National cuisine of Uruguay for gourmets. Authentic recipes, delicacies and specialties

Charrua Indians, Creoles, and Europeans (Italians in particular) shaped the traditional cuisine of Uruguay. Uruguayans love gathering all together for a lunch or dinner as this is the time when they communicate with their friends and relatives. Meat, cheese, vegetable sauces, and fruit make up the basis of Uruguayan cuisine. Uruguayans like a drink made from mate leaves or Paraguayan holly berry. The drink is always consumed hot. It takes somewhat like tea and is good for health. Grappamiel, a drink containing honey, alcohol, and Italian grappa, is considered the national drink of Uruguay. Local cafes and restaurants offer generous portions of food for lunch and dinner. As a rule, locals dine late in the evening.

Meat is usually grilled in Uruguay. It is eaten with bread, and garlic bread is particularly suitable for this. Beef and pork are the most popular meat types in the country. Don’t forget to try Chorizo pork sausages that can be served both hot and cold. Locals usually eat it with mayonnaise or cut it and fill with cheese, adding a vegetable garnish. Salchicha is different in length and thickness from Chorizo, but it is eaten the same way. In local cuisine, juicy and soft chunks of beef and pork meat are usually grilled. Chunchullo or Chinchulín is a dish containing beef small intestine sprinkled with lemon juice. Chimichurri green sauce, the original recipe of which was invented in Argentina, is a perfect addition to any meat dish. It contains olive oil, pepper, vinegar, cilantro, garlic, and other spices and herbs. Besides grill, wood-burning fire is one more popular way to cook meat.

It is safe to say that Uruguayan vegetables and fruit are the best in Latin America. Mandarins and oranges, peaches and pears, watermelons and giant pumpkins – all of them and many other fruits and vegetables are cultivated in Uruguay. Vegetable pancakes, omelets, and salads are very popular in the country because of their juiciness and exceptional taste. Pancakes with cauliflower usually contain garlic and eggs. Stuffed zucchinis and pickled orange milky caps are delicious and nourishing. Persimmons and guava are also popular in the country. Locals also like pies stuffed with spinach and omelets with seaweed. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Sweet food is popular in Uruguay, and so patty cakes stuffed with meat or cheese and fried on an open fire are one of the most popular desserts in the country. Patty cakes are also a popular appetizer and on the go snack. Dulce de leche is a sweet milk sauce that perfectly complements various desserts. It can be also spread on bread. Locals usually do not eat Dulce de leche as a separate dessert. The recipe of flakey Frankfurt cake was brought to Uruguay from Germany. The gorgeous cake is filled with fruit and covered with hazelnuts. Uruguay is also the motherland of Chaja cake that contains peaches and condensed milk. Rice pudding, apricot jelly candies, waffles with meringue and chocolate, quince cakes, peanut in caramel – both adults and children are fond of these delicious desserts.

Uruguayans have an interesting tradition. On the 29th of every month, they eat Gnocchi, soft dough dumplings stuffed with spinach that were originally invented in Italy. There is an interesting tradition behind this. 29th was the day before salary, and there was usually no money left from the previous month’s salary, so people had to cook the cheapest food to save. Locals always put paper money under the plates with Gnocchi in order to attract wealth. For Christmas, they cook an interesting fruit salad that is more reminiscent of a cold soup. This dish contains plums, oranges, apples, peaches, bananas, and several other fruit types that are sprinkled with cool Fanta. Besides holidays, locals eat this salad on any hot day because it is much easier to withstand heat with this dish.

Table etiquette in Uruguay is not much different from European and North American traditions. The basic rule of keeping hands above the table also works here. When not holding utensils, put wrists on the table. It is better to refrain from pouring wine to someone with the left hand because this means dislike of that person. No one starts eating until the host or the person who invited everyone to a restaurant gives a start signal with the “Buen Provecho” phrase. Do not cut lettuce, simply bend it with fork and knife, then pierce it with a fork and eat. In order to call a waiter in a restaurant, simply raise your hand a little and say “moso”, which means waiter. When dining with a business partner, do not start talking about business until the interlocutor mentions business first.

To try traditional food in Uruguay, there is no need to visit the houses of local people. All dishes of traditional Uruguayan cuisine are available in the majority of local cafes and restaurants. Travelers need to keep in mind that local dining establishments open on 9 am or later. This is not true about restaurants in hotels that start serving guests much earlier. Breakfast is served until 11 am, and lunchtime starts at noon. Local cafes and restaurants usually offer dinner from 8 pm. Tandory restaurant in Montevideo offers high cuisine with Uruguayan twist. In Punta del Este, vacationers can visit inexpensive 481 Gourmet restaurant famous for its great service, and Los Farolitos in Colonia del Sacramento offers local fast food.