If eating cuy wasn’t enough, the next item on the menu was
pig skin, and this time I was the chef. To celebrate our last day of Spanish
classes, each intern was given a traditional Ecuadorian dish to make with our
host families and then bring in to share. There were empanades, tamales, humitas, y leche de tigre, but I was the one
who got asked to make soup with peanut butter and pig skin. Loco de papas con cuero is a very
popular potato soup with the uniqueness of cuero
de chancho and mani. Luckily
though, after apprehensively buying a pound of raw pig skin at the market, my
homestay mother told me she is an expert at cooking it. (I sort of hoped that
meant she would take care of cooking that part… I was wrong).
As soon as I got home from work in the morning on Friday,
the pig skin was out and ready for me to cook…
So for the next three hours I, very pathetically, tried to follow the
directions of my homestay mother and channel the inner Ecuadorian chef in me.
The most peculiar task (besides everything having to do with the pig skin) was
peeling the potatoes after they were cooked. As seen in the photo below,
burning our hands on hot potatoes became a family affair.
After hearing many times from my homestay mother that I was
a horrible cook, the soup actually turned out pretty well! Even the pigskin
(after getting over the gummy bear texture) was really not that bad! While I
preferred the coconut juice made by a fellow intern, I now know that if I run
out of money down here selling locro de
papas on the street can be my backup plan.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that…
Lots of love from Ecuador,
Jen
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