Just back from a month in South America. Yup, I made those last two marmalades before I left and posted about them from Buenos Aires. Pretty sneaky, huh?
While in Argentina and Uruguay, I picked up a serious dulce de leche habit. I had it twice, sometimes three times, a day. Smeared on toast in the morning. In the form of “panqueques de dulce de leche,” a dessert staple in most restaurants (crepes filled with warm dulce de leche). In alfajores (the national Argentine dulce de leche-stuffed cookie). Or in this impossibly rich square they make with a rich, buttery bottom layer, dulce de leche and lots of coconut on top.
In fact, pretty much the only gifts we brought back for friends and family involve dulce de leche. Behold the dulce treats:
To make your own dulce de leche you gotta reduce sweetened milk for hours and hours until you hit the spreadable caramel stage. Me thinks it’s one of those things that’s not worth the time and effort of making at home, like churning your own butter or pressing your own olives for oil (at least these things don’t seem feasible to an urban apartment dweller like moi).
A few more South American snapshots:
Steak from heaven at El Obrero in the futball-obsessed working class hood of La Boca in Buenos Aires.
Roadside stand selling hongo (mushrooms) and pickles along the highway between Montevideo and Punta del Este in Uruguay.
The menu at Casa Felix, a pescatarian closed-door resto in BA, where we had one of our favourite meals.
The chivito, Uuruguay’s insane national sandwich. These fine specimens incorporated thinly sliced steak, ham, cheese, egg, bacon, tomato, lettuce, olives, marinated mushrooms, pickled vegetables, hot peppers and some kind of very thick mayonnaisey sauce. Yes, please!
And, finally, a shot of a magical moment we had at a cafe called Oui Oui in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood of Buenos Aires. That was the best alfajor EVER, crazy thick with dulce and the cookie bits were moist like cake. A pitcher of sweet, milky iced coffee sealed the deal.
Anyway, spring is afoot in Montreal now, it’s actually been a shockingly balmy one so canning season is just around the corner. Muy, muy exciting.
9 Comments
Dude. I have to speak up for urban-dwelling butter makers everywhere. Making your own butter takes like, 15 minutes with a stand mixer, maybe a wee bit longer with hand beaters. Not THAT long.
Oh, wow, who knew? I guess I also mean I’d rather spend my precious canning time making something with more wow-factor, like an amazing jam or some delicious pickles, rather than making a staple like butter. But who knows? Maybe some day soon I’ll start churning and never stop.
Dulce de Leche. Bring it.
check this out: http://ow.ly/1sWOg (very easy way to make dulce de leche!)
Reminds me of my trip to Italy last year, where every gift I brought back had something to do with Gianduia.
Hey Julia,
Oh, yeah! I know that method. Thing is, I’ve been reading a lot lately about commercially canned goods and their cray high Bisphenol-A (BPA) levels and I fee like boiling a can for that long can only increase the poisons… So, if I were to do it, I think I would do the long-haul stove-top method I’ve read about at Chez Pim:
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/10/how-to-make-hom.html
You are so right. I didn’t even think of that.
Ohhhh… I used to live in BA and have visited Montevideo many times. I actually lived right around the corner from Oui Oui. You’ve made me very “home” sick. Thank you for your pictures. ; )
Oui Oui! The best, right? I miss it too and was only there for three weeks…
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