Sunday 16 September 2007
Okay, so I've mentioned that Ryan and I came up here to Tucumán for the food. More specifically, we came for the empanada festival held annually in a small town called Famaillá. We actually went out to the festival Friday night, which was mostly a peña, or folk music concert, and had a few empanadas then. But the main attraction, the empanada-making contest, is today.
Here's how it works: women (or men, but mostly women) from Famaillá are sponsored by groups called ranchos. On the day of the contest, they bring their own ingredients (only traditional ingredients allowed, too, no adding anything new. In Tucumán, this means meat cut by hand, onions, green onions, hard-boiled eggs, cumin, chili pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper) and make empanadas from scratch as the judges watch. They bake them in igloo-shaped mud ovens, and the judges taste them. They choose the best empanada, and the woman who made it is the empanada queen. She doesn't get a prize, but is recognized as making the best empanadas in town, and her business is pretty much set for the year.
We came up to the place just as they were starting, and within about two minutes they had asked Layne and I to be judges!!!!! I was a judge at the Concurso Nacional de Emapandas!!!!!! (I guess that they like having people from outside of town, who don't know the contestants, to judge whenever they can.) It was an amazing experience, and I learned a lot about what makes a good empanada!
Turns out the whole thing was pretty corrupt, though. One of the judges owns the rancho that sponsored the winner, and was in fact the one who taught her how to make empanadas. But, in all fairness, the woman who won did make some pretty delicious empanadas!
This is a picture of the pile of empanadas left over at our table after the judging. (After all, there were twelve contestants, we could only eat one bite of each, or we'd be full by the time we were half-way done!)
Okay, so I've mentioned that Ryan and I came up here to Tucumán for the food. More specifically, we came for the empanada festival held annually in a small town called Famaillá. We actually went out to the festival Friday night, which was mostly a peña, or folk music concert, and had a few empanadas then. But the main attraction, the empanada-making contest, is today.
Here's how it works: women (or men, but mostly women) from Famaillá are sponsored by groups called ranchos. On the day of the contest, they bring their own ingredients (only traditional ingredients allowed, too, no adding anything new. In Tucumán, this means meat cut by hand, onions, green onions, hard-boiled eggs, cumin, chili pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper) and make empanadas from scratch as the judges watch. They bake them in igloo-shaped mud ovens, and the judges taste them. They choose the best empanada, and the woman who made it is the empanada queen. She doesn't get a prize, but is recognized as making the best empanadas in town, and her business is pretty much set for the year.
We came up to the place just as they were starting, and within about two minutes they had asked Layne and I to be judges!!!!! I was a judge at the Concurso Nacional de Emapandas!!!!!! (I guess that they like having people from outside of town, who don't know the contestants, to judge whenever they can.) It was an amazing experience, and I learned a lot about what makes a good empanada!
Turns out the whole thing was pretty corrupt, though. One of the judges owns the rancho that sponsored the winner, and was in fact the one who taught her how to make empanadas. But, in all fairness, the woman who won did make some pretty delicious empanadas!
This is a picture of the pile of empanadas left over at our table after the judging. (After all, there were twelve contestants, we could only eat one bite of each, or we'd be full by the time we were half-way done!)
4 comments:
Congratulations on the judging! Looks yummy too!
Glenn
Cool! I bet that Empanada Judge isn't something that turns up on just anyone's resume. Sounds like a great day!
I'm drooling...
Mima Malloy Here from Mima Malloy's Catering! Just wanted to congratulate you on your win & to let you know those empanadas are a sight! The coloring is beautiful and the beef inside screams of delicious spices! Here's to you!!
www.myspace.com/mimamalloyscatering
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