Or will we have to wait until we visit friends in Peru?
That’s a serious question. Mrs. L.A. and I would like to try cuy. Andrew Zimmern says it’s very tasty. She wondered if they had it in Puerto Rico, where we’re planning to go later in the year. I don’t think they do, but I thought I’d ask.
I don’t see why they would. It’s a traditional dish in Peru where the little fellers originated. The wiki says they were introduced to Sub-Saharan Africa, but that the rest of world doesn’t want to eat them. A Peruvian relative gave me a cookbook with a recipe, I’m interested in trying it, but I don’t feel like prepping one purchased from PetSmart.
That’s what I thought. Mrs. L.A. doesn’t have her heart set on it, but wants to try it. I told her we’d probably have to wait until we visit friends in Lima. I want to try it too, but I’m looking forward to the fish in Puerto Rico.
Here’s a little to get your appetite going.
Note: these are photos of a cuy / guinea pig being processed.
They are tasty but I think you have to be in the Andes to find them on a menu.
I’ve seen them sold on street corners in Ecuador, kinda like hotdog stands in US cities.
You can buy them frozen in some Bay Area mercados, if you want to try cooking cuy for yourself. I wonder if you could find them frozen online too? I’m on my phone or I’d Google it for you.
I’ve never seen cuy on a menu outside the Andes in Peru and Ecuador.
I’ve had it served something like this in a fancy restaurant in Cuzco. It was great, very porklike. But the last time I had it in Cuzco at a different restaurant was boiled rather than roasted and very disappointing.
In Cuba, a rodent called the hutia is used for food, but I doubt you would find it in a restaurant. Puerto Rico used to have another species but it’s extinct.
It’s been like 25 years since i lived in Peru but my parents used to sucker me into eating them by saying it was chicken. It does taste like slightly greasier chicken. You could just replace your meat of choice into any recipe involving them and not really miss out on anything.
Must’ve been especially delicious.
The indigenous people on the islands ate them a lot, judging from the remains in kitchen middens. But they survived just fine until the arrival of the Spanish. (Columbus may have eaten them.) They seem to have been wiped out by the introduction of black rats and (finally) mongooses.