Chilean · appetizer

Machas a la Parmesana

Name: Machas a la Parmesana
Prep time: 40 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Chilean
Ingredients: machas — 1200 g; dry white wine — 150 g; unsalted butter — 80 g; parmesan cheese — 150 g; garlic — 8 g; lime juice — 30 g; freshly ground white pepper — 3 g; merkén — 5 g; parsley — 20 g; salt — 3 g; marraqueta — 400 g

Machas a la Parmesana reads umami 5.9, sourness 5.5 and citrus 5.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Chilean appetizer, about 40 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.8 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.0 / 10
Sour & Bright — 7.2 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.4 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.9 · Sourness 5.5 · Citrus 5.5 · Richness 4.8 · Salinity 4.6 · Allium 3.5 · Funk & Ferment 2.8 · Herbaceous 2.8 · Fruity 2.7 · Smoke 2.6 · Nutty 2.0 · Marine & Briny 1.7 · Floral 1.6 · Heat 1.5 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Sweetness 1.3 · Earthy 1.2 · Bitterness 0.9

What's in it (11)

machas — 1200 g
dry white wine — 150 g
unsalted butter — 80 g
parmesan cheese — 150 g
garlic — 8 g
lime juice — 30 g
freshly ground white pepper — 3 g
merkén — 5 g
parsley — 20 g
salt — 3 g
marraqueta — 400 g

Time & effort: about 40 min · effort: medium

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

How it's cooked (8 steps)

This is what you eat at a table on the sand in Valparaíso or Concón with a glass of cold white wine, and it was invented in the twentieth century by an Italian restaurateur in Chile rather than inherited from anywhere. The macha is a wedge-shaped surf clam from the Chilean coast with a strong, almost iodine flavour; razor clams are the closest substitute abroad, and they are milder.
Open the machas with a small knife along the flat hinge side, keeping the deeper half-shell for cooking and discarding the flatter one. Rinse away any sand, remove the dark digestive sac at the pointed end, and leave the meat sitting in its shell.
Machas are tough if you let them cook. Everything that follows is about applying a great deal of heat for a very short time.
Lay the filled shells on a baking tray, packed close together so they do not tip and spill. Spoon a teaspoon of wine into each.
Mash the butter with the parmesan, garlic, lime juice, white pepper and salt into a rough paste and put a heaped teaspoon on each macha, covering the meat completely — the cheese is a lid that protects the clam from the direct heat while it browns.
Grill under a very hot broiler, 10 cm from the element, for 4 to 6 minutes only. They are ready the moment the cheese is bubbling and freckled brown; another two minutes and the machas turn to rubber.
Dust with merkén and parsley and serve immediately in the shells, with plenty of bread for the butter that has run into the shell — the bread is not optional and nobody leaves it.
Substitutions: razor clams can stand in for the machas; Chilean queso mantecoso can stand in for the finely grated parmesan; lemon juice can stand in for the lime juice; crusty white bread (about 400 g) can stand in for the loaf marraqueta.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia — American
Grilled Surf and Turf Skewers — American
Skillet Cajun Shrimp and Sausage — Cajun/Creole · Cajun
Beef Shawarma Tacos — Middle Eastern
Louisiana BBQ Shrimp in Garlic Butter — Cajun/Creole

Keep reading: what umami, sourness, citrus mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

See how this dish fits your palate — take the short taste test →

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