Traditional Chilean Cuisine: Cazuela
17 Feb 2012
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Cazuela is a soup containing meat - beef, chicken, turkey, pork or lamb - potatoes, corn, green beans, carrot, pepper, spices, and some type of thickener like chuchoca (corn meal) or rice.
Cazuela, in all its different forms and variations, is prepared throughout the country, and according to gastronomy expert Robert Marín in his book, Chilenos cocinando a la chilena ("Chileans cooking Chilean-style"), its origins can be traced back to before the arrival of the Spanish.
The indigenous Mapuche prepared corri, a type of broth with potatoes, pumpkin, corn or chuchoca, green beans, bell peppers, quinoa, chili peppers and wild herbs. It was called corri ilo if it included meat from any of Chile's indigenous camelid or deer species - guanaco, pudú, huemul - or corri achagual if it was made with meat from wild birds. The Spanish called these soups "cazuela," the conquistadors' word for the type of pot where the dish is prepared.
In her book La olla deleitosa ("The Delightful Pot"), anthropologist Sonia Montecino describes the way that cazuela varies along the length of the country. In the north, for example, cazuela was part of the daily diet in the nitrate mines, and sometimes included quinoa as a thickener. In the area around Chillán, south of Santiago, cazuela is traditionally prepared with turkey and thickened with chuchoca or walnuts. Further south, it's common to find cazuelas with seaweeds - like cochayuyo or luche - with lamb or pork.
The key to preparing a cazuela is to make sure that each of the vegetables maintains its shape, identity and flavor. This is why a cazuela is prepared by adding each ingredient in the order of its cooking time (for example, the pumpkin and rice are added at the end, so that they don't fall apart).
In the 1867 book El cocinero chileno ("The Chilean cook"), a recipe for chicken cazuela already appears.
Destination: Santiago, wine country & the central valley
Article by Círculo de Cronistas Gastronómicos de Chile.
