Curanto, an ancient dish hailing from the Chiloé archipelago in southern Chile, is a potluck of shellfish, sausages, lamb, chicken, and potatoes layered with nalca leaves and baked in a hole in the ground, a curious form of cooking that was a common feature among the cultures of the Pacific Rim. Evidence of curanto on the island chain was found at the archaeological site of Puente Quilo west of the city of Ancud and dates back 6,000 years. Eaten with milcaos, doughy potato cakes, it’s still served at festivals and celebrations, though restaurants around Chiloé will sometimes serve less time consuming curantos cooked in a pressure cooker.
A form of the dish cooked in a large pot is eaten at some points on the Chilean mainland, where it is called pulmay, though it’s unheard of that you would see any form of curanto in the capital of Santiago, let alone at one of the top restaurants in the city. Enter chef Rodolfo Guzmán. He and his kitchen staff at his restaurant Boragó forage high altitude mountain ranges for herbs that only appear after the rain and explore the coast for algae and aquatic plants. Guzmán has been recreating the idea of Chilean cuisine dish by dish.
Ají pebre, Chile’s favorite Chile sauce, might be served in a clay pot and resemble dirt. Patagonian rainwater may be used in a granita, which is dropped in liquid nitrogren and served smoking like a frosty glacier. Other recipes adapt traditional dishes to a modern kitchen, as is the case with curanto.
As you might expect Guzmán’s curanto is far from ordinary. While most curantos consist of piles of food, Boragó’s curanto is all liquid and served in a small glass jar, surrounded by actual dirt and twigs, as well as a small milcao. It resembles a tiny hole in the ground, as to not to forget the origins of the dish.
“We spent years and years thinking about how we could do to replicate the experience of eating this chilote preparation in a hole,” said Guzmán. “This preparation represents ‘la minga.’ We thought for some time that we would make a hole in the garden but that would be complex, and the truth is that it was much easier than we imagined. What we do is simply cook this rustic flavor preparation with rainwater, this gives us the impression of a delicate texture in the mouth that is almost as delicate as the rain that falls in Chiloé.”
Every sip of the broth recalls all of the flavors of curanto. It’s like the Jetson’s, when they ate food pills that were flavored like complete dishes or meals, like meatloaf or apple pie.
“The preparation consists of a smoker inside of a pit filled with shellfish, fish and the meat of a hen, then we prepare a broth, which is clarified with an algae called cochayuyo, which gives you that translucency, almost like a tea, then put a small bowl into a bucket with soil,” he said. “We believe this is an experience very close to tasting a curanto in Chiloé, but with rain water taste of Patagonia, which connects us to this very particular environment of the planet.”