Edible Tours in Argentina: Cooking with Teresita & Empanadas Argentinas

I lived some of the best days of my tasty life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. That is what keeps me going back there year after year to explore the culture and the magical wine country.

For reference, please visit:

• Places to Visit in Buenos Aires: The Butcher Shop
• A Tasty Video From Argentina: Making Empanadas 
• Places to Visit in Buenos Aires: Belgrano Market
• Still Kickin´- Divine Wine From South America

Sometime ago I discovered Cooking (Latin American Cuisine in Buenos Aires) with Teresita, a top class cooking tours service in Buenos Aires. For me, there is nothing more inspiring than a person that is willing to share the knowledge and experience treasured all of her life.

This is the reason why today we are featuring Teresita and what she has to offer in Buenos Aires. We invite you to put Argentina high on your "places to visit" list and enjoy the wonders of this beautiful South American Country.

Welcome to the two different worlds of cuisine in Argentina. On one hand, there is the urban cuisine, highly influenced by international recipes and cooking trends, reflecting Argentina's importance in global society. Second, there is the rural cuisine that draws inspiration from the indigenous cultures in the north of Argentina. In the last case, an interesting social phenomena is happening as we speak.

Porteños, people from the city of Buenos Aires, have adopted only in recent years some indigenous techniques into the new world of Argentine cuisine. Today, we can observe the typical Argentinian empanadas being sprinkle with sugar which is a special costume used in Tucuman, a province in the north of Argentina. Frying empanadas with lard has also been adopted by some of the well-known chefs in Buenos Aires. Lard has been a tradition in empanadas making techniques in Misiones, another province in the north bordering with Paraguay and Brazil. While there are many other indigenous food preparation of Argentine traditional foods, it seems that young Argentineans chefs are adopting them slowly making sure that is a reflection of recycling innovation and not lack of contemporary cuisine knowledge.

Recipe covered at one of Teresita's classes:

Crust for baked Empanadas Argentinas
Ingredients
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup of Salmuera (brine). Prepare a concoction with dissolved salt in hot water and left aside until cold.
4 ounces of butter or margarine

Crust for fried Empanadas Argentinas

Ingredients
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 teaspoon of corn oil
1 egg
1 cup of boiling water

Preparation
To make the crust, place the flour into a bowl and mix the butter into the flour using your fingers. Pour the Salmuera slowly into the mix and mix it with your fingers just until the dough comes together and can be formed easily into a ball. Let the dough rest (outside the fridge) for about half an hour. Divide the dough in small balls the size of half an egg. Then roll with a roller pin out to a thickness of 1/8-inch making a rounded shape.