What is
Latin American dishes and ingredients explained: where they come from, what actually goes in them and how they differ from what you already know.
Dishes
Humita
Humita is a seasoned, cooked mixture of grated fresh corn, typical of north-western Argentina and the Andes. The difference between humita and tamal, and between the husk and the pot version.
Ajiaco
Ajiaco is a Colombian soup of chicken, three kinds of potato and guascas, typical of Bogotá. Why it turns creamy without any cream, and why the same word names different dishes in Cuba and Peru.
Revuelto Gramajo
Revuelto gramajo is an Argentine dish of shoestring potatoes, ham and eggs scrambled together in the pan. Where the name comes from and what the right point is.
Asado Banderita
Asado banderita is short rib cut thin, 2 to 3 cm. Why it is called that, how it differs from ordinary asado de tira and why it is cooked differently.
Ingredients
Dulce de leche
Dulce de leche is milk and sugar cooked slowly until they brown. It is not caramel and not condensed milk. The difference between the classic and the pastry grade, and what it is called in each country.
Condensed milk
Condensed milk is milk with water removed and sugar added. It is not the same as evaporated milk, and not the same as dulce de leche. What each one is for and how not to mix them up.
Beef suet
Grasa de pella is the beef fat around the kidneys, the purest and the one with the highest melting point. It is what defines the flavour of Salta empanadas and tamales.
Precooked corn flour
Precooked corn flour is corn that has been cooked, dried and reground: it binds with cold water and no cooking. It is not polenta and not cornstarch, and there is no substitute for arepas.
Self-raising flour
Self-raising flour is plain flour with baking powder already mixed in. You can replace it in 10 seconds with the right proportion, so there is no need to go out and buy it.
Fig-leaf gourd
Cayote is a squash whose flesh pulls apart into long strands. Cooked with sugar it makes the traditional preserve of north-western Argentina, the same one Spain calls cabello de angel.
Chorizo
The word chorizo names three sausages that cannot stand in for one another: the fresh grilling one, the dry colorado and the Spanish cured one. How they differ.
Cassava flour
Cassava flour is the grated root, pressed and dried, fibre and all. Tapioca is only its starch. They look alike and they behave in opposite ways.
Yerba mate
Yerba mate is the dried, ground leaf of the Ilex paraguariensis tree. It is not a tea: the ritual, the vessel and the way you drink it are all different. With stems, without stems, and what to eat alongside.
Filo pastry
Filo is paper-thin sheets of flour and water, with no fat in the dough. The layers are built by brushing butter between one sheet and the next, not by folding it into the dough as in puff pastry.
Quesillo
Quesillo is a fresh stretched-curd cheese sold in rolled-up sheets, typical of north-western Argentina. The same word names completely different things in Venezuela, Mexico and Nicaragua.
Cane syrup
Miel de cana is sugarcane juice boiled down until thick: dark, dense and less sweet than honey. It is not molasses, and the difference is in how each one is obtained.
Charqui
Charqui is meat cut into thin strips, heavily salted and dried in the sun. It keeps for months without refrigeration and has to be desalted before cooking. Brazil calls it charque; it is not the same as carne de sol.
Watercress
Watercress is a peppery leaf, not a bitter one: it belongs to the mustard family. The difference between water and land cress, and how not to confuse it with chicory.