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April 2014 Challenge - South America

21K views 250 replies 28 participants last post by  koukouvagia 
#1 ·
Before introducing this new challenge, BIG THANKS to @JonPaul for the great bean challenge. Always fun to see how many different members of our community take a common ingredient and what they can do with it. I personally find those challenges to be very inspiring, and I want to thank you all for sharing your dishes, sometimes along with photographs, sometimes even recipes that we may have never discovered otherwise.

For the month of April, let's focus on the cooking of South America! I can't wait to see what you all will prepare for this thread. I have myself never traveled to any countries in South America so most of its dishes are very exotic and mysterious. I look forward to learning a lot!! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

¡¡¡LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!
 
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#4 · (Edited)
They're chilean sandwiches:

Lomito Palta, a thin cutlet of pork, mashed avocado, tomato, maybe mayo, onion on a roll that's a cross between a bun and ciabatta. Images all lifted from google search.


Barros luco is the same concept but with steak and green beans and cheese.


There's a ham variation that's popular too, barros jarpa


If you can find a chilean restaurant, they'll usually have these on the lunch menu and a few others too. Usually very good french fries accompany them.
 
#12 ·
That's quite a challenge :)
My surinam yellows (madam janette chili's) are almost ready so I should be able to do someting with those.....
Other than that: I don't really cook much latin american and I have never been there.
Time to go exploring!
 
#13 · (Edited)
... I don't really cook much latin american and I have never been there....
Hm, I believe the challenge is South America, not Latin America, if so, the countries involved are:
Central America includes:
North America includes
  • Canada
  • United States
  • Mexico
But then again, who knows which is what today /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif

I know some refer to any country south of the USA as "Latin America", even though none speak Latin and some do not even speak Spanish or a dialect thereof and "tortilla" does not always mean a corn or wheat flatbread /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif
 
#15 ·
Locro

Locro

From the Quechua languaje: ruqru.

Stew with meats, corn, potato, squash and other vegetables.

Made with this:
beautiful dish to start off the challenge,ordo!

great choice FF,the closest i've come to cooking south american food is opening a can of fray bentos for me corned beef hash & washing it down with a glass or three of argentinian malbec/img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif!!looking forward to learning a lot & cooking some,too!
 
#17 · (Edited)
South America? That's quite a good choice. But don't be too surprised if you see many things that cross with other cultures from Europe. I've heard on several occasions of talk that some of my Calabrese relatives settled in South America. Take Argentina for example; from what I understand, during the height of the migratory waves leaving Europe, approx 6.7 million immigrants entered here, second only to the United States with close to 27 million. There are some great Italian, Spanish and Welsh communities and influences throughout the country and that's just one of several. This could be a very interesting challenge!

Not trying to give any secrets away since most of the info is available on-line. However, the more people can dig up, the greater the depth, variety and obscurity cuisines we'll be able to experience here.

28 days to go.
 
#19 ·
I've been away from this forum for some time - mostly because I've been busy with work and haven't had the chance to enjoy myself in the kitchen much.  I am incredibly excited to come back after my hiatus to find the monthly challenge is South American food!  I'm Ecuadorian and while I have a few solid traditional recipes under my belt, this will really inspire and motivate me to dig deep into the old family cookbooks and maybe even get my grandmother on the phone to show my country off well!  

The locro posted already has me thinking, because our typical version of locro is very different, made mainly with potatoes and milk.  There are a few additional things in there to round out the flavors, and it is usually garnished with cheese and sliced avocado, but it is far from the thick hearty meaty stew pictured above.  I love learning about these regional and national differences to dishes that must flow from a common recipe or at least a common idea somewhere back in history!

Ok, enough talk for now.  I have to figure out what my first dish is going to be.
 
#20 ·
Oh, one more thing.  The Chilean sandwiches that Phatch posted are excellent!  There used to be (Google just informed me that it has since closed) a sandwich shop in Boston called Chacarero which served these sandwiches.  I'm not sure if there was anything else on the menu, but there may as well not have been.  This place had lines around the block during lunchtime on a weekday, all clamoring for one of these sandwiches.  It was so good that a few places tried to rip them off by serving the same sandwich, but for one reason or another they could never get it just right and certainly never enjoyed the same success.  
 
#21 ·
I've been away from this forum for some time - mostly because I've been busy with work and haven't had the chance to enjoy myself in the kitchen much. I am incredibly excited to come back after my hiatus to find the monthly challenge is South American food! I'm Ecuadorian and while I have a few solid traditional recipes under my belt, this will really inspire and motivate me to dig deep into the old family cookbooks and maybe even get my grandmother on the phone to show my country off well!
Wow great Jacob, I'm glad to hear you feel inspired, and I honestly cannot wait to see what you have to share. Ecuador is a bit of a mystery to me and I wouldn't know what kind of culinary tradition you have, so it will be a great education for me - and hopefully for many others here.
The locro posted already has me thinking, because our typical version of locro is very different, made mainly with potatoes and milk. There are a few additional things in there to round out the flavors, and it is usually garnished with cheese and sliced avocado, but it is far from the thick hearty meaty stew pictured above. I love learning about these regional and national differences to dishes that must flow from a common recipe or at least a common idea somewhere back in history!
I totally agree. It's fascinating to study where recipes and techniques come from and how they differ with geography or time.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Locro

Locro

From the Quechua languaje: ruqru.

Stew with meats, corn, potato, squash and other vegetables.
Looks amazing! ordo comes out swinging! This dish is so delicious. I might have to go buy some squash now... Mmmmmmm
The locro posted already has me thinking, because our typical version of locro is very different, made mainly with potatoes and milk. There are a few additional things in there to round out the flavors, and it is usually garnished with cheese and sliced avocado, but it is far from the thick hearty meaty stew pictured above. I love learning about these regional and national differences to dishes that must flow from a common recipe or at least a common idea somewhere back in history!
Actually that's because this dish is normally just referred to as "Locro de Zapallo" in Peruvian cooking (not sure if this is a typical Brazilian dish; I've only been to Brazil once and never saw this there.). I don't think the common "Locro" with the unusual "Papa Chola" is too common in Peru (or Brazil) compared to the Locro de Zapallo dish that I've seen quite a bit in many restaurants. I'm sure this dish just adopted the Locro name because of the similarities.
 
#26 ·
Something to be considered:

Many (if not all) South American country's cuisines present a mix of other cuisines. For instance, Argentina has the enormous influence of Italian and Spanish cuisines. Also, French, German, Arab, etc. though in much lesser extent. On the other hand, there's the local indigenous influence. This Wiki article explains it pretty well:

Argentine Cuisine

That means you will find a lot of European food here, as well as some indigenous influenced dishes, particurlarly in the Cuyo region (North West).

Also, dishes like locro have a lot of variants all along the Andes, the same that you'll find many ceviches, empanadas, carbonadas, etc.
 
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