Words and photos by Matt Dursum
For one year, my girlfriend and I have been successfully living in Latin America. We started part one of this journey into butchering our way through Spanish fluency and getting our careers as newbie journalists off the ground in Mexico. Part two started in Chile. We have since moved slowly through the continent’s southern stretches of coastline, forest, and mountains. Out of all the delectable food we’ve eaten along the way, a few dishes and regions have stood out during our life in South America.
Chile
Nothing can compare to the seafood of the South Pacific. Along the skinny coastline of Chile, fish and shellfish reign supreme. From seafood empanadas, cochayuyo flavored sauces, briny oysters, and whole fish—sea bass, corvina, etc.—grilled to perfection, cooks in Chile rely on the ocean’s bounty for everything. At the northern periphery of Chilean Patagonia, we learned just how committed to seafood Chileans can be.
The Chiloe Islands are to seafood as Santiago is to hot dogs. Let me explain. Santiago, Chile’s sprawling business-minded capital, doesn’t claim to be the largest hot-dog consumer or the popular snack’s origin. It does, however, do them better than anywhere in the world, comparable to Denmark and Chicago, if I have to be fair. The Chilean “completo” hotdog is, for lack of better word, complete, in every delicious sense of the word.
In the beautiful and tucked away coastal paradise known as Chiloe, seafood is everything. No, they’re not opening Chiloe-inspired seafood bars in Manhattan or putting the island’s food on the cover of Bon appétit, but Chiloe Island’s masterful and unpretentious seafood gastronomy is just as deserving.
At the center of this is the ageless cooking tradition of the curanto. For thousands of years, this indigenous stone-pit seafood bake has fed the masses. First, a large pit is dug and filled with hot stones, hot coals, and aromatic wood. Seafood, including mussels, clams, salmon, and anything else in season, is added and cooked along with potato dumplings (chapaleles), heirloom potatoes, and smoky sausage. The shellfish slowly opens up and douses the other ingredients in its hot juices. In the end, it results in a smoldering pile of fist-sized shellfish, potatoes, dumplings, and sausages, all covered in each other’s juices. This gluttonous orgy of flavor imprinted itself into my mind.
Argentina
When we arrived in our new home of Buenos Aires, we knew only one thing—meat and empanadas. Our ignorance was not too far off base. Argentine grilled meat is special and truly ubiquitous.
Preserving the country’s carnivorous traditions are the parrillas. These steakhouses specialize in cooking different cuts of steaks, sausages, lamb, chicken, and the occasional vegetable over a metal grill (parrilla) fueled by firewood and coals. What you get is a smorgasbord of carnivorous delight. Our favorite parrilla in Buenos Aires is Parrilla SecreTiTo, literally “The Little Secret.” From its no-frills football (soccer) themed interior to huge portions of perfectly cooked carne asado, this parrilla is no secret.
What everyday hustling Argentines of all class levels live off of, other than dulce de leche and yerba mate, are empanadas. Throughout the city, you can find the flakiest and richest empanadas that cause serious addictions.
Being a country full of Italian immigrants means lots of Italian food. While Argentine pizza polarizes everyone, traditional Italian cuisine continues to shine in homes and restaurants across the country.
As one would expect from one of the world’s largest metropolises, fine dining is huge in Argentina. Some of the world’s best chefs like Francis Mallman take the Argentine love of the grill to whole new levels. Don Julio, a steakhouse in the Palermo neighborhood, comfortably places itself high up on Latin America’s best restaurant list every year.
Uruguay
Argentina’s fame for its parrillas and empanadas may be more widespread, but neighboring Uruguay deservedly claims them as their own. All over the country, raging infernos of aromatic firewood and plumes of hot smoke cook sizzling cuts of meat. Uruguayans seem to care less about the steakhouses and more about the fire itself.
On the coast, they prepare seafood in the same manner. Grilled Atlantic fish are lathered in olive oil and thrown on smoky grills and covered in lemon and chimichurri sauce. Cooks throw Shellfish on the fire too.
For the working class and people on the go, sandwiches take all the acolades. These are not, however, ordinary North American stacks of meat and bread. The Chivito—grilled steak, egg, ham, tomato, cheese, olives, and mayo pressed between flaky buns. This is the national sandwich of Uruguay. And let us not forget about the immigrants from Venezuela who popularized their insanely rich and filling sandwiches called Patacón maracuchos. These sandwiches take two smashed and deep fried plantain buns and fill them with juicy stewed meats, vegetables, and garlicky sauces that deserve a stack of napkins for each bite.
Another Year in South America
We have only scratched the surface. From Argentina’s Patagonia, coastal Brazil, to Peru, the food capital we’re enamored with the most, we still have a lot of ground to cover. As our language skills pick up, we hope to include many more in-depth interviews with the minds and personalities behind the continent’s beautiful gastronomy. Cheers to being humbled and eating well!