Churrasco a lo Pobre

-Joe-

Last week Lauren, Sam, and I cooked a meal so satisfying that I have to write about it. The dish was called "Churrasco a lo Pobre," which literally translates to "the poor man's beef." I assume it has been giving the name because the ingredients are rather basic--fundamental, really, as if even the poor man could afford to prepare this for himself---and the presentation is usually far from elegant.

I first came across this dish at a stinky bar called La Piojera, which means "the lice-ridden place." It soon became my favorite "regional" dish in Chile, and I say "regional" because I have since found in on the menu at almost every bar and restaurant I've frequented while down here, and I have not seen something remotely similar to it in the US. So I assume it is somewhat exclusive to South America or Chile, but the truth of this matter is not a concern for me.

What IS exciting is that I have found a dish that features french fries (or home fries) not as a side but a chief ingredient---a gastronomical component that is intrinsic to the makeup of the entree, playing a pivotal role rather than being relegated to an auxiliary character that can be substituted for rice or mashed potatoes or a salad. This dish demands french/home fries, and since I love french fries I must eat this dish once a week to sate my craving. Finally, I decided that I should attempt to create this dish myself from scratch, so Sam and I invited Lauren over to our apartment and the three of us got cooking. 

First, I sliced four potatoes into thin discs, each piece 1/8 of an inch thick, and spread them  out across a greased-up cooking sheet. I then liberally coated the slices in sunflower oil, salt, allspice, cumin, and paprika. The potatoes went into the oven to bake, at the highest heat setting available (although perhaps this was overkill) until they were cooked through, dark with spices, and somewhat crispy. These home fries formed the base of the dish.

Meanwhile, Sam and Lauren marinated some thinly-sliced beefsteak in Aji (crushed red pepper) BBQ sauce and covered the slabs in minced garlic. The beef was hammered (punched, actually) by Sam to tenderize it and work the garlic into the sinews. The girls proceeded to pan-fry the steaks in some oil on the stove until they were no longer rare but evenly browned. I took the steaks off the stove and sliced them into thin, 1/2 inch strips and laid them over the home fries. Finally, we drizzled the garlic-pepper-blood sauce that remained in the the pan over our churrasco. 

Next I caramelized 1 whole onion (chopped) over the stove until the pieces were golden-brown and steaming. These were draped over the steak slices.

The finishing touch was an egg...For each plate, Sam and Lauren cracked one egg into a pan and fried it sunny-side up. The sunny-side eggs were laid gently over the piles of spicy home fries, steak strips, and buttery browned onions. The dish was ready:

For a side, we also had some rice...but this isn't traditionally part of the recipe

Before you begin eating, there is one ceremony that I recommend you participate in: with your fork, poke open the yolk and let the yellow run down the platter of food, like a river, drenching the onions, then the steak, and finally the potatoes. Everything here tastes better coated in egg yolk, and you will find yourself dipping the few pieces that were spared in what yellow remains pooled around the rim of the plate. 

We three feasted blissfully that evening on our homemade Churrasco a lo Pobre. The only words spokeny for twenty minutes were "Mmm, this is really good." I think it was the tastiest dish I have cooked so far, and lately I have been making all of my meals, so that says something, right? If you love someone, and need a way to say it, cook them this.

Sam is saying, "Come on bro! Take the damn picture so I can chow!"

Don't Believe the Hype

-Joe-

A brief comment on the weather in Chile---specifically Santiago, as what I am about to say does not apply to the other, less metropolitan regions of this vast country.

Some of you (our good friends and family), upon learning that Sam and I were to embark upon an extended trip to Chile, might have been curious enough to investigate what kinds of weather/climate we travelers could expect to encounter here. Sam's parents, for one, had bookmarked Santiago as one of their "cities of interest" on their smartphones' weather app. They were impressed, and quite possibly jealous, to read a weather report that could only be interpreted as balmy and magnificent: clear skies with temperatures in the low 80's and zero percent chance of rain...EVERY DAY. Take a look at the report from weather.com for this very week, the third week of April:

Endless days of quintessential beach weather! You just want to drink up that sweet sun like some microwaved Tang and simultaneously take a dip. This morning I woke up at dawn (basically) and gazed out my living room window to catch that awesome Santiago sunrise...

...Yeah. Just look at those glorious mountains, the spine of South America, standing starkly in their majesty against the sparkling metropolis. Admire the sun's rays flashing brilliantly across the blue, cloudless sky, reflecting sharply in the windows of the buildings. It's like a postcard.

What you see in the above photo is what I am confronted with every morning, afternoon, and evening...the awful phenomenon known as HEAVY SMOG, and if this morning vista brought a tear to your eye, as it does mine, it must be because the pollutants in the air are thick enough to scoop with a spoon. Here's another photo:

Yes, the sky IS free of clouds on a daily basis, unless you consider the one big cloud that hovers 3 feet off the ground and gives people respiratory illnesses. And the weather websites will likely neglect to inform you that this malignant air condition plagues the city, unless you really dig into the detailed reports, which nobody does.

So naturally it's an unpleasant surprise when you step out of the taxi from the airport and find that the skyline has been literally erased from the landscape because the smog is so dense and low-lying that all you see is grey. The sky is not blue, but grey. The air itself is grey. Also, if you breathe too much of the air, you get sick. People who cycle and run recreationally are seen wearing construction masks because it is unhealthy to be breathing heavily while engaging in cardiovascular activity outdoors. I have even read that as the smog continues to thicken throughout the winter (the next few months), occasionally the city's health officials will close schools and order citizens to stay inside because it is not safe to breathe the air on those particularly bad days. I cannot wait.

Here you can see what screening effect the haze has on not only the sky, but on a building mere meters away.

I am not condemning anyone in particular here...people need to drive to get around; I understand that. And a significant portion of this problem stems from the fact that Santiago is situated in a valley...a basin, in fact, where smog gets channeled in from the sea and simply has nowhere to filter out. Thus, I mentioned earlier that this phenomenon is not present in other areas of Chile, where the frequency of automobile usage is lower and the landscape more open.

So the smog is nobody's fault per se...buuuuttttt if hybrid and electric cars were more prevalent on the road, perhaps the problem would not be as grave as it is currently. It is encouraging, however, that there is a significant push to increase the reliance on renewable resources in this city, like solar and wind energy. Also, the public transit system is rather modern, extensive, and efficient, and is used in very high volumes daily by commuters. Hopefully in 30 years one will see a significant improvement in the air quality of Santiago, and the city can become an even lovelier place to visit and/or settle down in, where one doesn't have to taste the air to know it's there.