Arequipa: Casa de Avila Cooking class

The hotel we are staying in, Casa de Avila, is famous for its Spanish classes and its rustic Peruvian cookery classes. The classes are run by Carlos, one of the staff who runs reception. We thought he was hilarious when we were checking in, so when he told us that he ran the cookery classes we booked right up, despite not having any prior interest in Peruvian cooking.

We met up with the other guys who were joining the class: 3 American nurses who were in Peru for a couple of weeks to assist with hair lip/cleft palate reconstructions and burns operations on poor children, this is their 5th annual visit. And a South African girl called Nicola who was doing some travelling with a friend.

The class began with a trip to the local market. The market was different to the one near the main square, more rustic and sold animals in tiny cages which was pretty harrowing for me. In one cage there was 3 rabbits and guinea pig and a cat. The cat looked totally traumatised and I wanted to buy it just to set it free. Some of the cages had no beds for the animals to sleep on or even newspaper, so they were sitting and sleeping directly on the metal bars.

Carlos showed us around all the different stalls, telling us what the different foods were and what they used them for. He also told us that they have 100 different variety of potatoes in Peru and started listing them all in Forrest Gump fashion: “Shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich”…

He took us to the meat area, where we saw quite the variety of meat. They utilise literally every part of the animal from the stomach to the face. Faces are usually used for soups.

Bulls face:

Guinea pig, which they fry in a pan under a large stone to keep it flat:

After the market we went back to the hotel and began the class. The dishes we cooked were very rustic and simple but were fairly quick to create and allowed us to get stuck in. Carlos said the majority of Peruvian dishes are boiled or fried, which takes longer and isn’t so interesting for tourists to make, so that’s why he picks the dishes we made.

The first dish we made was called Chochera, which is slang for Friend in Spanish. It is a dish that is rustled up quickly with friends and shared. It was basically a tower layered with avocado, chillied mash potato and chopped tomato, onion and tuna. It was ok.  Not something I would be particularly keen on making at home but it was enjoyable none the less.

For the main course we made Beef Saltado, which is basically a simple beef stir fry using garlic, chilli, soy sauce, tomatoes and onions. It sold widely throughout Peru. I guess for someone not used to cooking it would be a good introduction of how to make something quick and tasty. If you are used to cooking, the complexity level was only slightly greater than constructing a ham sandwich or maybe spaghetti bolognese at a stretch. Still, any time spent in Carlos’ company is well spent as he is warm, funny and engaging. I would have happily made a Peruvian ham sandwich in return for spending a few hours with him.

Carlos:

Carlos also made us the classic Peruvian drink to accompany our meal, a Pisco Sour, the primary ingredient being local lemons (which look like limes) and tastes very tart.

We sat together, eating our meal, discussing travellers from different countries and seeing who Carlos thought was the most obnoxious (he thought the same as me) and life in Peru in general. The Peruvians really love their country and most have absolutely no desire to leave or travel, believing they can get everything they need in their home land. They are educated about their country, appreciative of the 24 micro climates within Peru that provide them with a vast variety of foods and thus have no requirement to import from other countries. They are aware that Tourism is a big business and has helped them become richer as a nation, that simply being ‘nice’ goes a long way. The vast majority of people we meet have nothing but a smile and a warm greeting of hello for us.

After the cooking class we took a bus back to Lima. 16 hours on the Cruz Del Sur ‘semi cama’ posh bus. They played 3 films at unnecessary loud volume: Oceans 11, Transformers and MegaMind. We got a meal which included Semolina which I LOVE! So I ate Pads’ as well. Slept pretty well and now we’re in Lima, trying to decide what to do next. We have 3 days left until we need to be in Ecuador and are not sure how best to spend it. Oh the life…

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