South Zone

Milcaos 

Milcao or melcao, also called milcado by ultracorrection, is a kind of potato bread that is prepared by mixing raw and cooked potatoes with other ingredients. According to the tradition and later variations, there are four basic types of milcao classified according to their type of cooking; curanto milcao (steamed), fried milcao, baked milcao and peeled milcao (boiled).

Story

It is part of the cuisine of southern Chile, particularly the traditional cuisine of the Chiloé archipelago, it is an important ingredient of curanto and lloco and frequently appears in chilote folklore as part of songs and riddles. The emigration of many families from Chiloé to Patagonia during the second half of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century has brought this food to the southern part of Chile.

Variations

Oven milcaos and fried milcaos: These are the usual ways of preparation. They can contain pork rinds inserted into the dough or be filled with them like a pie. The bark is reddish-brown and the interior is gray.

Milcaos de curanto: They are steamed in one of the upper layers of curanto, covered by hazelnut branches or pangues. They have a dark purplish gray color and their flavor contains part of that of the accompanying leaves. They are less common due to the complexity of preparing a curanto.

Peeled milcaos or vaemes: They are milcaos that are cooked boiled and eaten sweetened with honey or sugar. Many people reject them for their gray color and slimy consistency.

Milcaos de chuño: They differ from the previous ones because instead of using grated potatoes, the chuño obtained when preparing them is used. They are prepared fried and have a yellowish-gray color on the outside and a bright gray on the inside. If they are boiled they are also called vaemes and can be consumed sweetened.

Ingredients

1 kg of cooked and ground potatoes, 1 kg of grated raw potatoes, 200 g of pork rinds, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt.

Recipe

1. In a medium frying pan add the pork rinds and fry over medium heat in their own fat, until golden. Set aside.

2. Cook a kilo of peeled potatoes in plenty of water for 20 minutes, filter the water and grind the potatoes until they form a puree. cool and reserve.

3. Peel a kilo of potatoes and grate them raw on a kitchen cloth and squeeze out all the liquid that they are releasing. Reserve the pulp.

4. In a large bowl mix the mashed cooked potatoes and the grated raw potatoes in a single mass, add salt, butter and knead very well until everything is integrated.

5. Take a piece of mixture, knead until forming a bread circular flat and in the center add 2 to 3 pork rinds and seal from the edges adding a little more dough if necessary.

6. distribute the milcaos on an oiled tray, place in an oven pre-heated to 200 ° C (392 ° F) and cook for approximately 30 minutes, until golden brown.

7. Serve the milcaos hot or cold, alone or with other main dishes.

Advices

The boiled milcaos do not have pork rinds, because they are usually eaten with honey. The fried and baked milcaos can be filled with pork rinds inside as in a stuffed potato. Finally, the cooking time for each one is variable, usually 10-15 minutes for fried milcaos, 20 minutes for peeled ones, 35 to 50 minutes for baked milcaos and about 2 hours for curanto milcaos.