In Chile, they were almost lost in time—almost. Along with majoram and salisfy, these humble tubers were cultivated for centuries in Chilean gardens, prized for its beautiful flower. According to antique Chilean recipes from the early 20th century, when the...
An excerpt from a recent piece I wrote for LAN Airlines award-winning in-flight magazine, IN, the June Edition is all about South American wine. Here, I orient readers with a sampling of Chile's varied terroir close to Santiago (only four valleys out of a dozen!),...
Puerto Varas may very well be the “Portland” of Chile. It’s lush. It rains a lot. The town is steeped in Chile’s Germanic history yet laid back and modern. It has a stunning natural setting on the shores of the azure Llanquihue Lake with vistas of the conical...
When you sit down to any table, anywhere in the 2,600 miles of national territory stretching from the border of Peru to the tip of South America, three things will immediately appear: bread (many times homemade), butter, and pebre. Pebre, Chilean “salsa”, is the...
Take an informal poll among Chileans of what food they crave when they are in country, out-of-country, any time of the day, and in many cases, would call the “unofficial” national dish of Chile, and they will tell you: El Lomito. This towering, mammoth pork...
Bread junkies. Carbaholics. Chileans are not scared of white flour, or lard for that matter. Maybe that’s why the bread here tastes so damn good. And in fact, to throw out some statistics, they have an annual per capita consumption of 100kg, or 220 pounds,...
Although wine professionals have long been sticklers with serving wines at precisely the perfect temperature in restaurants, among aficionados, there seems to be a confusing gray area surrounding this issue and what works best. A couple years ago, I invested in a US$1...
Merkén is the quinessential spice of the Mapuche Indians who populate the southern province in Chile, La Araucanía, about 10 hours south of the capital, Santiago. Cacho de cabra red chilis, shaped like plump, curved fingers, are dry smoked and coarsely ground. Some...
Wine is a living being. Just like the rest of nature, it evolves over time and is vitally dependent on oxygen to live—the cork is essentially its windpipe. In aging a wine, this process happens slowly, usually over many years. However, what if we want to drink a...
Freshly arrived in the Patagonian outpost town of Puerto Natales, after a full day’s schlep from Santiago (4 hours flying, 3 hours driving from Punta Arenas), we are famished. Desperately seeking lunch, our hotel, Indigo , recommends a tasty new place up the...
Sleepless in Santiago. Last night I tossed and turned all night long. I caught shut-eye in two hour intervals. In one of the numerous attempts to lull myself back to sleep, I began a rather interesting mind game of taking favorite recipes and converting their...
Don Pedro is frantic. The bodega alarm won’t stop shreking. It is shrill enough to hurt our ear drums a little. He greets us shrugging his shoulders and laughing in surrender. Suddenly there is silence. Meet Don Pedro Rossell--Argentina’s primo maestro in...
It’s hard to believe it’s fall here in Chile. On one hand, the leaves are falling and turning lovely shades of crimson. However, temperatures are still oddly hovering around 27-28C (high 80s). Being a warm weather lover, I never thought I would say this, but I...
Although chimichurri may be a staple condiment on every Argentinean table, versions are as varied as there are cooks. On my last trip to Mendoza, we stayed overnight in the Uco Valley at Casa Antucura. At dinner that night, the talented cook, Estefania Tolaba, served...
On her last visit to Chile, my fellow IACP member, Elena Hernandez , brought me a selection of Panama’s finest organic coffee. Elena is a chef living in Panama City who runs the Academia de Artes Culinarias. Since she has the in on everything foodie in country,...
I had a big bowl of aromatic lemons sitting in the kitchen. Last Sunday morning, upon discovering that there was no bread in the house, I decided to turn my kitchen into an impromptu bakery and make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Surfing the web for some easy...
The change of weather, and produce, has been totally refreshing. I never thought I would actually say this but I am officially over berries and anything melon until next summer. On a typical shopping high in La Vega, our Wholesale farmer’s market, I bought...
While in Chile, any seeing person will inevitably spot a Chilean, or a dozen, skillfully shoving collossial, avocado and mayonaise-laden hot dogs into their mouth at full speed. Somehow, like an accident, you cannot help but look. It is disturbing, and impressive, at...
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