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Criollo or Criolla is the Guatemalan Spanish word often meaning native or garden grown. Although criollo in colonial times was the word used to label the offspring of Spaniards that were born in America (remember America means the entire Continent not just the U.S.). Nowadays, in Guatemala we use the word criollo/criolla for things that grow in an orchard or garden. For instance, the small limones (limes) are limones criollos. In the case of the Caldo de gallina criolla, it means a hen grown in the patio, garden or orchard. The gallinas criollas are usually smaller than mass-grown farm hens and the meat is darker and much more delicious. What terms are used in your neck of the woods for gallina criolla?

Bon appetite!

I found this recipe at Revista Amiga. Can anybody help with the translation?

Caldo de gallina criolla

Rinde 6 porciones
Ingredientes
2 litros de agua hirviendo
1 gallina de 3 libras
2 chiles pimiento
2 cebollas
5 tomates
5 papas
1 zanahoria
1 güisquil
1 cucharadita de aceite
1 manojo de hierbabuena
1 manojo de cebollín
sal al gusto
polvo de consomé al gusto

Preparación
En una olla grande cueza la gallina en el agua hirviendo, sazónela con sal y consomé al gusto, añada el tomate y la cebolla picados.
Corte las verduras en pequeños trozos y saltéelas en una sartén con el aceite. Añádalos al caldo y cueza por 45 minutos. Pique la hierbabuena y el cebollín, incorpórelos al caldo, retire la preparación del fuego y sirva.

On sundays there is a restaurant open on the top of the mountain within Finca Filadelfia. The food is delicious, and the majestic view will captivate you for hours. If you haven’t taken the time to visit this restaurant you need to schedule it for this sunday! Your life isn’t complete until you’ve visited this restaurant. All the food is wood fire cooked, and tastes as fresh as if you grew it yourself. The ride up and down is bumpy, but worth it. I wish we could go there everyday, it is that breathtaking.

text and photo by Zach Olson.

About Guest Contributor: Zach Olson is a Photographer from the Dallas Texas area. He enjoys shooting all types of photography, capturing a single moment that explains and entire event or emotion.

I can’t believe it has taken me over 5 years to share with you a plate of carne adobada. Shame on me. Although, I believe I’ve shown carne adobada before with other meats at a charbroiler.

Carne adobada is basically adobo marinated pork loin. The adobo marinate includes achiote, garlic, oregano, thyme, a little bit of vinegar, and pepper as shared with us by Joanne a while back. I am sure there other ingredients that can be included in the adobo marinate, but I don’t know what they are.

Can anybody share a adobo marinate recipe with the rest of us?

Pitahaya season is here!

A Pitaya (pronounced /pɨˈtaɪ.ə/) or pitahaya (English pronunciation: /ˌpɪtəˈhaɪ.ə/) is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). These fruits are commonly known as dragon fruit. The vine-like epiphytic Hylocereus Pitaya producing cacti are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Hylocereus has adapted to live in dry tropical climates with a moderate amount of rain. The dragon fruit sets on the cactus-like trees 30–50 days after flowering and can sometimes have 5-6 cycles of harvests per year… continue reading at Wikipedia.

You can buy pitayas in your nearest mercado or supermarket right now. There’s an upcoming article in REVUE magazine about the pitayas with a recipe for Ginger Dragon Delight which has rum and pitahayas as the main ingredients. You can find the article on page 66 of the July 2011 issue of REVUE magazine.

Have you ever had pitayas?

Today’s entry is a follow up on the comment left by Lynn on June 1:

Accidentally stumbled on your site somehow, and it made me nostalgic for all things Antigua and Guatemalan. Was there exactly 10 years ago for a couple of weeks, and spent every day in amazement. I remembered a fruit someone shared on a boat to Santiago Atitlan, the most sublime stuff of paradise, it had bright fuschia-colored flesh, and I looked for it everywhere for years, but never really knew what it was and have never found out since. Would you have a clue? These pix make me long to take a return trip. Soon.

In La Antigua Guatemala we are so lucky to have fresh tropical fruits year round to prepare our licuados and smoothies. Since the low coastal lands are within one or two hours distance, we are guaranteed a fresh supply of tropical fruity goodness any day, any time.

Sweet. Refreshing. Natural. Licuados are one of those treats that truly define a Guatemalan experience. The blended fruit drinks can be found most anywhere in La Antigua from fancy restaurants to local, hole-in-the-wall comedors… and I absolutely LOVE them declared Giramonda in the Licuado Culture post.

What tropical fruits will you include in your licuado? We do home deliveries

En La Antigua Guatemala somos afortunados de tener frutas tropicales frescas todo el año para preparar licuados. Ya que las tierras bajas de la costa nos quedan a tan sólo una o dos horas de distancia, tenemos garantizada una fresca oferta de frutas tropicales cualquier día.

¿Qué frutas tropicales incluirán en su próximo licuado? Hacemos entregas a domicilio

Nothing is sacred in the kitchen and fusion is the tendency in vogue. So it comes as no surprise to find new ingredients as part of the Pupusas repertoire such as chipilín and mushrooms.

Pupusas are tortilla-like dish, about the size of CD and made from a mixture of maize dough, cheese and some typical ingreditients like loroco, beans, chicharon, chirozo, et cetera. Pizza Maya is what I called a giant pupusa the first time I introduced them. We can even find black or blue pupusas in Antigua Guatemala.

It’s quite common to find pupusas with cheese and loroco, an exotic herb from Central America in El Salvador and sometimes in La Antigua Guatemala, but I had never had pupusas with cheese and mushrooms or cheese and chipilín, another exotic herb/weed from Guatemala.

What’s next? Pupusas with cheese and flor de izote, queso y flor de ayote, maybe bledo, espinacas could also work or even quiletes weeds sauté with onions? What do you think?

If you want to learn about Guatemala’s editable weeds, flowers and herbs, follow the white rabbit!

By the way, these two pupusas and a licuado from fresh tropical fruits and milk will set you back Q26/$3.25 at Pupusas Cheros, located half a block from Central Park on 5a calle poniente. RWOrange are you reading this?

It does not matter where you go in Guatemala, you are certain to find elotes asados (charbroiled corn on the cob).

This is what Laura McNamara shared with us on her post Craving Corn: Elote

It’s also fun to think about the tradition behind the Maya and their connection to corn as you get elote caught in your teeth. According to Popol Vuh —a sacred book that is casually referred to as the Mayan Bible— the first man and woman were made from corn. Thus, corn is a huge part of the Maya culture and diet.

Besides the typical papalinas (potato chips) found everywhere, in La Antigua Guatemala you can also find exotic chips made from eggplant, plantain (plataninas in Guatemalan Spanish), cassava chips (yuquitas in Guatemala), sweet potato chips (camote in Spanish) and other such exotic vegetables. Of course, you need an exotic sandwich to match the exotic chips and the torta cubana (Cuban sandwich) is a pretty good match.

Bon appétit!

Además de las típicas papalinas que se encuentran pordoquier, en La Antigua Guatemala uno también encuentra frituras exóticas como las berengenas, plataninas, yuquitas, camotes y otras verduras endémicas de la región. Claro que se necesita un emparedado que este a la altura de las frituras exóticas y la torta cubana hace una muy buena combinación.

¡Buen provecho¡

Tortitas de carne, beef patties, are a classic staple of the Guatemalan gastronomy. They are usually served with a simple tomato sauce on top of the patties with rice and salad. In the picture above, the sauce is actually the pepián recado (sauce or curry).

Does anyone have the recipe for this succulent Guatemalan dish?

Las tortitas de carne son una parte integral de la gastronomía guatemalteca. Normalmente, las tortitas son servidas con salsa de tomate encima, con arroz y ensalada. En este caso llevan el recado del pepián.

¿Quien nos puede pasar la receta de las tortitas de carne?

In Guatemala we are lucky to still have vendors who provides us with fresh goods every day. Perhaps, it is the fact that the vast majority of Guatemalans don’t have a refrigerator that make us have fresh goods like fruits, vegetables, meats, et cetera every day of the year. Tortillas are not the exception. In fact, in most places we have fresh and hot tortillas out of the comal three times a day. Bread is baked at least twice a day.

Do you know when was your bread or tortillas made?

En Guatemala somos afortunados que aún encontramos vendedores que nos proveen de productos frescos todos los día. Tal vez el hecho que la gran mayoría de guatemaltecos no tienen un refrigerador es lo que aún nos permite encontrar frescas frutas, verduras, carne, etcétera. Las tortillas no son la excepción. Al contrario, en la mayoría de lugares podemos encontrar tortillas frescas y saliditas del comal tres veces al día. El pan es horneado por lo menos dos veces al día.

¿Sabés cuando prepararon el pan y tortillas en el refrigerador?

Recently I had the opportunity to have breakfast at the restaurant inside Posada de Don Rodrigo. I ordered the Enchiltepado typical breakfast which comes with two eggs prepared your way, a sirloin steak (underneath everything), black beans and fresh Guatemalan cheese, everything bathed with a chiltepe pepper cream. It was simple and delicious. I must do it again!

If you don’t know what chiltepe peppers are, read the post What Makes Guatemalans Hot? to find out!

Recientemente tuve la oportunidad de desayunar en el restaurante que está dentro de la Posada de Don Rodrigo, en la Calle del Arco. Ordené un desayuno Enchiltepado que viene con dos huevos al gusto con un bisteq de lomito (debajo de todo) acompañado de una deliciosa crema de chiltepe, frijoles negros y queso fresco.

Si vos no sabés que es el chile chiltepe, lee la entrada What Makes Guatemalans Hot? para enterarte.

The food served at fair stands is becoming more colorful. Not too long ago I showed you black pupusas at Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which are very unusual.

If you never seen a photo of the Guatemalan torrejas, follow the white rabbit to Torrejas, Torrejas, Anyone? to get an idea of how torrejas are normally served. Now, compare the photo from the link against today’s photo of torrejas and you will understand the above statement.

Okay, let’s take a sweet tour through the Guatemalan comfort fair foods. Please, make sure you have some napkins close by; we don’t want to have any salivating accidents over the computer equipment.

• Buñuelos
• Torrejas
• Corbatas
• Churros
• Platanos fritos
• Rellenitos
• Algodones
• Dulces típicos

What other dishes available at the fairs should I include in the Guatemalan comfort food list?

Okay, it’s Friday and it’s time to give a free post card away again. Today’s game is very simple: the person that can name the most typical candies and nuts in Spanish from the photo above, wins this photo as a post card, which I will mail using the snail-mail postal service, including the Guatemalan postal stamps.

Good luck to all participants!

Simple Guatemalan fair food. Take some pirujo bread, add lettuce, mayonaise, tomato sauce, chile sauce and shredded chicken meat you have panes con pollo; a staple of the Lent season.

Do you want to know what to expect in terms of food and things to do for the season? Take a tour through the Guatemalan Fair series!

Guatemalan gastronomy is so rich with stews. If the stews are watery we call them caldos and if the stews are thick we call them recados. In Guatemala we have plenty of caldos and recados and sometimes is difficult to decide whether a stew is a caldo or a recado. Take Kak’Ik for instance, which is caldo that looks like a recado.

The picture above is from the three-meat Subanik from Cocina del Obispo located at the entrance of San Juan del Obispo. Cocina del Obispo is a great place to try out all the different Guatemala stews and typical dishes. Cocina del Obispo is a traditional house that is converted into a restaurant on the weekends, therefore all the dining tables are spread between garden, patios and dining room.

Anyway, henceforward we declare Guatemala as the Ultimate Stew Country!

How many other Guatemalan stews can you name besides pepian, tapado, subanik, pulique, hilachas, jocón, kak’ik, caldo de gallina, caldo de res, gallo en chicha, tiras de panza, pollo en crema, pollo a la cerveza, carne guisada, revolcado, caldo de mariscos, etc.?

How many of these stews have you tried?