So, when I was a little girl, I remember my Memiere making these “things”  called Poutine (pronounced  ‘Put-zin’.) Apparently she and my ancestors considered them quite the delicacy.  They were an old French Canadian recipe, not to be confused with the Quebecois Poutine which are fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.  Oh, no…these little beauties look like brains.  Gelatinous balls of starch.  Doesn’t that sound appetizing???  Cookbooks and sentimentals call them “dumplings”…I call them “disgusting.”

A bit of history can be found here .

The recipe can be found here .

A picture of this “dumpling” can be found in this post at Bill Casselman’s site.

Makes you want to run right out and buy a bunch of potatoes and salt pork and try boiling up a few of these bad boys doesn’t it?  *gag*

I believe my Memiere used pork sausage in the center of her’s as opposed to the salt pork…for the purists out there, this is a mortal sin, however the thought of biting into a hunk of salt pork is quite unappealing.  (Who am I kidding?! The entire ball of starch is unappealing.) *gag*

My Aunt attempted to make them for my Memiere several years ago as a Christmas surprise.  Unfortunately, after all her hard work, they turned out gray-ish…okay, gray….okay.  Honestly?  The things were nearly BLACK.  A gelatinous, shiny, ash gray/black ball of something otherworldly.  I believe words like “turd” and “poop” were tossed carelessly about the table upon their presentation.  Thank goodness my Aunt is a good sport…in fact I think the word “turd” came from her own mouth.

So why am I telling you about Poutine?  Well, because I am thinking about making some for my Memiere as a Christmas gift.  It goes against the grain to cook something that I won’t eat, but I already bought the cheesecloth (that’s how my Memiere kept hers from falling apart in the boiling water.)  And I bought the potatoes.  I just have to talk to my Mom and find out what goes in the middle of these alien mutations.  Salt pork?  Sausage?  Or something “else.”  And when I do get to preparing these delights, I promise I will photo document the process so you can all be a witness to history coming back to life.  Maybe I’ll even wear one of my Grand-Memiere’s old aprons to add to the venerable feel of the occasion.

Stay tuned…Poutine Rapee are about to make a comeback.