Talk about upgraded, newstalgic, fusion recip-es… A Poutinerie in my very own home town – Ottawa – has gone viral for creating some-thing a million other cooks around the world have thought of, but didn’t quite get right… Behold! General Tso’s Chicken Poutine!
Ottawa calls itself ‘Canada’s Shawarma Capital’, and that may be true, just on account of all the Shawarma places we have to choose from. Now it may have to come up with a slogan for Poutine, after a local chef’s Asian-fusion creation went viral…
How it came to be…
The new ‘IT’ poutine is General Tso’s Chicken (GT’sCP), and – like the original fries-curd-gravy dish, it’s the result of a customer’s offhand comment. This time, though, the comment was on X (formerly Twitter) (see screenshot, left), and was accompanied by a lip-smacking photo.
Morin recalls the day ‘gillian’ came into his restaurant, The Great Canadian Poutinerie: “This wonderful lady came in, took a photo. And she was just like a regular person. It wasn’t like this crazy influencer that has a million followers. […] She was just doing what a lot of people do, share their day-to-day. [But] she woke up the next morning, and it was just right off the charts.”
The post had chalked up tens of thousands of likes and more than 2.8 million views before ‘gillian’ made the account private. It seems that ‘gillian’ doesn’t want to become an Internet influencer. Her choice. But prob-ably a wise one. Who knows how long it might be be-fore she stumbles over another vitral hit?
A little history…
But the making of Morin’s viral dish was no overnight whim. Paddy P. confides, he tinkered with the recipe for years – making it just for himself. But finally decided, “‘If you like something, other people will as well.'”
Morin makes GT’sCP from specially-sourced ‘kaarage’ chicken. Incidentallty, it’s Halal. The sauce (which goes on the chicken) is a secret! The gravy (which goes on the chips under-neath) is made with chick-en, beef, wheat and dairy. But a Halal version is available.
The dish is topped off, literally, by a sprinkle of chopped scallions. Simple but beautiful. And totally faithful to the Asian component.
Fame is hard to do…
“I was not prepared for fame,” actor Al Pacino once said. Neither was Morin: “Instantly, I went from selling a reasonable amount to scrambling to [produce] the product that I need. […] and bringing in a bit more staff to make the experience a bit more smooth.”
But being the ONE who’s famous for GT’sCP isn’t a bad thing at all…
My take
Morin is a refreshingly humble ‘instant celebrity’. “January can be a very hard month for any business, and this customer truly blessed us by sharing her meal with the world,” The Great Canadian Poutin-erie’s co-owner, Patrick Morin (AKA – “Patty Poutine”), wrote on Instagram. “We are so grateful for every single one of you. Thank you all.”
Morin also features a sister dish to GT’sCP on his menu. It’s a totally on-trend Hot Honey version.
He already has two locations in dowtown Ottawa and the east end. I’m predicting more will follow the crazy-mad success of GT’sCP – if GT’sCP can make the leap from fad/trend to ‘New Classic’.
Google ‘General Tso’s Chicken Poutine’ and you’ll get dozens of relevant returns. Other cooks make it, and other restos already serve it. But they haven’t had a ‘gillian’ to rocket them to fame. And possibly fortune – the jury is still out on that angle.
We’ll be watching Patty Poutine’s progress with interest…
~ Maggie J.