Experiencing local food is one of the great pleasures of travel and we ate very well in Peru. We kicked off our vacation by taking a cooking class at Cusco Culinary. Our chef, Jesus, took us to the San Pedro market to buy some of the ingredients we needed. The fresh fruit there is amazing with several colorful varieties of passion fruit, prickly pear fruits, custard apples, golden berries, and who knows what else. (I have no idea what those spiky looking things at the front are.) On our tour of the market we bought local chocolate and salt from Maras and tasted the wonderful bread that’s made in nearby Oropesa and is sold in big flat round loaves.
Cusco Culinary has a modern kitchen and dining room in an old colonial building in Cusco. We donned our aprons and rustled up the most important part of the meal – the Pisco Sour. Pisco Sours are ubiquitous in Peru so we thought we might as well find out how to make one.
Cusco Culinary has a modern kitchen and dining room in an old colonial building in Cusco. We donned our aprons and rustled up the most important part of the meal – the Pisco Sour. Pisco Sours are ubiquitous in Peru so we thought we might as well find out how to make one.
First remove the slimy seeds from a passion fruit and sieve them to remove the juice. Dump the juice, pisco, simple syrup, an egg white and a couple of ice cubes into a cocktail shaker and shake like heck. Pour the frothy liquid into a pretty glass, add a couple of dashes of bitters and enjoy. Pisco Sours aren’t my favorite drink (yikes – heresy in Peru) but the fresh passion fruit juice made this one delicious. Drinking on an empty stomach added a whole new perspective to the class though. Sharp knife anyone?
Next came my favorite part of the meal – ceviche. Peruvian ceviche is a little different from Mexican ceviche but equally as good. First we sliced up raw tilapia and then added different ingredients to make three versions of ceviche. One was traditional with onion, lime juice, hot pepper, and cilantro. Another had fresh passion fruit juice (of course) and a third had soy sauce to give it a distinctly Asian taste – a nod to the Japanese segment of Peru’s population. The limes here are strong and although we only marinated the fish in the juice for a few minutes the flavor was much stronger than the ceviche I make at home with key limes. Peruvian ceviche is often served with cooked sweet potato and fried corn kernels on the side.
After this we made a baked potato dish with slices of cooked potatoes and the dreaded moraya potatoes layered with white cheese. Add some egg and cream, bake and you get a delicious potato side dish. To finish the dish we sauteed yellow peppers, pureed them and added more cream to make a sauce. Cream (or sometimes evaporated milk) was an important element in many of the Peruvian dishes that we tried. Jesus sloshed a goodly amount into the mushroom quinotto we made (a risotto-style dish made with quinoa). We just had one problem - eating everything we cooked. Despite the copious amounts of coca tea we drank, the effects of the high altitude and the cold viruses we brought with us affected our appetites and we struggled to finish the food. Normally that would not be a problem!
We didn't struggle with this though - dessert. We pureed the flesh of a lucuma fruit in a blender - the result tastes a bit like a sweet potato. Then we removed the big black seeds from a chirimoya (custard apple) and mashed the flesh. Stir into whipped cream and you get a fluffy cloud of custardy heaven. Layer the lucuma with the creamy chirimoya and plop an aguaymento (ground cherry) on top and you have a perfect end to a delicious meal.
We've never tried taking a cooking class in another country before but we'll definitely do it again. It's a great way to meet someone local and learn about food and customs. Scroll through the photos below for more of our Peruvian food experiences. Are you hungry yet?
We've never tried taking a cooking class in another country before but we'll definitely do it again. It's a great way to meet someone local and learn about food and customs. Scroll through the photos below for more of our Peruvian food experiences. Are you hungry yet?
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