Chilean · main

Curanto en Olla (Pulmay)

Curanto en Olla (Pulmay) reads umami 5.4, marine & briny 4.8 and salinity 4.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Chilean main, about 1 hr 53 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 6.5 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 2.9 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.1 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 4.1 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.4 · Marine & Briny 4.8 · Salinity 4.4 · Richness 4.0 · Allium 3.8 · Smoke 2.5 · Sourness 2.4 · Fruity 2.4 · Citrus 2.3 · Herbaceous 2.1 · Funk & Ferment 1.9 · Sweetness 1.7 · Earthy 1.5 · Floral 1.4 · Warm Spice 1.3 · Bitterness 0.9 · Heat 0.8

What's in it (17)

• mussels — 1500 g
• clams — 1000 g
• pork ribs — 500 g
• longanizas — 200 g
• chicken thighs — 700 g
• potatoes — 400 g
• potato — 500 g
• mashed cooked potato — 150 g
• all-purpose flour — 150 g
• pork crackling — 60 g
• dry white wine — 400 g
• onions — 320 g
• garlic — 24 g
• cabbage — 1000 g
• salt — 10 g
• black pepper — 5 g
• parsley — 30 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 53 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 70.9 kcal, 6.9 g protein, 1.7 g fat, 5.8 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. The real curanto is cooked in a pit: a fire, stones heated until they are white, shellfish and meat and potato breads piled on top, covered with nalca leaves and turf, and left to steam for hours. Chilote families still do it, and it is one of the oldest continuously practised cooking methods in the Americas. This is the pot version — pulmay — that people in Chiloé cook the rest of the year, and it keeps the layering and the steam.
2. Line the bottom of your largest pot with a double layer of whole cabbage leaves, which stand in for the nalca leaves and stop the meat catching.
3. Make the milcao: squeeze the grated raw potato hard in a cloth until it is dry, mix it with the mashed cooked potato and a teaspoon of salt, and shape into flat cakes 8 cm across. For the chapaleles, work the flour and chopped crackling into a little more mashed potato with a splash of water and shape smaller, thicker cakes. Both are potato breads and both are traditional; a curanto without them is missing a course.
4. Layer in this order, and the order does the cooking: pork ribs, chicken and longaniza on the cabbage at the bottom where the heat is; then the onion, garlic and potatoes; then another layer of cabbage leaves; then the milcao and chapaleles; then a final cabbage layer; and the shellfish on top, where they will steam last and quickest.
5. Pour the wine down the side and add 300 ml of water. Season the meat layer with the pepper and remaining salt as you build.
6. Cover with a tight lid, bring to a boil over high heat, then cook over medium-low for 60 to 75 minutes. Do not open it in the first 45 minutes. It is ready when the mussels and clams have all opened, the pork pulls from the bone and a knife goes into a milcao with no resistance.
7. Discard any shellfish that stayed shut. Serve in layers on a huge platter with the broth from the bottom of the pot ladled into cups — that broth, salty and winey and smoky, is the best part and is drunk alongside. Scatter the parsley and serve pebre on the table.
8. Substitutions: smoked pork sausages (about 350 g) can stand in for the longanizas.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Vieiras á Santiaguesa — Spanish · Galicia
• Harina con Cangrejo (Cornmeal with Crab) — Cuban
• Moules Marinières — French
• Cioppino-Style Seafood Stew — Italian-American
• Seafood Cioppino — Italian-American

Keep reading: what umami, marine & briny, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.