Brazilian Donut: Sonhos or Bolas de Berlim

So these aren't from any special famous place. In fact- I had the hardest time finding these suckers. Evidently, even though they are the Brasilian version of a Donut... people don't eat them very often. I asked about 5 people where to find Sonhos or Bolas de Berlim and the response was " I don't know".

We happened to have them for breakfast at our hotel in Iguazu Falls.
Sonhos are " Little dreams" that are actually Portuguese in origin (yes yes, I will be looking for them when I go to Portugal). They are usually filled with goiabada or guava jelly.. these guys were alright.. a little too doughy and dense.. but still the Brasilian donut experience!

Picarones- Peruvian Donuts

On my ever quest to try every donut in every country, the peruvian version is the Picarones. Marita took me to Panchita (world reknown Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio's Steakhouse) in her home town of Mira Flores, Lima, Peru to get one of these tasty fried pumpkin dough morsels.

Picarones are made from a yeast sweet potato dough flavored with cinnamon and anise, allowed to rise much like the traditional american donut. It is fried and served with a syrup made from chancaca.

We caught the restaurant in between service and were taken to the back kitchen where they demonstrated not only how the dough was made but fried off the crispy on the outside, moist on the inside flavorful rings of dough that I would consume a few minutes later.



The flavor in the dough make the Picarones more interesting than the american donut. The only problem is that it doesn't get the same yeasty, fluffy consistency that - ok well no one but Stan's can achieve that but you get my picture.

Still very worth it and a two thumbs up to Picarones from Panchita.

Panchita
Avenue Dos de Mayo 298
Miraflores 242-5957, Lima , Peru
Tel: 40 40 41 37

Pisco Sour

I quickly learned that the national drink of Peru is the Pisco sour. Quite frankly, I think that this should be more then a national drink- it should be one of their national dishes.

Using egg whites to create frothiness(how did american mixologists only discover this in the last 5 years?), Pisco sours are a great aperitif.. or after aperitif, or through the meal, or after the meal or just about any time of the day drink. The gorgeous concoction in this photo was at La Rosa Nautica. Since people on my dad's tours don't really drink.. I had.. one, two, three, four.. oh wait.. FIVE of these puppies during lunch. Each one, equally as delicious as the one before.

Frozen Pisco sour with Pisco soaked raisins and a shot of frozen Pisco sour at the gorgeous, green, ultra luxury Sumaq Machu Picchu hotel in Machu Picchu- with menu design by world renown Peruvian Chef Rafael Piqueras.

Pisco is an a liquor distilled from grapes and is the national bitter or liquor of Peru. It is said to have originated from the region of Pisqu back in Inca times with the word having Quechuan roots. It is said that Pisco gained popularity when imports of alcohol were banned in Peru and Chile to eliminate competition for locally grown liquors. Pisco, the harder liquor in comparison to wine became the liquor of choice.

There are a few levels of Pisco that should be noted:

Pure: made from one variety of grape.. no blending allowed! usually used are Quebranta Mollar or Common Black varietals.

Aromatic : Muscat or Muscat varietal grapes. Only one varietal again.

Mosto Verde : Made from partially fermented must (the leftover skin bits from the first pressing of wine). Must be distilled before fermentation process turns everything into sugar.

Alcholado : blended grapes

All pisco is to be aged three months. There are differences between Chilean and Peruvian Pisco. Seeing that I've never had Chilean Pisco, Peruvian tastes like heaven to me!

Real Maize and Cebiche

Corn nowadays has been so genetically altered, it looks nothing like the thumb size, triangular Zea Mays that originated out of South America. Nowadays we are use to seeing perfectly neat pinky size rows of corn. The truth is, Zea Mays was not in perfect rows. In fact, original Zea Mays only had maybe 10 kernels on each stalk. One of the few places to still find beautiful un-adultered Zea Mays is in the Sacred Valley of Peru. A typical train snack, boiled Zea Mays, the size of your thumb can be bought for roughly 30 cents.

The starchy, meaty kernels, plucked off one by one, sweet & delicious make an incredible snack. The kernels, succulent and meaty- yes actually meaty in texture.. incredible!

The national dish of Peru is Cebiche. Cebiche is using the acid from limes to cause a chemical reaction "cooking" the protein. Cebiche can be made with all types of seafood and even some meat proteins. One of the most famous places to eat Cebiche is La Rosa Nautica. An instituion in Lima, La Rosa Nautica has been around since 1983, located on the amazing coastline of Mira Flores, Lima, built on the old pier 4- La Rosa Nautica is the place to be seen - and to watch surfers and enjoy a precisely, peruvian meal made from only the freshest and most local ( in fact La Rosa Nautica has their own farm!) produce coming only from Peru.

I was lucky enough to meet Chef De Cuisine Enrique Blondet who also gave me a kitchen tour- although churning out amazing amounts of covers, by utilizing only the freshest ingredients, produces a meal combined with the setting that anyone visiting Lima for the first time will enjoy. I had two plates of his Cebiche ( I was allergic to the Paella.. sooo Cebiche was my only option) in which he used local Zea Mays to add a different dimension of texture to the spicy, tangy Cebiche.

La Rosa Nautica

Espigon 4 Circuito De Playas

Lima 18, Peru

Tel: 511-445-0149

Feijoada

I know this post is really late but.. I promised to get around to my South American adventure sooner or later right?

When in Brasil, one of the MUST dishes to eat (other then the masses of Brazilian BBQ that you will eat until you vomit and sweat meat..) is Feijoada.

Feijoada is a stew of beans, pork fat and whatever else you wanna chuck in there- brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. Ironically, Feijao means.. well beans.

It's rumored that the Africans brought Feijoada with them after the Portuguese gave them the cheapest remnants of food they could find- beans and pork fat. Being as resourceful as they could, the only thing that could be done with the beans was to soak them for extended periods of time to soften them and get the toxins out, and then proceed to slowly simmer them with some tasty pork fat and whatever else they could get their hands on. The dish turned out to be delicious and now is considered to be a national dish. It's a MUST try dish when visiting Rio De Janeiro!

The Argentinian Donut

So,with all the traveling that I've been fortunate enough to do recently, I have to take a little detour from Taiwan. Not to worry, there is plenty more of Taiwan that I will be sharing with y'all.. but first.. tid bits from South America.
While in Beunos Aires, I didn't get the chance to find some facturas but.. I got close enough to the Argentinian version of a donut- the churro. Ok ok, so churros are actually from Spain, but I did the best I could with the time allotted ok (I didn't even get to eat my Gelato!!!)?
The original Churro was said to have been invented in the region of Castile (very grassy cow grazing land) with the churros curling to look like the horns of cows. For those of you who have tried to make churros at home, you will know that the long piece of dough instincively wants to curl resembling the horns of bulls. Typically a breakfast item, churros are sprinkled with sugar and dipped into a warm rich cup of hot chocolate.
So where does one go and get Chocolate con churro's? The most famous place to go is Cafe Tortoni, with over 150 years history in Beunos Aires- they are THE cafe of Beunos Aires and of most of South America for that matter .I have to admit- Cafe Tortoni's churro's are OK at best. Kinda hard, not fluffy and just a little eh. The hot chocolate on the other hand was delicious.
The hot chocolate.. oh the hot chocolate! in Argentina, they drink real Leche. None of this non fat, 2% skim, watery, tasteless, hormone pumped milk that we get in the US. You don't have a choice in your leche in Argentina- you get what you get. What you get is a delicious, rich , thick, milk flavored, creamy well.. milk! At Cafe Tortoni the hot chocolate may be a little sweet but it's so chocolately , dark and rich that one can't help but to finish all of the hot chocolate they bring to your table. Real milk makes real hot chocolate. honestly.
Even though the churros and the Argentinian donut experience was mediocre at best, the hot chocolate and in dad's case cafe con leche made up for it.

Cafe Tortoni
825 Avenida De Mayo
Beunos Aires, Argentina
54-11-43424328

It takes two to tango

Scenes from my trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina