I have a couple of friends with whom I routinely have dinner. We always go to different restaurants, and try various types of cuisine. None of us are foodies, but we do enjoy each other's company and the idea of breaking bread while we do so. So, we've had a bunch of meals together, and some of those meals have involved ethnic cuisine.
That's where the fun of this post comes in. You see, we've had Peruvian food a few times, and they've always asked me what a particular dish was made out of or how something tasted. I am the resident Peruvian in the group, so it makes a ton of sense. For example, if I was going to a Brazilian churrascaria and I had a Brazilian friend joining me, I'd direct any questions about the menu or the meal to that person. You figure the Brazilian would be more likely to know, right?
Anyhow, we were having dinner once, and one of these folks asked what lomo saltado was. I explained it as a beef stir fry type dish, and that sounded appetizing to my friend, so she ordered it. She did end up enjoying it quite a bit, but after a few bites, she sort of looked at the plate quizzically. She paused for a moment, and then exclaimed that there was soy sauce in her food.
I don't cook much Peruvian food, but I have occasionally made lomo saltado. I have never once used soy sauce to prepare this dish, so this proclamation caught me by surprise. Like I said, I've never prepared it that way. Given that, I just brushed it off as this particular restaurant changing things up a little bit. You figure every restaurant is going to have their own particular recipe, and if it tastes good, what's the harm in adding a different ingredient? My answer was something along the lines of, "hm, that's weird. I don't think it's supposed to be in there, but who knows?"
Now, I should mention that the two other people I was eating with were both of Chinese descent. So, the person who ordered the lomo saltado immediately told the third person in our party to taste the food. These were people who knew soy sauce. They might not recognize anticucho or papa a la huancaina, but they sure as heck knew what soy sauce tasted like. Sure enough, they both proclaimed that they could detect soy sauce in this dish. Perplexed, I grudgingly believed them but also made a counter-proclamation that this was odd. We all had a good laugh about it, and they bantered about the value of soy sauce.
I was curious enough about this particular turn of events that I turned to the most Peruvian person I could think of: my mom. I asked her if that was normal. Well, she said, it's fairly common to soften the meat with a bit of vinegar. You can also substitute or add soy sauce to this mix, to change up the flavor a bit. It wasn't absolutely required nor was it the super super authentic way of making the dish, but it was acceptable. Huh. Who knew.
Fast forward several months, and that very same friend was traveling to the East Coast. She just so happened to stop in at another Peruvian restaurant on that trip, and she sent me a text message. It said, basically, "I'm having lomo saltado." She also included a photo of the menu, which explicitly called out the fact that there was soy sauce in this dish. Essentially, she sent me a cross-country, "I told you so." I couldn't help but laugh. The whole thing was too perfect, especially given the time delay and the 3000+ miles separating the original episode and the vindication. She was a gracious winner, but we both ended up laughing quite a bit about this.
Incidentally, I've decided that I may need to cook more often now. I'm not trying to get any more "I told you so" texts about food items.
That's where the fun of this post comes in. You see, we've had Peruvian food a few times, and they've always asked me what a particular dish was made out of or how something tasted. I am the resident Peruvian in the group, so it makes a ton of sense. For example, if I was going to a Brazilian churrascaria and I had a Brazilian friend joining me, I'd direct any questions about the menu or the meal to that person. You figure the Brazilian would be more likely to know, right?
Anyhow, we were having dinner once, and one of these folks asked what lomo saltado was. I explained it as a beef stir fry type dish, and that sounded appetizing to my friend, so she ordered it. She did end up enjoying it quite a bit, but after a few bites, she sort of looked at the plate quizzically. She paused for a moment, and then exclaimed that there was soy sauce in her food.
I don't cook much Peruvian food, but I have occasionally made lomo saltado. I have never once used soy sauce to prepare this dish, so this proclamation caught me by surprise. Like I said, I've never prepared it that way. Given that, I just brushed it off as this particular restaurant changing things up a little bit. You figure every restaurant is going to have their own particular recipe, and if it tastes good, what's the harm in adding a different ingredient? My answer was something along the lines of, "hm, that's weird. I don't think it's supposed to be in there, but who knows?"
Now, I should mention that the two other people I was eating with were both of Chinese descent. So, the person who ordered the lomo saltado immediately told the third person in our party to taste the food. These were people who knew soy sauce. They might not recognize anticucho or papa a la huancaina, but they sure as heck knew what soy sauce tasted like. Sure enough, they both proclaimed that they could detect soy sauce in this dish. Perplexed, I grudgingly believed them but also made a counter-proclamation that this was odd. We all had a good laugh about it, and they bantered about the value of soy sauce.
I was curious enough about this particular turn of events that I turned to the most Peruvian person I could think of: my mom. I asked her if that was normal. Well, she said, it's fairly common to soften the meat with a bit of vinegar. You can also substitute or add soy sauce to this mix, to change up the flavor a bit. It wasn't absolutely required nor was it the super super authentic way of making the dish, but it was acceptable. Huh. Who knew.
Fast forward several months, and that very same friend was traveling to the East Coast. She just so happened to stop in at another Peruvian restaurant on that trip, and she sent me a text message. It said, basically, "I'm having lomo saltado." She also included a photo of the menu, which explicitly called out the fact that there was soy sauce in this dish. Essentially, she sent me a cross-country, "I told you so." I couldn't help but laugh. The whole thing was too perfect, especially given the time delay and the 3000+ miles separating the original episode and the vindication. She was a gracious winner, but we both ended up laughing quite a bit about this.
Incidentally, I've decided that I may need to cook more often now. I'm not trying to get any more "I told you so" texts about food items.
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