The following is an excerpt from chapter 2 The dulce de leche. Uruguayan story , Leonardo Haberkorn. The work was published by the South Atlantic in October.
S i one guided by the version released in the press and the Internet would conclude that the first place in America where he made the dulce de leche was Cañuelas, in the province of Buenos Aires in 1829.
This narrative, proclaimed with emphasis on Argentina, is based on a folk tale collected by food critics, journalists and officials, newspaper articles, books and official documents. However, no evidence to support it. Argues that the dulce de leche was born one day in 1829 when General Lavalle was to meet his enemy Juan Manuel de Rosas in the Estancia La Caledonia, Cañuelas.
(...) The myth says that Lavalle arrived on horseback to the ranch and Rose was not at that time. An article in the Argentine daily La Nacion and tells what would have happened next:
"The fatigue that had caused the long ride made (Lavalle) will lie on a cot and fell asleep. A mulatto that was a short distance away preparing the grout for mate-hot milk with sugar was shocked to see that had occupied the bed of roses and went for help to remove Lavalle there.
She returned in the same time as Rose came to camp there, who ordered not to interrupt the dream of Lavalle.
Then, the mulatto returned the fire and discovered that the milk had become a brown jelly. One of the soldiers dared to test it and, as the story, then did the same number. That would have been the source of dulce de leche " [1] .
Argentine According to official documents, this legend would have been disclosed and made popular by the Emmy Gourmet Molina, who defined the sweet milk as the "only truly national food" of their country [2 ] .
However, this explanation of the origin of the most beloved of the many sweet unknown ancient history, well documented on the reduction of milk with sugar or honey (In India, in the first place.) But even if it referred only to the development dulce de leche in Latin America or in the region, the legend is false. Lavalle and Roses When met to negotiate peace, the sweet milk was already a well-known product in the Plata Basin. A document that verifies it, but hundreds of gourmet, journalists and officials have been inexplicably overlooked.
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ignored Before reaching the document is well to remember that the legend of the cook has been refuted Rose also from other angles.
Rodolfo Terragno, in his already cited article in Debate , noted that an almost identical story circulating in France, only instead of the Roses cook the protagonist is a military cook of the armies of Napoleon. Argentina legend says, is nothing else than the transposition of the French:
"If the candy is not an Argentine invention, the legend is not original. It was copied from another, which circulated in France. There was said that the discovery (also accidental) had occurred during the Napoleonic campaigns. Veterans enrolled in the ranks of the Grand Corso (the Grognards) received a daily ration of hot sweetened milk. A cook, who scared the heat of battle, milk and sugar left on the stove on and the mixture was transformed into a creamy caramel. Thus, Cook entered the story (French) as the inventor of the confiture de lait. "
Argentine political journalist and notes that "the Napoleonic campaigns ended in 1815, fourteen years before the meeting between Rosas and Lavalle. However, that does not give the French the copyright on the sweet. "
"In my view, neither of these legends makes sense," said Terragno, accessed by email for this research. "As I think is shown, the dulce de leche has a much more remote."
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Both the gala as Argentina legend are typical of a very popular type of story spread around the world, which attributes the origin of traditional dishes casualty occurred inadvertently in the middle of an important historical event.
Magdalena Bertino, researcher and specialist in economic history at the Institute of Economics, Faculty of Economics, said that in Mexico there are many myths of that variety.
One of these fables about the origin of mole poblano, one of the most representative dishes of Mexican cuisine. This preparation is very original in a sauce that combines elements as diverse as garlic, onion and cocoa that is placed on turkey or turkey parts, a local bird. Legend says that as extravagant and exquisite menu was born some time the viceroy Juan de Palafox (1600-1659) visited the city of Puebla, which was also an archbishop and a local convent offered him a very careful banquet.
As told in a web page dedicated to the legends of Mexico, "the head chef was Fray Pascual, who that day ran around the kitchen giving orders to the imminence of the important visit. It is said that Fray Pascual was particularly nervous, and began to reprimand his aides, in view of the disorder that prevailed in the kitchen.
Fray Pascual himself began to pile on a tray to store all the ingredients in the pantry, and in his haste, he was to stumble right in front of the pan, where succulent turkeys were almost ready. There
ended up chillies, chopped chocolate and the most varied species, spoiling food to be offered to the viceroy. "
There was no time to cook something else, so that the dish was served well. The myth says that Fray Pascual prayed while the Viceroy and the other guests tasted the food. "A while later, he could not believe when everyone praised the rugged saucer" [3] .
also the creation of the most typical food of Paraguay, the Paraguayan soup curious is liquid but not solid, is attributed by legend to an accident during a historic event.
It is said that President Carlos Antonio Lopez, who loved soup meal, invited to lunch at a foreign ambassador and to honor him asked his cook to prepare their corn chowder soup. But the wife forgot to remove the pot from the heat and time when it was agreed, the liquid had become a kind of solid polenta.
According to legend, the ambassador, to be served with soup so rarely put aside protocol and complained
- This is not soup!
But President Carlos Antonio Lopez, who was stubborn and proud, to have replied:
"Yes it's soup, the soup is Paraguayan.
As you can see, the legend of the mulatto cook Roses distracted and dulce de leche is just a variation of a popular mythical story that is repeated in various corners of the world, always devoid of any supporting documentation.
Even more than once in Argentina itself explained the source of fresh milk by the same story but with other actors. For example, in 2001 the magazine published Para Ti, "it says that in 1886, Mrs. Dolores, who lived in barracks, left home and forgot the milk on the fire ..." To
anthropologist Uruguayan Gustavo Laborde, who has specialized in gastronomy [4] , the repetition of such stories, answers to many of those who write about culinary themes are making a grave methodological error:
"In the kitchen it is often address the wrong way. The kitchen is an inherited social system much like the language. No accident that the language is a fundamental tool to study it. Talk, think and cook in a system and leaves very little of it. Not that there is no isolated inventions, but those inventions are generally preceded by experiences and prior knowledge. "
"Many people prefer anecdotal accounts, featuring anonymous idiots or geniuses. But in the case of preparations as sophisticated as the dulce de leche or the mole, is almost unthinkable that are the result of a mistake, "said Laborde. "Serious historians are careful not to accept random and simplistic explanations."
The alleged invention of dulce de leche in Cañuelas has also been challenged from a gastronomic angle of pure logic.
Thus, in the book Uruguayan cuisine, and recipes origins are claims regarding this statement:
"The story sounds good but as is evident (...) the caramel is not the result of any negligence and accurate continually stirred to prevent lumps" [5] .
(...)
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But there is a document that categorically shows that when Rosas and Lavalle met at the Estancia La Caledonia, dulce de leche was known not only in India, in distant Mongolia and Russia, but also throughout the region of the United Provinces, at least in Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires and the Banda Oriental.
is a letter as quoted in full in Volume 19 of Archives Artigas and Ana Ribeiro historian quoted in part in his work Artigas times. However, so far has gone unnoticed by those who have written about the king of sweets and have polemics about its origin.
is a letter the Santa Fe, Francisco Antonio de la Torre sent in 1814 to Buenos Aires businessman Juan Jose Anchorena, fifteen years before the meeting of Lavalle, roses Cañuelas. It was placed in the Archive Artigas important events in context because of the time, said Abelardo García Viera, who participated in his selection for his work on the file between 1970 and 2005.
De la Torre writes from Santa Fe to the prosperous man is Anchorena trade, which is in Buenos Aires. We talk business and discuss recent events that occurred in the Banda Oriental, where it is clear that both had interests.
When de la Torre sent the letter and three weeks ago that the English authorities in Montevideo surrendered to the forces of the United Provinces after a long siege by land and sea. The surrender does not happen to Artigas and his men but to Alvear, leader of the troops from Buenos Aires.
But the political situation is unclear. On the one hand, the news is mixed. Furthermore, despite the joint victory against Spain the differences between the locals and Artigas are already present and will soon take to meet on the battlefield. In this context, De la Torre writes:
Santa Fe, July 12, 1814
Sir estimated relative: with it was taken over peacekeepers had referred a drawer with 570 oranges to Boniface, and I left it in the Pas de Santo Tome, in power under the Reserve, claiming the charge of the wagons, of these result I turned on the ship that came to Yacaré That (Buenos Aires) with the artillery, and had to surrender the captain Herrera: this was given the order to return with the ship to this port, because the Paraná prepared to go in boats to surprise, and had little trim the boat.
With this delay I am afraid that the oranges are rendered useless, and not having anything of value to replace them. In this case (I ask) to be patient until next year when I will fulfill my offer. With Don Pedro Espejo you refer six cases of dulce de leche, with the initials of your name by brand.
The paranoid does not Montevideo consent to surrender to our troops, have made their demonstrations of joy with rings, shooting, and for having taken his general Artigas, according to reports they have had. Do not believe either the defeat of Torg, and say they are lies fabricated in That (Buenos Aires). He who rules the town is Don Manuel Artigas: it has disarmed the two parties and Ereñú Echeverría, who were greatly harassed and said that he sought reconciliation with us and no doubt succeed if Echeverría retains some influence, and directs, as heretofore, by Don Manuel Artigas him.
This circumstance has forced me not to open for sale in The (Santa Fe) effects, not to dislodge the drawers, and be the first to go to another band but I sent a lad to be collecting the skins as possible, and free money, as trading him, because here I am disappointed that business can not be done due to be many children for a spin. However I continue my efforts to have if even a few I can collect, and remit to ignore costs.
thousand things to Boniface, aunt, cousins, Don Juan Pedro and you, like you can have the most affectionate wishes of his relatives and friends who blessed his hand
Francisco Antonio de la Torre
In the letter it is clear that:
1) The dulce de leche and was produced in 1814. De la Torre does not stop to explain to Anchorena what the dulce de leche, which shows that it is something well known like oranges which are also spoken.
2) The dulce de leche and marketed in the region 1814. Otherwise De la Torre did not send six boxes to Anchorena.
3) The caramel was so well known in Santa Fe, a city The letter is dated, and in Paraná, a town near the one which De la Torre had been a commander in 1812 and which is connected as it shows your message.
4) The caramel also existed in Buenos Aires, because there Anchorena receives the six boxes on the market is likely.
5) The sweet milk was known in the Banda Oriental as De la Torre and Anchorena also traded with it, as is clear in the letter when the talks move to Santa Fe " the other side. " Also because the eastern troops Manuel Francisco Artigas (1769-1822), brother of Jose Gervasio, were dominating the village of Paraná, as explained in the letter.
6) Further proof that the caramel was hardly unknown in the Banda Oriental is that the very De la Torre had property here. There is evidence that the other letter the Santa Fe wrote in 1817, complaining that the Orientals deem him an enemy. That letter reads: "public good it is (Santa Fe) services which I have made to the State in the public cause, and my interests as me, The award is also notorious that I have met: it has been unjustly taken from me as contrary to the Eastern system, or at least suspect, as such, as I infer it has treated me and so I have my assets confiscated (and even those of my two children) who had at that Banda, without having heard, nor preceded by any of those feasts of essential natural right, who claim social rights of man ... [6 ] "
To Abelardo García Viera, in addition to his work in File Artigas was director of the Archivo General de la Nación, the letter written in 1814 by Francisco Antonio de la Torre leaves no room for equivocation:
"No doubt on that date the dulce de leche and was known throughout the region, It is sold and given that we are talking about six boxes, we can say that it also industrializing. "
Then when and where in the region began to be made before the dulce de leche?
that may never be known exactly and do not have much importance.
regard to when the historian Alba Mariani, which investigated the evolution of everyday life in ancient Uruguay believes that the sweet milk began to be developed in the late colonial period, when Spain had relaxed trade rules and sugar from Brazil reached more and better price.
regard to where, it may have occurred in several places at once. The idea of \u200b\u200bcooking a dish was born in a certain place and from there it was expanding into other does not usually correspond with reality, said Gustavo Laborde anthropologist, an expert in cooking.
The caramel came to Europe after a long journey of thousands of years. Came from the hand of recipes brought by the Europeans and had evolved through the centuries of the first reductions in milk with sugar practiced in India.
Every place he arrived, local chefs gave their touch, but based on previous knowledge. And that should also happen here. "The kitchen is an inherited social system, such as language. And a person may include modifications to it, but never so great as to cease to be understood, "said Laborde. "The kitchen also has grammars. And that's why kitchens, such as languages, are always regional. "
[1] Ximena Linares Calvo, The Nation, November 13, 2004
[2 ] Sector Promotion Plan, strategic analysis, Dulce de Leche sector. Export Foundation. Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food Secretariat of Agricultural Policy and Food, National Food Administration of Argentina. May 2004. Available in http://www.exportapymes.com/fundacion-exportar/dulce-de-leche-argentino.pdf
[3] http://www.redmexicana .com / legends / molepoblano.asp
[4] His graduation thesis is an investigation into the roast.
[5] The book, a work of several authors, was published in 2008 as an edition of the journal Placer initiative of the Chamber of Representatives of the national parliament.
[6] This letter is quoted by Sonia Tedeschi at work The village of Parana and Santa Fe, links, interactions and influences in a border area (colonial period until 1824). Available at: http://www.fee.tche.br/sitefee/download/jornadas/2/h4-17.pdf The letter is in the General Archive of the Province of Santa Fe, Book 1 º. Agreements of the Cabildo of Santa Fe, numbered document belonging to 1817.
Fragment
chapter 2 The dulce de leche. A Uruguayan history, Leonardo Haberkorn. The journalist Natalia Almada worked in investigative journalism. The cover, which appears in the photo is of Maria José Marfetán. Ana Cencio corrected.
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