What’s Next in Latin-American Cuisine?

Local foods and multicultural blending is taking Latin America by storm. In South America, Chile is rediscovering its roots, cooking local takes on fresh meaning in Central America’s multicultural Panama and the Dominican Republic is bringing new cooking techniques to time-honored Caribbean dishes.

Chile

Evidenced by the increased use of indigenous foods and ancestral spices, what’s old is new again in Chile. The prevalence of native Chilean mushrooms (diguenes) and native spice, merquen—a distinctive blend of dried and smoked red chilies, toasted coriander seeds, cumin and salt—has grown. Today, Chileans are sprinkling merquen on fish, shrimp, poultry, beef, potatoes, cheese and pasta, and mixing it into soups, sauces and salads. Essentially, Chilean cuisine is about cooking local for local flavors. Menus of “it” restaurants such as Comer y Beber, Agua and Vendetta, are blending contemporary and traditional Chilean cuisine. Restaurants draw on the bounty of the rich Pacific waters (hot and chilled seafood soups and ceviche are menu mainstays) and of the subtropical central region, where Chile has a long tradition of cheese production. Panquehue, Mantecoso and Chanco cheeses are known for their mild, nutty taste and semi-softness. Olive oil has been a significant addition to Chilean cuisine, as Chile has become a major producer of prize-winning olive oils. With dishes like caldillo de congrio (classic fish soup) and charquican (hearty stew), Chilean cuisine reflects the country and its amalgamation of flavors and ingredients.

Panama

Panamanian cuisine is multicultural as it has long been a crossroads for people of diverse origins. Spanish, French, Chinese and Afro-Antillians have all influenced Panamanian cuisine. Distinctively Panamanian ingredients and flavors include beans, corn, the root vegetables yucca, taro root and yam, and culantro, a flavorful herb not to be confused with the less pungent cilantro. Traditional cuisine still reigns, but new chefs who have studied abroad are bringing back trends like cooking exclusively with the freshest, native ingredients. Popular dishes include sancocho (a cilantro-infused vegetable and poultry stew), ropa vieja (spicy, shredded beef over rice), carimaňolas (yucca rolls stuffed with meat), as well as dim sum for brunch. Updated traditional recipes include plantain won tons, sea bass in tamarind sauce, maize soup, grouper in ginger and chicken roasted in pumpkin seeds.

Dominican Republic

Dominicans prefer their food as close to the traditional standard as possible, with “traditional” firmly entrenched in a blending of all the Hispanic Caribbean cuisines. The cuisines of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic are each a combination of indigenous and Iberian flavors. Where there’s a stronger Iberian influence than an indigenous one, the flavor palate is less spicy than other Latin-American cuisines because bolder native foods like chilies are used sparingly. Dominicans have borrowed dishes such as mofongo, garlic mashed plantains, from Puerto Ricans. While traditional cuisine has mostly maintained its flavor, what’s changed in the Dominican home is availability of time, and consequently, cooking methods. Wood burning stoves are no longer used so dishes that require slow cooking like berenjena asada (grilled eggplant) and maiz caquiao (creamy corn) have been adapted to gas stove cooking, and don’t have the exact same flavor. Although Dominicans try new cuisines, they remain faithful to the dishes they ate at home as children so it’s not unusual to find tostones (fried plantains) at Chinese restaurants. –Lynn Santa Lucia and Vanessa Facenda

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