# Curanto

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Curanto
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Curanto.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curanto
> Source revision: 1265469229
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Chilote method of cooking food}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Curanto
| image            = Destape de curanto.JPG
| image_size       = 300px
| caption          = Uncovering the curanto in Calen, commune of [Dalcahue](/source/Dalcahue), Chiloé, Chile
| alternate_name   = 
| country          = [Chile](/source/Chile)
| region           = [Chiloé](/source/Chilo%C3%A9_Archipelago)
| creator          =
| course           = 
| served           = Hot
| main_ingredient  = [Potato](/source/Potato)es, [shellfish](/source/shellfish), [meat](/source/meat)
| variations       = Multiple
| calories         = 
| other            = 
}}
'''Curanto''' (from {{langx|arn|kurantu}} 'stony') is a traditional [Chilote](/source/Chilo%C3%A9_Archipelago) method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in an [earth oven](/source/earth_oven) that is covered with [pangue](/source/Gunnera_tinctoria) leaves and [turf](/source/turf). The fundamental components are [seafood](/source/seafood), [potato](/source/potato)es, along with other traditional preparations from Chiloé Archipelago such as [milcao](/source/milcao) and [chapalele](/source/chapalele), to which are added [meat](/source/meat)s, [sausage](/source/sausage)s and sometimes [crustacean](/source/crustacean)s.<ref name=arqueologico>{{cite journal|last1=Rivas|first1=Pilar|last2=Ocampo|first2=Carlos|title=El antiguo curanto chilote|journal=Fondecyt 1020616 "Proceso y orígenes del poblamiento marítimo de los canales patagónicos: Chiloé y el núcleo septentrional"|date=2002|language=spanish}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lenz|first1=Rodolfo|title=Diccionario etimológico|date=1910|publisher=Universidad de Chile, Seminario Filológico Hispano|location=Santiago|language=spanish}}</ref><ref name=cavada>{{cite book |last=Cavada |first=Francisco |date=1910 |title=Apuntes para un vocabulario deprovincialismos de Chiloé (República de Chile): Precedidos de una breve reseña histórica del archipiélago |location=Punta Arenas|language=spanish}}</ref>

It is part of the [Chilean cuisine](/source/Chilean_cuisine), and it is one of the most recognized dishes of traditional Chilote cuisine whose oldest archaeological remains dates to more than eleven thousand years before present on the [Greater Island](/source/Chilo%C3%A9_Island);<ref name=arqueologico/> there are also finds of lesser data in areas of the coastal edge of the [Reloncaví Sound](/source/Reloncav%C3%AD_Sound), the [inland sea of Chiloé](/source/Sea_of_Chilo%C3%A9) and the [northern Patagonian channels](/source/Fjords_and_channels_of_Chile).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sade Martínez|first1=Kémel|last2=Osorio Pefaur|first2=Mauricio|last3=Pérez-Barría|first3=Leonardo|title=Chonos, curantos y hachas talladas en momentos de contacto en el Fiordo Aysén e islas adyacentes (Región de Aysén, Chile)|date=2016}}</ref> In addition, thanks to the migratory flow of the late 19th century and early 20th century, it spread throughout the south of that country.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Riveros Quinteros|first1=Katherine|last2=Fernández Génova|first2=Macarena|title=Chiloé en otro lugar. Memorias de migraciones a Punta Arenas|journal=Sophia Austral|date=2018|number=22|pages=137–161|doi=10.4067/S0719-56052018000200137 |s2cid=239538497 |language=spanish|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Muñoz Aguilar|first1=Silvana Andrea|title=Influencia de la identidad social chilota en la identidad regional Magallánica|date=2015|location=Santiago|publisher=Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile|language=spanish}}</ref>

Although its preparation has been documented in various ethnographic accounts since the 16th century,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pérez Rosales |first1=Vicente |title=Recuerdos del pasado: 1814-1860 |date=1886 |publisher=Imprenta Gutenberg |location=Santiago de Chile |url=http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/visor/BND:7973}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Martin|first1=Carl|title=VIII. Kleinere Mittheilungen. 1. Die Chiloten. Aus einem Schreiben von Dr. Carl Martin, Arzt in Puerto Montt (Sud-chile), 20. December 1869|journal=Archiv für Anthropologie: Zeitschrift für Naturgeschichte und Urgeschichte der Menschen|date=1870|volume=|pages=140–141|language=german}}</ref> traditionally in the cuisine of the Chiloé archipelago it is prepared outdoors and is called "curanto en hoyo", since it is made in a pit in the ground, about half a meter deep; the bottom is covered with stones, which are heated in a campfire. When they are red hot, the firebrands are removed and the ingredients begin to be placed.

==Preparation==
The ingredients consist of [shellfish](/source/shellfish), [meat](/source/meat), [potato](/source/potato)es, [milcao](/source/milcao) (a kind of potato pancake), [chapalele](/source/chapalele)s (a kind of potato dumpling), and vegetables. Curanto sometimes also includes specific types of [fish](/source/Fish_as_food). The varieties of shellfish vary but almejas ([clam](/source/clam)s), cholgas ([ribbed mussels](/source/Aulacomya_atra)) and picorocos ([giant barnacles](/source/Austromegabalanus_psittacus)) are essential. The quantities are not fixed; the idea is that there should be a little of everything. Each layer of ingredients is covered with [nalca](/source/nalca) (Chilean rhubarb) leaves, or in their absence, with [fig](/source/ficus) leaves or white [cabbage](/source/cabbage) leaves. All this is covered with wet sacks, and then with dirt and grass chunks, creating the effect of a giant [pressure cooker](/source/pressure_cooker) in which the food cooks for approximately one hour.

Curanto can also be prepared in a large stew [pot](/source/cooking_pot) that is heated over a bonfire or [grill](/source/Grill_(cooking)) or in a pressure cooker. This stewed curanto is called "curanto en olla" or "pulmay" in the central region of Chile.

==History==
thumb|right|300px|Curanto Chilote
It is believed that this form of preparing foods was native to the "chono" countryside and that, with the arrival of the southern peoples and the [Spanish](/source/Spain) [conquistador](/source/conquistador)s, new ingredients were added until it came to be the curanto that is known today.

==See also==
*[Clam bake](/source/Clam_bake) (New England)
*[Earth oven](/source/Earth_oven)
*[Hāngī](/source/H%C4%81ng%C4%AB) (New Zealand)
*[Kalua](/source/Kalua) (Hawaii)
*[Pachamanca](/source/Pachamanca) (Perú)
<!--*Curanto (Chile)-->

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}

{{Chiloe Archipelago}}
{{Cuisine of Chile}}

Category:Chilean cuisine
Category:Earth oven
Category:Chiloé Archipelago
Category:Seafood dishes
Category:Meat dishes

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Curanto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curanto) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curanto?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.