Chip Truck · Quebec Original

Poutine

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Real poutine cheese curds are supposed to squeak when you bite them — if they don't squeak, cooks consider them past their prime.

Hot, crisp french fries are smothered in brown gravy and fresh cheese curds, which soften but never fully melt under the heat. It originated at rural Quebec roadside snack bars — chip trucks known as casse-croûtes — in the late 1950s, and is now sold from poutine counters and food trucks across the country.

Why it's made this way: The dish grew out of small-town Quebec chip-truck culture, where cooks began piling local dairy cheese curds and gravy onto a basic order of fries, turning a cheap snack into a heartier meal that could be eaten standing up at a roadside stand.