On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items.
Migas, chilaquiles, menudo. In this series, we've written numerous times
about savory South-of-the-border breakfast and brunch dishes. But what
about pastries such as dulce de leche cake or alfajores cookies or pan
dulces? And why can't we get good old All-American pancakes in Latin
countries?
Important question, that. You can get pancakes, but they may or may not be sweet, and they
may not taste a whole lot like what your neighborhood IHOP produces on
Sunday mornings. In fact, they may be made from corn.
Say hello to cachapas, the All-South-American treat said to be the national
dish of Venezuela, or one of them anyway.
They are typically made from fresh corn dough, ground and
worked into a batter, then flattened, wrapped in banana leaves, and cooked
on a griddle. You know, the good ol' North American way. Alternatively, according to Elisabeth Lambert Oritz,
author of The Book of Latin American Cooking, the cakes can be steamed in
dry corn husks over boiling water.
Actually, neither husk or leaf is required in the preparation, as suggested by
Elisabeth Luard's recipe in her book The Latin American Kitchen. Her
cachapas con miel (honey) are toasted straight on the griddle or a heavy
iron skillet. In either case she recommends serving them
drenched in dark forest honey.
Usually, cachapas are thicker and lumpier
than run-of-the-mill pancakes due to the fresh corn pieces and are
often
served wrapped around a piece of queso blanco or queso fresco. To
ensure culinary success, divine intervention is sometimes used. Writing
in a Los Angeles Times article entitled "The Eternal Cachapa," Sandra Hernandez
describes that when chef Francisco Cordoba Martinez makes the first cachapa
of the day in his Caracas restaurant Luncheria Los Felipes, he "set[s the
cachapa] before a small altar of Santa Barbara, the shops patron saint. 'She
gets the first one of the day but the rest are for the customers, ' Martinez
says."
Amen, brother.
When dining on the beef-and-cheese cachapas at Zaguan Latin Café & Bakery
here in Big D, Texas Monthly's Patricia Sharpe recommends using a
knife and fork and that "it's best the minute they put it on your table,
piping hot, when the melted white farmer's cheese is good and oozy and the
shredded beef is tender and just a little chewy, like a Sunday pot roast." Let's see them pull that off at IHOP.
The crunchy, slightly sweet pancake shell was the best part of the
dish, mind you, given the timidly seasoned stuff inside. Nevertheless,
the
cachapa at Zaguan is a compelling example of this dish.
