Maize, glorious maize. Arepas this time.
Breakfast! Arepa stuffed with butter and white cheese
Maize is getting such bad press at the moment in the United States. But it is such a wonderful grain, so flexible, so many appealing products.
Arepas, as you doubtless know, are the national dish, the daily bread of Venezuela (and other parts of Latin America). I’d had the Panamanian variety last year and was rather underwhelmed. They were silver dollar sized, rather tough, and rather greasy half inch pancakes. I only had the hotel version so I may have completely missed what may be wonderful Panamanian arepas.
Arepas and Venezuelan culture. Photo of photo by Miguel Dorta
The arepa above, however, made by Miguel Dorta of the University of Venezuela in Caracas, with arepa flour he had brought with him to the culinary nationalism conference in Guadalajara, was stunning. He simply mixed flour, water and a bit of salt into an English-muffin sized patty and toasted it on each side in a frying pan (the only implement available in the hostel where we were staying).
Miguel Dorta stuffing arepas
The outside, the concha or shell is crunchy. The soft, white inside (on the right of the photo) is scooped out to make room for the filling of butter and mild white cheese. Miguel used queso oaxaca. A wonderful mix of textures and flavors. Especially with the agua fresca of lime and piloncillo (raw sugar) that you can see front left (I need to ask him the Venezuelan name again). Edit. Papelón (piloncillo) con limón. Thanks to Ana in the comments.
Miguel explained that the soft inside is given to small children and old people. When he was young, he and his siblings fought for the crunchy outsides.
Arepas are eaten with all meals with and without stuffing and with all kinds of different stuffing. Their texture is quite unlike cornbread and corn cakes. Much finer. And no, Wikipedia to the contrary, this is not like a Mexican gordita except in size and shape. The taste (not nixtamalized) and texture (much finer), and color (much whiter) are distinct.
Miguel has a fascinating book in draft about the preparation of the meal (flour) for arepas and its complex historical development that involves pounding, grinding, African techniques, and Venezuelan and American manufacturers. That’s for another post.
I’ve not seen arepa flour on sale in Mexico but you can certainly get it whereever there are Venezuelan immigrants. I saw it in Spain and it must be available in many parts of the United States. Edit. It is. Again thanks to Ana.
- 200 Years of Culinary Nationalism in Latin America. Overview.
- Thoughts on Culinary Nationalism in Latin America, Guadalajara 2011
So, an arepa is not similar to a pupusa?
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
Oh I think is is probably very similar. And I gather that pupusas are becoming quite the thing in the US. I just know nothing about them. Well I know that Costco sells frozen ones in Mexico but I have yet to try them.
THX, Rachel, I’m eating up your reports of the conference. Always interesting that not all of the learning of such gatherings comes in the formal sessions — much is in the informal meeting and exchange of colleagues.
Agreed. The reasons to have conferences, not just web encounters, are for the extra-official meetings. So envigorating.
Truly wish I could have been in Guadalajara for the conference. I’m interested in the comment re arepa flour and the lack of nixtamalization. When living in Caracas 40 years ago we made arepas from scratch with our neighbors and the corn was cooked with ashes for ease of removing the skin. It was the old people who insisted we do it that way. None of the younger people had ever gone through the whole process before then.
http://www.kitchendaily.com/encyclopedia/definition/corn-breads/650/
This was the only on-line link I could find that suggested that arepas were also the result of nixtamalization. Of course, I’m left wondering.
Yes, I am confused too. I think it has to be the quantity of alkali. After all, maize was treated with alkali to make grits. But I would never call those nixtamalizados. Have to get clear on this.
http://mediaburn.org/Video-Priview.128.0.html?uid=5026
video from Colombia re the arepa and the culture associated with it…just happened upon it. Enjoy!
What a great video. I watched enchanted. Thaks Diane.
The agua fresca it’s called “papelón con limón”
Papelón is our piloncillo.
And yes, you can find the arepa flour in many latin markets over the US.