# Hallaca
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hallaca
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hallaca.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallaca
> Source revision: 1349953580
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{short description|Dish from Venezuela}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Hallaca
| image = Hallacas con pan de jamon, plato Venezuelano.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Hallaca and [pan de jamón](/source/pan_de_jam%C3%B3n)
| alternate_name = Ayaca, hayaca, guanimo, tamal, [guanime](/source/guanime)
| region = Latin America
| creator =
| course =
| type =
| served =
| main_ingredient = [cornmeal](/source/cornmeal) dough or [cassava](/source/cassava) dough, meat ([beef](/source/beef), [pork](/source/pork), [chicken](/source/Chicken_(food))), [raisin](/source/raisin)s, [caper](/source/caper)s, [olive](/source/olive)s
| variations = [Pasteles](/source/Pasteles), [alcapurrias](/source/alcapurrias)
| calories =
| other =
}}
'''Hallaca''' ({{IPA|es|aˈʎaka}}, {{IPA|es|aˈʝaka|}}[{{cite book | last=Albala | first=K. | title=Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia | publisher=Greenwood | issue=v. 1 | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-313-37626-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTo6c_PJWRgC&pg=RA1-PA102 | access-date=5 November 2016 | page=1–PA102}}] Hallacas are folded in [plantain leaves](/source/Plantain_(cooking)), tied with strings, and boiled. The dish is traditionally served during the [Christmas](/source/Christmas) season and has several regional variants. It has been described as a [national dish](/source/national_dish) of Venezuela. Some speculate it originated from the Orinoquia.[{{cite book | last=Kijac | first=M.B. | title=The South American Table: The Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro, with 450 Recipes | publisher=Harvard Common Press | series=NYM Series | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-55832-249-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/southamericantab00mari | url-access=registration | access-date=5 November 2016 | page=[https://archive.org/details/southamericantab00mari/page/84 84]}}] Characteristic of the hallaca is the delicate corn dough made with [consommé](/source/consomm%C3%A9) or [broth](/source/broth), and [lard](/source/lard) colored with [annatto](/source/annatto). Hallacas are also commonly eaten in eastern Cuba,[Garth, Hanna 2013 Food and Identity in the Caribbean. London: Bloomsbury.][{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yQ6DwAAQBAJ&q=hallaca+cuba&pg=PR20 | title=Cuban Spanish Dialectology: Variation, Contact, and Change| isbn=9781626165113| last1=Cuza| first1=Alejandro| date=15 November 2017| publisher=Georgetown University Press}}] Trinidad where it is called [pastelle](/source/Pasteles),[{{Cite web|title=Pastelles A Caribbean Christmas Tradition.|date=December 2011 |url=https://caribbeanpot.com/pastelles-a-caribbean-christmas-tradition/|access-date=2020-12-21|language=en-US}}] and parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Aruba, and Curaçao.
==Origins==
The Hallaca is a traditional Venezuelan food known by various names and spread throughout the [Spanish Empire](/source/Spanish_Empire) in the Americas as far south as Argentina in the decades following [the conquest](/source/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas).{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} It is said to have been invented by slaves during the colonial era.[{{cite news |title=RECIPE: Traditional Venezuelan hallacas |url=https://www.9news.com/article/life/food/recipe-traditional-venezuelan-hallacas/73-f84183d7-89dd-477d-90b4-9dbc0c34cafb |work=9news}}] The slaves would prepare the Christmas Eve meal for the landowners and with leftover meat they made the hallacas filling for their own Christmas meal. One version of the dish's origin tale has it that the daughter of the landowning family asked to taste the hallacas. She and her family liked the dish so much they requested for it to be made for their dinner party and ever since it has been part of the traditional holiday meal for all classes.[{{cite news |title=Three generations gather to carry on Venezuelan Christmas hallacas tradition in Naperville |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/ct-nvs-venezuelan-christmas-family-tradition-st-1220-20171223-story.html |date=23 December 2017 |work=Chicago Tribune}}]
==Name==
According to [Adolfo Ernst](/source/Adolf_Ernst), the word ''hallaca'' evolved from the indigenous arawak, stemming from the verb ''ayua'' or ''ayuar'', meaning "to mix or blend". From there, the construction ''ayuaca'' (mixed things) devolved to ''ayaca'' and ultimately to ''hayaca'' or ''hallaca'' (using Spanish silent "h" when written). Another version presumes that the word comes from an aboriginal language of the West of the country, whose meaning is "wrapping" or "bojote". The earliest use of the word in the modern sense is in a 1781 document of Italian missionary linguist [Filippo Salvatore Gilii](/source/Filippo_Salvatore_Gilii).{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}
==Preparation==
thumb|210px|Filling of the hallacas before being wrapped in the plantain leaves
Hallaca has an elaborate filling.[{{cite book |last=Kijac |first=Maria Baez |title=The South American Table: The Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro, With 450 Recipes |publisher=Harvard Common Press |url=https://archive.org/details/southamericantab00mari|url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/southamericantab00mari/page/84 84] |isbn=9781558322493 |year=2003 }}] Ingredients differ between regions and families but may include a combination of beef, pork, bacon, lard, onion, sweet pepper, red pepper, scallion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and some type of cooking wine or vinegar. Some versions of the filling include [leek](/source/leek)s, Worcestershire sauce, mustard pickles, [panela](/source/panela), or dark brown sugar.[{{cite book |last=Guinn |first=Jeff |title=Santa's North Pole Cookbook: Classic Christmas Recipes from Saint Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MIjZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|isbn=9780399160646 |year=2012 |publisher=Penguin Publishing }}] The stew is simmered over low heat slowly for several hours.[{{cite web |title=Venezuelan Andean Hallacas |url=https://www.quericavida.com/recipes/venezuelan-andean-hallacas/fdcba71c-bac0-437e-8527-d283def35b3e |website=Que Rica Vida |publisher=General Mills}}]
In [Aruba](/source/Aruba) and [Curaçao](/source/Cura%C3%A7ao), two islands just off the coast of Falcón state, Venezuela, it is called 'ayaca' or 'ayaka'. The ingredients are pork and chicken stew, or pork or chicken stew, capers, raisins, cashew nuts, bellpepper, pickled baby onions, prunes, and olives. The dough is made from white cornmeal, and the ayaca leaves first spread with lard or oil. Cooked meat and other ingredients are then wrapped in ayaca leaves, tied with string and then boiled for about two hours. Flavors in the ayaca vary from family to family, and some add very hot Madam Jeanette peppers.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
In [Puerto Rican cuisine](/source/Puerto_Rican_cuisine) the dish is called ''hayaca'' and used to be a popular part of the island's cuisine. Unlike the Venezuelan variety, ''hayaca''s from Puerto Rico are made not with maize but with [cassava](/source/cassava), stock, milk, pork fat cooked with annatto, and banana leaf, and baked in traditional open-wood-fire. They are typically filled with diced [pork butt](/source/pork_butt) braised with [sofrito](/source/sofrito), annatto oil (olive oil or lard), olives, capers, chickpeas, raisins, and spices. The liquid is then strained into the masa. Because of the long and elaborate process and skills that it takes to prepare, the hayaca is now rarely available, but is still found, mostly in coastal, family-owned restaurants and other small establishments known as "kioscos" where there are still strong ties to native heritage and classic slow-cooking skills.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
The corn dough is similar to a standard [arepas](/source/arepas) dough. Pork fat is melted down with [annatto](/source/annatto) to add color. Corn flour is kneaded together with broth and some soft butter and the cooled pork fat mixture is incorporated to make a soft dough with a golden color. A large [plantain](/source/Cooking_banana) leaf is greased with vegetable oil and the dough is flattened on the leaf to about a quarter inch thickness . The ''guiso'' filling is topped with a combination of onion, pepper, parsley, potatoes, raisins, almonds, chickpeas, capers, green olives, hard boiled eggs and bacon.[{{cite book |last=Tighe |first=Eileen |title=Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery ; Prepared and Edited by the Editors of Woman's Day, Volume 11|publisher=Fawcett Publications |url=https://archive.org/details/womansdayencyclo11tigh |url-access=registration |date=1966}}][{{cite book | last=Schuetz | first=K. | title=Venezuela | publisher=Bellwether Media | series=Exploring Countries | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-61211-587-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOhGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 | access-date=5 November 2016 | page=23}}] Christmas meals in Venezuela would include hallacas, pastries, [pan de jamón](/source/pan_de_jam%C3%B3n) and chicken stew, but not all families have been able to afford them during food [shortages in Venezuela](/source/shortages_in_Venezuela).[{{cite news |title=A homemade Christmas dish is the latest casualty of Venezuela's economic crisis |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article189755384.html |work=Miami Herald |date=16 December 2017}}] In 2014, despite [food shortages affecting the country](/source/Shortages_in_Venezuela), the Venezuelan government created a hallaca with a length of around 400 feet, a Guinness World Record.[{{cite news |title=Venezuelan cooks produce world's largest hallaca, traditional savory Christmas treat |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelan-cooks-produce-worlds-largest-hallaca-traditional-savory-christmas-treat |work=Fox News}}] In contrast to Venezuelan tradition, hallacas are popular year-round in Ecuador, and there are several variants across the country's regions. Along with [humita](/source/humita)s, they are a staple of traditional Ecuadorian cuisine.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
Families usually gather in the morning to prepare the ingredients.[{{cite web |title=For this Venezuelan, Christmas isn't Christmas without hallaca |date=23 December 2016 |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2016/12/23/memories-venezuelan-christmas-tradition}}]
== Controversy: Is the hallaca a tamale? ==
The hallaca is a traditional Venezuelan dish primarily consumed during the [Christmas season](/source/Christmas). Over time, a debate has emerged surrounding the hallaca, often comparing or confusing it with the tamale, another traditional dish from various Latin American cultures.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.infobae.com/america/colombia/2021/12/27/cena-de-fin-de-ano-diferencias-entre-tamales-y-hallacas-y-como-se-preparan/|title=New Year's Eve dinner: differences between tamales and hallacas and how they are prepared|accessdate=2023-09-27|date=2021-12-27|website=infobae|language=es-ES}}] While some popular narratives suggest that the hallaca might be a derivative or a variant of the [tamale](/source/tamale), this claim is contested by several [historian](/source/historian)s and [chef](/source/chef)s. They argue that, although both dishes use corn dough and are cooked wrapped in leaves, hallacas and tamales have distinct differences.[{{Cite web|url=https://elestimulo.com/gastronomia/2020-12-17/diferencias-entre-hallaca-y-tamal-cual-es-cual/|title=Differences between hallaca and tamale: Which is which?|accessdate=2023-09-27|date=2020-12-17|website=elestimulo.com|language=es|archive-date=25 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225025418/https://elestimulo.com/gastronomia/2020-12-17/diferencias-entre-hallaca-y-tamal-cual-es-cual/|url-status=dead}}]
For instance, the hallaca has a singular type of filling and utilizes [plantain](/source/Cooking_banana) leaves as its wrapper, whereas tamales can have a variety of fillings and can be wrapped in [corn husk](/source/corn_husk)s or plantain leaves.[{{Cite web|url=https://diferencias.es/hallaca-tamal/|title=✅ Differences between hallaca and tamale|accessdate=2023-09-27|last=esmingui|date=2017-07-14|website=Differences.es|language=es}}] In contrast, the tamale has a pre-Hispanic origin, linked to several indigenous cultures of [Mesoamerica](/source/Mesoamerica).
Venezuelan intellectual [Arturo Uslar Pietri](/source/Arturo_Uslar_Pietri) pointed out that the history of several centuries of Venezuela can be found reflected in the hallaca.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.meer.com/es/64163-la-hallaca-no-es-un-tamal|title=The hallaca is not a tamale!|accessdate=2023-09-27|last=González|first=Jorge M.|date=2020-11-30|website=Meer|language=es}}]
Venezuelan writer and historian [Francisco Herrera Luque](/source/Francisco_Herrera_Luque) once remarked that comparing the robust hallaca with the tamale is like comparing a llama with a camel.