What to eat in Puerto Varas and the lakes district?

Are you visiting the Lakes District in Chile? Well, Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas are the gate to visit this incredible natural area in Chile. But, what to eat? Which are the local specialties you can taste during your visits? Take a look to the following list:

The Curanto

The typical “Curanto” is a traditional chilean technique of cooking meat and seafood originating from Chiloé Island. Very used by the aborigins in Patagonia, the curanto is one of the most traditional dishes in the area. In order to prepare it, chicken, pork, sausages, seafood like clams, mussels, giant barnacles, chapaleles potato dumplings, potatoes, and various vegetables are placed in a pit that’s lined with curanto, meaning hot stones.

Each layer of the ingredients is topped with large nalca, a chilean rhubarb leaves that keep the steam trapped inside. Once cooked, the meat and seafood are usually served with pebre, hot sauce, and milcao potato pancakes. Add a glass of Pisco Sour to complete the experience!

The Milcao

The Milcao or Melcao is a traditional dish originating from the Chiloé Archipelago in Chile. The dish is a type of potato pancake prepared with raw grated potatoes and cooked mashed potatoes mixed with other ingredients. It forms an important part of the Chiloé dishes curanto and reitimiento, and is mentioned frequently in folklore as part of Chilote songs and riddles. The dish spread to the south of Chile with the migration of many Chilote families to Patagonia during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

The Chapalele

Chapalele is a Chilean bread made with only two ingredients: flour and potatoes. It`s also originated in Chiloè Island where it is traditionally steamed and cooked in curanto. The Chapalele can also be fried, or baked and consumed as a snack or it can be used as an accompaniment to stews and meat dishes.

The Chochoca

Chochoca is a traditional dish of Chiloe and Huilliche cuisine in Chile, which consists of a mass of grated and squeezed raw potatoes mixed with boiled potatoes, or potatoes cooked with flour that is roasted over the fire, adhered to a large spit in the shape of a uslero, called a chochoquero stick