheese into smaller pieces, letting it melt, add milk, keep stirring, slowly add the rest of the cheddar cheese while stirring to melt.

That's it.

Unless you prefer more of a casserole style mac-n-cheese, in which cause, I would just put the finished mac-n-cheese on a casserole, shred a 1/4 to 1/2 cup more cheese, spread on top and bake until bubbly.

[AlohaDawg]

Let's change her name to Side_Dish.

[jough]

Oh, man, you can't use Velveeta to make Mac 'N' Cheese.  That's just foul.

I'll post a recipe later.

[slink]

I only even know what Velveeta is because of a Tom Waits track...

I will eat mac and cheese as a main dish, but then it's just so good. I don't have it often though. Hash is good. Can't beat hash, but meatloaf  I despise. Never liked the stuff, and well, haven't had to have it in a long time since, as you say, it's become a kind of cliche like fondu.

[side_show]

Yeah, eating meatloaf is sort of like a joke if your in your 20's - it's like wearing one of those tailored leather jackets from the 60's, it's a reference.