Phoque This! Seal Poutine is Back

Seal (aka phoque in la langue de Molière) made a comeback in 2013 in a big way. Not Seal, mercifully, but seal - both as a topic of conversation and source of controversy.

There was the Chefs for Seals shitshow, most notably. And lest we forget, Kim Côté, a chef in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, was the target of death threats last fall over a 'Phoque Bardot Burger' made with seal and foie gras.

Now, just in time for the competitive event that is "Poutine Week", Au Cinquième Péché gives us seal poutine: specifically, gnocchi, Brussels sprouts, cheese and au jus poutine with seal merguez. A subversive riff on the classic, to be sure, and not the restaurant's first experiment with the dish, by the way (see here).

The Plateau bistro was the subject of a The New York Times profile about the kitchen's use of seal back in 2009. Chef Benoît Lenglet: ""I could eat a steak of seal. Anyone who likes red meat or game will like it."

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