Our Family's Poutine

Step 1: In small skillet or saucepan, add about a tablespoon of butter until melted. Add shallots and garlic and saute until shallots are translucent, being very careful not to burn garlic! Set aside.

Step 2: To a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add butter until melted. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 2-5 minutes. You want a nice golden color (like a coffee with cream color). Be very careful not to burn. Add the shallot garlic mixture into the roux (flour mixture) and whisk to combine.

Step 3: Gradually whisk in beef and chicken stocks in a steady stream until combined. Stir in fish sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper; bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Adjust for seasoning if necessary (you want it to taste beefy and may need to adjust with more beef base, see Note I), and cook until reduced slightly and creamy consistency, 8-10 minutes or so. Remove from heat, taste again, and stir in vinegar, if using. Taste again to make sure it tastes beefy and velvety.

Step 4: Note that when using bouillon/beef base, it can turn out salty if you're not careful, so I usually start with less bouillon/beef base and work my way to prevent the over-salty flavor, which is also reason you need to be mindful of tasting throughout to make sure it's all good.

Step 5: Place cooked hot crispy fries in an oven-proof shallow tray, top generously and evenly with cheese curds (placing some in-between the fries too). Place tray in a hot oven 375 degrees F until cheese starts to melt (keep a close eye, because it goes quickly and you don't want your fries to get overdone). Remove from oven and ladle on hot gravy. Sprinkle with chopped scallions. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

NOTE I: I barely use canned or container beef stock, because I feel the flavor is kind-of washed out. A home-made rich beef stock is great, but to save on time, I recommend using a good quality bouillon (Knorr brand) or beef base such as "Better than Bouillon" brand, in particular the roasted beef base flavor is great. For this recipe, I'd recommend the later (Better than Bouillon) over Knorr. In addition, a combination of Better than Bouillon and Demi-Glace is superb here and results in a rich fantastic beefy gravy. I've ordered Minor's Demi-Glace from Amazon and have kept it in the freezer. Makes wonderful gravy for this Poutine and it's worth it. But, if you don't want to deal with the Demi-Glace, Better than Bouillon is fine too.

NOTE II: We've used frozen seasoned fries as well, which also comes out pretty good, unless they are over-seasoned which can compete with the gravy.