Latin American Cuisine Question

[jclara1]

hi all.
i am extremely interested in latin american cuisine even though my knowledge for it is almost nonexistant. i don't know much about climate and or seasons in latin american countries but am wondering how the winter effects the food and such. what is in season for the winter...? how do you improvise and what dishes(and food items) are traditional this time of year?

[Fincher]

which part of Latin America are you interested in?

[jclara1]

i realize food differs widely from region to region but when asking the question i really had no certain part of latin american in mind. any info from any region would be info to me.

[mark1]

Whole libraries have been written about what you're asking so suggest you be a wee bit more specific.
Here's a link to get you started doing some ground work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_cuisine

[piroshok]

Hi jclara1
I am originally from Argentina so I could speak a little about the southern cone which loosely made up by Chile,Bolivia, Argentina,Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil.
It is summer so it is time of salads domination they do vary greatly favourites are fresh salads and some other little more elaborated and smothered with eggs am mayonnaise all served cold from the fridge if possible.
Lots of beer are drunk women preferring more fruity drinks.
In the countryside salads, bbqs and jamon crudo(raw ham) are the norm but sometimes empanadas (meat pastries are baked to celebrate New Year and gatherings. Pizzerias are extremely popular since the mid 1800's
Chile has a great number of seafood dishes as it's long coastline provides it.
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil have the more diversified food and heavily influenced by immigration
very strong Italian influence but not so in Paraguay (perhaps more Russian, Ukraninas, Austrains Swiss, Swedish, Polish, German etc).
Argentina and Brazil also share a border and its culinary culture is heavily influenced by Eastern and Central European cuisine as well as Italian of course also some states of souther Brazil have a large Arabic community long established. To show more diversity Argentina hosts the largest Jewish population of Latin America (known as gauchos judios,Jewish cowboys)also Armenians have a large presence
Of course more than half Argentinean population claims Italian descend thus Italo/Argetineasn occupy are represented in the Italian parliament.
Uruguay is somwhat more Spanish influenced even though Italians have a very strong community but beef bbq's is the favourite way of cooking.
Bolivia is Peru have more native cuisine due to native ethnic differences with the rest of the neighbouring countries dominated by "pacha mama" (what the land gives) so food is extremely seasonal llamas and vicunias are sacrificed ruotinely for meat and by products.
corn is the staple diet mostly served wrapped in corn husks leaves, also the natives like to eat hot chillies like rocotos while the most southern parts of the continent do nto eat hot chillies at all.
This is argued bu Peru claims to be the home of ceviche that is raw fish cooked in lime or lemon juice many variations are found along the Pacific coast of America.
Brazilian food in the south is not much different as in Argentina except for the abundance of tropical fruits and greater variety of fresh fruits.
One singular aspect of Southern Brazil cooking is that has a huge Japanese population and that has had an impact on Brazilian cuisine. of course Sao Paulo has a huge Italian descendants too.
Brazilian cooking changes in Rio and beyond with the black population in greater numbers and tropical heat all year round black people brought some cooking styles from Africa especially The East Coast and Angola.
Hope I have highlighted some of the common things as well as regional differences then again I may have missed quite a few but you can understand Brazil alone is the size of USA.
if you exclude Alaska.

[SteveA]

Privet Piroshok,

That was one of the most informative replies to a post I've seen in ages. Great job!

By the way, shouldn't you name be spelled pirozhok???

Do svodaniya and ciao,

[labradors]

When I was back in the States, I had a number of Puerto Rican and Cuban friends, as well as access to some Puerto Rican and Cuban stores and restaurants. My favourite things there were:

• Lechon Asado - A roast-pork recipe traditionally done by roasting a whole pig in the ground, but also possible with a roast or ham
  
• Ropa Vieja - A delicious beef dish so named because the shredding of the beef makes it looks like torn-up, "old clothes."
  
• Papas Rellenas - Make firm mashed potatoes (w/o adding butter, water, or anything else that would loosen them) into a ball (usually baseball sized in the places I went). Then poke a hole down into the center of the ball, and fill it with cooked, seasoned ground beef (such as one would use for a taco filling). After that, close up the hole by smoothing over it with the potato. Finally, dip it in some scrambled egg, roll it in some breading (typically ground crackers), and deep fry it until golden.
  
• Pl tanos Maduros - Quite simply, ripe plantains cut diagonally and pan fried in a little bit (i.e. not enough to deep fry) of corn oil until they become golden and their sugars caramelise a bit. Sweet, gooey, delicious!
  
• Tostones - Green plantains mashed while uncooked, formed into medium disks and fried.
  
• Mofongo - Not to be confused with "mondongo" (which is tripe), Mofongo is green plantains that are fried, then mashed together with garlic, olive oil and pork rinds.

Now that I live in Honduras, the only thing in the above list that I see are the Pl tanos Maduros (and, occasionally the Tostones). Instead, the comida típica (typical or everyday food) includes:

• Tajadas - Green plantains cut into slices (a little thicker than a potato chip) lengthwise (i.e. long, thin strips) then deep fried as with potato chips. Often served with a cream that is like a loose, not-quite-as-acid sour cream, which everyone else would call "crema" but they call "mantequilla" (butter).
  
• Red Beans - These are plentiful and popular. Sometimes, they are served as whole red beans over rice, but they are usually made into a paste (like refried beans) and served plain with a dollop of the aforementioned cream.
  
• Baleadas - The basic "street food." These are flour tortillas (usually handmade, not store-bought) heated up, spread with a thin spread of the red-bean paste and a dusting of a crumbled/grated queso blanco and folded in half. Sometimes other fillings are added, especially scrambled eggs (that's the way I like them).
  
• Pastelitos - More "street food." Delicious, inexpensive little meat pies (similar to empanadas) filled with either seasoned ground beef or pulled chicken, usualy with some rice and tiny, tiny dice of carrots and potatoes. These can be addictive and, since they (likewise the baleadas) are only about 37 cents apiece, a pair or them can make a wonderful, quick, and inexpensive meal!
  
• Enchiladas - Not the U.S. version of a Mexican thing, but something entirely different. These are flat, fried corn tortillas (tostadas) topped with seasoned ground beef, sometimes some shredded cabbage, then grated queso blanco and finished off with a slice of hard-boiled egg and a dollop of ketchup or a few drops of a Tabasco-style sauce.

This is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere (after Haiti), and their typical food may not be anything close to what I worked with at Wolfgang Puck's, but it is nothing short of delicious.

P.S. Winter here is the same as Winter in the States (still Northern hemisphere), but it is currently 80F degrees. The main food tradition this time of year is to have tamales on Christmas Eve,

[piroshok]

Thanks SteveA
No my nick pronounces as sh not zh there is a substantial difference between the two.
Now I also forgotten to mention the evergrowing Korean and Chinese communities that began settling the shores of Argentina and Brazil not long ago they are relatively new but Koreans are the second largest Asian community after Japanese.

[Gusarp]

I'm from Colombia in the far north of south America, the end of the Andes mountains and rich valleys either side, 2 ocean coasts. we don't have winter or seasons, very close to the Ecuador. The gastronomy here is very different from region to region, so I gonna summary the roots of ours food heritage.
Atlantic coast: Very hot climate all year round. cradle of the ancient cities in south America. Ancient gateway for all Europeans arriving to America. Very strong migrations from Africa, Italy, China, Lebanon and Jews. Off course lots of seafood, but also pig, rice, and in love of fritters. Also very important in common diet fresh and cook fruits.
Coffee Country: Mountain countryside, spring like weather all year round. Jews and Spanish Vascos migration mostly. Diet is based of corn, pig, plantains and beans. Very hard working people so meals are very caloric and rich.
Center: high mountain landscape. Cold, rainy weather most of the year. Most Spanish and French migrations. most representative meals are soups or "cocidos" kind of tripe ragouts. diet base are potatoes and other tuberculum.
Pacific coast: Rain forest by the sea side. very hot and humid weather. Africans, Spanish, Japaneses. Very distinct dishes, plantain an pig are present in all tables, also have a wonderful seafood meals with a strong African heritage. "El Valle" (The Valley) is the most important sugar cane producer. "Pipian" is a hot pepper and peanut sauce very often used on empandas and tamales.
LLanos: Orient valleys. Native "colonos" (pilgrims) and native Americans. Cattle country. "mamona a la llanera" veal BBQ, and exotic meats as armadillo. Mandioca and corn.
The amazon: Very closed rain forest. Jungle weather. Almost pristine territories. Endemic sweet water fishes, monkeys, mandioca, and insects.
There are many more specific dishes for all regions, and foreign influences day by day spread all over the country. Common to all colombia are: Tamales, we have more than 300 variations, but most of them are wrapped in plantain or similar leaves. Empanadas. also every town have its own recipe. and Arepas. a kind of corn pancake.
If you want more information on Colombia, Ecuador or Peru gastronomy don't hesitate to ask me.
For more Colombia traditional recipes and photos browse this site: www.villegaseditores.com it have an English version, it is a publishing company here in Bogot . have stunning books of pictures of Colombia and also a very accurate Colombian Cookbook.

[piroshok]

muy buena tu explicacion amigo Gusarp .
Where is cliveb when one needs him?

[marzyn]

Sorry I'm not cliveb, but this might give you an idea about Venezuelan cuisine.
http://members.tripod.com/~cocinavzla/welcome.html

FYI: in that site you'll read about Harina Pan, which is the most popular brand name of what is commonly known as masa harina, used to make arepas (which resemble masa patties and can be either grilled or baked or a combination of both, arepas substitute bread in many Venezuelan homes and are filled with cheese, ham, even fish), or Christmas hallacas, similar to tamales but wrapped in banana leaves.

[piroshok]

I am sure you are a good rep for Venezuela marzyn
Now on the topic of Christmas hallacas I met once a Salvadorean man who makes something similar that is masa with some sort of vegetarian filling plus quesillo mixed in them steamed wrapped in corn husks.
Must admit I liked but my wife does not like the taste of mixatamal(I hope it is spelled like this) in it so masa harina precocida pan makes a good substitute we here get them from Colombia.

[cjs]

Well, a missing friend ( ) sent me 2 lbs of (I'm assuming) Harina Pan for Christmas - there are some good looking ideas on the pkg., but....I'm one of the dolts who doesn't speak another language and it's all in Spanish. The front of the pkg. has:
P.A.N.
Harina
De Maiz Blanco
Refinada,
Precocida
Enriquecida

I'm going to be looking for ideas for using it - probably better start another thread for it. But, I've seen recipes for 'arepas' so maybe will start there....

(I also got some chutneys... )

P.S. This is a great thread!!! Thank you all for the info you're sharing with us.

[marzyn]

Hi, Jean, Happy New Year, haven't talked to you in a while.
Yes, you got Venezuelan Harina PAN, the package must be yellow and has the "face" of a woman on the right hand side, just over the name. Sorry that most of the recipes are in Spanish, if there's anything you'd like translated just let me know! I've been trying to find a site with more recipes in English, as soon as I do I'll pm you.
(P.S: did you ever make the pilmeny?? )

Piroshok, Venezuelan hallacas are wrapped in banana leaves which have been slightly "smoked" over an open fire, which makes them different from the leaves used in Thai cuisine. The masa is prepared like the one you'd use for tamales (SaraCooks -who's not related to Derek, LOL- posted a good recipe recently), but hallacas' masa also needs anato-infussed oil or lard to give it a very particular flavor. the filling varies from region to region, but mostly is made with either pork, hen or beef or a mix of the 3. Along the coast, especially in the east, they can be made with fish. With these meats a dense stew is made, using onions, bell peppers, leeks, green onions, capers, tomatoes, garlic, hot chiles, mixed pickles in mustard, sweet wine, worchestershire sauce, etc. And depending on the region you can use chickpeas (Andes states) or almonds in Caracas and central region. Making them is a family event, most members participate in making the masa, the stew, assembling and wrapping and stringing them! and every member of the family claims that : "My mom's hallacas are the best"! (Just like the Russians do with Kulichi at Easter)

[marzyn]

hi all.
i am extremely interested in latin american cuisine even though my knowledge for it is almost nonexistant. i don't know much about climate and or seasons in latin american countries but am wondering how the winter effects the food and such. what is in season for the winter...? how do you improvise and what dishes(and food items) are traditional this time of year?

Venezuela doesn'd have seasons as you know them in USA, we just have rainy and dry seasons, which basically affects some veggies that can become scarce and more expensive, but never disappear from our markets (i.e. tomatoes and bell peppers). The only food item I can think of that can be almost impossible to find except when in season is mangoes, we get them in June-July (VERY plentiful) and then again at the end of the year.
As for traditional dishes, as I mentiond before at Christmas we make hallacas, pork, "pan de jamon" which is a bread filled with ham, olives and raisins ) and a potato salad made with diced cooked hen, peas, carrots, onions and apples with mayo dressing. All types of sweets are made, but with raw sugar called papelon or panela depending on its shape, like a brick or a cone(I believe Mexiacans call it piloncillo). My favorite is green papaya!
At Easter, since no meat is eaten, a "pastel de chucho" is made, chucho is a small ray (fish) that lives under the sand and the pastel (like a pie) also has fried ripe plantain slices. Another traditional pie is pastel de morrocoy (land tortoise) which I hate for the cruel way used to kill this poor animals.