Whilst I was running amok at Peru’s La Mistura culinary festival, I grabbed Chef Maricel Presilla to help me learn the secrets of picarones, a fried dough dessert that had me addicted from the first bite. Every culture seems to have a fried dough, and that’s as good as street food gets. I thought from Maricel’s description that these were gluten-free, but alas, they do have flour. This presents a fabulous challenge for me to come up with a substitute — I bet tapioca flour would be ideal. Light and fluffy, and slathered with sugary syrup, picarones are made from sweet potato or squash. You can see a sample recipe here.

A production of the The Gilded Fork.
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Travel & accommodations provided by Prom Peru.

We were privileged to attend the Mistura Gastronomic Festival in Lima Peru last September, where Chef Dan Barber from Blue Hill Farm and Stone Barns Restaurant in NY was a guest speaker. Chef Barber was there to talk about his farm to table concept, which is not so unusual in Peru as it is here in the States. After Chef Barber’s talk, he spoke with Chef Mark about how we can learn from Peru and balance the scales in favor of more farm fresh food here at home.

www.bluehillfarm.com
www.mistura.pe

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and Accommodation provided by PromPeru.

If you’ve been following our doings here at CMN for awhile, you know how much we LOVE Peru. We were lucky enough to travel there this past September, and we have lots of great videos from the trip on the way (we PROMISE they’re coming, we’ve been a little busy!).

This past Thursday, I was invited to pop into the kitchen at Guastivino’s to see how Chef John Stevenson is preparing the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2nd annual ancient gala, celebrating the ancient wonders of Peru and the Inca culture.

Chef John worked with the AIA’s team of archaeologists and anthropologists to develop a menu using as many of the indigenous ingredients of the Andes as possible, and in this video, he explains just how challenging that was. Of course, the goal is to develop dishes that will still be tasty and appeal to high-end diners.

If the preceding video got your appetite going, there’s still time to get your tickets to the gala. The 2nd Annual Gala will be held at Guastavino’s on April 28th, 2010 in NYC. Guastavino’s is found in the arcade underneath the 59th Street Bridge. The event will honor Martha and Artemis Joukowsky with the Bandelier Award for Service to Archaeology and will celebrate the many wonders of Peru at this Peruvian themed evening.

www.archaeological.org/gala

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #216: The Foods of Peru

I speak with Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, one of the vanguard chefs of Lima Peru, who is trying to highlight the native foods of the Amazon at his Malabar restaurant in Lima. I then speak with Moises Olivares, at the Sol y Luna Lodge & Resort in the Sacred Valley, high in the Andes Mountains, where Chef Schiaffino is the Executive chef and oversees the culinary programs. I learn all about the unique dishes of this truly food-obsessed country!

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Full Disclosure: Our attendance at La Mistura, travel to Peru and accomodations were sponsored by PromPeru, as part of a Press Trip of North American journalists to learn about many foods of Peru.

After several days here in Peru, one thing has become apparent: This is a culture deeply in love with its food. Nowhere else have I seen such a strong emotional connection to the kitchen and table. In kicking off La Mistura, Peru’s annual culinary festival, Chef Gaston Acurio talked about the state of the economy, and how food is the one sector that is growing in this country — because the emotional connection Peruvians have with their food is the last thing they’re willing to let go. Instead, they are spending their scarce funds on high-quality food products and ensuring that one integral piece of their lives remains intact.

There is something to be learned from this. To eat in Peru is to take the pleasure of dining and hospitality to a level we rarely see in the U.S. Even the fast food here is of better quality — and I’m happy to say that Bembo’s, the national burger chain, is outselling the golden arches, simply because the food is better.

Service is also prized here, and Peruvians demand the very best. The quality is evident at every level, from street foods like anticuchos (hearts, liver and intestines), papa rellena (a mixture of beef, onions and olives deep fried in a mashed potato crust) and picarones (fried dough) to the more exotic fare found in the city’s best restaurants.

With such a rich choice of ingredients, my palate has been surprised a number of times with new textures and flavors, including some from the Amazon that I’ll detail in a later post. We’ve practically gorged ourselves on ceviche and pisco sours, both national treasures. We’ve even sampled cuy (guinea pig), which is surprisingly good, especially when the skin is crisped to a crunchy finish.

It will take me a while to really absorb and share what I’m experiencing here, because it’s life-changing. I’ve never had so many new flavors in a matter of days, so my palate is still reeling from the experience.

We are now in the Sacred Valley in preparation for our trip to Machu Picchu, and it seems that everywhere I look the landscape is bursting with colors and textures — my senses will remember this trip for many years to come. We’ll have videos, photos and podcasts in the months to come, and can’t wait to share it all, but for now we’ll post as much as we can. It’s difficult when we’re always on the go (I’m supposed to be sleeping right now, as I have a 6:45 AM train to Machu Picchu), but at the very least you can take a peek at my Facebook albums:

La Mistura Culinary Festival
Lima Market Visit & Ceviche Lesson
Lima: Photos of the City
Museum of Archaeology (and Erotica – my fave!)
Sacred Valley & Pisac Market (and me on an ATV – w00t!)

Top two photos by Jennifer Iannolo
Bottom photo by Mark Tafoya

We’re visiting the amazingly diverse city of Lima Peru this week, and attending “La Mistura“, Peru’s 2nd annual gastronomic festival, celebrating all things Peruvian & food in one huge party. Combining a food fair with tastes from fine dining restaurants, street vendors, and everyone in between. There’s also a conference on sustainability, the cultural identity of Peru’s cuisine, contests, and demos by famous chefs. We’ll have extensive audio and video coverage of the events of La Mistura, as well as our discoveries of this beautiful country, coming soon. In the meantime, here are just a few images from the festival.

Chef Gaston Acurio, Peru’s star chef, and the chief force behind the organization of La Mistura, showing press around the festival before the official opening.

Foods of the Amazon. Did you know that over 60% of Peru is Amazon Forest?

Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York speaks to the Peruvian crowd about methods he uses to produce the majority of the food he serves in his restaurant. Chef Barber spoke of his newfound love for the foods of Peru, and said that he thinks Peruvian food will be the next big cuisine worldwide.

Jennifer gets jiggy with some of the MANY aji peppers found in Peru!

Chef Mark enjoys anticuchos (little bites) of cow’s heart on a skewer, with chicken livers and tripe.

Cayo, sous-chef at Fernando Pacheco’s Caplina restaurant, presents his ceviche, which we learned to make. We’ll have a video of Chef Pacheco showing Chef Mark how it’s done!

Chef Mark’s facebook photo albums from Peru:

Lunch at Madeira Restaurant

Visit to the International Potato Research Center

Dinner at Astrid & Gaston Restaurant

Dinner at Malabar with Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino

Lima Market & Making Ceviche

Lima Cityscapes

Jennifer’s Facebook photo albums:

Photos around Lima

Market Visit & Ceviche Lesson

Restaurants: Astrid y Gaston & Malabar

La Mistura Culinary Festival

Full Disclosure: Our attendance at La Mistura, travel to Peru and accomodations were sponsored by PromPeru, as part of a Press Trip of North American journalists to learn about the fair and the many foods of Peru.

]]> http://gildedfork.com/images-of-la-mistura-perus-gastronomic-fair/feed/ 0 http://gildedfork.com/chef-marks-quick-bites-fancy-food-show-day-2/ http://gildedfork.com/chef-marks-quick-bites-fancy-food-show-day-2/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:01:50 +0000 Chef Mark Tafoya http://www.culinarymedianetwork.com/?p=5003

I continue my exploration around The NASFT Fancy Food Show on the 2nd day of the show. Sometimes you find yourself pulled in a certain direction without intending it, and today it seems my eye was drawn to many people featuring products from Latin America. In this first video, we see Chef Rick Bayless, who was one of the first guests on our video podcast when we started doing video. He’s debuting a new line of Mexican Gourmet skillet sauces at the show, and I speak with him while he serves up some tacos to hungry crowds. I then speak with Isela Hernandez of Kekua Mexican Drinking Chocolate, who whips up some chocolate like abuelita with her Molinillo!

As you know, we’ve been having a love affair with the Flavors of Chile here at Culinary Media Network. We couldn’t resist visiting our Chilean friends at their pavilion to see what was cooking. Chef Pilar Rodriguez spent the day whipping up a variety of dishes for the eager crowds who gathered, and she used all of the products from the various exhibitors. I then visited with Paulina Peñaloza of Chilean Gourmet, who showed me their new Quinoa Pop product, an air-puffed quinoa that’s ready to eat, which can be used in a breakfast cereal, mixed with yogurt, or as a creative topping on a number of dishes.

My last stop in my Latin American journey today was Peru. I spoke with Betsy Power of the Culinary Collective, who are debuting a bunch of products from Peru this year. The one that most caught my eye is the Kañiwa flour, a high protein flour made form a native Peruvian plant.

As always I’ll have more videos to share as well as audio for my ReMARKable Palate Podcast, with more in depth interviews of some of the people and food stories that I find fascinating.