I honestly hadn’t listened to Arcade Fire much before I
bought tickets to the Denver
concert as a Christmas gift for Dylan.
After I did this album became one of my favorites, though I would have
to favor Funeral slightly more. As it
comes to food to combine with this I wanted to do something that was
reminiscent of that which I had in Denver.
Therefore I decided to go with a dish that Montreal is iconic for and
give it a little Denver flare. Green
Chili Poutine was born.
The Music
Favorite Tracks:
-Intervention: I love the lyrical content of this song more
than any other. It’s one of the ones
that I can picture the story told in the lyrics very vividly. It is brought to life
-(Antichrist Television Blues): This song would be great as it is but the
title for it just throws it over the top.
The allusions to terrorism are very intriguing. If you asked me if a song about such a
subject could be so upbeat but come out as reflective in tone and actually
sound good, I would tell you that that is impossible. This track pulls it off in style though.
Unfavorite Tracks:
-Black Waves/Bad Vibrations:
It’s kind of weird because usually the songs that Regine sings lead on
are some of my favorites. I don’t really
dislike the song much either I just have a bit of a quibble about where it
shows up in the track. Immediately after
hearing Intervention, I want to hear Wake Up.
Thing is Wake Up isn’t even on this album, and pretty much anything
other than Wake Up is not something I want to hear. It’s kind of weird but that’s just the way my
head arranges songs.
Overall Ranking:
2. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Amazon)
3. Stooges: Stooges (Amazon)
4. Frank Sinatra: In The Wee Small Hours (Amazon)
The Food
Green Chili Poutine
French fries can be a little tricky when you’re using fresh
potatoes. There are several things that
you want to get right about them. You
want them to be crisp on the outside but soft on the inside. Something that you can only really accomplish
with an ice bath to get rid of the starch and double frying. It is a bit of extra work to go through but
is well worth it. I do however have no
big opposition to bag fries and you can definitely use those instead.Ingredients:
3 Anaheim Chilies
2 Roma Tomatoes
1 Small sweet Onion
4 Small Russet Potatoes
¼ Cup Vegetable Stock
4 Ounces Cheese Curds
Oil For Frying
Start by roasting the chilies. More info on how to do that in this
blog post.
Run the potatoes through a French Fry Cutter. Place
them in an ice bath for at least 15 minutes before frying.
Dice the onions and tomatoes
and sauté in a small sauce pan over low heat.
Once the onions start to become translucent, add the diced chilies and
vegetable stock and simmer until sauce thickens.
Preheat the oil to 325F. An electric deep fryer is perfect for this.
Fry at 325 for three minutes.
Raise the temperature to 350F
Fry for four minutes. Immediately season fries with salt and
pepper.
Pour sauce over the fries and
top with cheese curds. I throw them in
the microwave for about 30 seconds until they are just about to melt and hit
them with a blow torch just before serving.
The Drink
Firey Black and Tan
For the Drink, I decided to do a little spin on the Black
and Tan. I did however make it with an alcoholic
ginger beer rather a lager to give it bit of a spicy taste as an homage to the
band name.
Ingredients
1 Ginger Beer
1 Stout Beer
In order to make this drink it is very simple. Just fill the glass halfway with the ginger
beer. Layer the dark beer by pouring it
very slowly over an upside down spoon angled towards the edge of the glass.
