Food Journal: Ummmm Soup!!

Monday Monday...

Today I'm tired and stressed. A series of power outages have been happening over here in Venezuela and they happen everytime I getting ready to write something.

Not only that, my former job has been giving me some headache since some people are thirsty for total power over the institution. Maybe tomorrow I'll give an update, but, before the lights go out again, I'll share with everyone one of the jewels of Venezuelan Cuisine: Beef Sancocho.

Sancocho is a kind of soup tipical of latin countries such as Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panamá, etc, and of course, Venezuela. It is made with Beef Ribs, Chicken or Fish. Over here it depends of the part of the country you are, if you're in the coast, most likely you'll find fish sancocho, if you're in the Llanos part of the country (where I am), you'll find beef sancocho or Cruzao, wich is a mixture of beef and chicken.

It also has vegetable roots or tubers such as Casava, Yam, Taro, etc, and Coriander, Sweet Chilies, Garlic, Green Onions, Celery (in some cases) .

It is a classic dish on sundays, or in the holydays such as New Years day or Christmas Day, or even on birthdays, graduations, Mothers day or Fathers day, or any day you choose. In fact, there is always a good time to make sancocho because it means family time, that's it.

There even is a saying over here, I don't know if they say it in other parts of the country, but this is it: over here we have to ratings for a sancocho and both are as good as the next one...

First, the is El Sancocho Acuesta Borracho, wich means that drunk people go to bed after 1 bowl, and Second: there is El Sancocho Levanta Muertos, that means that the drunken ones come to life and can start partying again.

There are different ways to make this world renowned dish, and it has to do with family tradition, the way our grandmas, and great great grandmas used to make it, and of course, the additions of every generation.

In my family, we used to make the recipe from my Dad's side of the family, wich was with tomatoes to give colour to the broth and the green onions, coriander, celery. etc, in a bouquet that you can take out before serving the soup. I changed that about 5 years ago due to the economic crisis.

One time my dad had a craving for sancocho since we hadn't made it for about three months, and we where used to make it every sunday for lunch. Anyways, the tomato was too expensive, more expensive than the ribs! Hard to believe, huh? But it's, true, so I asked my that for permission to make it like they do it in the local market, with sofrito, wich means that the green onions, garlic, chilies, etc are fried in oil coloured with annatto or achiote, to give colorto the broth. He wanted that soup so badly that he agreed to let me do it that way.

The result was a hardty and thick soup and he liked it very much, so much that from that moment on, he didn't made it like he was used to anymore, and now the family recipe is the one I made. Yesterday I made it and I added Sweet Corn, that gives it a particular sweet taste to the broth and you can't replicate that flavor any other way.

My family and I don't wait for special occasions to make this, it only has to be Sunday and that's enough excuse for us to take out the pressure cooker or the logs of wood to make our beloved Sancocho. Of course, we miss my dad every time we sit down and eat it because he always used to eat two or three bowls of this soup and we had to buy a side of Casabe (cassava bread) just for him, and of course, Chili oil and Lemon Juice.

And you? Do you have a family tradition around food? I'd love to hear it!

This article is 100% original and I used only my words, no others. The gif's you see where made by me in Canva and where made 3 months ago for a similar post published by myself in Hive.Blog, I leave the link here. The Lead Image and the last one are from yesterday and where taken with my mom's phone.

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✨✨Blessings✨✨

@rebeysa85