Rachel Laudan

The Cuisine of the Venezuelan Andes

By Rachel Laudan August 8, 2010 Food History, Oddities and Things that Don't Fit 18 Comments

Jean-Luc Crucifix

The last few days I’ve been corresponding with several people about how to use the internet to record the cuisines of the humble.

This site, Forgotten Recipies of the Venezuelan Andes strikes me as just a lovely example.  The collector and recorder, Gamal El Fakih Rodriguez, trained in the Hotel School of Mérida in Venezuela and is now Associate Director of the Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism in Quebec. The photographer, Jean-Luc Crucifix, lives in Venezuela.

They let the people speak for themselves, they neither editorialize nor do they promote.  And that allows us the space to reflect on the photos and recipes.

I´d begin with this song, the cook, sung by Doña Mercedes Muñoz de Rodríguez in April of 1978.  It´s a story of escape from the kitchen, where you have to get up at the crack of dawn, where the wood of the cooking fire won’t take, where your mama scolds you, to the arms of your lover who gives you what you need to eat and drink, nice clothes, and whose kisses taste like chocolate, glowing orange, like tomato.

Jean-Luc Crucifix

Here’s a recipe for bread, using a home made starter.

ANDEAN CREOLE BREAD

It is, together with the Arepas, one of most popular side dishes in the Andean mountains. Its recipe has evolved over the years, but we present it here in its most traditional way.

Ingredients

(For 50 rolls)

1 cup wheat bran

6 kilos of wheat flour

4 ounces of “yesteryear butter” (milk cow butter wrapped in Frailejon sheets)

¼ pound of loaf sugar

4 eggs

Lukewarm water

Salt to taste and a pinch of baking

Various spices (cloves, allspice, anise, etc.).

Prepare a yeast, formerly known as the “Talvina”: Place in wooden boxes, wheat bran, a little warm water and a drink called Papelon, (made with sugar cane) Cover and let stand for three days until it ferments and beyond.

Once you get the ‘Talvina’ add eggs, butter (which can substitute lard), spices and salt. Stir a bit and add the flour and baking soda.

Mix well to form a dough that pulls away from the sides of a pan. Place on a floured plate and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide the dough in half, cover with a cloth and let stand for about 20 minutes until it swells.

Preheat the oven preferably with branches of Cinar (wild tree that grows in cold and wet areas) until the embers glow bright red. At this point, sweep the oven with a broom and thoroughly clean it.

Once the bread has puffed, spread on buttered plate and bake for about 45 minutes.

In some areas it was customary to also add oat and milk which enriched the taste of bread.

Nowadays we can use baker’s yeast instead of “Talvina”, which obviously simplifies many things. In this case it is however necessary to add grated Papelon, which taste is a hallmark of our Andean Bread.

Jean-Luc Crucifix

And here’s a recipe for a probably more everyday dish.

PLANTAIN BANANAS SOUP

Ingredients

(8-10 people)

2 green plantains

1 cup potato

1 cup pieces of arricaria

1 cup cassava

1 cup pumpkin

¼ fat oxen (leftovers)

Pork fat and salt.

Peel, wash and finely chop all ingredients, fry in lard and add cold water. Simmer until all’m cooked. Add salt and serve at the last minute.

Thanks so much to my friend and colleague, María Luisa Lares Ríos for putting me on to this.  The book is available in Spanish, French and English.  You can buy it in bookstores in Montreal and Toronto or by mail order.  I can’t wait for my copy.

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18 thoughts on “The Cuisine of the Venezuelan Andes”

  2. Kay Curtis

    I used to do a LOT of bread baking — had my own small mill. This recipe is intriguing. I want to try it. But? the message says “necessary to add grated Papelon” made with cane sugar. My dictionary says that papelon is a fool an embarrassment
    HELP?! would sorghum work?

    Reply ↓
    1. Rachel Laudan Post author

      Piloncillo I think Kay judging by the other recipes. Made into a syrup. Cooking terminology varies enornomously from one Ltin American country to another.

      Reply ↓
  6. Gamal El Fakih Rodriguez

    Thanks all for your interest towards our book :)

    “Papelon” also known as “Panela” in LatinAmerica is a sugar loaf made with sugar cane. We obtain the juice from the cane and let it cook on huge copper pans until obtaining a most that hardens when drying.
    It sells as sugar bricks on the open-air markets of villages and the city of Merida and is the main ingredient in almost all desserts and beverages of rural Venezuelan Andes.

    On this link you will see a photo of a men preparing the Papelon.

    http://theforgottenrecipes.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=91189792

    Do not hesitate to write me directly at gamalelfakih@gmail.com if you have any questions :)

    Enjoy it !

    Gamal

    Reply ↓
    1. Rachel Laudan Post author

      Dear Gamal,

      It’s a lovely piece of work. Thanks for the link to the papelon making. Interesting that it is made as bricks. Piloncillo in Mexico is made as cones which I think, if it’s the same method as the one traditionally used in much of the world, is made by dripping the syrup through cones. Today of course it might just be shaped that way by sugar refiners. Another story to chase down.

      Do they use a roller mill for crushing the cane?

      Please stay in touch. And hope this brings you a few more sales!

      Reply ↓
    1. Rachel Laudan Post author

      Thanks Gamal. How did I miss that photo? Yes, perfect vertical roller mill with a global ancestry. I need to write that up some time.

      Reply ↓

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