A couple of days ago I was sitting out in the rancho behind the house in Pes� sort of watching the moon. There was a small but heavy cloud that moved above the hill at the entrance to town. It was about three-fourths of the way up the Southern Bell tower on the hill. I sat with my binoculars and could clearly see the tower below the cloud and the tower above the cloud but about thirty feet of the tower was completely obscured. This wouldn't mean much, except with the moon behind this cloud, the sky took on a really spectacular appearance.
This is one of the most interesting places I have ever been in. In some ways its like living a century ago and in other ways its on the edge of the future. If a person isn't careful the dichotomy will split him in two.
We still open doors for ladies and they still appreciate it.
A little lost in Azuero.
Leo
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A Barbecue Primer
16 November 2002
Barbecue! A lot of people think this is a method to prepare food, but they are missing a lot if that is all they think it is. Barbecue is a fundamental principal of life. It is central to the core of what it is to be a human being. Barbecuing is what sets apart man and beast. Chimps use simple tools, bees communicate with each other, dogs are loyal and faithful, and cats are chumps, but only man barbecues. If this were only a method of food preparation it would be defined as crazy. It would be much easier to just fry, or boil or roast everything while kicked back in the air conditioning watching a football game, but barbecuing is a way of life, almost religious in its discipline. How else can one explain the hours put into preparing a smoky flavored, perfectly prepared piece of meat on a neolithic apparatus operated with wood and charcoal that not only smokes the food but also the cook and everything else in a four mile radius. It's the defining factor between civilization and debased savagery (I'm not sure exactly which is which). Anyway, I want to pass on some information about barbecuing here in the Azuero.
Please keep in mind that my research for this is entirely subjective, gained by spending hours eating and cooking and thinking about food. Here in Azuero the barbecue has a long tradition; from a grand 'matanza' (where a whole cow is cut up and roasted over charcoal) to a simple 'pollo asado' available at practically any restaurant worthy of the name.
Being of a different tradition, I nonetheless appreciate the local variety of 'comidas asada', but still have a hefty appreciation for another style. I like to barbecue over a smoky, slow burning fire that renders the meat deliciously seasoned and tender. Recently I constructed a device from a couple of fifty-five gallon drums that allows me to cook and draw out the process for as long as I want. I'll pass on a few secrets here and you can do with them what you want, if I were you I would at least commit this to memory and practice it faithfully.
There are many different devices and methods to barbecue with, but my preferred method involves a lot of smoke and less direct heat. The barbecuer that I built is made from one fifty-five gallon drum, placed on end with the top removed. Low down on the side of this drum is located a door about two feet tall and a foot and a half wide, hinged and made to shut tight. Above this fifty-five gallon drum is another drum positioned horizontally. This barrel is welded to the barrel below and has three holes, each about six inches in diameter cut in the lower side so that smoke and heat enters from the lower drum. A door is located halfway up the side of this barrel and the door was formed by cutting up one-fourth of the diameter of the drum and then horizontally across the top. That means that the hinges for the door are located directly on top of this upper drum and the door, when open, opens up one quarter of the side of the drum for access to the grills inside.
Cooking materials are very important. I use the local charcoal that comes in a large (used) rice sack. This is about the size of what used to be called a 'gunny sack' and costs three-fifty for a bag. This yields about twenty five to thirty pounds of charcoal. This is nothing like the little briquettes that most of you are familiar with. This charcoal is made from mangrove and still looks like little charred pieces of wood. There is no uniformity to the pieces and it tends to burn a little quicker and more savagely then the briquettes do. Out here in Chitr� the briquettes are available, but that has only been recently, and they are much more expensive then the other charcoal. The mangrove charcoal seems to give a nice flavor to food, even when no other fuel is used. Probably after years of investigation, the scientists unraveling the mysteries of the Sarigua desert located close to Chitr�, will discover that the reason this piece of land became unable to support plant life had to do with the habit of the ancient people that lived there being overly fond of barbecue. After having converted the local mangrove to charcoal the land lost its ability to filter the salt from the sea. (I'm just speculating, but it seems plausible to me). I also use a lot of wood, usually ciruella (the local variety of plum) or nance (a type of fruit tree).
Starting the fire is accomplished with a little ingenuity. I take a small plastic bag and stuff some paper inside (newspaper, or some paper towels or a little toilet paper works real well). Then pour in about a half-cup of vegetable oil and then place this in the lower drum. Around this bag I put some wood, a basic Boy Scout fire here, and then set the paper on fire inside the bag. The oil burns slowly and hot enough to get the wood going. As soon as there is a decent fire going I start piling on the charcoal and then it is only a matter of waiting until all is ready.
In the meantime I have usually started preparing the meat. One of my favorites is a large piece of 'puerco liso' (that would be the same as a boneless pork roast). The pork needs to be about five pounds to cook right and I usually soak this in pineapple juice, garlic and salt for a couple of hours before putting it on the grill. As soon as the fire is ready, which doesn't take long, this meat is put on the grill and the lid closed for about three hours. The only thing needed while it is cooking is to maintain the fire down below, and to turn it once in a while. Either charcoal or wood can be added while this is cooking since it is far enough removed from the flame that the heat can be easily controlled.
After the meat is put on the grill I usually sit back and vigorously quench my thirst and then start the "checking of the meat ritual". That consists of opening the barbecuer a few times and peering into the smoky interior (while clutching a beer in one hand), then reaching in with the tongs and gently prodding the cooking flesh. This serves no really useful purpose, other than to make the process look more complicated thus ensuring my position as head barbecuer. It seems that most women-folk have no desire to acquire the same smoky odor as a piece of cooking pig flesh and so will not engage in this step of the process. It also explains why on the few occasions that my lovely bride has attempted to surprise me with a lump of barbecued meat, she always starts by saying no one can barbecue like me. She's right about that, but hasn't realized that one of the secrets to successful barbecuing is to identify with your prey. The other advantage to this ritual is that when you make another beer run and go in to pay for the beer, everyone is very appreciative of the fact that you have either been out fighting a forest fire or are preparing a kick-ass barbecue.
This five pound piece of cooking pig flesh will need to go for about three hours to cook properly, Just make sure that it doesn't start to dry out too much and try not to fall asleep in the hammock, after five or six hours the meat will start to look like one of those freeze dried prunes.
A basic barbecue in Azuero.
Leo
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Pumpkin Pie
7 November 2002
Traditional holiday fare can be a little difficult out here in Azuero if the holiday is not a local tradition. Sometimes it's necessary to be a little inventive. As far as cooking goes, there is no problem if you want to make carne guisada, or sancocho, but if you want to make some kind of traditional food from somewhere else, then invention is the key to success.
Below is a recipe for a traditional pumpkin pie, made with ingredients that can be found practically anywhere in the interior of Panama. These can be found at almost any tienda or minisuper. I want to post this early enough before the holiday because some of you might like to try it first to be absolutely certain that it would meet the high expectations of your family and guests. (I don't have that problem, just about everyone I know will eat anything if it's not quick enough to crawl off their plate, well, sometimes even then.)
This was originally written for Thanksgiving of 2001, and I sent it to a number of acquaintances, here it is in a slightly edited version. Be assured that I have made this recipe, and made it in the same way as described here. If these directions are faithfully followed, you can be certain of a remarkable addition to any feast.
Thanksgiving is a normal work day here, I sort of hate to think how this holiday would be perverted if it were imported here, but I have to say that it is the holiday that I miss the most.
I have been reading on the web the little articles that tell us why this thanksgiving is different than others previously (Thanksgiving 2001) and how people are planning more patriotic celebrations and all that stuff. Well, personally I just miss the smell of a house full of food, and that stuffed feeling and falling asleep on the living room floor with a full tummy and a football game on the tube. The house full of people and a sort of cool feeling outside and those early Christmas commercials.
Yesterday the temperature here dipped to an unusually cool low (of somewhere) in the upper 80's. Coupled with an overcast sky and a faint breeze wafting up from the bleach plant below, I found myself feeling a little sorry for myself. Missing the sounds and faces of the people I associate with Thanksgiving. Well, this led to a sort of odd conclusion. I decided to make a pumpkin pie.
I came across a recipe in Newsweek that looked an awful lot like the ones that my mother used to make. I went to the store last night and picked up the spices and then stopped by the tienda leaving La Arena and snagged a four pound zapallo and headed to the house. Here are the instructions on how to make a pumpkin pie; Leo style.
Ingredients for Leo's 12 pack pumpkin pie:
- 9" pie shell
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 2 cups pumpkin cooked
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- dash salt
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 case cold beer (at least)
To make pie shell, you need about 1/2 lb of flour, 2 big tablespoons of sugar, dash of salt and 1 stick of margarine.
Ok, here is how you go about putting this together to make a real holiday treat.
First, get everything together, spices, milk, beer, etc. Then open a beer and drink deeply, you need time to think and this will help. This recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked pumpkin, the closest thing to a pumpkin here is called zapallo and is usually used only in soup. Well, it looks pretty pumpkiny so it makes a good substitute. A 3 3/4 pound to 4 pound squash should provide about two cups cooked. The skin on these things is pretty tough to remove so the easiest thing is to just wash it real good, then cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and all that goopy stringy stuff (this is called "gutting the pumpkin", be sure and save the seeds as these are really good roasted in a little salted butter and consumed with beer). Throw the cleaned squash, complete with skin in a pan with a little water, about 1/2 inch, cover and bring to a boil. Here is a good point to rest, refresh your beer and gather your wits. Ok keep an eye on that squash because you don't want it to burn, you may have to toss in a little more water but the idea is to just steam it until it is smooshy. Take another drink and then start on the crust.
In a separate pan mix in about half of a one pound bag of flour, $0.33 in Masisa, mix in the dash of salt, two big heaping tablespoons of sugar and mix this dry real well, then put in the stick of margarine and smoosh it into the other mixture with a fork. Mix this fairly well, but you want the mix to have a texture sort of like granola, understand? Add water VERY slowly and mix JUST until this stuff sort of sticks together but is still fairly dry. On an aluminum tray toss out a little flour and then put the ball of dough in the center, using your empty beer bottle you can now roll out the dough until it resembles a (hey) pie crust. Don't try and pick it up this is impossible and will only result in frustration. Prepare your pie pan, In my case I had to remove the handle from a cheap shallow skillet, then invert the pan over the dough, turn the whole thing upside down and allow the dough to separate from the tray and fall into the pan. Fix any little imperfections and set this aside in a place where the dog can't get it's nose in it.
Get another beer. When the squash is soft get it off the stove. You can run cold water over it to cool it off a little, and then just scrape the yellow stuff off the skin, save the yellow stuff and throw the skin away into the bucket that goes back to feed the pigs.
Take another drink, this next part is pretty intense. Mix all of the ingredients into the squash (spices, milk, I used 3/4 cup of brown sugar and omitted the white sugar because brown sugar here is not as dense as that C&H stuff that you can get in the States), making sure that the spices are pulverized. I had to powder the allspice as here I have only been able to find it whole (not sure what one would use a whole allspice for) anyway, this was accomplished very easily with a small smooth rock and a board. Mix this mixture well and then pour it into your pie crust.
It's probably time for another beer, this is a good opportunity to check the cooling function of your refrigerator. In the meantime you should have been preheating your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place this pie in the hot oven and cook for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and cook about 45 minutes more until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean. While this is cooking you can clean up your mess and finally sit down with another cold one to cool off a little. Hey, in 45 minutes of waiting, you can throw back about three or four and start to feel that festive mood set in.
Well, the only thing left is to remove the pie from the oven and let it cool a little before you dig in. This can be served with whipped cream or ice cream or just like it is.
Enjoy.
Buen Provecho de Azuero.
Leo
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