Valdivian Chilean soup - Pilar Hernández's Chilean Kitchen
This soup is believed to be one of the oldest in Chile. Valdivian soup is traditionally cooked with charqui (salted and dried meat), one of the ways of preserving animal meat before refrigeration existed.
- 1 tablespoon lard or butter
- 2 thinly sliced onions
- 2 teaspoons of paprika or chili powder
- 150 grams of prepared jerky (see notes or roast beef in the USA)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of chili sauce (I used original Tabasco sauce)
- 2 liters of beef broth
- 2 cups of diced yellow squash
- 1 pan
- 1/2 cup of milk
- Salt, oil
- Parsley
- 1 lemon
- 8 eggs
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and the butter. Add the paprika and stir.
- Once the butter has melted, add the thinly sliced onion and stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
- Add the chopped jerky or roast beef, oregano, cumin, and Tabasco original sauce. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Place the chopped bread and milk in a bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes. Using a fork, form a paste without large pieces.
- Add the broth and the squash. Stir, and when it comes back to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400F or 200C.
- Add the bread to the soup, cook for 5 more minutes or until it returns to a boil. Add the chopped parsley and lemon juice. Stir, taste, and adjust the seasoning.
- Serve in ovenproof bowls, traditionally earthenware cups or books.
- Place 1 egg in each cup and bake until the egg white is cooked, 5-10 minutes.
- Serve hot. Be careful, the cups will be hot.
In my family, we often made it with dried meat or leftover roast, and sometimes with potatoes; this version is also known as ajiaco. I must confess that this was one of the few soups I liked when I was little. Now that I've made it here in the US, I really felt like I'd gone back to my grandmother's kitchen in Chile.
What kind of jerky do I use in the US in Valdiviano?
Here in the US, there's no charqui like the traditional Chilean version. When curing meat, they generally use sugar, which completely changes the flavor, so I recommend using leftover meat from a barbecue or buying roast beef and drying it in the oven as I explain in the introduction. The final result is very close to the classic Chilean version. See the notes in the recipe.
Description
A traditional Chilean soup.
