Turkey Free Thanksgiving Special: Street Food, Uruguay
Uruguay’s food culture is like a trip to Europe, but without the fanny-packed whiner in line behind you. Much of Uruguayan cuisine borrows from Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, but throws in a few German, British and African dishes for some extra spice. In Uruguay, the barbecue, or asado, is sacred and the cow to human ratio (4 to 1) clearly shows these guys love their beef. Let’s get down to meaty business.
If you love meat so much you want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant, then dive into the chivito. The big daddy of foreign sandwiches piles a thin slice of churrasco beef on top of bacon, fried or hardboiled eggs and ham is topped off with black or green olives, mozzarella, tomatoes, mayonnaise and generally served with fries on the side. Ask for it ‘al plato’ if you don’t want the bread. You won’t find this much meat for under 108 pesos ($5.50) outside of your favorite porn shop.
If you’re still hankerin’ for 12 inches of hot beef, stop by and grab a ‘pancho’, or hot dog, in a pan de viena (bun) at one of the many carts. Toppings include mozzarella, corn, garlic mayonnaise, salsa, ketchup, onions, relish and mustard. For the spicier option, request a húngara. If you’re looking for a super classy dog, a slightly more upscale version of the pancho is the choripán, the Uruguayan version of a po’ boy. You might find yourself with a ‘morning after grin’ after biting into this bad boy – a grilled chorizo sausage nestled between the folds of a baguette and loaded with tomato, lettuce and mayo.
Shady Schnitzel
If breaded veal like a big German wienerschnitzel is more your style, order a milanesa and scarf down some baby cow for around 100 pesos ($5.00). Ask for it “a la Napolitana” if you want it covered in ham and smothered with cheese and tomato sauce. If you’re a busy backpacker, order it ‘en dos panes’ and you’ll get it between two slices of bread with lettuce, tomato and sliced egg, perfect to eat while you’re racing to catch your bus.
Empanadas Are Like a Food Hug
Uruguay didn’t invent the empanada but they have embraced it as the epitome of street food on the run. Pillowy wheat crust is wrapped around various fillings -everything from chicken curry to traditional ground beef to veggies and cheese or fish – then baked or fried; it’s slap yo’ mama good.
Vegetarians shouldn’t be terrified that they won’t be able to find a proper dinner among the bloody carnage. One of Uruguay’s most notable veggie indulgences is the pascualina, a chard and spinach deep dish pie layered with fried eggs and topped with thick wheat crust (although sometimes phyllo dough is used). Another vegetarian option is the Italian-borrowed gnocchi, a potato dumpling, topped with various sauces from creamy to tomato. Local superstition says that if you eat gnocchi on the 29th of the month, you’ll have plenty of cash for the next thirty days. Most people place a couple of bills under their plate to bribe the gnocchi gods.
Pizza has also made its way into Uruguayan cuisine, but it won’t be smothered in mozzarella unless you request it ‘a mozzarella’ or “muzza”. Locals order pizza with fainá , a thin garbanzo bread mixed with cheese, and eat the muzza and fainá on top of each other, known as pizza a caballo, or pizza on horseback. This crazy ass pizza sandwich will set you back about 40 pesos ($2 USD).
Asucar!
If your palate requires some sugar to balance your overindulgence in salty asado, you might try Uruguay’s national obsession, dulce de leche, a sweet milky caramel paste that is spread on every imaginable substance in the country – including the hooker from last night. Dessert empanadas are a Uruguayan specialty, filled with a combination of dulce de leche, quince, chocolate and smothered in apple jam or sugar. Crepes, borrowed from France, are often stuffed with dulce de leche or served with other fillings such as strawberries and cream, lemon and sugar or maple syrup.
You might be wondering why everyone in Uruguay carries a leather purse (including the guys). These purses are known as materas, or mate bags, and in them you will find mate paraphernalia, like a pot-head who’s never far from his pipe and herb. Each matera contains a mate gourd (a hollowed out squash), bombilla (straw), thermos with hot water, and yerba mate. Yerba mate is a bitter and highly caffeinated tea, which Uruguayans drink the way Italians guzzle espresso. It’s an acquired taste but it generates a buzz that almost equates to Peruvian party powder.
We’re all about going to Europe for fine street dining but give Montevideo a nibble – you can eat for a week on what it costs to buy a bottle of water in Paris.
Sarah is happiest when she's sitting on a train, drinking wine, reading Paul Theroux, and ignoring her dissertation.
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