The Travel Chica

Live Simple. Consume Less. Experience More.

Aussies and Empanadas

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After my first Argentine cooking class, I was hooked and wanted to try another one during my stay in Buenos Aires.

I came across Cooking with Teresita and signed up for her empanadas class.  At the time I booked the class, I did not realize the class was in a suburb called Adrogue.

Another day trip for me.

Unfortunately, it was also one of the coldest days I have experienced in Buenos Aires.  My feet were numb when I arrived.  Teresita welcomed me into her lovely (and warm) home where I thawed myself and relaxed until the others arrived.

Photo of street in Adrogue

Photo of Teresita's home

I quickly forgot about the cold outside.

The Menu

Empanadas de Humitas (corn)

Photo of empanada de humitas

Empanadas de Carne (beef)

Photo of empanadas de carne

We made both baked and fried empanadas. I had not yet had a fried empanada or an empanada de humitas, so I was looking forward to tasting them.

Now that I’ve shown you the finished products, I will tell you how we made them.

The Chefs

How do you make a great cooking class even more enjoyable?

Add some Aussies!

A group of 4 sleep-deprived Aussies managed to drag themselves to the class despite their plane arriving at 3am that morning (delayed by volcanic ash cloud).  Maybe it was the lack of sleep.  Maybe it is just the nature of Aussies.  All I know is they were a riot.

Ed and Carolyn, a couple from Michigan, were also a fun addition to the crew.  They were ending their stay in Buenos Aires with the cooking class and then heading off to Chile to visit Easter Island.

Teresita has both the patience and the strictness of a teacher (probably because she used to be one).  Combine these traits with a wonderful sense of humor, and you have the perfect cooking teacher for this crew.  It was certainly a feat to keep us all focused enough to finish making homemade empanadas.

Preparing the Fillings

In addition to receiving the recipes, Teresita also shared with us her secrets for keeping the empanadas de carne juicy.

  1. Use an equal amount of onions and beef.
  2. Transduce the onions in both butter and oil.
  3. After cooking the onions, allow the temperature to go down before adding the beef.

Photo of spices

Photo of humitas filling

Time for a Wine Break

I like any class that takes a break to drink wine.  Teresita shared both a Trapiche Origen Torrontes and Malbec with our group.  I do not know how many bottles we went through, but it certainly made the already lively group even more out-of-control and Teresita’s job of keeping us on task even more difficult.

Photo of torrontes wine

Making the Dough

Making the dough was a new experience for me.  I had previously only made empanadas with store-bought shells.  Teresita said that even though you make the dough with lard, they still end up being healthier for you than the store-bought shells.

Photo of scale

Photo of chefs

Who Can Stir the Lard the Fastest
This is when the Aussie guys decided to have a little competition.  Check out this video from Carolyn for a laugh at the Aussie’s talking trash and to learn how to mix lard and water to form the right consistency for the dough.

Dough Rolling Contest
Here is another video where the Aussies show us how to roll the dough “freestyle.”

Special thanks to Carolyn and Ed for providing this footage.

Filling the Empanadas

You will remember from my first cooking class that I am quite the expert at folding empanadas.  Well, let’s just say it is a bit more difficult when the dough is homemade and not already formed into a perfect circle.

I won’t name names, but this one is not mine.

Photo of deformed empanada

Photo of filling empanadas

Learning Some Aussie Slang

After our hard work, we sat around the large living room table and enjoyed our tasty homemade empanadas and the remainder of the wine.  My favorite type was the fried empanadas de humitas.  They were lightly fried, so they did not seem too greasy.

I wasn’t expecting to learn Aussie slang in Argentina, but meeting other travelers always provides unexpected benefits.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I’m feeling crook = I’m feeling sick (this would be due to the fact that the 2 guys went out drinking after their plane arrived at 3am)

Bogan = sort of the US equivalent of white trash

NQR = Not Quite Right as in “That guy is NQR.”

Photo of fried empanadas
Fried to Perfection

It’s Not a Party until Someone Breaks Something

Photo of broken wine glass

If you are visiting Buenos Aires, check out Cooking with Teresita.  She offers multiple cooking-related classes and tours.  It is not difficult to get to Teresita’s lovely home in Adrogue.  Simply go to the Constitucion train station, and take the Roca Line towards Glew.  Teresita lives only a few blocks from the Adrogue train stop.  The town is very pretty and there are a few sites to see, so it is worth planning to spend an extra hour or two exploring.

Comments

  1. hahah love it! Typical Aussies!

    They are so much fun to hang out with!

    What else did you learn from them? My favorite is DILLIGAF (Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck) That was one of the first things I learned while living in down under :)

    • There were so many I couldn’t write them down fast enough. I am living with an Aussie now as well, so I continue to learn the slang. I had not heard DILLIGAF before. They seem to be a big fan of acronyms :-)

    • Really funny you bring this up. The word Teresita used was “transluce.” I looked it up later, and I could not find it anywhere. The closest English word suggestion I would find was transduce. Look it up :-)

  5. Great photos and information! Love that you put everything together and didn’t just give the how to. The empanadas look great and some wine, oh now Im hungry.

    • There are many great streets like that in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Adrogue was really beautiful. Had I not had so many empanadas and glasses of wine, I would have explored the town some more :-)

  11. That’s the nature of Aussies, they’re nuts. Too many BBQs and beer, looked like you really enjoyed yourself there and the food look delicious.

    • They are healthier if you make the dough, although I highly doubt I could properly mix the lard in and do the dough “rolling” to get it the right consistency. But I know you could :-)

  17. Awesome! It’s funny, but I’ve never actually had an empanada before. This makes me think I should try this. I believe I read this class was done in their home? That’s awesome, through the photos and the way you wrote it, it felt like it was a really low key and fun class. Makes me rethink my ideas about taking cooking classes! :)

    • They are soooo good. It’s the closest thing to a national food they have in Argentina, and they are supposed to be different in each province/ region. I will definitely be trying, comparing, and sharing with everyone.

      Both classes I have taken here were in someone’s home, and it was a low key and fun day both times.

  19. Not much for cooking but this was a nice story and beautiful pictures to help me enjoy you enjoying the experience. Adventurous to say the least.

    • You know I’m not much of a cook either. But I find it enjoyable in a group setting with someone else watching over me to make sure I don’t screw it up :-)

  20. Despite the mal-shapes of some of the empanadas, I don’t care the slightest – I know they all tasted amazing. I really loved your description of how Teresita taught you how to keep the empanadas juicy – a mouthwatering process!

  21. I nearly subsisted off of empanadas while backpacking in South America in 2010. I TRULY miss not eating them now. It must have been so much fun to learn how to make them. Do you have a favorite kind? I prefer cheese.

    • I love the caprese empanadas with cheese, basil, and tomato. So fresh. But I really enjoyed these humitas empanadas (my first time having them). They are a little more substance but not too greasy or heavy.

  22. Too funny, Stephanie….who knew that store bought was worse than lard?!? But I guess in some ways that makes sense….loved the pics….we’ve always called empanadas…turnovers…..either way….they are delish!

    • They probably pump so much unnecessary sugar and trans-fats in the store-bought ones, that it becomes worse. I have to admit that I will probably always buy my empanada shells as the store because making the dough is a bit of a reach for me… unless someone I am cooking with does the dirty work :-)

  23. really great post! i learned the word “bogan” on my first and only trip to australia in 2006. i love new slang words. i love emapanadas too. my gramma always fries her, and she (puerto rican) calls them pastelios. whatever they call them. i love them. i’ve nver had a corn filled one, but i have had guava and cheese ones. those a re darn good too.

    • It always amuses me to learn English slang from other countries.

      Guava and cheese sounds amazing! Another thing I remember Teresita saying is that every Latin American country has their own version of empanadas.

  26. the empanadas sounds sooo leker.

    being surounded by aussies one will always be in for a great laugh and a coruption of the english language.

  27. This is total food porn stephanie!!! I don’t often think of having empanadas with wine, now that is a game changer! Thanks for sharing.

  30. It sounds like such a fun day and I love love love empanadas. <3 Aussies are always fabulous – All my Aussie friends can cheer me up in a heartbeat. 😀

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