Post-pub nosh neckfiller: Cuy Chactado – Deep-fried guinea pig We at the El Reg post-pub nosh team are taking a break from the kitchen this week, and bringing instead a report from deepest Peru on classic cuy chactado (deep-fried guinea pig), courtesy of my old pal Gavin Wright. Gavin has a penchant for tackling challenging routes worldwide atop his bicycle, and was recently in Bolivia …
Was the squashed flat and the spuds, I tried rat on a survival course in the army, it was okay but something I would not choose as a staple. This guinea pig just looks like a chubby rat to me, if my life depended on it I would eat almost anything but with a choice and being in the Andes, I may prefer a slice of one of my companions.
My grandfather fought in WW1 and had a few 'kitchen' related anecdotes. The grub was horrible, but one time he was sent to fetch the food for his troop, the cook was proud to share a rat he had caught. This turned out to be possibly the nicest meal he had in the trenches.
I'm not very fussy when it comes to meat, but I'd definitely consider guinea pig ahead of rat. Although squashing the whole thing keeping the teeth visible isn't the most appetising way of presenting I could think of.
Reminds me of a thought that crossed my mind the other day as seagulls were flying about... Do seagulls get eaten anywhere? Or is there not enough meat on them? Or do they taste horrible?
Reminds me of a thought that crossed my mind the other day as seagulls were flying about... Do seagulls get eaten anywhere? Or is there not enough meat on them? Or do they taste horrible?
Maybe, I think the recipe is you boil them with a rock, when the rock is tender you throw away the seagull and eat the rock.
On a trip to Peru I got a chance to try a small portion of guinea pig (not a whole one -- I got a back leg I think). It was cooked the boiled and fried-to-crisp way and it tasted not unlike duck. I would certainly eat it again. Much to my neighbours' children's worry.
Not really. In terms of meat production, smaller is more efficient.
Besides, a lot of Andean families keep guinea pigs as 'pets' around the house for the kids to play with, and then happily eat them when they're ripe, just like piglets in other areas. Llamas take too much room to make a good pet.
And there's a lot more too:
"...in the Andes guinea pigs are considered a great delicacy, are important in folk-medical diagnosis, and are regularly sacrificed to the gods." Source.
Sacrificed using a teeny-weeny knife, no doubt.
If you fancy supporting small farmers of guinea pigs, to make sure that this delicious(?) nosh stays on the menu, you could try visiting KIVA - a microfinance site where you can lend small amounts to the 'working poor' around the world, including guinea-pig farmers!
There's only one bod looking for funding at the moment, why not pop over and lend him a hand (and $25).
http://www.kiva.org/lend/871676
In Cuzco there is a cathedral with a large mural of the Last Supper, with Jesus about to have a nice roast guinea pig. Can't make out coca-leaf at that resolution but I assume it was there.
Maybe the DEA and PETA have their objections, but if it's in the Bible it's gotta be A-OK!
Hmmm... not sure I like your logic.
2 Kings 6:26-29
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"
The king replied, "If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" Then he asked her, "What's the matter?"
She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."
Om nom nom nom...
Well.. there are probably ways, but I'm guessing that the pet store staff will be suspicious if you come in every week for "groceries". Then again, people with big snakes buy mice and rats for them. Same for those with predatory fish in a home tank... maybe it wouldn't raise an eyebrow or two.
The cooked dish presentation reminds me of a half suckling pig served at Fernando's(?) beach restaurant on one of Macau's islands. I had not expected it to be quite so recognisable as the animal itself - very tasty though. A very interesting restaurant with a big reputation in the 1990s. Hard to find though. After much enquiring you entered into what looked like a most unpromising small beach cafe - then the nice restaurant was hidden behind a back door.
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I can totally vouch for this one - cuy is great meat, better tasting and more tender than chicken, almost as good as tepescuintle (aka paca, the next size up in the South American edible rodent line, from cuy all the way to capybara). Peruvian is one of the great cuisines of the world, and they do wonderful things to pork and fish too... but a good cuy or 2 before a night on the town are a definite must in Lima (or Arequipa, where the helpful lady in the video comes from).
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