So I did it! I finally made the junk food of my forefathers, not that my father or father's-father ate it, my father didn't even know what I was talking about when I told him about it and asked for some tips about making the necessary Velouté sauce. Well, I fear he's been done a disservice, but you, you, my friend will not. For I will share with you the little I know about poutine.

Legend has it that the name came from a bar owner exclaiming, "ça va faire une maudite poutine," or basically, "that's going to make a damned mess!," when a customer requested the gooey godsend. Alas, poutine, at least the "mess" part, was born.

So, what is it? Picture fries covered in a glossy meat gravy, add some fresh cheese curd, et voila!

Now I'll direct you to the jackpot of information about this delectible dish, namely, www.montrealpoutine.com. This site is complete with poutine's history, reviews of poutine-serving establishments in Quebec and recipes for those of us who don't live near a store that sells poutine powder pouches, yes, this is real, there're photos.

Well, investigate and decide which style of Poutine you'd like to make and while you do that, I'd like to take the vegetarians aside for a pep talk. First, yes, I know, we never got to order wet fries at The Shore and for that I'm sorry, but poutine, c'est possible! The recommended Velouté sauce can be made using vegetable stock with very successful results. I highly suggest using the "modifications" listed following the Velouté recipe on the website mentioned above: simply add diced, sweet onion and balsamic vinegar to the roux and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper to the reduction sauce. It made a flavorful gravy for my poutine and would I'm sure pique the interest of mon hockey-loving yet, poutine know-nothing Pere.

Here's a related link: www.montrealfood.com