Flo on Food - Part 1: Peru

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As you probably all know I´m a bit of a foody, and one of the things I´ve been excited about is trying new dishes as I eat my way around the world. So I´ve decided my round up of each country will be a food diary of likes and dislikes...

Achuras
Yes, it´s Ritchie´s favorite...the offal mixed grill. The excellant parrilladas (bbq grills) offer some of the tastiest steaks you´ve had (ok I´ve not been to Argentina...yet), but stray off the path and you´ll get much more than you bargained for. Nothing goes to waste here and the same delicious spicy marinade is used to hide the intestine, stomach, kidneys and the much prized anticucho...beef heart kebabs which are sizzling on every street corner grill. These are actually the best of the lot, but give me a steak anyday.

Alpaca
The mini cousin of the llama is on every menu and is actually very good. The closest meat I´d compare it to is veal, being very tender and lean. Often used in lomo saltado instead of beef steak, where it´s chopped and fried with spices, onions and tomatos and served with gravy over rice...it´s a surefire ´menu del dia´winner. And it can be taken to the sublime, unexpectedly at Pachamama´s restaurant in Cabanaconda, Colca Canyon. There the talented chef, trained in Lima, turned out an alpaca in red wine stew that could hold it´s own next to some of the best bouef bourginon I´ve had.

Cerviche
An aphrodisiac, this is raw seafood and fish marinated in lime juice, chilli and onions, served cold in a big bowl with lots of juice, onions, more chilli and sweet potato. The lime ´cooks´ the fish, and the piquant juice is so tasty that you get a shot glass of it as an appetiser. Initially wary, but instant converts at first taste, this is my top Peruvian dish. But choose your cervicheria wisely...go where it smells fresh and clean and is overflowing with locals.

Cuy
In the Andes guinea pig is on the menu. Peruvians rave about it, and it´s the preferred dish for birthdays and other special occasions. Order it and it appears at your table roasted whole, complete with head with little guinea pig ears and teeth! And the squeamishness doesn´t stop there...the skin may look like pork crackling, but it´s tough and chewy with none of the promised crunch. What little meat you can find amongst the small bones and fat is terribly greasy and the flavour doesn´t warrant the effort. So that´ll be a thumbs down then?! Definitely...it´s one of those ´must try´ things, but just the once.

Empanadas
These little pasties can be hit and miss. When bad, you bite down on the tempting looking pastry parcel and find it almost empty but for one lump of miscellaneous meat. When good they´re bursting with well spiced fillings...carne o pollo, queso o chorizo...all tasty good and the cheapest lunch on the block.

Frutas y jugos
No supermarket Stepford Wives fruit these (all unifirm good looks but no depth to their taste). Nope, this is real fruit that actually looks like it´s come from the earth. Palta (avocado) trees grow everywhere so they´re cheap as chips and therefore garnish every plate...bad for Kearno, happy days for me. A perfect lunch is the ensalada palta a la reina...avocado stuffed with chicken and salad vegetables. And the rest of it...the bananas ripen to perfect texture and sweetness, the strawberries and oranges have the most intense aroma and taste. The huge pineapples and melons are juicier and sweeter than anything flown to the UK can ever hope to be. And then there´s the new and unfamiliar, such as the chirimoya or custard apple which has the thick skin of a lizard hiding the sweetest soft flesh...it tastes so much better than it looks. All of these are stacked high in every market next to juicing counters ready to make you a big glass of fresh juice or mix it with milk for the tasiest shakes ever.

Maiz
This is a weird one for me. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I hate sweetcorn and have done since a forcefeeding episode at nursery school. But I´ve happily been chowing down on choclo (corn on the cob) here and noone is more surprised than I am. It comes in black, white, yellow, orange, purple and multicoloured and my favorite seems to be white (racist!) The purple one is also made into a tasty softdrink with sugar and cinnnamon called chicha which is also the name of a homebrew maize beer that we haven´t sampled seeing as the fermenting process begins with someone chewing the corn.

Papas
Must say a few words on the humble potato. There are over 200 varieties in South America and visit any market and you´ll see displays of at least 20...some black, purple, yellow, pink and white. Every meal is served with double carbs...both aroz y papas, so you choose which you fancy that day or else eat both and chub up in no time! If only the conquistadors had realised that the papas was the true New World gold, they may have left some of the Incan palaces intact: todays annual global potato harvest is apparently worth more than all the gold they looted during the conquests.

Patiseria
Mmmm...cake. In every town you´ll find one street that seems to house only cake shops, with beautiful over-the-top concoctions displayed in every window. We´ve sampled the Tarta Limon, a lemon meringue pie with perfectly tart filling, chunchy outside, sweet and chewy inside meringue and light as a feather pastry. But our instant favorite and the only one ordered after that first taste was Tarta Maracuya, a sublime passion fruit tart with buttery pastry base, the lightest mousse filling topped with passion fruit, perfect with a coffee.

Pollo
And finally the chicken...none of your intensive farming methods here. Just big, juicy, flavoursome chickens going cheap! Polleria grills are on every corner churning out true finger lickin goodness for the masses...this is fast food as it should be :P

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Comments

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mmmmmm.....cake
I wanna find a street with nothing but cake shops!!!!!