10-Day Chile
Itinerary

Empanadas de Pino

Chile's most celebrated baked good — a hand-sized pastry pocket packed with pino filling: ground beef, onion, hard-boiled egg, black olive and raisin seasoned with cumin and paprika; baked until the crust turns a deep golden; the raisin's sweetness against the savoury beef is the essential Chilean flavour.

Pastel de Choclo

Chile's great summer casserole — a clay pot layered with pino (spiced beef, chicken, egg and olive) and topped with a thick, golden crust of ground fresh corn sweetened with basil and a dusting of sugar; baked until the corn top browns; the sweet corn crown over the savoury filling is quintessentially Chilean.

Curanto

The world's oldest surviving pit-oven feast — shellfish (clams, mussels, barnacles), smoked pork, potato dumplings (milcao) and vegetables layered over white-hot stones in a ground pit, covered with giant nalca leaves and sealed with wet sacking; steamed underground for an hour; a ritual of the Chiloé archipelago for thousands of years.

Completo

Chile's extravagant hot dog — a frankfurter in a fluffy white bun loaded with chopped tomato, sauerkraut, avocado and a blizzard of mayonnaise; the 'italiano' version (tomato, avocado, mayo) mirrors the Italian flag; Santiago's street stands measure mayo by the ladle; Chileans consume more hot dogs per capita than almost any nation.

Cazuela

Chile's comforting national soup-stew — a slow-simmered broth of beef or chicken with large-cut potato, pumpkin, corn on the cob, green beans and rice; each ingredient retains its shape and character; served in a deep clay bowl with the broth first, then the solids; the smell alone signals home to every Chilean.