Peruvian Kebabs: Anticuchos

Peru, located in western South America, is a former colony of Spain that gained independence in 1821. Most Peruvians speak Spanish, but there are also minorities of the population that use various Amerindian languages as their primary forms of speech. One of those Amerindian languages is "Quechua," pronounced as if, "ketch-oo-wah" (others say, "ketch-wah"). It is a language family in South America, best known as the language of the Incas. Another prominent Amerindian language family is "Aymara" (pronounced like "eye-mahrah"), which is spoken in parts of Peru and in some neighboring countries.

If you've never had beef heart, please don't be intimidated by it. It is delicious! If you are too skittish, you can substitute some steak, like chuck steak. Aji panca (pronounced like, "ah-hee pahncah") is a paste (sauce) made from a type of red chili pepper. It is not terribly hot, but rather it gives a little kick to foods. It is deep red in color. Aji amarillo is another paste, but it is made from a yellow chili pepper with a bit more heat. Aji panca is often in supermarkets or Latino grocers, and you may find aji amarillo also, but it is not as common. For the aji panca, you could substitute some ancho chili powder, some paprika, a little water and a pinch of cayenne pepper or a few drops of chili pepper sauce mixed together to form a paste, but if you can find aji panca (definitely available online), you'll be rewarded by the wonderful flavor, and a little heat. These Peruvian kebabs are called "anticuchos" (also, "anticuchos de curazon") in Spanish and they are very common in Peru, with street vendors selling them too.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds of beef heart
1/2 cup aji panca paste (or substitute mentioned above) 
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
skewers for cooking

Trim the heart of fat and vessels, then cut the heart into about 1 to 2 inch pieces, and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness. Mix together the chili paste, red wine vinegar, garlic, dried oregano, cumin and salt. Add the pieces of beef heart to the mixture, cover, refrigerate and let marinate for a minimum of 2 or 3 hours, but up to 12 hours is better. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water first. You can grill the anticuchos on a charcoal or gas grill, turning them often, and cooking them for anywhere from about 5 to 8 minutes, depending upon desired doneness, or you can broil the anticuchos. Arrange the anticuchos on a baking sheet and broil about 5 to 6 inches from the heat. Turn the anticuchos once or twice during broiling. Broil for "about" 5 to 10 minutes, depending upon desired doneness. Serve with aji amarillo paste (sauce), chopped green onions, boiled potato slices, boiled or grilled corn on the cob pieces.

Boiled potato pieces and small pieces of corn are commonly served with Anticuchos, as well as some sauces, like aji amarillo and some green onions.

I enjoy both of these wonderful chili pastes/sauces, which are not only different in color, but also in heat and flavor. There are other brand names of both.

WORD HISTORY:
Mere-This is the noun, as English has two words of this spelling, but they seem to come from different sources. It is related to "marsh," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it goes back to Indo European "mori," which meant, "body of water, sea." This gave Old Germanic "mari," meaning, "lake, sea," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mere" (ending "e" then was likely pronounced as "eh/ah"), with the same meanings. The word has remained, especially in place names that were (or still are) located near a body of water, more typically with reference to a lake. The Germanic form is related to forms in Latin, Celtic and some other branches of Indo European and languages spawned by those branches (for instance, Italian has "mare," French has "mer" and Spanish and Portuguese have "mar," all from Latin). The Germanic languages have: German "Meer" (sea), Low German Saxon "Meer" (lake), West Frisian "mar" (lake), Dutch "meer" (lake), Icelandic "mar," now antiquated (sea), Norwegian "marbakke" (seashore slope).  

Beef Heart with Dressing

In times now past, I would make this as "Stuffed Beef Heart," where I put the "dressing" ("stuffing")* inside and then tied it to hold it closed, but because this was a relatively small beef heart, I just decided to cut the heart open, and cook it that way, with the "dressing" on top. It turned out GREAT!

Ingredients:

1 beef heart
2 teaspoons olive or canola oil
2 cups stale bread, cut or torn into bite size pieces
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I use panko)
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1/3 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup beef stock

Trim off the fat from the beef heart and rinse the heart well, then cut the heart open and trim away any vessels. In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 1 minute, then add the garlic and mushrooms. After about another minute or two, add the thyme, the fresh sage and the parsley. Add the bread pieces and sprinkle on the rubbed sage. Mix everything together and then gradually add the beef stock, allowing the bread to absorb the liquid as much as possible. When the beef stock has been added, add the bread crumbs a little at a time and mix them into the other ingredients to see how wet the mixture is. You may not need to use all of the bread crumbs, because they are really only used to help sop up excess liquid, but you also don't want the mixture to be too dry. Remember too, you needn't cook the dressing until the onion and other ingredients are totally softened, because it will be subject to more cooking. In a baking dish or a deep sided pan, spread out the open beef heart and spoon on the dressing to form a nice smooth layer. I put just a little water in the bottom of the pan, like about 1/4 cup, but by no means should the water be anywhere near high enough to touch the dressing layer. The steam produced by the small amount of water will keep everything moist. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours. Let the heart sit for about 5 to 10 minutes after removing it from the oven. You can slice servings off with the dressing right on them (see photo below).  

* In the U.S. it likely depends upon the place where you grew up as to whether you say, "dressing" or "stuffing." In much of the southern US, "dressing" is most often used, while in much of the northern areas, "stuffing" is the preferred word, while many other areas are mixed in their usage. Some requiring more order in their lives, like the Sheldon Cooper character of television's "Big Bang Theory," have tried to apply the logic of, "if it is cooked inside a bird or part of another animal, it is 'stuffing,' but if it is cooked in a pan or dish separate from the meat, it is then called 'dressing.' " The thing is, logic does not always prevail in our regional terminology, and, to be quite honest, that keeps things interesting (see note **, below). Well, when I was a kid, it was called "dressing" in my area, but in the early 1970s a version with dried bread and packets of seasoning in a box was heavily marketed in television ads as, "Stove Top Stuffing," and that term came to at least be recognized nationally, but it didn't stop "dressing" users from the use of their term.

** In my neighborhood when I grew up, the name for a "sweet, flavored fizzy non alcoholic drink" was "pop," a shortening of the term, "soda pop," but as I got older and I met people outside of my own little world, I found some others called it, "soda," another shortening of the same term mentioned above. Now to me, "soda" was a powdered substance that came in a box with a picture of an arm with a hammer in hand on the box. Some powder was mixed with water and drank to help with heartburn or a stomach ache, an idea that these people didn't find very amusing, bringing them to often tell me to "stuff it," a term I never figured out, but which I assumed meant they used "stuffing" instead of "dressing." Hm?


Click on photo to enlarge it... I had the beef heart topped with dressing and some gravy, as well as with some mashed potatoes and gravy and fresh corn, which I had just cut off of the cob.

WORD HISTORY:
Dress-This word traces back to a compound form, with the first part having been a prefix. The main body of the word is related to a number of other words, including Latin-derived "direct," and also to "right," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The original prefix goes back to Indo European "dwhis/dwis," which had the meaning "twice, again, two ways;" thus also, "aside (from), away." This gave Latin "dis," which meant, "apart, in two separate parts, asunder." The main body of the original word goes back to Indo European "reg," which had the idea of "move in a straight line;" thus also, "direct in a proper way." This gave its Latin offspring "regere," which meant "to guide, to direct;" thus, "to rule/govern." Together these forms gave Latin "directus" (straight, direct), the participle form of Latin "dirigere" (to direct, to arrange, to set in order). This produced an "assumed" Latin form "directiare" (to make or set straight). This was passed to Latin-based Old French as "drecier" (straighten, direct, to serve food, to arrange, to prepare;" thus also, "to put on clothing" (to prepare/arrange oneself), and also, "to decorate." This then became "dresser." English borrowed the word in the first part of the 1300s as, "dressen," with essentially the same meanings, which also expanded to "add seasonings to food." The noun was derived from the verb circa 1600 with the general meaning, "clothing," and the more specific meaning, "woman's apparel," came about in the mid 1600s. The noun "dressing" came from the verb in the mid to late 1300s and was applied to "the process of preparing;" thus then to, "putting on clothing," then in the 1500s to, "season food," then in the first half of the 1700s to, "put a bandage onto a wound." The "seasoning process for food" meaning led to, "seasoning elements put inside fowl and animal parts," but also later to, "seasonings or sauces used for salads."