Serious Sandwiches: Churrasco Completo
While traveling through Chile last week, I discovered that my new favorite Spanish word is completo. A word with a few different meanings when it comes to food, completo is best translated as "the works." Use it alone as a noun, as in "Yo quiero un completo," and you'll get a hot dog topped with everything but the kitchen sink (usually salsa, tomatoes, guacamole, sometimes sauerkraut, ketchup, mustard, and the requisite mayonnaise). Use it as an adjective, following the word churrasco and what you'll get is a very serious sandwich.
The churrasco completo I had was enjoyed on a converted bus parked on the side of La Carretera Austral, on the way to Rio Tranquilo in Northern Patagonia (but you can get them pretty much everywhere). It starts with pan amasado, a homemade full moon–shaped Chilean bread that lives somewhere in that delicious no man's land between a fluffy white bread roll and crusty French bread. Thin slices of beef are sautéed in oil and make up the "churrasco" part of the sandwich, which is also topped with cheese. Then comes the "completo" part, which in this case meant guacamole, tomato, and chopped lettuce tossed in lemon juice and oil. And, of course, a generous layer of mayonnaise. Add string beans, and the sandwich is called a chacarero—but that's a sandwich for a different day.
La Cocino del Sole
Address: On La Carretera Austral, 120km north of Rio Tranquilo
About the author: Zach Brooks is the proprietor of Midtown Lunch, where he blogs about affordable lunchtime eats in Midtown Manhattan. The guy knows his sandwiches.
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15 Comments:
Having spent many a NYC winter in Chile (their summer), it was heartwarming that you discovered one of the true great flavours of South America! Please keep going and hit the coast for some Picorocco and some Congrio.
And don't forget the wine!
Papa Lucio at 2:30PM on 01/09/08
Dude... I ate so much congrio! Congrio Ceviche... so good.
Zach Brooks at 3:51PM on 01/09/08
I would be all over those, great pics.
redfish at 4:44PM on 01/09/08
I've never been to Chile so I can't vouch for their authenticity, but San Antonio Bakey #2 in Astoria makes some pretty solid completos (hot dogs and sandwiches). Not quite midtown, but not that far either.
Krista at 5:41PM on 01/09/08
I love a Currasco! Or a barros luco, or a milanesa, or pastel de choclo...
But please, it's not guacamole, it's simply palta (avacado) with at most a little olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, and garlic added. Palta is one of those things where it's simplicity pays off in spades. Where I feel guacamole is is somewhat constrained in it's usefulness as a condiment, palta goes on or with just about anything.
Also, if you can pry a good recipe for pebre out of someone down there, please post it!
baine at 5:59PM on 01/09/08
@Baine - I totally know what you mean about the palta v guacamole thing, and translation of foreign words is sometimes going to be iffy, but I was under the impression that palta is just the word for avocado. Order an Ensalada de Palta in Chile, and you get a plate with whole slices of avocado. It's understood that when you say palto in reference to a completo or churrasco, they're going to know you mean mashed up avocado stuff- but I felt like using the term guacamole was a fair translation. I feel like once you mash up avocado, and add condiments to it (whatever they may be), it becomes guac.
Thoughts? (Semantics discussions are fun!)
Zach Brooks at 6:18PM on 01/09/08
Guacamole to me always means avocado mashed up and combined with any or all of the following : salsa, sour cream, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, or pretty much anything else you can think of.
You're correct, linguistically speaking that "palta" == "avocado". My logic in applying the term is how much you add to the ripe fruit before it becomes something else.
In my wife's family, they usually do just eat it plain, no additives, just mashed avocado on their churrascos or bifsteak lo pobre (or pretty much everything but the brasso de reina). Sometimes, I can get away with adding a teaspoon of olive oil, a dash of salt, pepper, and lemon, and one dente (tooth) of garlic finely chopped, and they'll still call it "palta".
IIRC, I am not Chilean, I just live with a bunch of them; but do love the food, and am seriously envious of where you're at right now.
baine at 6:55PM on 01/09/08
That thing looks awesome. I love good rustic breads like that, and then you throw in some nice beef and you got a winner. Chile is always a place i wanted to go, not as bad as I want to go to peru though. Food travels though make the best travels.
Athena Foods - Cook Like a Goddess
athenafoods at 9:19PM on 01/09/08
Guacamole with sour cream or cheese??? :-O Where would that be? I'm ready to accept that there's variation in guacamole recipes throughout Latin American (i.e., it's not just Mexican); adding dairy sounds extreme to me, but I'm happy to be corrected.
emily20008 at 9:29PM on 01/09/08
Oh, I want one! I've been slowly trying to convince the Atrium Cafe (next door to where I work) to assemble me a chacarero, but it's tricky. I'm slowly gaining their trust, but as it's one of those pay-per-ingredient salad shops, asking for it "completo" is going to cost me $100 and not be exactly right.
Lauren Krueger at 10:46AM on 01/10/08
I am all about the works! There is a great little place in Boston's Downtown Crossing called Chacarero, and go figure, they sell chacareros. There is a line down the street at lunch time and they are only open during the week. So good!
onefoodguy at 12:14PM on 01/10/08
Next time I'm in Boston, I'm most definitely hitting up Chacarero. My wife ate them all the time when we used to live there, but I somehow missed out on it. You will definitely be seeing that place on Serious Sandwiches soon!
Zach Brooks at 1:56PM on 01/10/08
Careful, Zach; I don't call them "crackareros" for nothing.
Lauren Krueger at 3:40PM on 01/10/08
The Chacarero stand in Boston's Downtown Crossing is closed because of the construction, but they opened a large storefront on Province Street, about one block away. Also serves breakfast. Chacarero available in beef, chicken or veggie.
astrid at 7:23PM on 01/12/08
In southern South America, including Chile, avocado is called palta. In Chile they also call "palta" the mixture they make that looks somewhat similar to guacamole, but the two mixtures are different. Avocado, in Chile, is mixed simply with lemon juice, salt, and salad oil. Guacamole is avocado mixed with garlic, tomato, a little jalapeno pepper, salt, and lime juice (though that can vary, a little). Palta and guacamole are not interchangeable in my opinion!
Chilean palta, all by itself on bread, is also delicioius, and is a common treat for the afternoon/evening onces.
I stumbled upon this blog earlier today. The descriptions of the Chilean sandwiches are making me even more eager for my return trip to Chile in July!
ceiltrow at 11:03PM on 05/20/09