The Badger Poutine

Cheese curds, gravy, and french fries, OH MY! You may be rubbing your eyes or pinching yourself in disbelief as you feast your eyes upon this savory poutine smothered between two pieces of delicious beer bread.  But let me assure you, this is real life and really, really, really scrumptious. And what better way to celebrate April (which is National Grilled Cheese Month) than by paying homage to the great state of Wisconsin for their amazing contributions to cheese.  Wisconsin Cheese Talk, you know I love ya.

With a little inspiration from the Wisconsin culture of cheese and beer consumption, I present to you the ingredients:

 Ingredients

- 12 Wisconsin Cheese Curds
- a handful of french fries
- 1.5 tbs of brown gravy
- 2 pats of unsalted butter
- 2 slices of beer bread
  (1 dark beer, room temp, 3 cups of
   self rising flour, 3 tbs of sugar,
   1 pinch of salt, a few sprays of pam)

We all know that Cheese heads love their beer, so I thought it was only fitting to incorporate this cultural staple into this Wisconsin themed grilled cheese.  Beer bread is not only absolutely delicious and addicting, but it's probably the easiest and quickest bread I've ever made! 

To make it all you need is 1 room temperature dark beer (suggested beer would be Wisoconsin's own Capital Dark or Sprecher Winter Brew), 3 cups of self-rising flour, 3 tbs of sugar, and 1 pinch of salt.  Combine all the ingredients, grease two loaf pans, distribute batter equally and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  Allow to cool for about an hour before you make the grilled cheese. So easy, right?!

Once the bread has cooled down, melt the two pats of butter in your pan over medium heat.  

When the butter is about done melting, turn down the heat to medium/low and add the two pieces of beer bread directly on top of the butter.  Once they're in, gently press down and rub the pieces around to soak up all the butter. 

Directly after that, place a few cheese curds on each slice of bread and space them evenly apart.  If you've never had Wisconsin cheese curds, I highly suggest that you leave your computer RIGHT NOW and find them.  These squeaky little morsels are best when they are super fresh (about one day after production) which might make you think "hmmmm, well how the heck do I find fresh Wisconsin cheese curds?"  I thought the same thing, especially since I was in FL while I was developing this grilled cheese.  Luckily, after some googling I found a local farmers market in Daytona, FL that sold the authentic curds.  I ate about half the bag on the drive home, managing to save the perfect amount for one grilled cheese.

Anyways, back to the recipe…now you'll just wait until the cheese curds start to melt.  Make sure to check the bottom of the bread to see that it's not burning.  It took about five minutes until the cheese looked like the last picture.  The process is just too dang pretty not to document, so here it is... because I'm just a little obsessed with melting cheese.

 Once the cheese has almost melted completely, you'll be ready to add the french fries. Just stack 'em evenly onto each side.

Right when you finish that step, carefully spoon the hot gravy on top of the french fries.  The melted cheese sort of creates a gravy boundary, which will keep your bread from getting soggy.  

At this point, the bread should be crispy and golden so you'll want to gently take the pieces of bread out of the skillet and smush together.

Now just slice it, crack open a nice cold delicious Wisconsin beer and get your taste buds ready for some extreme eating!  

 

I hope everyone has an amazing grilled cheese month! Bon Appetit!

xoxo,

GCS