Dinner at an Argentine Restaurant
It has been a while since I wrote the last article. There is not much going on with Mr. Ríos, because he is not working on any productions at the moment. Even though I don’t have any news about Mr. Ríos to share with you, I would like to give you another report about Latin American cuisine. I have been to several Latin American restaurants so far, and this time, I went to have dinner at an Argentine restaurant called El Caminito in Higashi-Azabu, Tokyo.
I searched the Internet for detailed information about the restaurant, and found out that the chef at El Caminito used to work at the Argentine Embassy. Ms. Buno, Mr. Y and I visited the restaurant with the full expectation of authentic Argentine cuisine. We arrived there at 6:00 pm. Inside the restaurant, it was dark and there were tables and a counter that would fit approximately 30 people.
It was a small restaurant and there were only two staff members: the owner and chef, and his wife. We asked them to bring us some authentic Argentine food.
At first, they brought us glasses of Mate tea. It tasted like green tea, but was a little bitter. None of us drinks alcohol, so we soon ordered our meals. For a starter, we had the Avocado Salad.
The avocado was mixed with mayonnaise, and it tasted good.
For the second dish, it was recommended that we have Argentine sausages, one of which was a blood sausage.
Ms. Buno and Mr. Y tried both types of sausages, but I just couldn’t eat the blood sausage. I know what it’s made of and I actually have seen the process of making blood sausages. Still, or maybe because of this, I didn't feel like eating it. The three of us agreed that the normal sausage was delicious, but Ms. Buno and Mr. Y said that the blood sausage’s distinctive flavor was something which is not familiar to Japanese people. As you can see in the photo above, the blood sausage is the black one on the left.
The next dish was Argentine Empanadas, that is, stuffed savory pastries.
Plenty of minced meat and chopped vegitables were filled in the pastry, and it tasted a little bit sweet. The chef said that it can be eaten as an afternoon snack as well as for a main meal.
The third and last dish was Fried Veal Cutlet.
It was served with tomato sauce, and I liked the taste very much.
For dessert, we had a pudding with Dulce de Leche, a sticky caramel-flavored sauce.
Approximately 80% of Argentines are descended from Italian and Spanish immigrants, and therefore the people with aboriginal ancestory and with a "Mestizo" background are the minorities in Argentina. Because of this, I found that Argentine food is very similar to Italian food, and when compared with other Latin American cuisines such as Columbian, Brazilian and Mexican, the taste is generally mild and not spicy. I saw a variety of beef dishes on the menu, reflecting the fact that cattle ranching is one of the major industries in Argentina. Most of the food we had at El Caminito looked simple and resembled home-style cooking. I would like to try cooking some of these dishes at home.
Below, Ms. Buno kindly described in detail the history of Dulce de Leche, the caramel-flavored sauce that came with the pudding. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Kei
It was such a pleasure having an Argentine dinner with Ms. Kei and Mr. Y. I really enjoyed the food and we had such a great time together.
I would like to introduce an interesting article which I found on the official webwsite of the Argentine Embassy. It gives some general facts and the history of Dulce de Leche.
Dulce de Leche
Dulce de Leche means “Sweet of Milk” in Spanish, and it is made by boiling milk until it becomes caramelized. Dulce de Leche is commonly eaten in South America, by spreading it on bread and crackers, or making sweets with it.
Recently, Dulce de Leche also became very popular in Japan as an ice cream flavor. It was originally produced for Argentine markets, but became an enormous hit in the United States as well as in Japan. The New York Times and Business Week magazines have featured Dulce de Leche-flavored ice cream.
There are various stories about the origin of Dulce de Leche, but here is the most popular view.
It happened in the morning of July 17, 1829, in a town called Cañuelas, which is located 65 km away from the capital city, Buenos Aires. General Juan Lavalle and Juan Manuel de Rosas planned to meet there in order to reach an agreement, which could solve their endless faction war.
When General Lavalle arrived at Rosas’s camp, Rosas, the relative and the leader of the opposing political faction of Lavalle, had gone out and not yet returned. Lavalle was very tired and decided to lie down on Rosas’s bed, and soon fell sound asleep.
Next to Rosas’s camp, a servant was preparing Lecheda, sweetened milk, to serve with Mate tea for his master. He simmered the Lecheda at low heat when suddenly, he saw his enemy in his master’s bed. He was so surprised at Lavalle's rudeness that he completely forgot about the Lecheda and ran out to call a guard.
While the servant was away, the Lecheda kept gently simmering and gradually started to darken. Rosas returned and saw that his people were unsettled. Rosas saw Lavalle sleeping in the bed, and instead of getting angry about his rudeness, Rosas ordered his men not to wake up this exhausted general. Next morning, Lavalle woke up and saw that the Lecheda had turned into a brown-colored sticky cream.
It is not known who ate the overcooked Lecheda first, but people at the camp soon found out that it was creamy and delicious. The ruined Lecheda became the first Dulce de Leche in history.
This story ends with a heart-warming episode: the two generals ate the ruined Lecheda together and made various political discussions in a relaxed manner. Later, the story of Dulce de Leche spread all over Argentina and it became one of the most common foods in the country.
Buno
