Aux Anciens Canadiens is one of the few restaurants in Quebec City where one can try traditional cuisine. The reason for this paucity is that it’s peasant food. Old Quebec food is heavy and doesn’t have broad appeal. Like fèves au lard (baked beans with maple syrup) or tourtière (minced meat pie). Enterprising restaurateurs who can re-invent the cuisine will surely be fêted.
But it’s not going to happen at Aux Anciens Canadiens. They value authenticity and it’s the reason people tourists visit. To add to their street cred, they claim to occupy the oldest house in Quebec City.
Poutine is the undisputed number one iconic food of Canada. The second is…um maple syrup? And that wraps up the list of famous Canadian foods.
So, if you are foodie, you have to go to Quebec, the birthplace of poutine. Montreal and Quebec City are strong contenders but food snobs like to point out that the best poutines are outside Montreal. I don’t know if that is true but I do know that Quebec City has Chez Ashton, a fast food chain with great classic poutines. More on that later. Moreover, Quebec City is fairly compact, so it’s an easy place to try different poutines.
Quebec City
What makes a great poutine?
There are just three components in a classic poutine. It’s hard to mess them up but also difficult to excel at them all.
Fries Medium cut. Crisp on the outside. Double- or even triple-frying is optional.
Gravy Dark brown, semi-thin, and salty with a deep meaty flavour. The gravy can be based on chicken, beef, or both. Vegan options have also appeared but the classic is heavy on beef.
Cheese This is the most difficult component to source but the easiest to prepare. The “cheese” is actually cheese curd, not actual cheese. They are a byproduct of cheese production and are like white, bite-sized cushions. It’s hard to find them outside of Quebec and Ontario.
The cheese curds must make a squeaking noise when you chew on them. Obviously, they must remain intact in order to squeak. That’s why they are added to the poutine at the last moment. The chef should ensure that the gravy and fries are not too hot to melt the curds. Any poutine that uses mozzarella, cheddar, or Cheez Whiz is sacrilegious. Heavily-melted cheese is also a sign of an inauthentic poutine.
Variations abound, from Galvaude (chicken and peas) to bacon. Restaurants with the best traditional poutine may not have the best all-loaded ones. For a fair comparison, only traditional poutine was ordered for this taste test.
