Place of origin | Chile |
---|---|
Region or state | Chiloé |
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Potatoes, shellfish, meat |
Variations | Multiple |
Curanto (from Mapudungun: kurantu 'stony') is a traditional Chilote method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in an earth oven that is covered with pangue leaves and turf. The fundamental components are seafood, potatoes, along with other traditional preparations from Chiloé Archipelago such as milcao and chapalele, to which are added meats, sausages and sometimes crustaceans.[1][2][3]
It is part of the Chilean cuisine, and it is one of the most recognized dishes of traditional Chilote cuisine whose oldest archaeological remains dates to more than eleven thousand years before present on the Greater Island;[1] there are also finds of lesser data in areas of the coastal edge of the Reloncaví Sound, the inland sea of Chiloé and the northern Patagonian channels.[4] In addition, thanks to the migratory flow of the late 19th century and early 20th century, it spread throughout the south of that country.[5][6]
Although its preparation has been documented in various ethnographic accounts since the 16th century,[7][8] traditionally in the cuisine of the Chiloé archipelago it is prepared outdoors and is called "curanto en hoyo", since it is made in a pit in the ground, about half a meter deep; the bottom is covered with stones, which are heated in a campfire. When they are red hot, the firebrands are removed and the ingredients begin to be placed.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)