Travel & Food - Eating Every Level of Canadian Poutine!!

In this video, I'm taking on Canada's national dish, poutine. Poutine can be basic, but it can also come in all shapes and sizes. In the end, all that matters is whether or not it's actually good. Today, I'm trying them all. From the classic presentation, I'm told it's a vegetarian gravy, but it does smell a little bit beefy, to a version that costs over $100. Each shape costs about 30 cents. That's 30 Canadian cents. And at the end of it all, I'll judge for myself if poutine deserves a spot on the American dinner table. Let's move. It all starts right behind me at our first location, La Banquise, a French name, I believe. Actually, a lot of the words here are French, and so are the people. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm in a place called Quebec. A lot of people speak French here. It's confusing because in Canada, people have a reputation for being nice, but also for being French? Those two things don't go together at all. We have come here to try our first and most classic poutine of the day, because today, the poutines we're going to be trying are going to get wild. So we need kind of a benchmark. I need to know what a normal poutine looks like before we get crazy. So let's head inside and find out. Oh, we're in the kitchen right now with the manager, Carlos. Carlos speaks only French and one other language. Can you guess which one? Not German. Spanish. And I don't really speak either one of those languages. So let's see how this goes. We are making the classic poutine right now. It all starts with a healthy scoop of French fries. Those all go into the fryer, and they delve deep into that hot oil. Now, as far as I know, poutine consists of three main ingredients that you must have. French fries, cheese curds, and gravy. From there, it can get pretty crazy. But again, this is the not classic, the classique. We are in French Quebec. The French fries are ready. On to the next step. He dumps them into the drip tray. He gets our platter. He puts a huge scoop of fries on top. From here, cheese curds. A moderate amount of cheese curds compared to the amount of French fries. The next step, he goes over here to the gravy station. We have the classique gravy. He gives it a bit of a stir, then pours it on top. Couple scoops of gravy. And that is how Carlos makes Canada's classic poutine. Boom. We have our first meal right here. Let's talk about Canada. Specifically, the demographics of Canada. Because this place is confusing. You might have this idea of the typical Canadian looking like a lumberjack, a white man with a beard, and an axe or a hatchet. But the picture here in Montreal or places like Toronto, it's much different. In that kitchen right now, they have staff from Peru, Mexico, Mali, and Colombia. It is like Netflix made the cast of this kitchen. They have one of everybody. All they need is a guy in a wheelchair to round it all out. Oh, and a gay guy. This being a very Canadian restaurant serving Canadian food, it got me confused. And I feel like I had to look up what the actual demographics of Canada are. Not that it matters. Around 3 in 10 people in Canada were not born here. In Montreal, it's 4 in 10. And judging by this kitchen, I may have found all four in one place. Here we have poutine. French fries, gravy, cheese curds. I want to talk about the cheese curds first. As somebody from Minnesota living next to Wisconsin, I'm a bit of a cheese curd aficionado. I'm going to give these a shot and see how they taste on their own. It's warm, rich, almost buttery. A great flavor. The best part is that these taste even better when they're a little melty, which is going to be the case on this plate. We have a load of French fries. Some would say too many French fries. Then we have cheese and we have gravy. I'm told it's a vegetarian gravy. But it does smell a little bit beefy. Cows aren't vegetarian. Maybe it's made of cows. Does that still count as vegetarian? Traditionally, poutine gravy is made with beef broth, but the vegetarians are taking over. So instead of making two gravies, they just gave in and made it all vegetarian. It's important to capture the right ratio. I want French fries, cheese, gravy all in one bite. That sauce, that gravy, it's a nice thick, super, super salty gravy. This would be a good food to have with a beer or actually after several, several beers. Meanwhile, the texture of the cheese curds has kind of become soft and melty. And the ideal situation is that you eat the cheese curds and it squeaks on your teeth while you eat it. I gotta say, I like it, which is surprising. Because for me, I like the little stubby brown over fried French fries. The ultra crunch. Here, this is not that. This reminds me almost of a British French fry. A chip. It's more steamy, fat, soft. It's, dare I say, flaccid. Overall, delicious. And I gotta say, a nice benchmark for the day. This is what's considered normal in the world of poutine. And today, it's going to get wild. Today, we're going to be trying poutines that you've never heard of before. Poutines that you have never imagined. And by the end of the day, we're going to be trying something that costs over $100. Very expensive. But before we leave here, we are going to try one more poutine. And since we are in Quebec, a place known for being very French, I want to try something more French inspired. Especially because they don't have an Indian poutine. For our next poutine, I'm consulting a poutine expert. And it doesn't get much more Canadian than this guy. His name's Enrique, and he's from Mexico. Quick question. I want to know what actually makes a good poutine. I think the kids and the sauce. The sauce is really different in every place you visit. I just had the classic. But the one we're about to have is a French poutine called savoyard. Is that the same sauce as the classic? Yeah, it's the same sauce. Let's give it a shot. First, two strips of bacon hit the board. Enrique chops them up and throws them on the grill. Along with some onions and a splash of oil. Then he puts a weight on top. But that is only round one. Next, more bacon and more onions. I'm told this is the most French poutine that they have here. And some of the ingredients are a bit more French. You know, like Swiss cheese. Wait, hold on. Next, he gets to the construction. He gets a load of French fries. From there, cheese curds. Meanwhile, the onions and the bacon, they're coming together nicely. The next step, he takes our big platter. And he's going to top that with the sauce. So far, it's looking like the last poutine we tried. But from here, it gets wild. Next, onions and bacon go on top. More onion and bacon. More gravy. He takes a couple slices of Swiss cheese. Then a shitload of sour cream. And that is how Enrique makes a French poutine in Canada. This is our second poutine of the day, the savoyard. It looks magnificent. I love Swiss cheese. And this looks like a work of art, kind of. Roughly speaking. It looks like somebody built a pyramid of food. But there was no contractor and no permit. And the whole thing collapsed. But somehow, in the end, it still looks delicious. But before we eat this French version of poutine, I want to talk about how French Quebec is. Quebec is a province. If you look at Canada, we're in that province now. And then right here, ding, that's Montreal. Quebec is very French, both culturally and linguistically. It is the center of French speaking in North America. English is a minority language in the province at around 8 to 10%. That is going to make this a very interesting food tour, as I attempt to connect with the locals. French Canadian locals, like Enrique and Carlos. Here we've got cheese curd action, plus Swiss cheese, plus gravy. This feels like a big upgrade from our classique. Let's give it a shot. Same delicious sauce, same wonderful cheese curds. But now we've got that Swiss cheese, which brings in even more aroma and more flavor. Beyond that, onions, offering some sweetness. And the bacon, crispy, smoky bacon. The only thing that can make it better is if it was Canadian bacon. Unfortunately, it's just bacon bacon. At last, we have this giant snowball of sour cream. First, we're going to get a strong foundation. Cheese, bacon, onions, then some sour cream. Wow, that's rich. Creamy, sour, and delicious. My god, what a combination. I'm very impressed. So this is Canada's classic and French version of poutine. But from here, it's going to get a lot more wild. Let's head to our next location. We have just arrived at our second location. Now you might be asking yourself, what should I eat after taking down a giant plate of poutine? Well, the answer is dessert poutine. Yes, our next location is serving up a sweet version of the savory dish. So how do they do it? Let's go inside and find out. Boom, I'm in the kitchen with George. George, you are the first person I met, born and raised in Canada. Let's talk about what you're doing here. Because here you have what I would call a dessert poutine. Yes, sir. Can you tell me how that came to be? I actually didn't really come from me. It was an afternoon. It wasn't too busy with one of my old colleagues. We were just playing around and we added Nutella to it. So we said, okay, that sounds fun. And then he goes, let's add ice cream to it. And then it came. We are going to try this dessert version of a poutine. It starts with the fries. Let's get into it. Boom, fries go down. Tell me about the fry that you're using here. You're saying people like freshly pressed fry, room temperature. Yes, yes. But the only reason why we're able to do this is we use a frozen fry here. It has only a bit of cornstarch and a bit of salt on it. It stays crunchy for a long time. Should poutine fries be crunchy or floppy and steamy? No, they should be crunchy. But fresh french fries, it's hard to make those crunchy. There's an art to it. It's a long process and you need space. Boom, done. Tosses the fries onto the drip pan. Those head into a bowl. And that is the base for our dessert. Now, let the fun begin. Okay, so this is a Nutella sauce going directly on top of the bowl right now. So this is essentially our gravy component. Yes, there you go. You call it the sauce. Oh, actually, I should have taken it out. We can fix everything through editing. Then ice cream appears. Bam, double dose of vanilla ice cream going on top. And we finish it off with some icing sugar. What I call powdered sugar in the USA. Around here, poutine is a real asset. And real assets deserve protection. That's why I partnered with Rumble Wallet. Rumble Wallet is a pay partner for today's episode. And it connects to something we actually deal with. We film food the way people eat it all around the world. Blood sausage. A pig broken down in a village. Insects someone's grandmother has cooked her whole life. Ordinary meals to millions of people. But sometimes the algorithm doesn't see it that way. Money that runs through someone else's system isn't fully yours. I've been demonetized more times than I can count for showing someone's Tuesday dinner. A platform holds my money and decides what my work is worth. And your bank does the same with your account. It means that somebody else decides. Until Rumble Wallet. Rumble Wallet is non-custodial. You hold the keys. Not a bank. Not even Rumble. Fund it with a card through Moonpay. Hold bitcoin, stablecoins, or digital gold. Cash out anytime. There's also a tip button on my Rumble channel now. It goes straight to our productions instantly with no fee. For a limited time, start your wallet with $10 in US stablecoin. For tipping creators like me, use my code MBEFRS10. One thing worth knowing, you get a 12-word recovery phrase when you set up an account. Write it on paper. Keep it offline. That's your only way back in and nobody can recover it for you. Scan the QR code or use the link below. Code MBEFRS10. Claim your $10 for tipping in USAT. Restrictions apply. There are a limited number of entries available. Terms and conditions apply. See the description below or visit rumble.com slash promo official rules for details. Now, back to the show. Right here, our second poutine establishment and our third poutine dish. First, let's talk about this restaurant. This is a Smash Burger restaurant. And what's amazing is that they have a Smash Burger poutine that you can also order here. So here, you can actually get poutine for your meal and for dessert. But today, I'm just opting for the dessert. But I gotta say, this is pretty impressive and very creative. Poutine, as you know, it needs those three elements. French fries. We got it. Here, he has frozen fries with a little bit of cornstarch on the outside. So it should be much more crunchy. In fact, it is. But beyond the French fries, we also need the gravy. That's where the Nutella comes in. Then you would have the dairy component. Usually, cheese curds. In this case, delicious ice cream. Put it all together and you have one unusual Canadian dessert. But let's give it a shot. Wow. I am a little bit surprised. Can I be honest? Nutella, not my favorite. Nutella was this huge meme like 15 years ago. People used to be so into Nutella. I don't even think they liked it. They just liked the idea of it. But here, the Nutella is more liquidy. It goes down easier. It's not like overpowering, overly sugary. And it mixes so perfectly with those crunchy, savory French fries. The fries, the gravy, delicious. But what about the ice cream? Is it going to squeak against my teeth? I can't believe it. I did not think this would work at all. I like George. He's full of passion and enthusiasm. Qualities that I wish I had myself. When I heard Nutella and French fries, I thought, well, that'll be entertaining. But then I ate it just now. You saw it, right? Delicious. Cold ice cream, salty fries, and then super sweet Nutella. That is one hell of a snack. I'm really connecting with this food in a way that I'm considering renouncing my citizenship. It's that good. But this is far from our final poutine. Right now, we're heading to our next location. Let's move. We have come to our next location where our poutine is about to get a huge upgrade. Welcome to Bicet. Bicet, in French, describes the tool used to crack open crabs and lobsters. And they call it that because this place is serving crabs and lobsters. This restaurant is serving some of this country's best seafood. Seafood that's made its way into their poutine. Let's go into the kitchen and see how it works. Boom! I'm in the kitchen with Aziz, the chef de cuisine. Aziz, how you doing? How are you? Good. I'm very excited about this poutine. Today, I've tried already three poutines. Okay, you don't seem like very surprised by that. Doesn't that seem like a lot of poutine? Here, we sell a lot, yeah. No, I know. But today, I myself have eaten three poutines already. Okay, but here, we're gonna eat like the best one. You're not at all fazed that I've had three poutines, huh? He doesn't care. Let's get to it. It all starts with fresh cut French fries. While the French fries are frying, we get into the most interesting part, the lobster. Step one, a lot of butter goes into the skillet. Next, he adds a whole lobster claw, followed by a ton of lobster meat. Ooh, that's looking buttery. The lobster is getting a little bit of heat and a lot of butter. From here, he's dropping in the crab. Next step, boom. Fries come out of the oil, he lets them drip. They go into a bowl, and he hits them with a little bit of salt. Then they head into our serving dish. I gotta say, for fresh cut fries, they're looking pretty decently crunchy. More steamy than crunchy, but very nice. From here, he digs in deep to get some cheese curds. He is not shy with the cheese curds. From here, what looks to be gravy, but this is no ordinary gravy. This right here is a lobster bisque, full of seafood flavor. Wow. From here, he takes the seafood, the lobster, and the crab, and he starts applying it to the top of that poutine pile. He crowns it with that giant lobster claw right in the center. He's using kitchen-grade tweezers, the same ones I use to remove my nose hairs. Then at last, some green onion for color, a little bit of chives, and some aioli. Very decorative. A little bit of sea salt and a little bit of smoked paprika to make the seafood feel at home. And that is how you make the lobster crab poutine. Wow, it's like a work of art. Boom. Nice poutine. This, when you look at it, is shockingly not the most expensive poutine we're going to be trying today, even though it seems like it would be. That is coming in at $36. But don't worry, they're Canadian dollars. Basically, if you're converting anything Canadian to American, it's more than 30% discount. So the real price is probably something more like $22. Today, so far, we have learned what poutine is, but I want to know, where does poutine come from? Poutine started in rural Quebec in the late 1950s. The story goes, a customer asked the owner to throw fresh cheese curds in with his fries. The owner looked at it and said in French, that's going to be a damn mess. What an origin story that is. Why doesn't Marvel get a hold of that intellectual property? In the early 1960s, someone added hot brown gravy and the holy trinity was complete. Fries, curds, gravy. That is poutine. And let me tell you, at our last location, George was telling me that poutine is as popular as ever. And it's kind of become part of Canada's identity now. If you're going to come to Canada, you have to have the poutine experience. Now, let's get into the poutine. I want to start around the edges here, where some of that cheese has kind of melted. I'm going to be honest, that bisque and those fries have kind of combined and created a bit of a potato soup. Let's give it a shot. That's nice. Immediately, I'm hit with that lobster bisque. It's gravy, but it has a delicious seafood essence. It's been boiling with lobster, with all those seafood-y flavors imbuing their essence into the sauce. Nice. Were those good words? I think the camera guy likes it. Let's talk about what else elevates this poutine. First of all, aioli. It's better than mayonnaise. It sounds very fancy. Next to that, we have these smaller pieces of crab and lobster. I'm going to get a little bit of all of that in one delicious bite. Wow. It's very delicious. I feel like we finally hit our stride with the gravy. Not too salty, but very flavorful and very complex. Rich, decadent, nice, good, and kind of neat, too. Man, I got the words. Beyond that, the lobster and the crab, they are not just cooked in butter. They are slathered in butter, so they're rich. Plus, they have that natural, delicious, seafood-y sweetness inside. It's very good. Here's the thing. I've gone to Maine to catch and consume lobster. There, they prefer to put them in delicious toasted lobster rolls. That's nice, but in Canada, they do things a little bit differently, at least at this restaurant. Here, they're taking one of their most premium ingredients and sticking it on kind of a bar food, and that's the best part. Poutine isn't known for being luxurious, expensive. This is like an everyman type of food. But even though the poutine has humble origins, it still works like this. That said, we have one more megabyte to go. Take a look at this lobster claw. We've got fries, absolutely saturated with that bisque, stretchy cheese. Then we got the cherry on top, a big piece of a lobster claw. It's pure indulgence. Is this even poutine anymore? It's just a big, delicious, meaty piece of seafood with some french fries on the side. So as opulent as this experience is, this is not our most expensive poutine of the day. That, that comes next. Let's move. We have come to our final and most expensive poutine location of the day. But what could they possibly do to make a poutine cost over $100? Are they putting in little bits of moussette or shavings? Perhaps they're topping it with some dried seal fish. Let's head into the kitchen to find out more. I'm in the kitchen right now with Michael. Michael, put her there. How are you? First of all, were you born in Montreal? I was born in Warsaw, Poland. Oh my god. Montreal is really a city of immigrants, it seems like. What it means to be Canadian? I feel like it must be something that's always shifting and changing. No, I mean 100%. To be Canadian is to be a little bit of love for every culture. Especially in Montreal, we have a diverse multicultural cuisine, lots of different types of food. So if there is so much diversity here and differences in culture, what are the common uniting factors of people in Montreal? Poutine. Poutine brings everybody together. Now you do have a poutine on your menu. That is a truffle poutine. That comes in at only about $12. Exactly. We try to keep a nice portion for everyone to try. We make our own house gravy, everything from scratch so people can have a real poutine. But the one you asked us to create is worth 100 bucks. So I want to talk about that disparity. How are we getting to that price point? The truffles are hard to get a hold of for a good price. So I found some friends of mine that used a supplier and black truffle, like this fresh from where we got it, delicious. So that's the biggest expense in it is the truffle, obviously. Black truffles from the black market sounds very expensive. How many people had to die for these truffles to get here today? But the owner hasn't revealed everything. The head chef has one more secret ingredient that pushes this dish over $100. And I'll reveal it soon. But now it's time to meet the beast. So the first thing that we're going to do, drop the fries. So we have our hand-cut fries that we make every single day. We'll even soak them overnight with a bit of vinegar and salt, just so that they crisp and they can ferment a little bit. 350 degree fryer for about four minutes. When it comes to poutine, what makes the best type of gravy? The best type of gravy is you do it with bone broth, spaniel sauce. And a lot of the secrets in town is to add a bit of ketchup to it. At my first location today, they said the gravy was vegetarian. Is that good? Yeah, it's good. Wait, but you just talked about bone broth. Are these bones from carrots? You said the best poutine. Here, just like at our first location, they also use vegetarian gravy to serve a wider range of customers. When the fries are ready, they're going to talk to you. If you can hear them, they're crispy. They're good. To season our fries, we usually do Montreal steak spice and just a little pinch of salt. Saucies. Now to finish off our poutine, we like to layer our cheese. This is the first time we're seeing this technique today. He's layering in the cheese curds. Are these the same kind of cheese curds that everyone else is using? They're pretty much the same cheese curds. Cheese curds form the base. Bit of our fries. Remember, the fries are very hot. They're going to start melting the cheese. And also the cheese curds are room temperature. More cheese curds. To garnish, we're going to use a bit of maple lardon. Which is like maple bacon? Exactly. And now here we go with the magic. This is our homemade gravy. We season it with a bit of cinnamon. Oh, it smells amazing. And other aromatics. Remember, the gravy needs to be very hot so that the cheese can melt. We have our house jus that we made with a bit of rosemary, some red currants and maple. This is going to give it another layer of taste. And now for the grand prize. We're going to truffle it up. Remember, each shade costs about 30 cents. That's 30 Canadian cents. The truffle is pouring down. Get it all over the place. You've got, yeah. More truffle. And finally, the chef's secret ingredient, caviar. Then some chives for color. So that is how you make a $100 poutine here in Montreal. All right, folks, here it is. The final poutine of the day coming in at over $100. Feast your eyes on this. Incredible. Even without the expensive ingredients, it's like a solid looking dish. And they're doing a lot of poutine innovation. What do I mean? First of all, layering cheese curds? Yes, please. Smart idea. My only critique is the owner here. He's not. Thank God. Goddammit, he's right there. I get it. As a restaurant owner, you're like, let's make it vegetarian. We don't have to make two different gravies. What I missed out on today was trying a gravy made from actual beef. But we did get one made from lobster. And that is still a living animal. That is not vegetarian. Still pretty good, but not the classic. Beyond that, this is kind of a maple-y bacon that he already cooked before we got here. I'm going to give that a shot first. That's so yummy. It's sweet. It's smoky. It's fatty. Completely delightful. It is like candidum in one bite. But let's dig more into the actual poutine with all of the ingredients together. He said it's so important to get the gravy on there while still hot. So you get this. A little bit of a cheese pull. Some half-melted cheese curds. It's a lot of liquid. Absolutely soaking in flavor. They have that currant sauce. And that really brightens up the flavor. It adds another dimension. And it makes it feel like so much more of a premium experience. But you might be asking yourself, Sonny, what about the truffle? Can I be honest? It's almost indistinguishable. I can't really taste the truffle apart from anything else. And there are a lot of powerful flavors in here. Should I lie and say that I can taste it? I don't want to disappoint the folks watching. What? The truffle was for nothing? The truffle tastes a little bit like truffle. I'm going to attempt for an epic cheese pull. And I will settle for that. Wow. Wild. Insanely savory. Deep. Complex. Delicious gravy sauce. Cleanse the palate with some champagne. The flavor of truffle can get lost with everything else. But caviar, that's going to stand out. I have just like a bed of caviar here. Wow. Expensive? Yes. But sometimes less is more. It's very briny. Very salty. An already pretty salty dish. That said, this is a poutine with some attitude. Meanwhile, it's a poutine worth declaring bankruptcy for. It's expensive. But you know what? Life isn't about buying things. It's about buying experiences. And here, you're getting both. So this is our final poutine experience of the day. Today, I've had five in total. But only one gave me the most poutine bang for my buck. And which one deserves to be on an American dinner table near you? Let's go outside and find out. Boom! Today, we tried five different types of poutine. But only one can be the best and give me the most bang for my Canadian buck. And if I had to choose one out of all of them, it would be the lobster and crab poutine. Yes, my criteria are simple. I chose that one because it tasted the best. All of them had something special to offer. But that was my favorite. I want to know what you guys think, though. Of all the foods we tried today, which do you wish you could try? And do any of them deserve to be on an American dinner table? When it comes to that seafood poutine, I'm not saying I'd give it a green card, but at least a 30-day visa. Still not bad.