Curanto

Curanto is a cooking technique from the Chiloé Archipelago in southern Chile. The name comes from the Mapudungun word *kurantu*, meaning “stony.” The method involves heating rocks in a pit, then layering ingredients on top and covering everything with pangue leaves and turf to trap heat and steam.

The earliest known archaeological evidence of curanto on the Greater Island of Chiloé dates to around 6,000–7,000 years before present. Similar finds have been made along the coast of the Reloncaví Sound, the inland sea of Chiloé, and the northern Patagonian channels. Curanto spread to other parts of southern Chile through migration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Traditionally, curanto is cooked outdoors in a pit about half a meter deep, a version called “curanto en hoyo.” Stones are heated in a campfire until red hot, then the embers are removed and ingredients are placed on the stones. The essential components are seafood, potatoes, and local preparations like milcao (a potato pancake) and chapalele (a potato dumpling). Meats, sausages, and sometimes crustaceans are added. Clams, ribbed mussels, and giant barnacles are considered essential shellfish. Quantities are flexible, but the goal is to include a little of everything. Each layer is covered with nalca leaves (or, if unavailable, fig or white cabbage leaves), then wet sacks, and finally dirt and grass chunks. This creates a pressure-cooker effect, and the food cooks for about an hour.

Curanto can also be made in a large pot over a bonfire or grill, or in a pressure cooker. This stovetop version is called “curanto en olla” or, in central Chile, “pulmay.”

Historically, the technique is thought to have originated with the Chono people. After the arrival of other southern groups and Spanish conquistadors, new ingredients were added, eventually producing the curanto known today.