Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-09-06
IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
A TRAVELLERS TROUBLES IN THE
CULINARY DEPARTMENT.

InnumerabIe-A Guatemala Kitchen.
Coffee and Chocolate.
It is said that he who comes to Central
America and relishes the ''tortilla" will
remain in the country, and he who does
not will leave. From my own experience
with the corn cake, have concluded that
the emigrants who settled must have
been very hungry. The Central Ameri-
can cook is usually an Indian woman, who
can boil eggs and cook rice. She has
heard Of such things as sauces, and if
she has her own way (and she generally
has) she never lets any meat go to the
table unless swimming in q lardy gravy.
All the meat left from today which she
does not give to her own family she cuts
into meat balls for tomorrow. AT first
one can stand them once week, but
would like to wager with any professional
quail eater that he couldn't ''meat ball it,
once day fer twenty days. Cinnamon
is used to season or flavor nearly every
dish, and the natives like it. Next to
whisky think they like cinnamon.
| When you wish to engage a cook there
is always one who is ready to como if you
will advance her SIS or $50. This is
called an ''habilitacion it might just as
|
self as an accomplished "artiste," and
according to her own statement there
| is nothing that she can't cook-until she
tries. She brings you an excellent refer
ence from Sonora Dona So and So, who is
probably anxious to get rid of her She
surprises you the first morning with cof-
| fee made with lukewarm water, and eggs
| as hard as rocks, but with q plate OF
smoking 'tortillas," which she likes her
self. The dinner is poorer, and having
| by that time got fair start on meat, she
| commences on meat balls. Many times
day you think you will change cooks, but
| the thought of that twenty dollar "habil-
itacion" restrains you. As time rolls on
you see but two courses open to you,
either to sink into dyspeptic's grave or
let her go with the money, and any sane
man would let her go. 1t is lottery, in
which you pay for the chance of drawing
a cook. The prizes are even fewer than
in ordinary lotteries; so avoid the specu-
lation, and have little less worry at
hotel. The proprietor then shoulders the
trouble, and he is fortunate man If it
be the excellence of his table that assures
him guests, for too often the guests
choice is one between evils.
This of course does not apply to the
hotels of the largest cities, such as Qua
temala, which are excellent, but it does
refer to some, which are not specified, as
may want to return to them some day.
A roast is never seen except in some of
the newer and larger hotels. There are
fries and stews and hashes without num-
Der. The "olla podrida" is dish made
of everything eatable that might other
wise spoil. A Spanish dictionary says it
is "a dish composed of different sorts Of
meats and vegetables boiled together"
but stick to my definition. Meat, fish,
sausage, prunes, raisins, onions, cabbage
and every other vegetable that may be on
hand is put into the pot to boil, and the
result is not so bad as when the cook S
attention is centered on one particular
article, and in the "podrida" the different
constituents may be said to ''get off easy"
with only share of her attention.
What would New England house
keeper say if she saw one of these
kitchens A raised trench holds char
coal fire, and on this stand the pots and
kettles. The light enters only at one
door; there is no outlet for smoke, and
the accumulation of years has formed
layers of SCOT on the rafters and walls,
and l cannot find it in my heart to blame
the poor cooks if flies do form constitu-
ent of every dish.
When the traveller is directed to go to
the town of San Juan he cannot always
be sure that he will reach the right one
In radius of fifty miles one may find
three or Sur San Juans, end so numerous
are they that these towns are given sur
names, such as San Juan de los Leprosos,
San Juan Ostuncalco, San Juan de Sacate-
~ c.
Juan. Leaving home, where Don Juan"
may be prohibited reading, one may re-
tain remembrance of the name inspiring
him with an avoidance of it, but this feel
ing soon wears away in O country where
there are more Don Juans than there are
colonies south of Mason and Dixon's line
How much more attractive Bryon's title
than had he used it's equal the plain
English "Johnl"
Strangers visiting the coffee growing |
country soon perceive that they drink |
more coffee than the natives There is |
an unusually delicious flavor and aroma |
to the Guatemala coffee, which is not due |
alone to its preparation, because the |
French or drip" coffee IS universally |
used. 1t is not made for each meal as in |
private residences in the United States, |
but an intensely strong essence is OBJ
tanned by pouring a little boiling water
through large quantity of ground cof-
fee. About one-half of an inch of the es-
sence is poured into the bottom of an or
dinary coffee cup, which is then filled
with hot milk, producing better drink
nan had more water been used, and, in
Iced, it is the custom in some families to
use no water, but to pour boiling
milk through the ground coffee. A
native woman for 81 will manu-
facture from the ''cacao" berry ten
pounds of chocolate in day. The berry
is roasted with great care in removing the
outside shell, because the slightest over
burning ruins the flavor of the chocolate.
The meat while warm is ground between
stones with the proper quantities of sugar,
vanilla and cinnamon. When reduced to
\ pulp a little 'tachote" "a red vegetable)
is added, which gives brown color to
the almost black ''cacao' of this country.
The mixture is then placed in thin layers
between sheets of "petate" (native mat
ting) and beaten fiat with clubs. On cool
ng it acquires the brittleness of chocolate
and is then ready to be eaten. This is q
,r,lde way of making chocolate, and, not
withstanding the superiority of the Guate-
nala "cacao," the French product, due to
is excellent manipulation, far surpasses
t in richness and delicacy.-Guatemala |