International Eats : El Salvador (Part 1)
To celebrate Christmas and New Years this year, my boyfriend and I decided to take a trip back to his home country of El Salvador! I had the opportunity to visit 7 years ago when we first began dating, so this was my second time visiting the country. On both trips, I met some amazing people and visited some truly stunning sights, each of which came with some unique food experiences. For that reason, I plan on publishing two posts about my trip and first up is what I am calling High Altitude Eats!
We were there for just shy of 12 days, and during that time we visited three different high altitude areas. This is significant to note for me, because I've never really been to high altitudes before visiting El Salvador! Not to mention having the opportunity to visit volcanoes - the whole country has some truly stunning landscapes.
The first National Park we visited is called Cerro Verde (translates to Green Hill). This is a park consisting of three volcanoes: Izalco, Santa Ana, and Cerro Verde, and the park is at an altitude of about 6,660 ft above sea level. While we didn't eat anything during our visit to the park, I did experience a special event:
We got engaged! It was a very special moment and something I'll remember for the rest of my life!
A few days later, we made a trip to a town called Suchitoto that sits high on a mountainside next to the largest lake in the country. The town is one of the oldest in the country, and the streets are filled with colorfully painted houses. The largest export from El Salvador is coffee beans, and one of the hotels on the town square sells locally grown coffee and has the cutest cafe.
I definitely recommend getting a cafe con leche and enjoying it at one of their outdoor tables.
After exploring the town square, we headed to El Tejado for lunch with the most stunning view!
El Tejado is a boutique hotel with small casita-style rooms that overlook the valley and lake nearby. While we weren't staying at the hotel, we were happy to find that the restaurant on the premises is open to the public. The outdoor dining area offers a front-row seat to the stunning scenery, and I could barely stop staring even after receiving my sangria and food. I decided to go for the parrilla, or grilled platter, to taste a variety of their offerings.
Starting at the top, the platter consisted of chirmol (onions, tomato, and cilantro with lime - similar to pico de gallo), house made cheese, guacamole, grilled steak, casamiento (rice and beans mixed together so thoroughly they are "married"), and chorizo. It is typical to eat the grilled steak with a squeeze of fresh lime, extra salt, and the chirmol - which is exactly what I like to do. The steak was cooked to a nice medium temperature, and the extra lime and salt brightens up all the flavors. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
The chorizo on the plate may look small, but it was packed with vibrant flavor. It wasn't spicy at all, just full of savory umami flavor which was complimented perfectly by the creamy, subtle cheese. A forkful of guacamole added a nice hit of acidity from the high concentration of lime juice (are you noticing a theme?) making this platter my ideal lunch. A little salty, a little savory, a little creamy, and a lot to savor!
The third high altitude destination we visited was Cerro El Pital, which is the highest point in all of El Salvador and sits right on the Northeastern border with Honduras. We were a part of a tour that drove up to the top of the mountain...
But just when we thought we were at the top, we kept driving further...
And eventually ended up at an altitude of 8,960 ft in the clouds!
The tour we participated in included breakfast and lunch at a local restaurant that served traditional Salvadorean food, mostly grown right on the farm that the restaurant sat on. As soon as we arrived, the cheerful waitress stopped by our table to give us some hot coffee and breakfast.
A traditional Salvadorean breakfast includes refried beans with cheese, plantains, eggs, crema (similar to sour cream), and tortillas.
Tortillas are a main staple in El Salvador, and they differ slightly from what we commonly recognize as tortillas in the US. In El Salvador, all tortillas are made from masa (corn flour) and they are made to be roughly 4-5 inches in diameter, and about 1/4" thick. They are cooked on a flat-top grill and served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The style of eggs served for breakfast varies, but everything else you see above is a common staple in a Salvadorean breakfast. The plantains are sweet and tender, and they are my favorite thing to dip into the crema. (I really prefer the plantains to be cooked to the point of almost-burned; they get crispy and crunchy on the edges and it is so good!) The beans are typically more savory in flavor, so it is also common to eat a bit of beans with a bit of plantain to create a balanced bite. No matter what you choose to eat together, it is all delicious!
Once we filled up on coffee and food, we began making our way up to the top of the mountain. It was definitely no small feat, and on the way we picked up a bag of granadillas for a snack.
I quickly learned that granadillas are in the passion fruit family and in order to eat them, you peel open the top of the fruit to find a cluster of small seeds immersed in a gel-like flesh.
Unlike passion fruit, which is typically acidic and sour, this fruit tasted subtly sweet. The seeds were soft enough for you to chew and swallow, and the portable nature of the fruit made it a great snack for the walk.
After the hike, we were welcomed back into the restaurant by the smell of homemade chicken soup.
The soup was warm and flavorful: just what we all needed after a couple hours of walking around in the clouds. The base of the soup tasted like chicken broth, and there were pieces of potato and carrot in the soup with loads of fresh cilantro on top. The chicken was served on the side (you could select between a leg or a breast) along with tortillas and a slice of lime.
There seems to be two types of chicken in El Salvador: regular pollo (chicken), or pollo indio which literally translates to 'Indian Chicken'. I think the 'Indian' term is meant to reference the Native American nature of the chicken, since it really just refers to local, free-range chicken. Typically pollo indio is less meaty than what you commonly find in the US, and the meat is sometimes a darker color with a more distinct chicken flavor to it. The chicken we were served for lunch was clearly pollo indio, and the waitress jokingly said she went out to kill the chickens just before we arrived. Now that's what I call fresh! Our lunch was warm, hearty, and delicious, and it was obvious that it was made with passion and care.
El Salvador truly is a special place, and the national food is no different. Everything I had the opportunity to enjoy while I was visiting was fresh and flavorful, and I've only described one facet of the food culture! Coming up next will be Beach Eats, including some savory shrimp, fresh fish, and a curiously colored ceviche. Check back in later this week to read all about it!
We were there for just shy of 12 days, and during that time we visited three different high altitude areas. This is significant to note for me, because I've never really been to high altitudes before visiting El Salvador! Not to mention having the opportunity to visit volcanoes - the whole country has some truly stunning landscapes.
The first National Park we visited is called Cerro Verde (translates to Green Hill). This is a park consisting of three volcanoes: Izalco, Santa Ana, and Cerro Verde, and the park is at an altitude of about 6,660 ft above sea level. While we didn't eat anything during our visit to the park, I did experience a special event:
We got engaged! It was a very special moment and something I'll remember for the rest of my life!
A few days later, we made a trip to a town called Suchitoto that sits high on a mountainside next to the largest lake in the country. The town is one of the oldest in the country, and the streets are filled with colorfully painted houses. The largest export from El Salvador is coffee beans, and one of the hotels on the town square sells locally grown coffee and has the cutest cafe.
I definitely recommend getting a cafe con leche and enjoying it at one of their outdoor tables.
After exploring the town square, we headed to El Tejado for lunch with the most stunning view!
El Tejado is a boutique hotel with small casita-style rooms that overlook the valley and lake nearby. While we weren't staying at the hotel, we were happy to find that the restaurant on the premises is open to the public. The outdoor dining area offers a front-row seat to the stunning scenery, and I could barely stop staring even after receiving my sangria and food. I decided to go for the parrilla, or grilled platter, to taste a variety of their offerings.
Starting at the top, the platter consisted of chirmol (onions, tomato, and cilantro with lime - similar to pico de gallo), house made cheese, guacamole, grilled steak, casamiento (rice and beans mixed together so thoroughly they are "married"), and chorizo. It is typical to eat the grilled steak with a squeeze of fresh lime, extra salt, and the chirmol - which is exactly what I like to do. The steak was cooked to a nice medium temperature, and the extra lime and salt brightens up all the flavors. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
The chorizo on the plate may look small, but it was packed with vibrant flavor. It wasn't spicy at all, just full of savory umami flavor which was complimented perfectly by the creamy, subtle cheese. A forkful of guacamole added a nice hit of acidity from the high concentration of lime juice (are you noticing a theme?) making this platter my ideal lunch. A little salty, a little savory, a little creamy, and a lot to savor!
The third high altitude destination we visited was Cerro El Pital, which is the highest point in all of El Salvador and sits right on the Northeastern border with Honduras. We were a part of a tour that drove up to the top of the mountain...
But just when we thought we were at the top, we kept driving further...
And eventually ended up at an altitude of 8,960 ft in the clouds!
The tour we participated in included breakfast and lunch at a local restaurant that served traditional Salvadorean food, mostly grown right on the farm that the restaurant sat on. As soon as we arrived, the cheerful waitress stopped by our table to give us some hot coffee and breakfast.
A traditional Salvadorean breakfast includes refried beans with cheese, plantains, eggs, crema (similar to sour cream), and tortillas.
Tortillas are a main staple in El Salvador, and they differ slightly from what we commonly recognize as tortillas in the US. In El Salvador, all tortillas are made from masa (corn flour) and they are made to be roughly 4-5 inches in diameter, and about 1/4" thick. They are cooked on a flat-top grill and served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The style of eggs served for breakfast varies, but everything else you see above is a common staple in a Salvadorean breakfast. The plantains are sweet and tender, and they are my favorite thing to dip into the crema. (I really prefer the plantains to be cooked to the point of almost-burned; they get crispy and crunchy on the edges and it is so good!) The beans are typically more savory in flavor, so it is also common to eat a bit of beans with a bit of plantain to create a balanced bite. No matter what you choose to eat together, it is all delicious!
Once we filled up on coffee and food, we began making our way up to the top of the mountain. It was definitely no small feat, and on the way we picked up a bag of granadillas for a snack.
Unlike passion fruit, which is typically acidic and sour, this fruit tasted subtly sweet. The seeds were soft enough for you to chew and swallow, and the portable nature of the fruit made it a great snack for the walk.
After the hike, we were welcomed back into the restaurant by the smell of homemade chicken soup.
The soup was warm and flavorful: just what we all needed after a couple hours of walking around in the clouds. The base of the soup tasted like chicken broth, and there were pieces of potato and carrot in the soup with loads of fresh cilantro on top. The chicken was served on the side (you could select between a leg or a breast) along with tortillas and a slice of lime.
There seems to be two types of chicken in El Salvador: regular pollo (chicken), or pollo indio which literally translates to 'Indian Chicken'. I think the 'Indian' term is meant to reference the Native American nature of the chicken, since it really just refers to local, free-range chicken. Typically pollo indio is less meaty than what you commonly find in the US, and the meat is sometimes a darker color with a more distinct chicken flavor to it. The chicken we were served for lunch was clearly pollo indio, and the waitress jokingly said she went out to kill the chickens just before we arrived. Now that's what I call fresh! Our lunch was warm, hearty, and delicious, and it was obvious that it was made with passion and care.
El Salvador truly is a special place, and the national food is no different. Everything I had the opportunity to enjoy while I was visiting was fresh and flavorful, and I've only described one facet of the food culture! Coming up next will be Beach Eats, including some savory shrimp, fresh fish, and a curiously colored ceviche. Check back in later this week to read all about it!
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