Firsts Among Meat
Yesterday, we made a fortunate and random coffee stop at a place called Cicciolina’s, in Cuzco. They have an exceptional bakery, tapas bar and fine-dining restaurant all in one building. I had to try a flaky croissant with cheese and basil, even though I had already eaten breakfast. Perusing the tapas menu, we decided to return for an early birthday dinner at the restaurant, since we would be hiking toward Machu Picchu on my actual birthday.
Cuy, or roasted guinea pig, is a traditional Peruvian specialty and was actually depicted as the meal into which Jesus and pals were about to dive in the last supper painting in Cuzco’s biggest cathedral. We weren’t going to go out of our way to try it until we saw it on Cicciolina’s starter menu. A fine dining restaurant is usually a safe place to explore the unusual. The guinea pig confit was served in a terrine of sorts with two different mashed starches: one was yucca, the other we were not able to identify. The meat was mild with the texture and color of dark chicken meat or domestic rabbit, rather than the strong flavors of game or wild rabbit. This marks the first time that Janet has eaten meat from an animal which she has also had as a pet. I still can’t make that claim.
Janet followed that up with an alpaca steak, her first camelid meat, in a four pepper cream sauce with crispy yucca souffle and oven roasted tomatoes. 
The alpaca was much like a beef steak, but a little tougher and stringier, although not unpleasant or strongly flavored. I played it safe with lamb. The surprise turned out to be the mashed starch, which tasted like liver had been added. On it’s own it wasn’t particularly pleasant, but when tasted with the lamb it became a rich earthy flavor that wasn’t overpowering. For dessert we tried the pear poached with lemongrass and coriander.
Everything was so good we stopped in for lunch this afternoon and our sandwiches did not disappointed. I ordered the serrano ham with machengo cheese, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions and organic arugula grown in the nearby Sacred Valley. Mmmm, sacred lettuce. Although none of those ingredients are particularly unusual, they were all very high quality and complimented each other extremely well. It’s hard to go wrong with carmelized onions and arugula. Janet ordered a tasty teriyaki chicken sandwich with avacado, toasted seasame seeds and organic greens. Our drinks were equally special—lemonade with mint and ice tea with mint, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves.
The experience made me dread going home where we may not find such interesting food or will have to pay four times as much for it.