Comiendo Illinoisiano

Siempre escribo mi blog en ingles[1], y sobre comida chilena, pero esto es para mi familia y amigos Chilenos.  Trata de una cocina exótica que dudo que conocen:  comida de la Feria Estatal de Illinois (Illinois State Fair) en Springfield,  hogar de Abraham Lincoln, los Simpsons, y (una vez) mio—y donde estuvimos la semana pasada.  [I always write my blog in English and focus on Chilean food, but this is for my Chilean family and friends. It is about an exotic cuisine that I don’t think they know:  food at Illinois State Fare in Springfield, home of Abraham Lincoln, the Simpsons and, at one time, me—and where we were last week.]

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La entrada principal (The main entrance)

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La Feria, como el 18 de Septiembre Chileno, es el evento anual más emblemático de Illinois al sur de Chicago.  Es dedicado a al agricultura de Illinois, y  granjeros, y especialmente sus hijos, traen sus mejores vacas, chanchos, cabras, caballos y hasta gallos y conejos  para mostrarlos y competir para premios. [The fair, like Chile’s 18th of September independence celebration, is downstate Illinois’ most emblematic annual event. It is dedicated to Illinois agriculture, and Illinois farmers, and especially their children, bring their best cows, pigs, goats, horses and even chickens and rabbits to show and to compete for prizes.]
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La feria es para divertirse, ver los animales, montar en los juegos mecánicos….
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Mapes    

              La reina de las vacas (The queen of cows)

                                                          

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….y mirar la famosa vaca de mantequilla. [And see the famous butter cow.]

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 …y más que todo, vamos a la feria para comer las comidas ricas y poco saludables que son especialidades de la feria. [… and above all, eat the deliciously unhealthy fair foods.]
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Aquí tenemos algunos de los antojitos principales: “hotdogs y dogs de choclos,”  hamburguesa, cebollas floreándoos, lomos empanizados, filetes de pollo, macarrones con queso fritos, porotos verdes fritas, picles de eneldo fritos, sándwiches de costillos sin huesos, espirales y papas fritas, churrascos de lomo vetado, y filetes de bagre estilo cajun.
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También limonadas agitadas, queques del embudo, te helado, longanizas polacos y italianos, gyros (sándwiches en pan árabe)   Tal vez has notado que en la feria, comida frita es el rey.  [Here we have some of the major delicacies: (translation of sign).  Also ( … more translations.)  You may have noticed that at the fair, fried food is king.]

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Hay que empezar con el corn dog, la comida mas famosa de la feria.  Es una salchicha pinchada con un palito y empanizado con masa de harina de maíz y trigo y, por su puesto, frito.  Se come con mostaza y/o catsup. ¡Comes un par! [We have to begin with the corn dog, the most famous fair food: a hotdog on a stick with a fried coating of corn meal and flour.  It is eaten with mustard and/ or catsup. Have a couple!)]

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Una llegada reciente, pero ahora esencial, es el blooming onion, la cebolla floreando: una cebolla cortado con un aparato especial, rebosado y frito. Sabrosisimo. [A recent arrival, but now essential, is the blooming onion, an onion cut with a special device, battered and fried. Yummy.]

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Pork tenderloin sanwich

Y para el sandwichchote tenemos que eligir entre el ribeye sandwich, que es como un churrasco, o el pork tenderloin, lomo de puerco aplastado, empanizado y (por su puesto) frito. Te recomiendo el tenderloin; es crocante y delicioso.  Pero no digas a tu cardiólogo.  [And for a major sandwich, we have to choose between the ribeye (like a Chilean steak sandwich) and the pork tenderloin, flattened, breaded and (of course) fried.  I recommend the tenderloin; it’s crisp and delicious.  But don’t tell your cardiologist.]

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Y para agregado, macarrones con queso fritos, o… (And to go with it, fried mac & cheese, or….)

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Pickles de eneldo fritos, o….  (fried dill pickles, or…)

  

Porotos verdes fritos. (fried green beans.)

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Y para tu postre, una buena oreja de elefante con harto azúcar flor…[And for dessert, a good elephant ear with plenty of powdered sugar….]

 .O tal vez, una queque de embudo, y para beber, una limonada agitado.

[Or perhaps a funnel cake and a lemon shake-up.]

Espero que en poco tiempo todas estas bombas de colesterol estén en el parque Hurtado para el dieciocho,  pero para ahora, te doy una recita si me dejas un comentario. [I bet that soon all these cholesterol bombs will be in the Padre Hurtado park for the eighteenth (of September independence day celebration), but for now, I’ll give you a recipe if you leave me a comment.]  

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! Buen provecho!  
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[1]Creo que es obvio porque escribo en ingles: tus correcciones de me español serán bienvenidos.   

Eating Peruvian food in Chile

Peruvian restaurants are among the most popular ethnic restaurants in Chile, from "long tablecloth" venues with jaw-dropping prices, to downtown eateries frequented by Peruvian immigrants, Chileans, and foreigners looking for great food on a budget.  And the food is great; high prices promise elegant service and atmosphere, but the quality of the food is as good (or better) in more modest places. Plus, while many ethnic cuisines are toned down for Chilean taste – Santiago Chinese without ginger or garlic, Thai without chilies – Peruvian seems to escape relatively unmodified.

And, as the New York Times has recently discovered, Peruvian cuisine is one of the world’s best, and is now available in many US cities.  

…Peru has one of the great cuisines of the world. It is the original fusion food, having absorbed influences from almost every continent over the last 500 years and melded them with ingredients and dishes that provide a direct link to the Incas. While it is best known for ceviche, the marinated raw seafood dish, Peru's food is remarkable for the diversity of its ingredients, from wonderful fresh fish to astounding varieties of potatoes, corn and chilies, and for preparations that encompass the world, from stir-fried beef to pasta with shrimp.  New York Times, Dining & Wine, August 3, 2009.

 Peru [and here I find myself drifting into professor mode] has all the makings of a great cuisine:  diverse environments, from the Atacama Desert to the Amazon rainforest; an indigenous high culture, which meant that there was a cuisine, and not just food; and extensive immigration from Europe, Asia and Africa, which brought new ingredients and cooking techniques which were blended into Peruvian cuisine, and not just added via ethnic restaurants.

The traditional Inca crops included corn, beans, squash, potatoes, peanuts, chilies, sweet potatoes, and avocados; plus lesser known domesticates such as quinoa, a small grain used like rice; oca and ulluco, potato-like tubers; and many herbs and fruits found in Peruvian markets, if nowhere else.

And they had domesticated animals for meat: llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs and ducks.

The arrival of the conquistadores brought little culinary sophistication, but they did bring pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and wheat, plus the essential onions, garlic and cilantro.  Africans, Italians, Chinese and Japanese brought more, all now incorporated into classic Peruvian dishes.

The characteristic ingredients of the Peruvian cuisine are:

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...potatoes, in many varieties, sizes and shapes;

…aji amarillo (yellow chile pepper, center) and another chile,  the rocoto (upper right); tomatoes, red onions; cilantro;

…..the herb huacatay (photo left); queso fresco (farmer’s cheese); peanuts; and evaporated milk(!).

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These go into lots of dishes, but the most common restaurant menu items include:

  

Ceviche - Raw fish, often corvina, lightly marinated in lime juice (which “cooks” the protein) with a touch of garlic, ginger and chile, and tossed with red onion, cilantro and parsley.  Served with slices of sweet potato and Peruvian hominy-mote de maiz. All kinds of combinations are possible, using shrimp, octopus (cooked first), squid, clams, etc. We even had and excellent vegetable ceviche.  Usually a first course; delicious, cool and fresh.

Papa a La           

Huancaina...

and Ocopa

These are cheesy sauces over boiled potatoes;  similar first courses served cool.  Papas a La Huancaina (potatoes in the stile of the lady from Huancayo) include yellow chiles, evaporated milk, and queso fresco, thickened with cracker crumbs.  Ocopa includes these, plus onion, green pepper, huacatay, and ground peanuts, and is thickened with crumbled vanilla wafers (or animal crackers).  I have only had papas a la Huancaina, which were rich, cheesy and a little bland.  I look forward to ocopa …which I plan to make soon.




Rocoto Relleno

Rocotos are chile peppers, very hot if the seeds are included, but only slightly hot if the seeds and veins are scooped out.  In Arequipa, where the dish is famous, they are filled with minced beef, seasoned with garlic, oregano, yellow chiles, and minced peanuts; and topped with hard boiled egg slices and cheese.  Rocotos are not common in Santiago's Peruvian restaurants and are rare or unavaialbe outside South America.

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Lomo Saltado

This Chinese influenced stir-fry of beef, onions, tomatoes and French fries is on the menu of every Peruvian restaurant. 

Aji de gallina

And so is aji de gallina, boneless chicken in a cheese and yellow chili sauce similar to that of papas a la Huancaina (also with HB eggs and olives).  And although aji is Andean Spanish for chili pepper, the dish is usually only mildly spicy.

Seco de Cordero

Literally “dry of lamb” this fine dish is not dry and may also be made with beef, goat or alpaca.  (The name contrasts with agguaditos, “little waters,” dishes which are more soup-like.) The meat is cooked in a sauce of beer (originally maize chicha) garlic, onions and lots of cilantro—the dish is bright and tangy.  The one I had in Cusco looked like this; not pretty but delicious.

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Tallarines en salsa verde

Spaghetti in green sauce, Peru’s version of pesto, includes walnuts, spinach and evaporated milk, in addition to the traditional basil and garlic.  In restaurants it is often offered with chicken or seafood, like this one that I ate in Mangos restaurant in Lima.

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And for desert, Suspiros de Limeñas, “sighs of ladies from Lima,” a meringue-topped custard served with a port wine sauce.

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Other dishes you may encounter in your neighborhood Peruvian restaurant are fish, steak or chicken ...la chorrillana, meaning topped with a sauté of tomatoes, onions and peppers; causa, a first course of seasoned mashed potatoes layered with avocado, shrimp, tuna, etc.— very good and often beautifully arranged;  arroz con pato, duck with cilantro seasoned rice; chicharoes de calamares  fried pieces of squid (or fish or pork): and chupes, chowders of seafood and vegetables. Cui, guinea pig, will not be on many Chilean menus.

Recipes for all these things can be found on the web (try YanuQ: Cooking in Peru)  or in The Exotic Kitchens of Peru, by Copeland Marks, a cookbook author who does research like an anthropologist. I’ve used his recipes for some of the descriptions (and some photos are from the web).

Eating Chilean pepinos dulces

It’s July, mid winter in Santiago: a mix of sunny days in the 60s, rain in the 50s and cloudy days in between.  Not like mid winter in Illinois, but it’s still winter. 

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The feria (“farmer’s market,” thought the vendors are not farmers) is no longer full of peaches, membrillos, melons, papayas, corn and cranberry beans; though some summer crops (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, etc.) from northern Chile and Peru are still available.  Instead we have lots of spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel bulls, Brussels sprouts, beets, and so on; no cause for complaint, but the fruit is a little limited.  Below is my recent haul:  you recognize citrus, apples, pears, avocados, tomatoes, grapes, kiwis, and bananas.  But what are the odd purple and yellow things in the right front of the basket?

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They are pepinos dulces (Solanum muricatum), literally “sweet cucumbers,” but marketed in English as ”pepinos” or “pepino melons,” and incidentally the only fruit in the basket domesticated in South America.[1]

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More closely related to tomatoes and eggplant than cucumbers, pepinos are sweet, juicy and refreshing, similar in texture and taste to honeydew melons. When ripe, as in the picture above, they are firm and turn from green to yellowish.  They peel easily with a vegetable peeler, and the soft core can be removed with a paring knife.  Here in Chile they are available year round at reasonable prices; currently between 500 and 1000 CLP/kg ($.45 - .90/lb).

History

It is usually something of a struggle to learn about the origins and history of Chilean foods, but pepinos evidently have their fans.  In 1996 professors Jaime Prophens,  Juan J. Ruiz, and Fernando Nuez of  the Department of Biotechnology, Universidad  Politécnica  de  Valencia, Spain published “The Pepino  (Solanium mumcarvm, Solanaceae):  A "new" crop  with  a  history” in Economic Botany [50(4):355-368] telling us all we want to know (and perhaps more) about the pepino.  

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They report that pepinos, called cachum in Quechua, were domesticated in the Andes sometime before 500 BC, when ceramic representations of the fruit appear in the archaeological record. 

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         Mochica                                                                           Nazca                                      

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The Spanish were favorably impressed, and named them pepinos, “cucumbers” due evidently to the taste of the green fruit, and perhaps because of their shape—some were longer than round.  Jesuit José de Acosta wrote:

Some of them, the majority, have the length and round similar to cucumbers from Spain, but in the  rest  they  differ,  because  their colour is not green, but purple,  or yellow, or white...  and although because of their shape they are called pepinos, most of them are  round  in all, and others  are of a  different shape,  in such a way, that neither the shape  do they have of cucumber.[2] 

Francisco Pizarro, was also an admirer: .

And there is another fruit that these Indians call cachan that we, the Spanish, have given the name pepino [cucumber], because when they are green they have in a way the flavor of cucumber…  It is a ripe fruit so soft and sweet that one could not speak more highly of anything…. It has a ollexito [peel?] like paper, removing this ollexito there is nothing more to desire.[3] [my translation] .

Later, during the 17^th century, pepinos suffered a strange fate, presumably because of their Spanish name.  In Spanish folklore cucumbers are reputed to cause death if eaten after drinking liquor, thus under Peruvian Viceroy Melchor de Navarra Indians were forbidden to “comer pepinos” (eat cucumbers/pepinos) and pepinos came to be called mataserranos, “highlander killers.” [4]

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Professor Prophens and his colleagues also report that: .

As  cucumber  is  also  said  to  be  hard  to  digest,  the  same  was  attributed  to  pepino.  This caused  pepino  consumption  to  be  restricted  to Indians,  this  fact  leading  to  a  "social marginalization"  of  pepino. For  example,  the  chronicler  Cobo  wrote  that  "it  is  not  a  refined  fruit  of  those  having  an  appeal  and  esteemed  by  dainty people,  because  it  is  thought  to  be  hard  to  digest."  And  in  the  late  18th  century,  the botanist Ruiz  mentioned  another  false  negative property  of  pepino,  writing  that  "if  many  are eaten,  they  cause  fevers  and  blood  stools." 

And they suggest that these beliefs—along with some cultivation problems--may explanation the failure of pepinos to spread much beyond the Andes.  They are cultivated in New Zealand, and have been exported to Japan at high prices, but in spite of their introduction to much of Europe and North Africa in the 18^th century and to California in the 19^th they have achieved little popularity outside South America.  

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Specialty Produce, the web site of a San Diego based produce distributor comments that: 

The extremely pale flavor of the Pepino melon does not yet seem to fit in with American tastes although many agree its fragrance is memorable. The Japanese especially value this low-key fruit. In South America and Japan, the pepino is enjoyed just as it is, that's it. New Zealand cuisine serves it every way imaginable, as a garnish for soups, fish, or meats; sauced; with prosciutto; as a seafood and fruit salad ingredient; and in desserts. 

It’s a shame they have not achieved greater popularity because they are an attractive fruit, tasty (I don’t find the flavor to be “pale”), low in calories and higher in vitamin C than most citrus—and they would be a valuable addition to the Chilean and Peruvian export economies. 

Meanwhile, if you are Chile (or Peru or Ecuador) enjoy them, and if you are my faithful reader in Southern California, you can expect some seeds in the mail (thought they are usually grown from cuttings) early next spring.

 

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[1] The wild ancestor of the tomato seems to be Peruvian, but evidently the plant was transported to Mexico where it was domesticated.  There is no evidence of tomato cultivation in Peru prior to the Spanish Conquest.  Smith, Andrew F (1994). The tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery. Columbia, S.C, USA: University of South Carolina Press as quoted in Wikipedia, Tomato, online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato. Avocados were domesticated in Mexico but spread to South America by 900 AD.  Galindo-Tovar,  Marca ElenaOgata-Aguilar,  NisaoArzate-FerncLndez,  Amaury M.   2008 Some aspects of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) diversity and domestication in Mesoamerica.  Genetic resources and crop evolution. Vol.55 (No.3) . on line at http://www.wlbcenter.org/drawer/journalclub/Galindo-Tovar%20et%20al%20208.pdf

[2] Acosta,  J.  1987.  Historia  natural  y  moral  de  las  Indias.  Vol.  1. Hispano-Americana  de  Publicaciones, Sevilla, Spain as quoted in  Prohens, Jaime; Juan  J.  Ruiz, and Fernando Nuez.  1996. The Pepino  (Solanium Mumcarum, Solanaceae):  A "New" Crop  with  a  History.  Economic Botany 50(4):355-368 on line at http://www.springerlink.com/content/41t281268876738x/

[3] Romero Gualda, María Victoria. 1983. Indoamericanismos Léxicos En La Crónica De Pedro Pizarro. Thesaurus: Boletín del instituto Caro y Cuervo, Tomo 38, Nº 1:1-34, on line at http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/thesaurus/pdf/38/TH_38_001_001_1.pdf  

[4] Hernández Bermejo, J.E. and J. León. 1994. Neglected crops 1492 from a different perspective. Pepino: Solanium Mumcarum.  On line at http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0646e/T0646E0i.htm

Machas a la parmesana

Haga click para español

Machas a la parmesana, (surf clams au gratin) one of the classics of Chilean cuisine, was created 50 years ago in Viña del Mar by an Italian immigrant, Edoardo Melotti Ferrari, at left with his Spaghetti Tutto di Mare.

Don Edoardo says:

Machas a la parmesana don’t exist in Italy, and in Chile there is no reference to them before the 50s! I made other au gratin dishes, and had parmigiano to put on pasta, and from this, one day it occurred to me to try it with machas. I tested it around four times and then added them to the menu.[1]

Felicidades a Don Edorado! Cheese with seafood is a definite no-no in traditional Italian cooking: it overpowers the taste of the seafood; it is not done, “Not in our culture. No. Never.”[2] But expatriates and immigrants are different; we break with tradition, speak (more or less) foreign languages, live where summer is winter, marry exotic Chilenas, and put cheese on our seafood. So Don Edorado’s dish became a Chilean classic: delicious and served everywhere, including his Ristorante San Marco, where 200 kg. of machas a week are served a la parmesana.

Machas (Mesodesma donacium), surf clams, have, of course, been part of Amerindian cuisine forever: Archaeologists refer to the “Machas Phase,” 10,600 to 8,000 BP (years before present) of southern coastal Peru, based their frequency in coastal middens of that period.[3]




They inhabit sandy beaches from northern Peru to Chiloe Island in south-cental Chile, in the surf to depths of about 5 meters. Historically they were harvested by wading “orilleros” (shoreliners) who were limited to depths of 1.5 m (5 feet) or so, but starting in the 1970s “hookah” divers breathing through air lines began to harvest the clam beds working from boats just outside the surf line. By 1989 the Chilean harvest was over 17,000 metric tons, but three years later it had fallen to about 11,000 tons and by 2000 to only 1,250 tons. While over-exploitation by divers is partly responsible, El Niño events—warming of surface waters along the South American Pacific coast—seem to be more significant in the “boom and bust fishery” of machas.[4] (Machas are not threatened [5] and I found no suggestions that we should avoid eating them.)


A good thing, because they are really good, and although I assume that they are much more expensive than in the past, they are currently available in supermarkets and the local ferias at 1500 to 2000 CLP/kg. ($1.30-1.70/lb), or precooked and frozen at about $20 a lb. Fresh is better, and you get the shells (30-35 to the kg.).


So, how does one go from live clams to machas a la parmesana? They should be refrigerated until ready to use, and then opened with a small sturdy knife. Inside is the muscular “tongue” (anatomically the “foot” used to dig through the sand) and the body. All is eatable, but only the tongue is used for this dish, so strip away the rest with your fingers and discard (or save for broth). Wash away any sand, pound the tongue gently with a knife handle to relax the muscle, and squeeze out any black substance at the base.

The result will look like this:

Don Edoardo’s original recipe returned the tongues to the half shell, added a dollop of butter and a spoon of grated parmesan, baked them in a hot oven for a few minutes and served them with wedges of lemon.








Today’s variations include:

• Adding a little lemon juice or white wine before baking
• Adding cream
• Using other cheese—usually Chilean queso mantecoso
•  Adding a sliver of garlic (un-Chilean, but like Don Edoardo, I’m an immigrant and don’t always follow the rules.)

When cooked, the tongues turn pink--hence “pink clams” as they are sometimes marketed to English speakers.

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As good as machas a la parmesana are, machas are versatile and can be prepared like other shellfish. For Spaghetti Tutto di Mare, in the photo with Don Edorado, they are combined with tuna, mussels, clams, shrimp, squid, and locos (Chilean abalone) and a light buttery marinara sauce, served over pasta and, of course, topped with grated parmesan (and cilantro). They are also served in classic Chilean style with salsa verde (onion, parsley, lemon juice and oil) or mayonnaise, in fried empanadas, in soups with milk or beer, with pesto, and even in Bloody Marys.

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[1] Fredes, César. Almorzando con el padre de las machas a la parmesana. La Nación Magazine, Jan. 18, 2009. http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias_v2/site/artic/20090117/pags/20090117192601.htm

[2] Trachtenberg, Robert. Just Grate. Food: The Way We Eat. New York times Magazine, March 30, 2008

in line at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/magazine/30food-t.html

[3] Sandweiss, D.H., 2008. Early Fishing Societies in Western South America, Handbook of South American Archaeology, Helaine Silverman and William Isbell, eds. New York: Springer Science. p. 150.

[4] Perez E, Eduardo P Y Chavez V, Javier E. Modelaje Del Comportamiento Dinámico A Corto Plazo De La Pesquería Del Bivalvo Mesodesma Donacium En El Norte De Chile Usando Hipótesis De Capturabilidad Estática Y Dinámica. INCI. [online]. abr. 2004, vol.29, no.4 [citado 12 Junio 2009], p.193-198. on line at <http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0378-18442004000400006&lng=es&nrm=iso>;

Illanes Bücher, Juan Enrique. 2002 Acuicultura Para La Recuperacion Del Recurso Macha Mesodesma Donacium (Lamarck, 1818) En Areas De Manejo De Comunidades Artesanales. on line at http://ri.conicyt.cl/575/article-11007.html; and

Thiel, Martin et al 2007. The Humboldt Current System of Northern And Central Chile Oceanographic Processes, Ecological Interactions and Socioeconomic Feedback in Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review ,2007, 45:195-344 © R. N. Gibson, R. J. A. Atkinson, and J. D. M. Gordon, Editors. Taylor & Francis on line at

http://www.ieb-chile.cl/publications/pdf/Thiel_et_al_2007_OMBAR.pdf

[5] Not on the IUCN, (the International Union For Conservation Of Nature) Red List of threatened species Mesodesma donacium, Seabase. On line at http://www.sealifebase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=83778