I had a post similar to this in mind when I first started this blog, took some pics in my kitchen, then put it on the back burner (no pun intended!) Foodessen made a post that I really enjoyed, so I am going to gank her idea and use some of the pics I took for my similar post and push ‘Blend’!
We shop at both a little market near our home and at the supermarket Carrefour, a French chain. This pic is our actual market, located near the water.
First, I would like to paint a picture of the basic supermarket and appliances situation here. If you step into an Argentine expat forum, one of the largest complaints you will read about repeatedly is the lack of variety in the grocery stores. Coming from the United States, where every single item comes in different flavors (ranch, spicy, Italian-style, BBQ), different forms (cubed, creamed, sliced, low fat, no salt, frozen, canned) or basically already prepared and you just add water or zap in the microwave, it can be a bit unsettling. You have to actually cook.
Here, I was a bit intimidated by seeing aisles (long ones!) that were stocked on one side with boxes of tomato sauce…and only that—boxes stacked 4 shelves high like bricks. On the other side? Something like cans of lima beans, corn, or peas. And that was it. I remember looking at TD and saying, ‘What do I do? All I see are…ingredients!‘ Hahah! I mean, how ridiculous does that sound? I wasn’t a big convenience food junkie in the US, but maybe I was a bit more dependent on things pre-seasoned, pre-breaded, or pre-cooked than I thought I was.
Second intimidating thing I tackled was the lack of appliances. No microwave, no electric skillet, no crockpot, no electric toaster. I did buy a cheap-o electric skillet that cooked unevenly and randomly would shut off, so I stopped using it. For my first or second birthday celebrated here, I was given a coffee maker and a George Foreman mini grill, which I was thrilled to receive. I could probably get a crockpot, toaster, or another electric skillet that worked better, but things like this are terribly expensive and/or are imported and are no longer available. Now that I make more money and could blow half my monthly wages on something, it seems a bit silly because I have gone so long without them.
Things that I do have besides the stove and the George Foreman are:
A Toaster-Thing:
We have this exact same toaster, but instead of using a campfire (wtf), we actually have a very nice gas stove. It’s a bit unsettling that the only pic available for our toaster was something like this, though. Yes, we are cavemen down here! The truth is out, haha!
A Cast Iron Grill for the Stove:
This is our grill! We use it to death and it makes some very tasty meat. It’s not even half this clean, though…probably why everything tastes so good on it.
Also, I will add that I have a really cute kitchen with a lot of cupboard space, marble countertops, a nice convection oven, and little vintage odds and ends in the drawers that belonged to the elderly woman who lived here before us…those things, plus my family who eat there with me, makes my kitchen fun and loving and has made it easy to forget that I don’t have some of the modern conveniences. My kitchen is easily my favorite room in all the house.
On to the food items I could not live without!
SPICES
Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go. -Erma Bombeck
Remember the blurb above about there being very little convenience or prepared foods? Where the aisles full of plain canned or boxed stuff is true, there are some prepared goodies here and there. For example, we do have powdered soups by Knorr and pre-formed, frozen hamburger patties and frozen pizzas. There is also a pretty tasty pasta/rice brand called Mama Lucchetti that sometimes has a cheesy rice or mac and cheese option in a box (nothing like Kraft, though. My son was never totally convinced.). The problem is that these items are crazy expensive, aren’t available part of the time, and even if I could afford these things, I would be worried about the salt content or whatever else they’ve put in there. It’s been at least a year, probably closer to 2 years, since I’ve bought anything like that in a box.
So to solve the problem of nothing being seasoned (I don’t even think the tomato sauce has been salted), I have had to rely on actual spices. A lot of spices I love aren’t sold in the grocery stores, so I take trips to Barrio Chino (Chinatown), located near my house, to check out the fantastic spice selection there. There are also loads of imports in general that sometimes aren’t in the grocery stores…you can buy peanut butter, A1, Nutella, or Worcestershire sauce, for example. One challenge is just knowing what the spice you want is called in Spanish. It took me over a year to locate cumin…curcuma molida.
Bags of curry and cumin from Barrio Chino. I have a lot of these little bags full of spices: curry suave, curry picante, nutmeg, garlic/onion powder, cinnamon, etc. Once I had to make my own All Spice with various ingredients. Additionally, we go through obscene amounts of parsley and oregano in this house. Also, check out the prices. Keeping in mind that a little cup of coffee from a street vendor can be anywhere from 6 to 10 pesos, look how you can get a big bag o’ spices for a little more. Pennies!
Another great place to pick up spices are the verdulerias (vegetable stands) that you see on every corner. There are some fantastic, fresh peppers that you can dry or powdered goodies you can add for a little kick…Argentine food is not spicy at all, and sometimes you need a little heat!
Powered locoto from Bolivia…a nearby verduleria is owned by the sweetest Bolivian family. There is a soup recipe on the back of this package that I would be scared to death to try (this stuff is very spicy) and it also explains that it isn’t just an ingredient, you can use it as medicine and it’s ideal for treating an ulcer. Uh, ok.
I also love these envelopes of spices by the brand Alicante. I believe it is an Argentine brand, and they also sell oregano, baking soda, etc. in addition to their Caldo para Saborizar stuff.
I tend to only buy the carne (beef) and pancetta (bacon, sorta) flavors, though the others are good, too. They are small envelopes of powder that dissolve instantly. I have used them as a flavoring in sauces and even as a meat rub. They are not only versatile, but totally cheap and can be found anywhere! I would be truly lost without these and plan on having some sent to me regularly when I go back home.
Without the spices, there is no way I could turn regular ground beef into a spicy pot of chili (not normally prepared here), steamy, musky and noodle-y Swedish meatballs (also not found here at all), rich burrito makings (they finally sell tortillas here, yay!) or the great empanada filling that The Doctor can whip up in minutes, flavored with Italian spices and olives. I never realized the variety and importance of spices until prepared food was taken away from me. I’m convinced that it’s made me a better cook.
FARM FRESH CHEESES AND SALAMIS
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. ― G.K. Chesterton
Outside of Buenos Aires (the city) and Buenos Aires (the province) are loads of farms and ranches (Argentina, after all, is known for its beef.) These ranches often make their own cheeses and salamis to sell, in addition to jarred, pickled garlic, peppers, or eggplant. Some ranches are quite swanky and have a tourist thing going on. Others sell their products at fairs and specialty stores. One guy I know rides around town on a bicycle laden with cheese and salami for sale from a ranch he lives on in Cordoba (another province). Every other Saturday, save for summertime when he’s away, I buy a long stick of salami and a wedge of fresh cheese.
This is probably the closest thing we have to convenience food and, unlike home, it’s incredibly cheap…especially for local, artisan goods. My son is crazy for salami, always was, and, since I try to stick to a ketogenic diet, a few cubes of cheese and a bit of salami are all we need for a snack. Better for my energy than having something sweet, and loads better than my son having a Hot Pocket. Salami and cheese like this are the main ingredients in a picada, which is like an appetizer or tray of goodies you eat when having beer, wine or whatever. They’re usually served along with big olives, peanuts, and other tidbits.
Please, don’t imagine us scarfing down Velveeta and chunks of Armour salami. No way. This salami isn’t terribly soft or greasy like American summer sausage (which is tasty, but I am convinced will kill a man) and the cheese is just a yellow white. The flavor can very between a mellow Edam or a nutty Emmenthaler… think I end up buying whatever is ‘the white cheese’ in the basket and this is why I get these different flavors! Por favor, dame el queso blanco, eh?!
The salami I bought yesterday.
Tasty, old world snack. We slice it up on a wooden cutting board similar to this pic.
BOXED, ‘LONG LIFE’ MILK
I asked the waiter, ‘Is this milk fresh?’ He said, ‘Lady, three hours ago it was grass.’—–Phyllis Diller
Our boxed milk.
It’s been ages since I have seen the gallon jugs of milk. They just don’t exist here. Instead, we have milk in boxes and our family buys these boxes by the case. TD went shopping yesterday for the month, and I think stored in our cupboard right now are 36 (or more) of these boxes of milk.
You’re probably wondering how a box of milk could save my bacon. Basically, my son goes through milk like crazy and this stuff doesn’t have to be refrigerated, unlike the gallons at home. I can stock up at the beginning of the month and just not worry about it.
Let me add that the milk here is delish. I was never a big milk fan, unless it was in cereal or I was dunking a cookie in it. But this milk tastes very different, probably due to the fact the cows are grass-fed as opposed to grain-fed (this is why the beef here tastes different, so why not?) I also wonder what chemicals are absent from this milk that we are otherwise used to, but I try not to think about chemicals in milk more than I have to. It’s also funny to note that I was drinking this stuff for over a year before I realized that ‘entera’ meant ‘whole’.
“We’ve been drinking whole milk for a year?!!” I yelled.
“Well, yeah,” said TD.
My yanqui face paled in horror. Absolute horror.
(HAHAHA!)
Ok, so that’s why it tastes so good, like a coconut-flavored milkshake. Yum. Does everyone here drink whole milk? I am not sure because there is a lower-fat option as well. However, judging from the space allocated for whole milk in the aisle, I would make a bet that it’s quite popular. We also eat real butter, too. Between the salami, cheese, wine (not mentioned in this post), whole milk and real butter, you’d think we’d be overweight pigs down here. But no, Argentines (and my family) are healthy and not overweight. Probably it’s the more active lifestyle and eating mostly home cooked meals made with real food (referred to above as ‘ingredients’).
The large box that holds all the milks can also double as a cat castle. Peesh loves them…we even cut one down for him to sleep in and use as a scratchy-post.
FOOD ITEMS THAT HAVE DOUBLE USES
As my Sicilian grandfather used to say, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar, right?—-Andrew Cuomo
I don’t have a lot of faith in some of the cleaners here. They smell nice, but for cutting oil or getting white clothes brighter, I’ve had less than stellar results. Therefore, it’s vinegar and baking soda to the rescue. Also, in the US, I always used baking soda as a skin/hair cleanser or teeth-whitener, but now it’s even more handy since there aren’t any Crest Whitestrips or gentle, semi-abrasive skin cleansers to help out. I also have found vinegar spritzed in the hair helps fight the humidity-frizzies, which are an unfortunate reality down here.
Marawunder 