Breakfast in Guatemala (4th. Part)

Continuing with the food:

Note: if you click on the food links mostly you´ll find the recipes, but sometimes more explanations.

Croissants: not really so common, but yes, it´s also possible to find croissants for breakfast, just that in this case they won’t ever be just the bread itself, but at list with ham.

Pupusas: original from El Salvador and most common for afternoon snacks than for breakfast, but also possible to find them then. A pupusa is a thick tortilla that had added crackling, cheese, loroco or beans, mixed with the dough before being cooked. It´s served, as garnish, with “curtido” that is a kind of cabbage salad and tomato sauce.



What come as follows maybe should be placed after talking about eggs, but I was trying to talk first about main dishes and then about the rest…

As garnish for the eggs:

Beans: there are a lot of beans varieties in Guatemala, first obvious difference is the color: black, red and white are the most common, but that´s not the only one division… anyway, the ones you find at breakfasts are the black ones. We can eat them in different ways:

- Boiled beans: just cooked with water, salt and onion. Some people add garlic. That simple! At breakfast you can eat them with a bit of cream, with grated cheese… or with both! :)

- Mashed beans: first same procedure as before, then to mash them… something that now it´s really simple to do with all the machines we have, but I remember my grandmother mashing them with a manual strainer… hard work! Ok, coming back to the description ;) after mashing them, you put them in a skillet with butter or oil for a while. Good idea to ad fried onion and the green part of a spring onion (also fried). You also can take this with cream, grated cheese or both! :D You can give them the consisted you want, from almost liquid (but not liquid at all, that would be a beans soup and we don´t eat soups for breakfast), till puree (but not so solid, that would be then refried beans).



-Refried beans: same procedure as before but you fry them (once mashed), till you get a very solid puree.

Here a video to have an idea of how solid should be the refried beans:





Plantains: there are a lot ways to cook plantains, but for breakfast it could be boiled or fried (the most common).



Hash browns: not really normal when you eat at home, but in some restaurants you find them, McDonald´s was the first one offering hash browns for breakfast.



Cold meat and sausages: here the point is that you can find names that could sound familiar for you if you are not Guatemalan, but the taste would be quite different… and I´m afraid that´s not exactly something easy to help with when you are just writing… so, maybe better to give a look at the pics… and try them when you can! :D



Cheese: it´s usual to find fresh cheese at Guatemalan´s tables, for eating the beans or just in a hot tortilla. Grated cheese is also very common, as I mentioned, for eating with the beans as well. Also you can find other cheeses like Gouda, Emental or Cheddar, but actually they are mostly for cooking eggs. Lately you also can find cheeses for spreading the bread, like Camembert, Philadelphia, Brie, Cream Cheese, Cheese Wiz (ooohhhh!!! How much I miss it!!!)… yes, I do think Guatemalans are Cheese fans! ;D One very good cheese factory I recommend: Quesos Parma.



Tortillas: this is one of the bases of Guatemalan´s diet. They are made with corn dough, to use instead of bread. The way to make them is a Mayan tradition, better to watch it:

This is the Mexican version...

And this one the Guatemalan one! :D

Bread: Guatemalan bread offers a good variation that was enriched with other cultures bread… this is due there are living a lot of people from so many different countries and some of them installed their own food business. Talking about bread, the most welcome were German and French ones.





Chili: just in case someone likes to add it to the food. Guatemala has a lot of good and strong varieties, but the most known are “chiltepe” and “chile de Cobán”.



Cream: yeap! Guatemalans love cream! Btw this is also quite different from the one in Spain, not just the savor but also it´s thicker, less liquid.



(Oh yes! There´s more to talk about Guatemalan Breakfasts!:) To be continued