Meals – Part 2

Ok, just a quick note here.  The computer I am using does not seem to have an apostrophe on its keyboard, so this post might sound a little more stilted than usual.

Now, on to the food.

Puerto Varas:  Enjoyed the German influence here.  Ate the most amazing apple strudel.  It was so dense and syrupy, it reminded me of baklava.  I still have dreams about it.

Chiloe:  Seafood.  So much seafood that I actually got tired of it.  I had a few curantos, which are pretty cool.  Traditionally cooked in a pit in the ground filled with coals, but normally just steamed in a big pot, it is a big mess of food.  On a platter you get a bunch of mussels (maybe about 20), some clams (maybe about 10-15), some chicken, ribs, sausage, potatoes, and a couple of “breads” – discs of potato and flour that get steamed with the rest of the stuff.  Pretty tasty and damn filling.

Argentina:  It is all about the beef.  Argentines eat an insane amount of it.  More than any other country, per capita.  150 lbs. per person every year.  I had some of the best steak I have ever eaten.  Completely sublime.  And cheap.  For 10 bucks you get a gorgeous chunk of meat, 4 or 5 inches across and at least 2 inches thick (at least!).

Argentina has received a lot of Italian immigrants over the years, and they brought with them their expertise with  gelato, although now it is referred to in Spanish – helado.  Some of the stuff I tried was a revelation, almost a religious experience with light shining down from the heavens and angels singing.  Banana with dulce de leche.  I always avoid banana flavoured ice cream because it is usually bright yellow and completely artificial.  This was a true banana grey and tasted like sweet, ripe bananas with swirls of gooey dulce de leche.  Merengueche – dulce de cleche flavoured ice cream with chunks of meringue.  Seeing a trend here?  Dulce de leche flavours constitute a whole category unto themselves in Argentina.  I do not like chocolate ice cream – it does not really do chocolate any justice – but I had chocolate helado that was dense and chewy.  Amazing.  And while Chile is nowhere near the Argentine level of helado expertise, I did discover a great pizza/helados place in Santiago that had some great flavours.  One of my favourites was harina tostada – literally toasted flour, semolina in this case.  It was sort of like a slightly nutty cream of wheat.  A nice contrast to the sweeter flavours.

Meals I´ve Eaten – Santiago

I was going to make this a regular feature of the blog, but I guess I was too busy eating, so I´ll have to sum things up in a few end of trip posts.  I´ll cover the highlights, and a few lowlights.

Chacarero:  This is a common sandwich in Chilean diners.  It´s basically a steak sandwich topped with green beans and some mild hot peppers (fresh, not pickled).  It doesn´t sound like much, but the toppings give a fresh twist to what would otherwise be sort of ho-hum.

Lomo al pobre:  A Chilean take on steak and eggs.  Take a basic cut of steak (something you would find at a greasy spoon, not a fancy steakhouse), put a fried egg on top, and then cover the whole thing with french fries.  I´d prefer home fries instead, but that didn´t seem to be an option.  Lomo al pobre translates to “poor man´s steak”.  The idea is that they´ve piled on all this other stuff so that you won´t notice how cheap and measly the steak was.

Pastel del choclo:  A traditional corn casserole, consisting of a meat stew base with a thick corn topping.  This epitomizes what I don´t like about traditional Chilean cooking.  Bland.  It´s ironic that, given the country´s name, Chilean cuisine does not employ very much spice at all.  I´m all for tasting pure, fresh flavours, but sometimes you want something zippy in a meal.  You probably won´t find that here.  Also keep your eyes peeled for a future post about how Chileans love mayonnaise.

Espresso:  Boy, was it hard to find a good cup of coffee.  I don´t expect a nicely pulled shot in a small town, but in Santiago I thought I would have some luck.  Unfortunately, most Chileans consider Nescafe to be a damn fine brew.  A lot of places would have fancy espresso drinks on their menu, but the quality was poor. And a lot of places had a weird idea of what a cappuccino was.  You´d get a measly shot of coffee topped with a gargantuan mound of whipped cream (it would be 1 part coffee, 4 parts whipped cream!).  I have an incredible sweet tooth and even I found this disgusting.

Ancud (again)

Returned back to Ancud for a couple of days.  I took in another 35 km ride, this time to a quiet beachfront restaurant renowned for its oysters.

Now, to be honest, I’m not a big fan of oysters.  The first time I ever ate them I was at an office party where, combined with copious amounts of wine, the contents of my stomach wanted to get up close and personal with the party and decided to join the festivities…at the table.  A little embarrassing.  It was years before I decided to take another go at them.  Round two was ok – no food was regurgitated.  But nothing special either.  I think I’m just not a fan.  So I was going to this restaurant more out of duty than with giddy anticipation.

I bet a fan of oysters would have found them delightful.  I merely found them sort of interesting.  My conversion to the cult of the oyster must wait for another time.

Here’s a look at my platter.

The restaurant was on a beautiful calm beach, where some people were digging for shellfish.  At other times of the year you can see flamingos here.

And the 35 kms on the bike just about killed me again.

Castro

After staying in Ancud I moved on to Castro, the capital of the island.  It’s a bigger town and it’s obvious there’s a bit more money flowing here.  The plaza is new and nicely landscaped.  There’s a bit more hustle and bustle.  But something left me rather cold, and I did not find the place as endearing as Ancud.

I’m beginning to realize that corrugated metal is a major building material for the island.  Even important buildings are clad in metal, sometimes with designs pressed into it.  But in an environment where it rains most of the time, metal begins to look a little worn and tatty.  Case in point: the cathedral in Castro.  It looks horrible (granted it’s not getting much help by the colour scheme of the paint job).

Inside, however, it’s got a beautiful varnished wood interior.  If I ignore the crazy bleeding crucifixes it’s quite peaceful.

Lesson Learned #1956

A diet consisting solely of shellfish does not provide the body with enough fibre.

Ancud

Ancud is on the north coast of Chiloe. It´s one of the two major cities on the island (Castro´s the other – we´ll get there later). About 27,000 people live here. Buildings are clad either in traditional wooden shingles (sometimes painted bright colours) or sheets of corrugated metal (often painted as well). Rain is usually a constant feature of life here (except this year, there´s a drought) and this seems to wear considerably on the exteriors. Copious amounts of rusting sheet metal sometimes made me feel like I was in a shanty town.

That being said, the place really grows on you. Especially when you´ve got a nice place to lay your head at the end of the day. The Hostal Mundo Nuevo is a really nice hostel with a beautiful view of the ocean.  I spent a few days here doing not much of anything.

Being an island in the Pacific, fish and shellfish are ubiquitous. Veggies, not so much (except for the potato, which some scholars believe originated here). It was a struggle to find any vegetables on a menu, and when I visited the many supermarkets and produce stands, the quality of what was on offer was horrible. It was not uncommon to see produce on display that was mouldy or rotten. A fellow traveller at the hostel who works in agriculture in Germany thought it was because they probably did not have any refrigerated transportation for the crops. Either way, I have no idea how Chilotes get their vitamins.

And El Trauco? Well, I only found him rocking out on the flyer for a local metal show.

 

I love the totally amateur presentation. And Leprosy is one of the best names for a metal band ever.  I also think it´s pretty funny that a band named themselves after Homer´s favourite brew.