I have been cursed: Revenge of the Guinea Pigs

I decided to capture this screen from my FLICKR account -just in case- GP girl comes back to curse me again or to DELETE her comment.

This is where everything started...My brined guinea pig recipe.

Next time I cook another of her furry friends I will be thinking of her and ...I would not shed a tear...

"revenge of the guinea pigs" that would make a good movie! anyhow, what difference is it what animal you choose to eat? the world is big & diverse. hugs to mel

Thank you Bindifry for your support!

From Wikipedia, Guinea Pigs as Food:

Guinea pigs, or cuy, cuye, curí, were originally domesticated for their meat in the Andes.

As food, the guinea pig is described as a combination of rabbit and the dark meat on chicken, though in colour, taste, and the fineness of bones the gourmet will be reminded of quail. It is high in protein (21%) and low in fat (8%). Due to the fact that they require much less room than traditional livestock and reproduce extremely quickly when compared to traditional stock animals, they can be raised as a source of food in an urban environment—unlike most western livestock animals.

To this day, cuyes continue to be a major part of the diet in Peru and Bolivia, particularly in the Andes Mountains highlands, where they are an important source of protein and a mainstay of Andean folk medicine. Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million Guinea pigs each year, and the animal is so entrenched in the culture that one famous painting of the Last Supper in the main cathedral in Cusco, Peru shows Christ and the twelve disciples dining on guinea pig.

Guinea pigs are also consumed in Ecuador, mainly in the Sierra region of the country, but are not depended upon as a staple source of protein.

Un abrazo,
M

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Tags: guinea pigs, food blogs, cookingdiva, cooking, panama, cooking blogs, food & drink, food, recipes

by Chef Melissa - CookingDiva · June 08, 2006 · 09:47 AM
Permalink · Comments (6) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Ethnic Cuisine: Ecuadorian / Andean / Cocina Ecuatoriana / Cocina Andina · Food & Drink

Conch Ceviche & TLC-Related Protests in Quito

I am back from Ecuador! This definitely was a sweet and sour trip. Because of the many political protests in the province of Pichincha, where the City of Quito rests, it was impossible to accomplish a few visits planned somewhere else. From my point of view, the protests are a result of the public misinformation. The government officials who are negotiating the TLC (Tratado de Libre Comercio Andino EEUU) a Free Trade Agreement between Colombia-Ecuador-Peru-United States, are not doing a good job informing their people what this agreement is all about. That is the main complaint I have heard everywhere, and also it is being reported every day in the TV local News.

The government struggles by the constant and growing indigenous protests, and explains that all the information, documents and progress are offered in their website. They invite everyone to read about it. Then, I stop for a moment and meditate about the fact that probably 99% of the thousands of the indigenous people protesting do not have a computer, nor have access to the Internet. Or, maybe the problem is that they do not know how to read. Ha! Ironic, right?

Obviously, there is the possibility of the indigenous groups being financed by political groups that won't benefit from the trade agreement in question. The truth is that political instability is once again the everyday meal of the country. So wrong from every point of view.

Now that you've got the news on local politics, how about preparing a delicious and super easy ceviche de concha, or conch ceviche? One characteristic of the Ecuadorian ceviche is that it is very juicy, almost like a cold soup, it is eaten with a spoon! I have also prepared this recipe using fresh oysters and it is definitely a keeper :)

Artisan Cheese Making in Ecuador

Cheese making was a skill passed down from generation to generation and cheese was a simple food made at home with the most basic of ingredients and tools.

In Ecuador, specifically in Nanegalito, an Ecuadorian town in the beautiful Andes, the artisan cheese makers use milk from their own animals mostly, an easy way to control the process of cheese making since the beginning. In other words, traceability of the source of the precious main ingredient: milk is implemented. All of the animals are grass-fed, a practice that results in a more rich and flavorful organic milk.

Sometimes they pasteurize the milk, and others work with the raw milk, which in this case is carefully supervised to have low bacterial content. It is interesting to note that the big corporations that process milk commercially are also present in these little towns in the Andes. They purchase the milk from the small dairy farms, test it for bacterial content and then put it all together and send it to a big city where it is processed and becomes the various products for mass consumption domestically and internationally.

I am BACK! Let's make cheese...

I was born with  my umbilical cord attached to a computer and the Internet. Maybe I was way ahead from my piers and fellow normal kids in my generation. It is sweet and sour I would say. I have had "Internet withdrawals" for the last week. Believe me when I say that I have been barely one step from the complete and nonsense computer death and resurrection. I have been there; it's bad. A real mean human-nature interaction, or should I better call it "revenge?"

Ten days without Internet and telephone just because Father nature's heavy rain caused a mudslide in the area we were visiting in Ecuador, the beautiful Andes itself at the maximum expression. Full of tricks and treats I enjoyed to the fullest. It made me think and re-think about what is really important in life. Sometimes we forget about those little details.

I was convulsive at times. Revolting every minute the first day that the telephone line kicked the bucket. What a way to disappear. Oh boy! Sure it had some style I would say. No telephone. No Internet. I sure could have traveled back to Quito every time I wanted to connect to the Internet, BUT then it was that two hours drive, and all the traffic, and the altitude change. Ahhhhhh! I better stayed in Nanegalito. Just beautiful shades of green, the morning fragrant mist in the gardens after a night full of rain, the fresh milk and cheese, the walks in the farm and the meals with friends that were experiencing the same internet-ical issues :)

Specialty from the Inca Gods (Brined Guinea Pig with Parsley sauce & Guacamole Salad)

I am back! The trip to Ecuador was fantastic: the weather perfect, the days filled with many culinary adventures and the incredible opportunity to meet Gary and Merri Scott.

The landscape was composed of so many different shades of green, and the flowers and the fruits were so bright and perfectly colored that my eyes were in state of total bliss! I think I gained a couple of pounds..., or maybe my pants shrunk? :)

Today I am going to share with you a very unusual recipe to prepare a dish that might scare the taste buds of some of you, BUT sure to be a delicacy from the Inca Gods as they call it in Ecuador. I know -Greenpeace- would never speak to me again and I will probably be assasinated by tree huggers, but anyhow...I will take the RISK!

Guinea Pigs may be sweet as pets but they also happen to be savory in South America where they were first domesticated by the Inca in Peru. Fifteen centuries later these family pets remain an Andean delicacy, which when fried or roasted are the traditional dish known as cuy. According to recent studies, the Peruvians eat an average of twenty two million of these tasty rodents annually.

The taste of the cuy is a cross between rabbit and dark chicken meat. It has less fat and more protein than chicken, pork or red meat. When deep fried, the skin is so deliciously crunchy and chewy at the end. So, if you're not too attached to them as pets then get the oven on, because you are about to prepare a meal you will remember for the rest of your life! :)

Are you ready?---then, follow me after the jump to get the recipe: