Chilean cuisine

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chilean cuisine is the cuisine of the South American country Chile . Like many South American country cuisines, it is based on European, especially Spanish, and indigenous influences. The transition to the national cuisines of the neighboring states Argentina , Bolivia and Peru is fluid. Chile is a well-known wine producer.

Influences

Today's Chilean cuisine was largely shaped by three influences: The cuisine of the indigenous people, the cuisine of the Spanish conquerors and the cuisine of European immigrants, who migrated to Chile in significant numbers from the end of the 19th century. The influence of French cuisine is decisive here, but German influences can also be found in southern Chile in particular.

Indigenous people

Before the conquest by the Spaniards, numerous ethnic groups lived in what is now Chile, including the Mapuche ethnic group , who dominated what is now central Chile. From the end of the 15th century, the Inca conquered what is now northern Chile and assimilated the Aymaras living there , but failed in the further advance due to the resistance of the Mapuche. Cooking with the help of hot stones goes back to the Inca and is still practiced today, especially in rural Chile.

The indigenous ethnic groups grew beans, chillies, potatoes, pumpkin and corn and processed seafood and algae. The Aymaras already knew 230 varieties of potatoes. The Mapuche did not know any grain, but grew the pseudo- grain quinoa and obtained flour from the seeds of the trees Prosopis chilensis and Chilean araucaria , which was processed into bread. Cooking and frying oil is made from the seeds of the daisy family Madia sativa . The beverages of the indigenous people included mate tea and cocoa (which was drunk cold and was usually unsweetened).

Spaniards

Diego de Almagro set foot in what is now Chile for the first time in 1537, but made no claim. That changed in 1540 when Pedro de Valdivia invaded the area from Peru, took possession of it for Spain and founded what is now Santiago de Chile in February 1541 . The cuisine of the early Spanish settlers was marked by shortages. From de Valdivia, letters to the Spanish crown have been passed down, in which he describes the diet of his soldiers at that time: wheat and barley porridge, onions, pulses and corn. Meat was rare, and in the absence of alternatives, dogs, rats and otters were also on the table.

The Spaniards brought domestic chickens, cattle, sheep and pigs to Chile from around 1550 and introduced the cultivation of olives, wine and wheat. The large-scale cultivation of wheat only succeeded in the 17th century, but then spread rapidly with the construction of water-powered mills. The cultivation of corn, beans, potatoes and pumpkin was taken over by the colonial rulers, so that these foods were not marginalized. The use of chillies was initially unfamiliar to the Spaniards, but caught on. During the entire colonial period there was a cultural exchange with surrounding regions. From Peru, Chile imported, among other things, the production and use of charqui and honey.

In the 17th century, the conditions in the colony had stabilized to such an extent that Spanish women also moved to Chile in large numbers and gave the local cuisine new impetus. Spanish nuns brought recipes for desserts such as meringue , pudding or pastries deep-fried in syrup to Chile. At that time turkeys, melons, apples and peaches were introduced into the country kitchen. Conversely, the colonial rulers took over the consumption of mate tea from the locals, and cocoa became fashionable as a drink in aristocratic circles.

In the 18th century, the first dishes of modern Chilean cuisine such as pavo mechado (roast turkey with apple filling) or lechoncitos en cuna de arrayán florido (piglets on a bed of myrtle blossoms ) or the torta de combarbalá (a cake ) arose from Spanish traditions and local ingredients . allegedly using 100 eggs).

European immigrants

German immigrants introduced sausages and various baked goods into Chile from the 19th century and made the use of pork popular. Numerous desserts such as tarts, cheesecakes and fruit breads also go back to German immigrants. Towards the end of the 19th century, French cuisine began to influence Chilean cuisine, primarily through French chefs who were "imported" by the wealthy Chilean nobility. They gradually opened their own restaurants, and the influences of French cuisine are still clearly noticeable, at least in urban areas. As in neighboring Argentina, numerous Italian immigrants from the 19th and 20th centuries also play a role in shaping today's Chilean cuisine.

Regions

While there are dishes that are common throughout Chile and can be viewed as typical of the country's cuisine, Chile is generally divided into culinary regions with historical, geographical and cultural features. David Barraza Romero, dean of the gastronomy institute of the Chilean educational institution Iplacex, roughly divides Chile into three regions: the indigenous north, the south with a distinctive mixture of European and indigenous cooking traditions and the multicultural region of Santiago.

Typical of northern Chilean cuisine is the use of plant tubers such as the tuberous wood sorrel or olluco . Llama and alpaca are common meat suppliers.

Central Chile has greater influences from European cuisines than the other two regions, especially that of immigrants from the 19th and 20th centuries. Livestock and agriculture also play a bigger role.

In southern Chilean cuisine, the legacy of the Mapuche culture is still alive. A rather independent cuisine has also established itself in the Chiloé archipelago . The influence of German-born settlers is greatest in southern Chile. Fishing and the gathering of seafood play a bigger role on the coastline of southern Chile, which is characterized by countless islands than in the rest of the country. Algae are used as a filling for dumplings or as an insert for soups and stews. Well-known products from southern Chile are the Merkén spice salt and the bluish eggs of the Araucana chicken.

Food and ingredients

The most important basic ingredients for Chilean cuisine are corn, tomatoes, pumpkin, legumes, chilies , rice and bread. Corn is often sold in the trade in the form of chuchoca : boiled, ground and then dried. The porridge made from this flour is reminiscent of polenta . The most common legumes are white beans, borlotti beans, lentils, and chickpeas. Chilies are made into a variety of sauces that are used as seasoning sauces on the table, served as dips with fried foods or as a spread for sandwiches. Bread is part of every meal and comes in different forms depending on the occasion and region, but is usually based on wheat flour.

Due to the long coastline (Chile has a north-south extension of approx. 4,300 km), fish and seafood from the Pacific Ocean play a major role in the country's cuisine. Centolla , a king crab ( Lithodes santolla ), whose carapace can reach a diameter of almost 20 cm , is caught off the coast of southern Chile . The choro zapato ( Choromytilus chorus ), a mussel up to 20 cm long, is similar in size . A food primarily used in Chile is cochayuyo , a brown alga whose roots are used for salads and the leaves for stews and pies. Green algae of the genus Ulva are also eaten. Already the coastal Mapuche used sea ​​urchins for their diet. Also the the abalone similar snail Concholepas Concholepas has a permanent place on the menu, as well as Macha ( Mesodesma donacium ), clams of the genus Venerida that are endemic to Chile. The grenadier fish , the reineta ( Brama australis ), hake and snooks are fished in the Pacific . Trout are a popular freshwater fish.

On the wide plains in Patagonia and the Región de los Lagos in the south of the country there is extensive livestock farming. For centuries, this led to beef fat being used instead of oil for cooking, although olive trees were successfully planted in Chile as early as the mid-16th century. Viticulture plays an economically important role in the country and is also reflected in the use of wine as a drink and cooking ingredient.

The fruits that played a role in Chile in pre-colonial times include the cherimoya , the Chilean guava , the lúcuma , the maqui berry and peumos ( Cryptocarya alba ). The fruits of the pepper tree are used as spices .

Food culture

The eating culture of the early colonialists corresponded to that of the Spanish homeland: the knife was a tool for pre-cutting, people ate with spoons or three fingers mostly from bowls. The knife came into fashion as part of cutlery in the 16th century. In Europe, forks came into use from the late 16th century, and accordingly later they were used in the remote colonies. Individual dishes appeared in France in the 18th century and, accordingly, somewhat later in the Spanish colony of Chile.

Today, as in various South and Central American countries, breakfast is of little importance: Traditionally, some toast is taken with coffee or tea. Lunch and dinner are the main meals, with lunch being more important in rural areas and dinner in urban areas. Traditionally, wine is drunk at lunch and then an afternoon nap, which is no longer possible in modern urban life. In the afternoon you can have a snack ( onces ) with tea, coffee and hearty snacks .

Are popular with locals two favorable types of eateries: The Picada ( picado means, among other things, full of holes or moth-eaten ) is a restaurant with large portions rather simple food, while the Fuente de Soda ( soda fountain ), a US-American Diners ajar fast food Is local. Like their Argentine neighbors, Chileans like to meet for an asado , for a barbecue, with preparation and socializing as the focus as the actual food. In rural areas in particular, the grills are quite rustic, in some cases metal grids are simply mounted over a wood fire. Another sociable meal is the curanto: In a hole in the ground, glowing stones, leaves and algae are layered and mussels are cooked on top. In modern Chile, curanto is considered a holiday meal and also contains fish and meat.

dishes

breakfast

Jam is common in Chile. In addition to internationally known flavors, there is also fig leaf and pumpkin jam in Chile .

Soups and stews

Caldillo de congrio is a fish stew based on Bart males , which the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda poem ( Oda al Caldillo de Congrio dedicated). Alternatively, the dish is prepared with conger eels. Cazuela de Vacuno is a hearty home-style stew with beef, potatoes and various vegetables that is typical of central Chile. Chairo is a traditional stew of northern Chilean cuisine that contains beef, chuño , vegetables and herbs and has now lost its importance. Pastel de choclo is a casserole with beef, corn paste and various vegetables. Porotos granados is a stew made from white beans, corn, pumpkin and basil. Tomaticán is a stew made from meat, tomatoes, onions and corn that is popular in rural Chile.

Main courses

Arrollasdo de Huaso is a type of roulade made from marinated beef that is rolled up with hard-boiled eggs, carrots and peppers. Cut into thin slices, the dish is also used as a starter or sandwich topping. Lomo a lo pobre is a fillet of beef with French fries and a fried egg; the dish is also popular in Peru.

Fish and seafood occupy a significant place in Chilean cuisine. Specialties in this area are centolla (a type of king crab that is caught on the coasts of southern Chile), concholepas concholepas (a species of spiked snail ), the clam dish machas a la parmesana or piure , a tunicate with the Latin name , which has been documented since the 1950s Pyura chilensis.

Side dishes and sauces

Arroz graneado is a very simple side dish made from rice cooked with garlic and a little oil, where rice with the lowest possible amylopectin content is used and vegetables such as carrots, peppers or onions are optionally added. A popular side dish is avocados cut in half and filled with a cream made from a wide variety of ingredients. Ensalada chilena is a simple and common salad made from tomatoes, onions, olive oil and coriander. Pebre is a chunky seasoning sauce made from aji chillies , garlic, coriander, oil, onions and mostly tomatoes, which is similar to the Mexican pico de gallo and which is served with a variety of dishes. A simpler seasoning sauce is pil-pil made from chillies, garlic and olive oil. Trucha ahumada , smoked trout with peppercorns in oil, is a common starter served with bread, olives and / or cheese, but is pureed and mixed with lemon juice and mayonnaise as a filling for avocados.

Snack foods

Anticuchos are meat skewers that are also popular in the surrounding countries. They traditionally consist of inferior meat such as beef hearts or beef liver, but nowadays mostly consist of "regular" pieces of meat, and are supplemented by onions, peppers and pieces of sausage. Chochoca is a dish from the southern Chiloé archipelago in which a dough made of potatoes and flour is wrapped around a kind of very long rolling pin, grilled over an open flame and often filled with pork rind before consumption . The Completo is the ubiquitous Chilean variant of the hot dog . Classic ingredients in addition to rolls and sausages are chopped tomatoes, avocado puree, sauerkraut and mayonnaise, but variations with different names are also common, for example the Completo Italiano without sauerkraut. The empanadas , ubiquitous in Latin America, are also popular in Chile and are either fried or baked in the oven. A specialty are empanadas mil hojas , whose casings are made of puff pastry , and el pequén , mainly empanadas filled with onions, which were "invented" by miners in the southern Chilean Lota out of financial need. Humitas are tamales- like snacks made from corn dough with onions and basil that are baked or boiled wrapped in corn leaves. For Chile, humitas can already be traced back to the early colonial period in their current form. Prietas are blood sausages that contain rice as well as beef blood and onions. Sandwiches are ubiquitous and come with a variety of toppings. They are often served in marraquetas , wheat rolls baked together in pairs. The importance of meat in Chilean cuisine is reflected in the large number of sandwiches with steaks and fillets, mainly beef. Two of the more popular sandwiches are the Churrasco Italiano with avocado, mayonnaise, and tomato, reminiscent of the colors of the Italian flag, and the Barros Luco .

Desserts and pastries

In general, caramel syrup is a very common filling for all kinds of pastries. Berlines are Berliners with jam filling that became popular in Chile with German immigrants. Borrachitos are small cakes that are soaked in alcoholic syrup and are also popular in Mexico in a similar form. Calzones rotos ( torn underpants ) are small, crispy fried baked goods with a lemon or orange flavor that are eaten in the Chilean winter. Chilenitos and alfajores are two visually similar sandwich biscuits with a long tradition . Both contain a cream filling (mostly dulce de leche ), but with the alfajores the biscuit is made of soft shortcrust pastry, with Chilenitos it is made of hard biscuit. Chilenitos are often wrapped in a meringue mass and are then called chilenitos con merengue . Conejitos are yeast pastries similar to Berliners that are filled with vanilla cream , but not fried, but baked in the oven. Cuchuflí are long, thin sticks made from waffle dough that can be filled with dulce de leche or covered with chocolate. Cake is fruit cake that goes back to German immigrants. The most common variant is kuchen de manzana , apple pie. The meringues, which are also common in Europe (and originate from there), are often flavored with wine in Chile. Rosquillas are baked rings made from corn dough with aniseed. The cake Tres leches made with cream, condensed milk and sweetened condensed milk is also known in other Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America.

beverages

Wine was introduced by the Europeans at the beginning of colonization and continues to play an important role today. Chilean wines have the best reputation among South American wines worldwide; other producers are Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. Navegado is the Chilean variant of mulled wine, a winter drink in the form of a red wine heated with oranges, sugar, cinnamon and cloves.

Beer is popular in Chile and is steadily growing in popularity; In 2018 per capita consumption was 50 liters per year. Industrial beer production in Chile began around 1850. The most popular type of beer is lager , the most popular brand is "Cristal" from the Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas brewery with (as of 2014) almost 50% market share.

A traditional drink of the indigenous people of Chile is the beer-like chicha . Mote con huesillo is a non-alcoholic soft drink for which dried peaches are boiled with sugar and cinnamon and then served with peeled wheat grains. Pisco is a grape brandy that serves as the basis for Pisco Sour , a worldwide popular cocktail in the Sour category.

gallery

  • Asado

  • Chochoca

  • Completo Italiano

  • Humitas

  • Lomo a lo pobre

  • Chicha

  • Mote con huesillo

  • Pisco

  • Pisco sour

  • Chilean red wines

literature

  • David Barraza Romero: La Sazón y el Gusto: Un menú en tres ciudades de Chile . Duoc UC, Santiago de Chile 2010, ISBN 978-956-8901-03-5 .
  • Karla Berndt, Birgit Heitfeld: The Chilean cuisine . Umschau, Neustadt 2006, ISBN 978-3-86528-266-8 .
  • Francisco Fantini Jarpa: Patagonia Cuisine . Gourmet Patagonia, Santo Domingo 2011, ISBN 978-956-8906-02-3 .
  • Eugenio Pereira Salas: Apuntes para la historia de la cocina chilena . Imprenta Universitaria, Santiago de Chile 1977.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 3
  2. ↑ Barraza Romero, p. 12
  3. ↑ Barraza Romero, p. 13
  4. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 6
  5. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 6
  6. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 5
  7. ↑ Barraza Romero, p. 13
  8. ^ Barraza Romero, p. 16
  9. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 149 .
  10. ^ Barraza Romero, p. 17
  11. ^ Barraza Romero, p. 8
  12. ↑ Eating Chile (blog): Seaweed: Cochayuyo and Luche. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Sharon Chester: A Wildlife Guide to Chile: Continental Chile, Chilean Antarctica, Easter Island, Juan Fernández Archipelago . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2010, ISBN 978-1-4008-3150-0 , pp. 30 .
  14. ↑ Eating Chile (blog): Eating Chilean Erizos, Sea Urchins. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  15. ↑ a b c ThisIsChile.cl: Chile's top traditional foods: a visitor's guide. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 9
  17. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 9
  18. ↑ USAToday.com: Everyday Food in Chile. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Eating Chile (blog): Visitors' guide: What to eat in Chile. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  20. ^ DiccionarioChileno.cl: Picada. Retrieved November 23, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Emol.com: Juan Pablo Mellado: la tan chilena fuente de soda. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 139 .
  23. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 144 .
  24. ↑ Spiegel.de: Stew from the hole in the ground. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  25. ↑ TasteAtlas.com: Caldillo de congrio. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  26. ↑ a b MarcaChile.cl: Conoce las comidas típicas del verano chileno. Retrieved April 11, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Eating Chile (blog): Machas a la parmesana. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  28. ↑ TasteAtlas.com: Chochoca. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  29. ↑ MatadorNetwork.com: 9 traditional Chilean dishes the world needs to know. Retrieved December 18, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 141 .
  31. ↑ Los Sepúlveda en la cocina (blog): y ahora .... ¡El Pequén! Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Pereira Salas, p. 11
  33. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 150 .
  34. ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 151 .
  35. ↑ Vinum.eu: South America. Retrieved May 26, 2020 .
  36. ↑ Statista.com: Per capita consumption of beer in Chile from 2005 to 2018. Accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Juan Ricardo Couyoumdjian: Una Bebida Moderna: La Cerveza en Chile en el Siglo XIX . In: Historia . II, No. 37, July 2004, p. 311. (PDF, 1.2 MB)
  38. ↑ FlandersInvestmentandTrade.com: The Beer Market in Chile. Retrieved May 27, 2020 . (PDF, 4.8 MB)