Pachamanca

The pachamanca (in Classical Quechua: Pachamanka or Ancashino Quechua: Patsamanka) refers to a traditional way of preparing food and a dish typical of Peruvian gastronomy, prepared by cooking, over preheated stones, beef, pork, chicken and guinea pig meat previously seasoned with ingredients such as chincho, huacatay, chili pepper and other spices, along with additional native Andean products, such as potatoes, sweet potato, corn, broad bean pods and, eventually, cassava. Beyond a meal or an agape, it is a community rite in the Andes and in the cities.

The term “pachamanca” comes from the Quechua words pacha, “land” and manka, “pot”; so its meaning would be "earth pot"; but it should be noted that in the Aymara language the term manca or mankha means "food" so an alternative meaning also it is "food from the land".

Currently this dish is also prepared in a pot and in this case it is called "pachamanca a la olla".

History

The oldest precedent for this form of preparation is located in Telarmachay, a rock shelter from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, located in San Pedro de Cajas, Tarma, where remains of old ovens were found, similar to stoves where they used stones hot, as well as coal fragments. It is the evidence that the Andean man already used this technique to cook his food, using hot stones for it.

This cooking technique was used extensively during the Late Archaic in the Fortaleza Valley, according to the latest archaeological research by the Cayetano Heredia University and the scientist Haas.^{[citation required]} It is also found in the five thousand year old Vichama Raymi tradition of Paramonga Linked to the pachamanca we find a pre-Columbian dish that consists of potatoes roasted in small ovens, on the ground or on a barbecue and served with fresh Andean cheese, such as "cachipa", or with a chili and cheese sauce known as "capchi". » or «japchi», and that is prepared at the time of harvesting the potatoes.

During the XIX century references to the pachamanca as it is known today appear, one of them corresponds to the New Peruvian Cooking Manual from the end of the century. The traditionalist Ricardo Palma is one of the authors who gives a detailed account of the pachamanca in the XIX century; he mentions and describes customs related to the pachamanca in the traditions: The treasures of Catalina Huanca (1877), The pride of the chieftain (1880) and The revenge of a priest (1880). In "The Treasures of Catalina Huanca" the following is indicated: "in the places of the sierra, these festivities last from eight to fifteen days, a time when the blind enjoy feasts, in which the pacha-manca of ram and chicha de jora are consumed without measure".

The Argentinian Santiago Estrada gives an account of the pachamanca in his work From Valparaíso to La Oroya (1873); Other references are the Diccionario de Peruanismos of the year 1883 by Juan de Arona and the recipe book Cocina eclectica by Juana Manuela Gorriti (1890).

In the XX century, the pachamanca became more entrenched among the Peruvian oligarchy in large celebrations on haciendas and mining companies of the central highlands. The central railway contributed greatly to this since it generated a great commercial flow between Lima and the central highlands, the Mantaro valley, the Tarma valley, of great importance in agriculture, and with mining cities such as La Oroya, Cerro from Pasco and Huancavelica. The pachamanca spread to the coast with the migration of people and workers hooked up with jobs on the haciendas on the coast. Manuel A. Odría, a native of Tarma and president of Peru between 1948 and 1956, who was a great fan of the pachamanca, took it to be performed as a dish at important ceremonies and banquets in the government palace, accompanying it with the music of the Republican guard.

The pachamanca was declared Cultural Patrimony of the Nation in 2003. In November 2015, it was decreed as a national day of the Pachamanca every first Sunday of February, in this way the state seeks to promote and revalue this traditional and emblematic dish.

The pachamanca that most Peruvians know is relatively modern. In pre-Columbian times, meats were not put, as corresponds to the "huatía", and the cooking was carried out in "pirqas" (pronounced 'pir(sh)kjas') which are like hollow pyramids in which burning logs were placed to heat the stones and after being hot the potatoes were placed...

Preparation

Pachamanca de res.

The basic principle is to create a cavity with refractory material, which allows it to be brought to a high temperature to proceed with cooking the meat. Thus, in many places in Peru, an artisan oven is created by opening a hole in the ground where stones are placed, which are heated with the combustion of logs; Not any stone is suitable, the best ones are schists and the sulfur content is not desired because it alters the flavor (river stones). Alternatively brick structures are used.

Once the "oven" is heated, the previously seasoned meat is introduced, marinated in the flavoring products, and then it is wrapped in marmaquilla or chincho leaves, typical of each Andean region or place, the which gives them a distinctive flavor and the next step is placed on a load-bearing surface (stones, flagstones or metal trays), to finally cover them with banana leaves. Later the meats are accompanied with the additional ones, to finally close the "oven" either in the traditional way, with leaves, fabrics and earth, or by some other mechanism that hermetically closes it, in order to concentrate the heat that the thermorefractory elements will have conserved. After a necessary time (based on the cook's calculation and experience), "the oven" and proceed to serve. Depending on the amount of food, the ideal time is 40 to 90 minutes, which is well worth the wait, depending on how hot the stones are.

The most wonderful way to serve and eat pachamanca is on a large table or on the floor, where you spread some blankets. The potatoes, broad beans, sweet potatoes and humitas are spread out along the table, from where all the guests can take and eat to their liking without limitations. The meats are served on plates, for each type. Japchi (hot pepper, cheese and huacatay) accompanies these delicious delicacies.

A common factor is the use of stones devoid of sulfur content -schists are appropriate-, potatoes and sweet potatoes as ingredients, and meats in general hermetically wrapped in banana leaves. The traditional way leads to build this oven through a hole in clean earth, in which the hot stones are arranged and the meats and additional products are accommodated. To proceed with cooking, close the "oven" covering it as indicated: leaves of the banana tree or similar, fabrics or blankets, and earth. Another element common to all forms of preparation is the maceration of the meat with some spice that gives a characteristic flavor to the meat, once the maceration is over. Likewise, pork is macerated in chincho in the Huánuco region. The result is that each meat has a different color after cooking.

Process in images

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  The stones heat on a fire

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  The meat is placed along with the hot stones

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  Everything is covered with herbs, fabrics and earth

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  The oven is uncovered after an hour and a half

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  Ready to eat

Regional differences

Pachamanca as Andean potage of Ocros, Áncash (Peru).

Currently the regional differences have been dissipating but it is relevant to account for the traditional preparations.

Junin

• Meats: Cuy, chicken, alpaca, pig, lamb, calf.
• Vegetables: Potatoes, habas, choclo, oca, camote.
• Straight: Salt, coloured pepper, paico, achiote, chincho.
• Pre-processed foods: Fresh and salty eggs.
• Accompaniments: Chess salt and cheese (japchi).
• Fuel: Leña de eucalipto o retama.

Cusco

• Meats: Pig, ram.
• Vegetables: Potatoes, choclos, humitas.
• Strands: Sal, huacatay, chincho.

Ayacucho

• Meats: Res, rubber, chicken.
• Vegetables: Potatoes, habas, sweet potatoes, culantro, parsley, huacatay, spinach.
• Aderezos: Aji, garlic, cumin, salt, aji yellow, chincho, chicha de jora.
• Pre-developed foods: humitas.
• Accompaniments: Cheese and rocot sauce and huacatay.
• Fuel: Wood is used in molle or huarango.

Huanuco

• Carnes: Chancho.
• Vegetables: Camote, yucas, potatoes, choclo
• Strands: Chincho, garlic, salt and skin of the rocot.
• Accompaniments: Aji and onion spicy sauce.
• Hooray girl

Freedom

• Carnes: Carnero and rubber.
• Vegetables: Bananas, potatoes.
• Pre-developed foods: Green smokes.
• Straights: Aji, cunt, garlic, salt.
• Fuel: Algarrobo wood.

Ancash and the Ancashinos in Santiago

• Meats: Pig, cowboy, cuy, chicken.
• Vegetables: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, choclos and green haba in vainitas, oca in their season.
• Strands: garlic, green pepper, huacatay, chincho.
• Pre-made foods: Tamales, especially the humitas.
• Messaging drinks: Chicha de jora or brewery.
• Fuel: woods and/or eucalyptus or molle trunks.