The Andes · Volume 18, Peru, the Coastal Creole, Chifa and Nikkei Kitchen
Papa a la huancaína
Peru (contested Huancayo/railway origin)
Illustration
- Researched
- Researched from 64 sources in the brief
As tradition built it
Papa a la huancaína
Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 2, boiled yellow potato, boiled and sliced
- 200g queso fresco
- 3, deveined and deseeded ají amarillo
- half a cup evaporated milk or cream
- as available crackers or bread, for body
- a quarter cup a little oil
- 4 black olives and 2 hard-boiled eggs olive and hard-boiled egg, to garnish
Method
- Blend queso fresco, ají amarillo, evaporated milk or cream, crackers or bread and a little oil smooth.
- Serve boiled, sliced yellow potato cold under the sauce.
- Garnish with olive and hard-boiled egg.
Notes
The popular origin story, women from Huancayo feeding railway workers during construction of the Ferrocarril Central in the 19th century, including a specific named figure in some tellings, is genuinely contested rather than settled: Peruvian sources themselves describe the dish's origin as controversial, and no single account has clearly displaced the others.
What a modern chef changes
A fully smooth sauce, an even potato texture
Method
- Blend the sauce in the high-power blender at a lower, longer speed than a home blender allows, then pass it through the chinois for insurance.
- Confit the potato slices gently sous vide before chilling, for an even, buttery texture edge to edge rather than the slightly overcooked rim a boiled potato can carry.
- Toast the ají amarillo briefly before blending, in a dry pan or under the Big Green Egg's direct heat, for a rounder, less raw chilli note through the finished sauce.