New Brunswick couple continues lifetime Christmas tradition

It wasn’t the smell of turkey or sugar cookies that filled the Robichaud’s kitchen on Friday, but instead their beloved Acadian poutines.

With 30 pounds of potatoes prepped and ready for assembly, Danielle and Daniel Robichaud are continuing a tradition that’s been around for as long as either of them can remember.

“It’s nostalgic and there’s a little part of me that’s sad as I’m making them, but it also makes me laugh because there’s millions of memories that come around of things that happened when we were making them and it kind of makes me proud that I’m carrying on the tradition,” said Danielle.

While poutines were a staple growing up, Danielle and Daniel didn’t start making them themselves until three Christmases ago.

“We love to push this forward,” said Daniel.

“Our parents taught us, or showed us, and we want to keep this going and push it forward for our kids and future generations, of course.”

Since putting on their chef’s hats, the pair says their final products have improved each year, but the goal is to make them the same way their parents used to.

“When I make them, I see me and my siblings around the table, watching my dad with his special knife that he only used once a year to cut the meat, my mom walking around making sure that the consistency [is right], and I can picture us there,” said Danielle.

“I can picture the laughter, sometimes the little scolding, but it just reminds me of the love we shared.”

Danielle and Daniel Robichaud hard at work making Acadian poutines. (CTV/Alana Pickrell)Daniel says while he wasn’t involved in the process when he was little, he did always help with eating the poutines.

“Being a young sibling at home, I couldn’t wait for Christmas Day to sit around the table and just enjoying our poutines,” he said.

Overall, Daniel says the recipe is simple and the delicacy is made up of two different kinds of potatoes and salted pork.

“We cook 10 pounds, we mash them, let them cool, we grate 20 pounds of potatoes, we take a pillow case, squeeze the water out of the potato puree, we mixed it all together, make a snowball and a little hole, add the salted pork, close the ball up, gently put it in the pot and we boil them,” he said.

Through the generations, the recipe has mostly stayed the same, but there have been a few technical improvements that Daniel can see.

“The machine we use, it can’t be bought in a store. They’re all handmade. I remember my folks having one that was made out of wood and a small little motor with a tin can that was nailed out for the grating and that’s what they’d use to grate,” he said.

While they’ve only personally started cooking poutines in the last few years, the plan is to keep this tradition alive for their kids and future generations.

Danielle and Daniel Robichaud put potatoes in the water for Acadian poutines. (CTV/Alana Pickrell)Danielle says not only does it keep family history alive, but it’s also an important reminder of Acadian history.

“The Acadians, we’re a minority, and it’s important to remember where we came from and why we use these traditions,” she said.

“It was a cheap meal back then. Potatoes were usually cropped and pork was easily to get by, so it’s important to not forget that. Not forget where we came from and how far we’ve become.”

The poutines take about three hours to boil, plus a few hours of preparation ahead of time, so the Robichaud’s say they only make them at Christmas, but they are always worth the effort.

“It’s an acquired taste because first of all, once they’re on your plate, they do not look very appealing,” laughed Daniel.

“They’re kind of a grey-ish potato ball, but they’re so delicious.”

Danielle’s mom passed away 10 years ago now and she said that as the poutines cook and the house begins to smell of Christmas time as they remember it as kids, she is reminded of her mom.

Danielle Robichaud's mother in a Christmas photo. (Courtesy: Danielle Robichaud)“I think she’d be really proud, but I think that a few times she would take over, but I think mostly she would be happy that we are carrying on the tradition and that we are thinking of her as we’re doing them,” she said.

“I remember as far back as when I first started to eat really. That was my tradition, that was our Christmas tradition, right, and I share that with my kids and hopefully when they do have kids, that they can carry on.”

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