Cooking in Cusco

It's always a highlight sharing favourite places with family and friends, and we have certainly enjoyed spending a few weeks with Sophie in Cusco and more recently with Tish and Al. But today's outing, organised by Tish, was a new one for me as well as Tish and her friends.  A cooking class - Peruvian style.

Living in a household with several Peruvians for a number of weeks, watching and assisting in food preparation, as well as eating out rather frequently, I have become familiar with a number of Peruvian dishes and styles of cooking.  However, this was so much more than a cooking lesson - it was a market shopping experience with tastings and explanations, a culture lesson and history lesson as well.  It was interesting, informative and above all, thoroughly entertaining.

Tish found a couple of options for cooking classes in Cusco, booked one only to have them cancel the morning of the class.  So at short notice she booked the alternative - a cooking class with the owner himself of a very nice restaurant in Cusco. Apparently he doesn't usually do cooking classes, and the last one he did a few weeks ago was with a BBC team doing a story on Peruvian cuisine.  We were very privileged indeed.  Eric from Marcelo Batata restaurant is an excellent ambassador for Peruvian cuisine and an interesting and entertaining guy.  We had an amazing afternoon...

The afternoon began at mid-day, with a hostel pick up then off to the local market (Mercado Wanchaq) to get supplies as well as find out more about Peruvian produce.  Straight away it was obvious that Eric knows his stuff - just wish I could remember all the facts and figures about produce.

Apparently Peru has very diverse climates - in fact 28 of the 32 world climates so they are able to produce a huge variety of foodstuff. At the market we tasted several fruits, some common ones like kiwi fruit, pears and custard apple (cherimoya) which is native to Peru, as well as some Peruvian delicacies like lucama  and tumbo - a type of passionfruit.

Tumbo

Lucama

We looked at some of the thousands of varieties of potatoes, as well as dried potatoes, grains, cheeses, vegetables and spices - particularly aji (chilli). I've noticed that many of the sauces and spice mixtures are made from fresh ingredients more frequently that what I would do at home.  What a great opportunity to ask all those questions I'd been storing up.  Awesome.

After a couple of hours in the market we headed back to the restaurant where a large table was set with cutting boards, plates sharp knives etc.  We were going to be working right in the middle of the restaurant and other diners.  But our first item on the menu was to take place at the bar, not the table.

We were shown how to make 2 different drinks with Peru's national drink - Pisco.   And of course we got to make our own drink of choice.  Delicious!! Eric has been experimenting with Pisco infusions - adding other ingredients to Pisco.  The chilli infusion was amazing - spicy!!

Time to start preparing our entree - Causa limeña de Pollo. Following Eric's instructions, our entrees all looked pretty good.

I loved the part where we picked up our plates and drinks and simply moved to another table to eat, leaving restaurant staff to clean up our preparation tables.  Magic!!!

We didn't start preparing our main course - Alpaca Saltado until about 4.30  Time flies when you're having fun!!  More chopping - and Eric was very particular about the shapes of the items.

and a drink for the cook ...  Passionfruit Sour with mint and basil.  Delicious!!!

Only the outside pieces of the onions were used - they have the best shape and look good on the plate.  Mmmmm.   Alpaca tenderloin was diced into fairly large pieces so they wouldn't overcook and dry out - there was a reason for everything.  Alpaca is very lean meat ... no fat whatsoever.

Time to start cooking - into the kitchen - only a small kitchen, and 4 staff already working away.  But it's an open kitchen so we could all sit along the servery and watch the proceedings.  This was the best part. Eric obviously enjoyed this part as well.

First he cooked a single serving, showing and explaining the process as he went.  Searing the meat, caramelising the onions and chillies .... having flames leap into the pan - especially when the Pisco was added.  Who could get the highest flame????  There was such a buzz as we all took turns to create our dish.

Once cooked, restaurant staff 'plated' it up for us - chips neatly stacked on the sides, rice decorated with a face, and of course our colourful alpaca stir fry.  Impressive and tasted so good too!!

What a spectacular day.  I had tasted both these dishes previously, but there's something more satisfying in creating them yourself.  Even better to do it with a group of friends!  Thanks again Tish.

BTW - both dishes were better than I have tasted before too.  Gee I'm a good cook!  

Sometimes things just work out for the better!!!