Uruguayan cuisine

Asado with achuras (offal) and sausages
A typical Uruguayan parrillero

Uruguayan cuisine is traditionally based on its Indigenous Charrua and European roots, in particular, European food from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, but also from countries such as Germany and Britain. Many foods from those countries such as pasta, sausages, and desserts are common in the nation's diet. The Uruguayan barbecue, asado, is one of the most exquisite and famous in the world. A sweet paste, dulce de leche, is used to fill cookies, cakes, pancakes, milhojas, and alfajores. The alfajores are shortbread cookies sandwiched together with dulce de leche or a fruit paste. Dulce de leche is used also in flan con dulce de leche.

The national drink is an infusion called mate. The dried leaves and twigs of the yerba mate plant (Ilex paraguariensis) are placed in a small cup. Hot water is then poured into the gourd at near-boiling point so as to not burn the herb and spoil the flavour. The drink is sipped through a metal or cane straw, known as a bombilla.

A traditional drink is Grappamiel, an alcoholic drink which is very popular in rural areas. It is made with alcohol and honey. It is often consumed in the cold mornings of autumn and winter to warm up the body.

A chivito with lettuce, tomato, thin filet steak, bacon, ham, mushrooms, olives, mozzarella cheese, onion, egg, garlic mayonnaise on a non sesame seed bun
"Fish in a box", served at a restaurant in Montevideo, Uruguay
Pasta is a staple food in Uruguayan cuisine.
Homemade milanesa

Pizza (locally pronounced pisa or pitsa), for example, has been wholly subsumed and in its Uruguayan form more closely resembles an Italian calzone than it does its Italian ancestor. Typical Uruguayan pizzas include pizza rellena (stuffed pizza), pizza por metro (pizza by the meter), and pizza a la parrilla (grilled pizza). While Uruguayan pizza derives from Neapolitan cuisine, the Uruguayan fugaza/fugazza comes from the focaccia xeneise (Genoan), but in any case its preparation is different from its Italian counterpart, and the addition of cheese to make the dish (fugaza con queso or fugazzeta) is an Uruguayan invention.

Fainá is a type of thin bread made with chickpea flour (adopted from northern Italy). During the 20th century, people in pizzerias in Montevideo commonly ordered a "combo" of moscato, pizza, and fainá, which is a large glass of a sweet wine called moscato (muscat), plus two stacked pieces (the lower one being pizza and the upper one fainá). Despite both pizza and faina being Italian in origin, they are never served together in that country.

Nevertheless, the pastas (pasta, always in the plural) surpass pizzas in consumption levels. Among them are tallarines (fettuccine), ravioles (ravioli), ñoquis (gnocchi), and canelones (cannelloni). They are usually cooked, served, and consumed in Uruguayan fashion, called al-uso-nostro, a phrase of Italian origin.

Sliced pizza served over fainá is a common combination. For example, it is common for pasta to be eaten together with white bread ("French bread"), which is unusual in Italy. This can be explained by the low cost of bread and that Uruguayan pasta tends to come together with a large amount of tuco sauce (Italian suco "juice"), and accompanied by estofado (stew). Less commonly, pastas are eaten with a sauce of pesto, a green sauce based on basil, or salsa blanca (Béchamel sauce).

Polenta comes from Northern Italy and is very common throughout Uruguay. But unlike in Italy, this cornmeal is eaten as a main dish, with sauce and melted cheese.

Spanish influences are very abundant: desserts like the churros (cylinders of pastry, usually fried, sometimes filled with dulce de leche), flan, ensaimadas (Catalan sweet bread), and alfajores are all descended from Spain. Nearly all kinds of stews known as "guisos" or "estofados", arroces (rice dishes such as paella), and fabada (Asturian bean stew). All of the guisos and pucheros (stews) are of Spanish origin. Uruguayan preparations of fish, such as dried salt cod (bacalao), calamari, and octopus, originate from the Basque and Galician regions, and also Portugal.

Germanic influence has impacted Uruguayan food as well, particularly sweet dishes. The pastries known as bizcochos are Germanic in origin: croissants, known as medialunas, are the most popular of these, and can be found in two varieties: butter- and lard-based. Also German in origin are the Berlinese known as bolas de fraile ("friar's balls"), and the rolls called piononos. The facturas were re-christened with local names given the difficult phonology of German, and usually Uruguayanized by the addition of a dulce de leche filling. In addition, dishes like chucrut (sauerkraut) have also made it into mainstream Uruguayan cuisine.

Due to its strong Italian tradition, in Uruguay all of the famous Italian pasta dishes are present: ravioli, spaghetti, lasagne, tortellini, fettuccine, cannelloni, fusilli, agnolotti, tagliatelle, capellini, vermicelli, penne rigatti, fagioloni, cellentani, rotini, bucatini, farfalle, and the traditional gnocchi. Although the pasta can be served with a lot of sauces, there is one special sauce that was created by Uruguayans. The Caruso Sauce is a pasta sauce made from double cream, meat extract, onions, ham and mushrooms. It is very popular with sorrentinos and agnolotti.

Desserts

Cakes

Slice of Prinzregententorte

Confectioneries

Cookies

Custards and ice creams

Homemade oven steamed Crème caramel

Pastries

A sweet crêpe opened up, with whipped cream and strawberry sauce.
Assorted bizcochos, a buttery flaky pastry


See also

References

  1. ↑ Postre Chaja

External links

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