Curanto is a typical dish from the southern areas of Argentina and Chile. The first time I tasted it was in 1983 at the Chiloé Archipelago.
We found a small and humble restaurant, as we were short of funds, for which our options were the least expensive dish of the 10 lines menu.
While waiting for the food to arrive, on the adjacent table we saw two large bowls full of sea food, pork, poultry and sausages.
We asked what were those bowls, the owner said “Curanto”, obviously we rapidly changed the dishes for it, knowing that we would have to skip a few meals the following days.
Many years later I learned how the Curanto was cooked, when a friend prepared the dish using a very large pot, placing a small grill at the bottom, over which the sea food, pork chops, chicken legs, sausages and fish were placed in layers. At the bottom of the pot, white wine, onions and spices, letting the steam cook the food over the grill. Each component gave away juice, which mixed with the wine, vaporized letting the cycle continue from 1 to 2 hours, adding wine from time to time.
Ohh, just forgot, you cover all the food with cabbage leaves, so the steam remains within the pot.
Once cooked, you place the food on a dish, and the broth that is at the bottom, is served on a mug. You can imagine how energizing is this dish.
The real and original Curanto is made on a hole in the earth, 1 meter in diameter and about half a meter deep, where you place volcanic rocks or just plain small rocks that are heated almost to red. Once the fire is out, you take away the remaining ashes, place the sea food over the rocks, adding layers of pork, chicken and sausages, covering all this with a few the Nalca leafs that are big enough to cover the entire hole, on top of which the Milcao (potato pancakes) are placed, and again covered with additional Nalca leafs. Finally you caver all with a cloth. The cooking takes little less than an hour, food is delicious, but I miss the broth.
The enclosed image is of the Nalca leaf (Gunnera Tinctoria), taken with B&W film early this year in the South of Chile.
I’m not the biggest fan of this dish, but it was interesting to try it, and I always recommend to everyone who goes to southern Chile and Argentina to try it.