Curanto

Hard·50 min active + 2 hours 10 min resting

The ancient pit feast of Chiloé and Andean Patagonia — layers of shellfish, meat, potato, and dumplings cooked under hot stones and nalca leaves in a hole in the ground, steamed by the earth itself. A communal, smoky, surf-and-turf banquet thousands of years old.

Curanto is an ancient earth-oven dish of Chiloé and Patagonia: shellfish, meat, and potatoes layered over hot stones in a pit and covered with leaves to steam.

Open the curanto and steam billows up carrying brine, smoke, and meat — the mussels plump and briny, the meats smoky and tender, the potatoes and dumplings soaked in the shellfish-and-pork juices. Bite: an earthy, smoky surf-and-turf, every layer flavoured by the others, deeply communal and primordial. The pit feast of the south, unearthed and shared by the dozen.

The fire-heated stones and sealed pit turn the hole into a giant steam oven; juices from the shellfish and meat drip down and flavour the potatoes and dumplings, while the leaves and earth trap the steam and impart an earthy smoke. Layering by cooking time ensures everything finishes together — a cooking method older than the cookpot.

Variations

Pulmay (in a pot). With chicken. With smoked pork. With more shellfish. With white wine. With milcao potato bread.

On the Palate

Where Curanto sits in the Patagonian flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Layer strictly by cooking time and seal the pit airtight — the trapped steam is the whole oven, so a leaky cover means half-raw potatoes while the shellfish overcook.

Techniques

Steaming

Ingredients

Serves 10

How it's made

8 steps · 50 min active + 2 hours 10 min waiting

1
40 min
Heat stones in a fire until glowing, in a dug pit (or use a large covered pot for pulmay).
Watch out
The stones are ready when they glow and you can no longer hold a hand near them.
2
6 min
Lay the hot stones at the base and cover with big leaves.
3
6 min
Layer in mussels and other shellfish first.
4
5 min
Add pieces of beef, pork, and sausage.
5
6 min
Add potatoes and small flour dumplings (chapaleles/milcaos).
6
8 min
Cover with more leaves and a cloth; seal with earth to trap the steam.
Watch out
Seal is good when no steam whistles out at the edges after a minute or two.
7
90 min
Let it steam underground about 1.5 hours.
8
9 min
Open the pit and serve everything in layers, with broth.
Watch out
Open to find the shellfish just gaping, potatoes soft, and a pool of savoury broth at the base.