But I do remember what it was like our very first week in Cusco. It took me nearly 7 days to figure out how to cook rice. My sister in law gave me a neat little cookbook called the High-Altitude Cookbook. After trying and failing certain recipes I read the biography of the authors and discovered that these ladies were living at HALF the altitude (in Colorado) that we are. So in our first weeks/months in Cusco, my free time was spent browsing the internet compiling information about high-altitude cooking. Soon I started readjusting and re-writing most of the recipes I had. It was fun and challenging.
After living here for nearly 7 years and cooking for my family every day, I hardly use recipes. Its fun to try things just by seeing a photo or inventing things using what I have in my kitchen. It has been a challenge when I want to try a recipe and can't find those ingredients here in Cusco. I've learned to just skip over such meals (like anything with fish or specialty cheeses or healthy substitutes like agave nectar). What I have learned is how to make an excellent dish with simple ingredients.... my fave is probably home-made pesto. We don't have the luxury of buying it already made and sold in a jar. Besides, what I'm learning is that those jarred/canned/processed foods have ingredients that aren't the freshest or even add terrible additives/colorants/preservatives, etc. Things I have come to abhor. I am thankful that I now have the skills to start a meal from the ground to the table and not have any need for additional store-bought, processed ingredients.
I have become obsessed over the last few years of reading labels and doing research. Like the time when I was learning about the E numbers. Having come from the U.S. where additives are not named as E numbers, I wasn't sure which each number meant. So I looked it up. And now, I know which ones are okay and natural and which ones are unhealthy and even dangerous. There are E numbers that have been approved in the EU and US and others that are not- that Peru uses, since they don't have the same standards.
Cooking in altitude is generally the same when grilling. It changes a bit with boiling since water boils at a lower temperature here. Water evaporates much quicker, so when making anything on the stove top, you have to keep that in mind and give either more water or more time depending on what you're making. I always thought it was weird that Cusquenans made rice by bringing it to a boil and letting it absorb half the water and then they pour off the rest of the water and place a plastic bag over the rice under the lid. How's that for getting BPA's in your food? Well it's normal here and it's almost the only way to cook rice. I avoid the plastic bag, but my rice never comes out as good. Baking is where things change a lot. After trying time and time again to make cookies, after nearly 7 years, I have finally perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe so that I end up with a fluffy, soft and chewy cookie with the chocolate chips that stay melted inside. Cakes are just as difficult.
It gets complicated but my high-altitude tips are something along the lines of less sugar, less oil/butter, more flour/oats, additional eggs, more liquid, change amount of baking soda and powder - less soda more powder, higher temperature by about 15%, and more time in the oven. Fun, huh!
No comments:
Post a Comment