eG Foodblog: Panaderia Canadiense 2019 - EAT! Empanadas, Arepas, Tortillas and Other Ambato Food On the Go

[chromedome]

13 hours ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

 The second is that little pot of relish.  It's made with Achogchas, which are a totally bizarre cucumber relative, tomate de árbol, and red peppers, and it approximates a North American sweet curry relish.

 

 

You piqued my curiosity, so I had to look it up. Very cool and odd little fruit/vegetable.

[Kerry Beal]

38 minutes ago, Shelby said:

You must have the patience of a saint.

I'd be screwed - a tsp is about the amount that I can put in the bottom of a cupped hand. I might weight flour - but very unlikely to weigh salt, soda, baking powder or flavorings.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

You must have the patience of a saint.

 

Maybe...  I do weigh most other ingredients, but both powder and soda are measured by levelled graduated 5mL teaspoon.  We checked yesterday; that's 6g for soda.  It's another hoop to jump through - the rules they operate under are more logical when you think about big industries that use a lot of different restricted chemicals.

 

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Of the two South Americans I know who emigrated to the United States:  one had been imprisoned and tortured for his politics in his home country.  The grandfather of the other was imprisoned twice.  Once as a prisoner of war and once as a political prisoner. 

 

 

This is the risk I run; it's one I run happily in order to do my duty under the Constitution of my country (part of which is to speak out when the government infringes human or environmental rights.). I won't get more political than that here on this forum, but I do get intensely so in courtrooms nationally.  I'm aware of how dangerous this is, but as I said before, I don't really let it stop me.  I just choose what I do, and how, to ensure that there's enough press involved to give me some international safety.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Snacktime after the inspection (which took close to 2 hours) was the Berliner and one of the Empanadas de Pinllo.  The Berliner is a strange creature - it's named for the German baker who started making them here about 60 years ago, due to a misunderstanding.  Someone apparently asked him what the pastry was, he thought they were asking where he was from, and said "ein Berliner" - meaning that a simple custard bun is now associated with Berlin.  Every bakery that offers these does them a little differently - some have only a little dollop of custard in them, like the one I bought from Cinco Esquinas; others are more custard than bread.  They're only called Berliners in Ambato - everywhere else in the country, they're pan de nata.

 

 

 

The Empanada de Pinllo is an exemplary version of itself - the pastry is light and tastes slightly smoky, and the cheese is almost but not quite sweet.  This empanada came from one of the older wood-oven bakeries across the valley, which are run by several generations of the same family.

 

 

 

And dinner was simple fare: breaded black sole, steamed veggies, and more rice.  I'm becoming very Ecuadorian in some ways - I'll often add mayonnaise to my rice by way of condimentation.  It's less disgusting than it sounds, I promise!

 

[lemniscate]

1 hour ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

I'll often add mayonnaise to my rice by way of condimentation.

 

I do this with Kewpie mayo.  My family looks at me cross-eyed, but I love it.  Not a common practice in North America.  

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

I'll often add mayonnaise to my rice by way of condimentation.  It's less disgusting than it sounds, I promise!

 Must try that.

[Toliver]

5 hours ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

Snacktime after the inspection (which took close to 2 hours) was the Berliner and one of the Empanadas de Pinllo.  The Berliner is a strange creature - it's named for the German baker who started making them here about 60 years ago, due to a misunderstanding.  Someone apparently asked him what the pastry was, he thought they were asking where he was from, and said "ein Berliner" - meaning that a simple custard bun is now associated with Berlin.  Every bakery that offers these does them a little differently - some have only a little dollop of custard in them, like the one I bought from Cinco Esquinas; others are more custard than bread.  They're only called Berliners in Ambato - everywhere else in the country, they're pan de nata.

 

 

Here in southern California a Berliner or Berlin doughnut is a glazed doughnut (without a hole) usually covered in a chocolate glaze or frosting and filled with vanilla custard. If you Google it, you can see it is also used to describe pastries with a jam or jelly filling. Your pastries look delicious!

[Katie Meadow]

6 hours ago, lemniscate said:

 

I do this with Kewpie mayo.  My family looks at me cross-eyed, but I love it.  Not a common practice in North America.  

When I first learned of Kewpie mayonnaise I got so excited I went and bought a big squeeze bottle. I was into making okonomiyaki at the time. I tasted it and threw it out. Possibly I should have given it more of a chance, but I'm sticking with Duke's, which is not what I grew up on but I find far better than Hellman's or Best Foods. 

[Panaderia Canadiense]

27 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

When I first learned of Kewpie mayonnaise I got so excited I went and bought a big squeeze bottle. I was into making okonomiyaki at the time. I tasted it and threw it out. Possibly I should have given it more of a chance, but I'm sticking with Duke's, which is not what I grew up on but I find far better than Hellman's or Best Foods. 

 

What I use is very close to Hellman's/Best Foods, actually - it's Los Andes brand, which I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to find outside of Ecuador.  Ala Cena, from Perú, is also quite nice as a rice dressing - it's less a mayonnaise than an aioli, though.

[Alex]

9 hours ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

The Berliner is a strange creature - it's named for the German baker who started making them here about 60 years ago, due to a misunderstanding.  Someone apparently asked him what the pastry was, he thought they were asking where he was from, and said "ein Berliner" - meaning that a simple custard bun is now associated with Berlin.

 

In his famous speech in Berlin in June, 1963, President Kennedy made clear his support for West Berlin by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner." To this day, it's a zombie myth that by including "ein," he mistakenly called himself a pastry. Here's the comprehensive Snopes report about this.

[suzilightning]

Thank you so much @Panaderia Canadiense.  I loved all the empanadas...

ceviche coming up?

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

 

In his famous speech in Berlin in June, 1963, President Kennedy made clear his support for West Berlin by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner." To this day, it's a zombie myth that by including "ein," he mistakenly called himself a pastry. Here's the comprehensive Snopes report about this.

 

I think we must be related. First thing I thought about when I read PanaCana's post was JFK.

 

[gfweb]

Just now, kayb said:

 

I think we must be related. First thing I thought about when I read PanaCana's post was JFK.

 

me too

[kayb]

Maybe we're triplets.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

19 minutes ago, gfweb said:

me too

 

me as well

 

[IowaDee]

How many required to make a herd?  Count me in as well......

[catdaddy]

Hello Baby Boomers.......

[donk79]

6 hours ago, catdaddy said:

Hello Baby Boomers.......

Hey now!  I just barely escape being a mellenial and I thought the same!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

7 hours ago, catdaddy said:

Hello Baby Boomers.......

 

I'm GenX, and I thought that the very first time that I heard the story.  So I think it's made in squarely into the cultural lexicon...

[Panaderia Canadiense]

16 hours ago, suzilightning said:

Thank you so much @Panaderia Canadiense.  I loved all the empanadas...

ceviche coming up?

 

I'll see what I can do.  I generally only eat ceviche when I'm actually on the coast - it's a freshness issue.  I've had severe food poisoning from improperly prepared ceviches up here in the Sierra.... BUT!  Later today I'll be going to Pelileo, so I might have a cevichocos.  We'll have to see what I find!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Holy schnike, I missed all of yesterday's eating?  Thursdays usually slam me, since they're the preparatory run-up to Cheesecake Friday on the delivery circuit.  So, with apologies, here's Thursday...

 

I was so busy that I skipped breakfast entirely, and went straight to lunch at FoodBalance.  This is another version of Ecuadorian fast food, an Almuerzo place.  This kind of restaurant typically seats about 20-25, and serves a fixed menu with binary choices for two of the three courses.  At FoodBalance, lunch is $3.00 and Thursday's was Locro de Papa con Queso, a potato and cheese soup, followed by seco de pollo (stewed chicken).  Dessert was a tiny deep-fried banana morsel, and the drink was colada, in this case naranjilla cooked with oats and then strained.

 

  

 

I love this kind of restaurant.  From the time you're seated to the time you're served the first course is less than 5 minutes; the second comes out as you're finishing your soup.  Total mealtime, when you're hungry, can be less than 30 minutes.  This is very much the Ecuadorian concept of fast food - good food, served fast.  Almuerzo restaurants typically turn over 200-300 covers a day, and the best ones have lineups to get a seat (and when this happens, tables become communal - if you're only one diner and there's a space, they'll just shoehorn you into someone else's table where there's a seat.). Most of them also offer tiffin service, where you bring in your lunchbox and they fill it for you - often for a discount.

Incidentally, that was an enormous chicken leg; Ambato and area are kind of famous for this.  The most common breed of chicken in the province is what's commonly called a naked-neck, or churkey.  These chickens, when they're mature, can get quite large - which means that pieces served in the restaurants are uniformly large and meaty. 

 

Dinner was more chicken, this time as stew with heavy butter biscuits made according to my grandmother's 1933 Purity Cookbook.  These biscuits aren't as light and fluffy as the Colorado Institute yoghurt biscuit recipe that I usually use, but they're quite a bit richer and compliment stew better.

 

 

What was I doing all day Thursday, that I barely ate?  Well... Cheesecake Friday is a festival of variety in my delivery basket.  I was making Nutella Cheesecake, Mojito Pie (a take on key lime pie with a hint of mint), and Strawberry-Blackberry Cornmeal Shortcakes.  This is labour-intensive, but totally worth it.

 

  

 

 

[kayb]

I'll take one of each of those cheesecakes and shortcakes, please!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

And this morning's breakfast happened on the fly, on my delivery circuit.  Friday delivery is four totes of food, packed full (about 120 pounds), strapped to a wheeler, and the basket is stuffed full - it normally weighs around 30 lbs at the beginning of the day.  I always run a little bit late getting out of the house on Friday mornings, which means that a typical breakfast will happen based on which other vendors I encounter on the route.

 

 

And today was no different.  First up was a Venezuelan refugee with two-for-a-dollar empanadas.  These are always a bit of a tossup, but in this case they're stuffed with ginger pork, and although they're cold they're quite delicious. The second was an Argentine refugee, and a chicken empanada which was liberally stuffed with saffron rice, chicken cooked with ají peppers, and vegetables; this came with a cup of fresh guacamole for dressing.  Neither vendor wished to be photographed, unfortunately - but I understand their reluctance.  They're ambulatory vendors with large styrofoam coolers that have "Empanadas, $1,00" written on the side in magic marker.  One learns by experience which of them have the best snacks.

 

 

 

[Panaderia Canadiense]

After a quick lunch of chicken tetrazzini "fridge cleanings" (wherein I look for overlooked leftovers, and nuke anything that doesn't smell iffy - mom had chicken stew) it was time to head out for a delivery to Pelileo, a town about 20 minutes (ha!) from Ambato on a good day.  I'm laughing at the idea of a 20-minute trip, because about the highway between Ambato and the 493B turnoff is ripped up right now, so it's one lane and very slow going - it actually took close to an hour to get there.

 

 

 

Pelileo was a bit of a bust - everything there seems to be closed in the afternoon!  However, I did find a stall preparing the town's signature empanadas - they're cooked on a clay tiesto, and they're amazingly soft and crisp when they're fresh off the pan.  I was hoping that the big Mercado República de Argentina would be open for hot chocolate, but no dice - everything inside was wrapped up tight, and the third floor coffeeshops were all closed.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Panaderia Canadiense (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Dinner last night fell into the "I am too tired to be inspired" category - a fresh tomato sauce with ground beef and veggies, over pasta.  This is one of my fallback meals when I'm exhausted, because it takes about 10 minutes for prep and 20 for cooking.  Oh, and it's delicious, so it's got that going for it.