Chesapeake Poutine

Let's talk about poutine for a minute. Poutine is a Canadian dish made of french fries that are topped with a brown gravy and cheese curds. The gravy is oftentimes made of a mix of chicken and beef stock and is made as a thinner, lighter gravy. Cheese curds, also known as squeaky cheese, are little pieces of curdled milk that look like little oval bites of cheese. Cheese curds are pretty readily available in grocery stores in the US nowadays. So the little cheese curds and hot gravy are placed on top of hot fries right before serving, and the heat from the gravy and fries melt the cheese just enough to make them nice and gooey. YUM, right?

Today's recipe is my Maryland style spin on this classic dish. We have hand cut, air fried, russet potato french fries. We have white cheddar cheese curds. And, we have a creamy, crabby gravy that coats the whole situation.

Are you drooling yet?

Let's talk about those french fries. We're going to cut the potatoes into french fries by hand, and it's so much easier than you think! One potato at a time, we're going to lay the potato on it's side, slice the potato into ¼ inch thick slices, then lay those slices flat, and cut them into ¼ inch thick stick. Super simple! And, we don't even need to peel the potatoes first. We're going to keep the skin on for extra flavor and crispy texture.

In order to get that perfect fry that's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, we need to try to wash out some of that starch that russets are infamous for. So as soon as we finishing slicing each potato, we're going to put our fries into a big bowl of cold water. The fries are going to soak in the water for about a half hour, then we'll drain the water, give the fries another rinse, drain them again, and put them on some towels to dry. We need to get them as dry as we possibly can so they “fry” in the air fryer instead of steam.

The next step is to toss our fries with some oil, salt, and pepper. I used the air fryer function in my Ninja Foodi Grill to cook my fries, and I think the texture was absolutely perfect. You'll have to work in batches, because we don't want to crowd our fries in the air fryer. But it only takes about 15 mins per batch for these fries to be perfect. If you don't have an air fryer, you can absolutely roast these fries in the oven. It will take a little longer, and the texture will be slightly different, but for all intents and purposes, the fries will still be just as yummy in our poutine if you bake them.

While the fries are going, we can work on our crabby gravy. The gravy starts with a traditional roux made of butter and flour. Then, we add seafood stock and a little Old Bay as the base of our gravy. Once the stock starts to thicken, we'll add a little heavy cream, some delicious lump crab meat, and a splash of sherry wine. Sherry wine is one of those locally known secret ingredients in cream of crab soup, and it makes all of the difference. This gravy is so rich and delicious, I could pretty much just shovel it straight from the pot to my mouth. Forget the fries and cheese!

No, wait. I didn't mean that!

Once we have our fries and gravy finished, it's time to assemble. Lay your fries on your serving platter. Pour that incredible gravy all over those crispy fries. And top the whole thing with your cheese curds. Now since this dish is kind of one note and brown when it comes to color, we're going to add a little sprinkling of fresh chives right on top to add a little brightness, freshness, and pizazz.

When it's time to take a bite, get ready for an eyes rolling in the back of your head kind of experience. The fries are savory and crispy. The gravy is creamy and bursting with coastal seafood flavor. And, the cheese curds turn into little blobs of gooey goodness. This dish is so warm and comforting and perfect for beating those cool weather blues.

I ran this recipe by a native Canadian, and I got two thumbs up. So, that's the best seal of the approval this fusion dish could ever really need.

I can't wait to hear what you guys think of it! Enjoy, and let's eat!