Travelling by Tastebuds

We recently watched season 2 of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime, so we’re now experts on Venezuela, clearly. This series takes the hero and throws into the midst of an election scandal, teaching us ignorant 1^st-worlders all about guerilla warfare in the jungle, covert ops that can’t be too far from what really goes on, what happens when severe corruption meets significant oil (and other natural resource) reserves. If you’re wondering, it’s a bloody good show and we highly recommend it (but start with Season 1 first), but that’s not the point of today’s story.

I really enjoyed the Googling that went on while watching the show, because there were so many interesting things that the series presented and I wondered just how fictionalised it really was. From what I could see, it wasn’t too far-fetched from reality, which kept my eyebrows firmly raised into my hairline for a good couple of weeks. I was gobsmacked at the level of corruption, and the fact that the country with the world’s largest oil reserves could be so damn poor! Distribution of wealth seems to be a massive problem, and I still can’t quite wrap my head around why Caracas isn’t Dubai 2.0.

From my understanding, Venezuela has undergone political turmoil since the 19^th Century, when it gained independence from Spain (through war) and then from Colombia (through political turmoil), then unification of the provinces (through war). A three year democracy reigned in the 1940’s, then it was overhauled (through a coup) and suffered under a ten-year military dictatorship followed by a series of corrupt presidents. Even today there is a dispute over who is actually president, with two men each claiming that title – 60 countries recognise one as the acting president, although apparently support is dwindling. Fair to say the last 200 years have been a shit-storm and my question of half-a-paragraph-ago is now answered satisfactorily. Like so many countries I research, I wonder what a good couple of decades under decent rule would do to Venezuela in the long run.

The other aspect of reading up on this country that I got a real tickle out of was the accent. As a Portuguese speaker I can understand Spanish pretty well, and I laughed out loud at times with the sing-songy lispy accent I heard on Jack Ryan. I spent countless hours YouTubing various Spanish accents and it was actually a really valuable exercise for me – partly because the linguistics nerd in me feels so much more well-rounded in my knowledge, but also because, as usually happens when I research languages and food, I got a pretty awesome history lesson while at it (e.g. the influence of Germanic colonisation of the Americas, where the Italians made their presence known, how the native languages have pervaded the various modern Latin American Spanishes etc etc.

History and language aside, what was on my plate was interesting in itself. Not sure if there’s much truth to this since variations of this dish exist throughout northern South America and the Caribbean, but the national dish, Pabellòn Criollo, is apparently is meant to represent a striped flag, with the three ‘bands’ representing the European/Spanish, the African and the Native peoples. It is pretty essentially ‘just’ pulled beef with rice and beans, but I feel it’s a bit unfair of me to use the word “just”. Even in its simplest form it’s delicious and so satisfying, but there are variations GALORE. We opted to have it con barandas (with guardrails), which means the food is held on the plate by a barrier of plantain chips… for no reason other than we LOVE fried plantains, but you can also have it a caballo (on horseback – which means a fried egg on top), or with sugar sprinkled on the beans (though god knows why you would entertain that thought), or with shredded fish, caiman or capybara meat (for example during lent). I was so tempted to cook guinea pigs the other week when we went to Peru, but that would have involved killing and butchering my own animals, which I couldn’t quite bring myself to do despite the curiosity to try it one day, but I figure they’re just giant guinea pigs and have added this to my list of exotic meats to try one day in future. I’ve had crocodile a number of times and figure caiman is just a version of this – we’ll see!

The second dish I wanted to try is something that no one could hate, well no one with any taste buds anyway. Two words explain it all: Fried. Cheese. Do I need to go on? Oh, OK I will. Wrapped in pastry. Wait, there’s more: served with guacamole’s South American cousin. Perfect bar snack!

Pabellòn Criollo

• 750g flank stank or beef brisket
• 4 eggs (optional, if you want this on horseback)
• 1 plantain, sliced on the diagonal
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 medium onions, diced finely
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 beef stock cubes
• 2/3 cup white rice
• 1 tin black beans (not drained)
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 ½ tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp vinegar
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for frying
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• Salt & pepper

1. For the steak: Cover the meat in cold water, add the beef stock cube and bring it to the boil then simmer for 1 ½ hours. Allow it to cool in the pan.
2. For the rice: Cook half of the crushed garlic in 4 Tbsp oil. Add 2 cups water and 1 tsp salt. Bring to the boil and add the rice. Reduce the heat, simmer with the lid on for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave uncovered for another 5 minutes.
3. For the beans: Sauté half the onions in the remaining oil and add the remaining garlic. Add the beans and their liquid with ½ cup water, chicken stock, cumin, vinegar and ½ tsp salt. Reduce over low heat for about 10 minutes.
4. Back to the meat: Remove from the water (reserve 1 cup), slice and shred it somewhat. Heat the butter in a frypan, cook the remaining onions until translucent. Add the tomatoes and garlic powder, the reserved steak water, the shredded steak, and cook it for 3-5 minutes to combine.
5. Fry the plantain slices in oil, and fry eggs if using.
6. Arrange the meat, beans and rice in stripes across the plate. Plantains go on the side as guardrails, and the fried egg sits on top.

Tequeños

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp butter, cold and chopped into ¼” cubes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 6 Tbsp cold water
• 300-350g queso blanco (white cheese), or mozzarella / manchego / any cheese you want to fry if you can’t get queso blanco. Cut into finger-sized sticks.
• Peanut oil, for frying

1. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor, whizz together with the blade. Sprinkle the butter over the top and pulse until it forms clumps slightly smaller than a pea.
2. Transfer to a bowl, add the egg and the water. Use the blade of a rubber spatula to press it against the side of the bowl and combine it to dough – you may need to add a touch more water to make this happen.
3. Wrap in cling wrap and set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Unwrap the dough roll it into a square approx. 1/8” thick. Trim the edges so it’s a proper square, because no amount of rolling will accomplish that.
5. Slice into ¾” strips, and roll each strip around a cheese stick, spiralling from top to bottom and pinching at the ends to seal it.
6. Fry the sticks in hot oil, turning halfway because they’ll float.
7. Serve hot with guasacaca and salsa rosa.

Guasacaca

• 2 avocados
• 1 red onion
• 1 green capsicum
• 1 jalapeño chilli (we used from a jar, and 1 tsp of the pickling liquid)
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ cup coriander leaves
• ¼ cup parsley leaves
• ¼ cup vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Salt & pepper

1. Blend all ingredients but the oil together in a food processor.
2. With the processor’s motor still running, SLOWLY drizzle the oil down the chute to combine it all into a paste.
3. Season and serve chilled.

Salsa Rosa

• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tsp tomato passata
• 1 Tbsp whiskey
• Pinch cayenne pepper or a dash hot sauce

1. Whisk to combine