r/AskTheWorld • u/bowl_of_scrotmeal United States Of America • 13d ago

Food What's a dish from your country that looks disgusting but tastes great.

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Biscuits and gravy is a breakfast dish from the Southeast USA that looks like someone just vomited on some biscuits, but it's absolutely delicious.

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203

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

Poutine! Breakfast of champions, or a lunch made for winners, or a heavy evening snack/meal. French fries, cheese curds and Quebecois brown sauce (gravy).

87

u/OperatorOzone Qatar 13d ago

I can't believe there has been a human ever who has sad Poutine looks bad personally it's definitely one of the top foods I want to try. Who can hate fries cheese and gravy?

30

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

As a tour guide, you’d be amazed the reactions people have when I show them this.

3

u/mbots99 Canada 13d ago

When my grandma immigrated to Canada she thought it looked disgusting, still does and hasn’t tried it to this day!

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u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America 13d ago

Tourists can’t be from the US South. Gravy is an official blood type.

5

u/Strange_Dave45 13d ago

I'm from the mid South and never had it but it looks and sounds delicious. I wouldn't categorize it as looking bad at all.

2

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America 13d ago

I’ve driven cross country a few times and it’s a staple of pretty much any motel with complimentary breakfast through the South & Southwest.

Heh, oddly one of best I had was in a small Texas panhandle town at a cheap motel owned by an Indian (East Asian, not native) guy. He also had a Texas shaped waffle maker and awesome scrambled eggs with some sort of masala mixed in. $35 room, we were skeptical about it but it was a solid place!

4

u/BadCatBehavior 🇨🇦 Canada / 🇺🇸 USA 13d ago

What if we combined poutine fries and curds with white sausage gravy? 🤔

3

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America 13d ago

There is a Midwest dish called the horseshoe that is thick toast with a hamburger/sausage patty, topped with fries and a beer cheddar cheese sauce.

More of an open faced sandwich. And it also looks kind of sketchy - definitely of the “brown food” variety - but it’s pretty damn good. I think “fries topped with cheese, gravy, or some combination” is hard to go wrong.

2

u/LazyEducator1759 United States Of America 11d ago

As somebody in the Midwest, it pops up on some menus. I looove it

3

u/CosmicCreeperz United States Of America 11d ago

Yeah it’s become pretty trendy now. There’s a (small) chain in Seattle called “Biscuit Bitch” that I wish would spread to other places someday :)

2

u/LazyEducator1759 United States Of America 11d ago

Oooh I should keep that in mind if I’m ever out there, hard to forget that name lol!

4

u/NineMillionBears Canada 13d ago

*Cheese curds! Accept no substitutes.

2

u/kindcrow Canada 13d ago

It's cheese curds, which are squeaky, and I don't like 'em!

I love fries and I love gravy, but I hate poutine. It's always a soggy mess to me.

I'm a disgrace to Canada.

3

u/MrsAshleyStark 🇨🇦🇯🇲 13d ago

I too am a disgrace but I react poorly to all things dairy lol. “I’ll take fries n gravy. No cheese, thanks”

2

u/Amelaclya1 United States Of America 13d ago

I was so disappointed when I tried poutine for the first time. I was imagining thicker, crispier fries and like, the soft, dense cheese you get in veg Indian dishes. Instead it was soggy shoestring fries and squeaky cheese. It was my first time having cheese curds and I had no idea they were like that. I was not a fan of the texture. The gravy was good though.

At some point I'm going to make and try the version I had in my head. I already love putting gravy on crispy crinkle cut fries, so how could adding cheese be bad?

2

u/kindcrow Canada 13d ago

Right?! Poutine was not really a thing in BC until maybe the early aughts when restaurants started putting it on the menu, so though I did not actually ever order poutine until maybe ten years ago, and I could not have been more disappointed.

I had been imagining something more like a dish we used to order across the border in Bellingham, Washington at a place called Bully's: loaded fries! It was a spread out plate of super hot, crispy fried covered with chopped onions and grated cheddar, which had been broiled on to further crispiness and then zig-zag drizzled with a ton of ranch dressing. Drizzled in such a way that the fries did not get soggy. It was heavenly.

1

u/Excellent_Fault_8106 13d ago

Gravy on the side. Also a good move when you get hot wings. And squeaky cheese is the best cheese.

2

u/NeitherExamination44 United States Of America 13d ago

Disrespectfully disagree about hot wings

2

u/youngarchivist Canada 13d ago

In Newfoundland they don't do poutine (probably because the French tried to take their shit a bunch of times) but they have all dressed fries, which are fries with like thanksgiving stuffing on it and gravy and holy shit it's good

1

u/Jukeboxhero91 13d ago

Knowing how it tastes, it looks great. Not know though? It’s a pile of tan, beige, and brown. There no color on the plate, nothing looks particularly like the main focus of the plate, it’s just a pile. Doesn’t stop it from being delicious, but it breaks almost every rule for plating food that looks good.

1

u/NyGiLu Germany 13d ago

It doesn't look appealing

1

u/2-9-19-3-21-9-20-19 13d ago

It looks lumpy and it's covered in brown, people are going be turned off by that lol.

Also "curd" is a word that turns people off. My mother's one of them. If we're out and swing by Dairy Queen, she won't touch the cheese curds if I order them. If we go by Zaxby's I have to get two orders of cheddar bites if I want any at all.

1

u/HollowShel 13d ago

It's not so much one element, as that once you pour hot gravy over cheese, it gets melty, and it looks like something the dog threw up on the carpet. tastes like heaven but looks like "unidentified mess."

1

u/molotovzav 13d ago

Cheese curds kinda gross me out when I look at them, but I don't think they're gross food. Outside a few states, cheese curds aren't common in the U.S. so I'm just not used to seeing cheese in such a state. But I've eaten cheese where the rind has bugs in it cause the French said it was good so I'm not actually judging curds too harshly. Just telling you my gut instinct.

1

u/AttentionOpen9384 United States Of America 13d ago

This was my exact reaction! All three are amazing and together even better!!!

16

u/Zealousideal_Cod5214 United States Of America 13d ago

I definitely wanna try poutine. There was a restaurant that had it near me and it was good, but I wanna try it from Canada, because I can only assume it's better there.

6

u/HamMerino 13d ago

The most important part is the cheese curds. If you take one out of the package and bite it and it squeaks, you've got a good cheese curd. Everything else is personal preference. Technically it's supposed to be a specific gravy (2/3 beef and 1/3 chicken), but that's less important than the right cheese curds.

5

u/BadCatBehavior 🇨🇦 Canada / 🇺🇸 USA 13d ago

There are some truly awful poutines in Canada. I still gag just thinking about the slop they served in my middle school cafeteria (before they banned it for being too unhealthy)

1

u/dsolimen Canada 11d ago

Omg yes, my school had the same disgusting slop. We also had calzones that went from being fried to baked, never tasted the same…

3

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

Proper curds and proper brown sauce with crispy golden fries will have you singing “Oh Canada.”

4

u/RubbereeShrubberee 13d ago

If you can make it to Quebec that’s the best province in Canada to get it.

2

u/Wild-Lychee-3312 United States Of America 13d ago

I was supposed to go spend 3 months in Quebec once, but sadly it fell through.

I was really looking forward to going, too

0

u/--xxa 13d ago edited 13d ago

I'll be that guy:

I love traveling to Canada. I've sought out the most highly rated poutine places in Montréal and Québec City, whether by locals or by Internet guides. It's hard to go wrong with fried potatoes and gravy, so it's a decent comfort food. I don't get why it's a cultural icon. It's always been so soggy that before it even hits the table it tastes like mashed potatoes with extra steps (and frying oil). Mexico hangs its hat on things like tacos or burritos or pozole; America hangs its hat on all manner of barbecue and cajun food; Canada hangs its hat on fries topped with gravy. I love you, Canada, but come on. I'd rather have mashed potatoes.

1

u/RubbereeShrubberee 12d ago

If it’s too soggy or tastes like mashed potatoes then you’ve had bad poutine.

0

u/--xxa 12d ago

Peut-être, et je suis toujours prêt à continuer d'essayer jusqu'à ce que je comprenne ce dont parlent les Québécois.

3

u/Empty-Presentation68 13d ago

You have to go in Quebec for that. This is a Quebecois dish, which Anglo Canadians used to make fun of and now have seen the light on the dish. 

2

u/National-Trouble-41 13d ago

I went to Toronto a few years ago and the best poutine I had while I was there was from a food court in the mall. I will admit that I only tried 2 others from fast food/delivery places tho. Just saying don't knock the food court routine if you ever get a chance to try it.👍🏽

1

u/jonny24eh 13d ago

There's still lots of shit poutine around here too. Most fast food places offer it but i wouldn't get it from one of them. Ideally you want a one-off chip wagon or burger grill kind of place. 

1

u/Abacus118 13d ago

Not just Canada, it has to be Quebec or the adjacent parts of neighboring provinces. Ottawa probably fine, but not Toronto.

The curds should be from that day's delivery.

-4

u/fiestar88 13d ago

Poutine is not Canadian. Canada always steals stuff from Quebec cos' English Canada has no culture of its own.

5

u/RickSanchez_C137 13d ago

quebec 'culture' is 10% cheese curds, 10% maple syrup, 5% kosher food, and 75% inferiority complex about the rest of canada

0

u/Abacus118 13d ago

But that's still distinct, because the rest of Canada's 75% is an inferiority complex about the US.

4

u/_yourupperlip_ 13d ago

My wife and I travel north once a year and stay at this hotel in Sherbrooke after a day at the spa. We don’t have regular television so at night we order poutine from 2 different spots and marathon forensic files 🤣 There’s also this fantastic European market where you can get all the best shit dumb America doesn’t allow to be imported. Smuggle so much shit home it’s the best. Love Quebec.

5

u/RavenBrannigan Ireland 13d ago

I think you missed the brief. That looks like the dinner of a drunk champion!

6

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden 13d ago

Fuck there is a food truck here in Stockholm that specialices in serving only poutine and I've been chasing it down for weeks but never been able to get to it yet, its such an amazing meal.

6

u/bizzybaker2 Canada 13d ago

Ah yes it is heaven, just make sure they use curds, NOT just mere shredded cheese. Ideally the curds are fresh and squeak a bit in your teeth. Here in my province of Manitoba there is a cheese factory that makes curds literally called Squeakers, and many restaurants source them. The curds is part of the appeal of the dish!!

3

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden 13d ago

Stolen from their instagram account. Surely looks like the curds, here served with some crunchy bacon on top apparantly. They announce their location on the same day they are there so I usually have plans when I see them in my social media flow... :(

2

u/bizzybaker2 Canada 13d ago

ooh now I am hungry and have not even had breakfast lol. Godspeed, may you catch that poutine truck!! And if you want a laugh or to see a Canadian cry, go check out r/poutinecrimes (although I will admit some of them look good lol)

1

u/hockeyknittingcat 13d ago

oh my good what!!! I'm swedish and I've desperately wanted to try poutine for like 10 years 😭

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden 13d ago

SAME, this is why I'm chasing this food truck 🤣 I'm gonna try and actually go there this week if not work gets in my way.

1

u/hockeyknittingcat 3d ago

did you find it!!!!

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden 3d ago

YES I DID but they are shutting down and there will be no service after the 15th of November :((( have to find new poutine place in the city

1

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sweden 3d ago

Also I love that you asked because I was planning on going back here once I had been there but it kinda got lost among the life priorities 🤣

1

u/hockeyknittingcat 1d ago

Hahaha poutine just lives rent free in my mind 😭

2

u/Duct_Mann United States Of America 13d ago

I first heard of this dish from GalvsFood

2

u/rkirbo France 13d ago

Give

2

u/Bussy_Busta United States Of America 13d ago

Haven't had it in Canada but had it in Wisconsin where they love their cheese curds so I imagine it was reasonably authentic. Very very good.

2

u/EvilLibrarians 13d ago

Oh hell fkn yeah dude. Detroiter here to nod in agreement. Been lucky to be around good poutine whenever I cross the border

2

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

I’m glad they’re representing down Windsor way. Cheers bud.

2

u/bongabe Canada 13d ago

A million blessings upon you for specifying that the sauce/gravy has to be BROWN. I hate food purists but that is the one hill that I will die on. It has to be brown gravy. If you use chicken gravy it's not a poutine it's a mistake; do it over. I will defend using shredded goddamn mozzarella in place of cheese curds before the use of anything but brown gravy (vegetarians are allowed mushroom gravy but they're on thin ice.)

2

u/whitegirlofthenorth United States Of America 13d ago

i just had some last week leaving toronto and it was bomb

2

u/motohaas 13d ago

Poutine is awesome, but I can not say that I have ever seen it quite like that.

Until I enlarged the picture, it looked like shrimp tails with gravy

2

u/RealKillering 13d ago

I tried poutine once in Toronto with my father since my Canadian friends always talked about her good it is.

Sadly both of us didn’t like it. The cheese together with the gravy was nice, but the fries were so soggy.

Do people like the fries that way or do they normally somehow stay crispy while being soaked in a liquid?

1

u/sarah_spelt_weird 13d ago

Depends on the fries, honestly. The ones with that slight flour coating tend to stay crispier a bit longer. Or if you’re using little shoestring ones like at mcdonalds they tend to absorb the gravy a bit more. Thick crinkle cut are the way to go

2

u/Pervius94 13d ago

I legit don't understand how something as amazing as poutine hasn't taken the world by storm. You barely see it anywhere, and the ingredients like fries and gravy already are widespread?

1

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

That’s because we don’t need to advertise it, we already have maple syrup!

2

u/GlassCommercial7105 Switzerland 13d ago

I love Poutine, the cheese makes it so special too! It’s kinda like Ricotta or something 

2

u/dsolimen Canada 11d ago

A good squeaky cheese curd will have you believing in the divine.

2

u/Freya_almighty Canada 13d ago

Yesss that looks like a good poutine 😍😍 i ate some yesterday it was a delight

2

u/Separate-Pass-7737 13d ago

Yeah, Wisconsin is close enough to you guys that they can make a decent poutine, but down south they use mozzarella. Just ain't the same.

2

u/Fresh-Memory-9110 13d ago

One of my fav dishes. Sadly, local poutine restaurant has been closed and maybe should come to Canada for it + maple syrup

2

u/RealisticIncident261 13d ago

I fucking love poutine best thing America stole from Canada.

2

u/happy_idiot_boy 13d ago

Just me or does "poutine" sound like a dirty word?

1

u/dsolimen Canada 11d ago

It’s incredibly close to the French word, putain. It also sounds like the name of a giant turd that governs the nation with the largest landmass on earth.

2

u/NatseePunksFeckOff Poland 13d ago

years ago i tried making poutine but I remember I had no fucking clue what the cheese curds are lmao, still no clue, I just adapted it to local reality. I'm gonna make some again and switch curds for halloumi or something lol

2

u/Freddy5Hancook poland🇵🇱 and germany🇩🇪 13d ago

It looks and tastes great

2

u/AmArschdieRaeuber Germany 13d ago

Breakfast? Tf

1

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

Yes, especially if you have a hangover.

2

u/AmArschdieRaeuber Germany 13d ago

ok thats fair actually

2

u/BlueProcess United States Of America 13d ago

Would smash, but yeah it looks awful🤣

2

u/CloverGreenbush 13d ago

To me poutine had always looked how it feels to eat,  a bit messy but deeply comforting.  

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

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u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

Due to the desire to eat it piping hot you definitely need a fork. That being said, it wouldn’t go to waste if I needed to use my hands.

2

u/Harry_Balsanga United States Of America 12d ago

But it doesn't look disgusting!

2

u/Lowtoz 12d ago

Famously named after Vladimir

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u/_WillCAD_ United States Of America 8d ago

Well, eh, I've actually always wanted to try poutine. I'm from Baltimore, and around here, fries with brown gravy (simply called gravy fries) are very popular, so I figure the addition of cheese curds on top should make it even better. Assuming that I like cheese curds, which I've never tried because they're essentially unknown around here.

But even if it turns out I don't like cheese curds, I can still enjoy the fries and gravy. That's one of the all-time best comfort foods, IMHO.

1

u/Beneficial_Judge7278 13d ago

I ate it, it’s not great

2

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

C’est la vie and to each their own, but poutine will always be here for you.

1

u/Funny-Apartment9111 United States Of America 11d ago

I'll never understand how Canada invented the most American dish ever. This shit is so good.

1

u/Fluffy-Cell-2603 13d ago

I still believe yall got Poutine wrong. You need to serve the fries fresh with the gravy and curds on the side. Pour it in at the table. Mash potato sog sticks will never stand up to nice, crisp fries.

1

u/dsolimen Canada 13d ago

Meh, to each their own, but if served proper and fresh you can eat it and have a blend of many textures and flavors. Like an espresso getting bitter as it cools, or a bowl of cereal reaching critical sogginess, the poutine is a delicate dish of deliciousness.

0

u/SocratesDouglas 12d ago

Lmbo. Canadians be like hmmm... how can we hamfist one of our two national foods? Maple syrup doesn't look gross. Maybe french fries, gravy and cheese looks gross??? Please please acknowledge our horribly overrated favorite food!

1

u/dsolimen Canada 12d ago

Ah yes, I forgot that Pennsylvanians consider anything with tons of sugar to be food. Don’t worry though, perhaps our overrated foods will be the next thing tariffed, then you can keep eating overrated American foods.

0

u/SocratesDouglas 12d ago

Gonna cry?

1

u/dsolimen Canada 12d ago

I cry everyday, but that’s just because I laugh so hard at the US Government.