Truly *typically* Canadian

Over the last few days, I've been talking with my friends about things to do with "Typically English" people. In this case, the people being discussed were British English,  as opposed to any other English person. Respectfully, I described a "typical" Canadian and things that are "typically Canadian". Examples included: watching or playing hockey; living in houses with backyards; speaking English and/or French; eating poutine-

"What?"

Poutine.

*blank stare*

"You know, fries, cheese, gravy..."

And so, with every dicussion, I would get into the story of poutine, and describe the wonderful flavours. Poutine, for those of you who don't know, was created in Quebec by a man named Fernand Lechance in 1957. It is:
-patatas frites (french fries- preferably deep fried in lard, apparently that makes them taste better)
-queso (cheese curds/ or whatever cheese you can find that's delicious)
-gravy

Now, I had already been aware that gravy mixes are not to be found in Barcelona, but being that this is a meat-eating country, I figured maybe it was where I was looking in the grocery stores, or that they all have unique family recipes that go back hundreds of years and that their gravy is so perfected that they don't need mixes. Quite the opposite is true in fact, they don't know what gravy is. They don't even have a word for it! I had to call it *gasp* "meat sauce"! (As one of my friends described it: "Sacrilegious!") Yes, I know, I was quite astonished myself, actually.

So being that I had a week of talking about poutine, dripping with delicious gravy and melty cheese, I decided to attempt to quench the craving that was building over the last few days.

It started on Saturday when I bought some meat. Beef. I didn't want to buy a whole roast, so I purchased the type of chopped up beef that you'd use to make stew. I figured it would be much the same, and the gravy would essentially taste like beef, which is what I wanted (don't get me wrong, I like roast beef, but that wasn't what my intention was when I purchased the beef)

Monday night, I finally had the energy to start the creation. I chopped onions, potatoes, and carrots and put them in two pots (small pots) with the beef and a whole lot of water. I couldn't put them in the oven, so I had to keep replenishing the water so that it wouldn't all boil off. I added salt and pepper to taste and kept it all cooking for almost 2 hours. By this time it was 11 at night and I was tired, so I sampled my roast beef and decided it was okay for now. I don't have a microwave, so either way, I'd be re-heating my leftovers in a pot, so there's no harm if its not fully roasted in the sense of how I used to do my roasts in a crock pot (on low for 8 hours, it basically melts in your mouth!)

Tuesday: Operation Poutine took its final step.

Fries went into the oven.

Pre-gravy went into the pot. Flour and "milk" were added (I use quotations because it's not milk to me.. they don't keep it in refrigerators until its opened and it doesn't quite taste right). Thickening begins.

Cheese gets opened.

Fries go on the plate. (I was trying not to over-indulge)

Cheese.

Gravy.

SATISFACTION!!

So now, a message for all my Canadian friends: please go have some authentic Canadian poutine and think of me! (The chip truck by Nathan Phillip Square is quite acceptable, as is SkalBar- they make it with Brie cheese and homemade gravy!)

*factual information on poutine found at: http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/poutine.html