"Nacatamal," "Rosquillas," "Vaho" and Nicaraguan food; "New-Haveners"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Maybe I'll do a trip to Nicaragua + El Salvador and finish up the Western
Hemisphere, but that tour is usually cancelled for lack of interest.
   "Rosquillas" is also not in the OED.  They don't pay me beans for...well,
they don't even pay me beans...Not related to "the Windy City."

ROSQUILLAS--11,900 Google hits, 860 Google Groups hits

(GOOGLE)
[RTF] Rosquillas-msg
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Rosquillas -msg - 6/20/01. A late-period Spanish pastry which "look like
bagels and taste like biscotti". ... Subject: SC - Rosquillas (recipe). ...
www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/ Rosquillas-msg.rtf - Similar pages


AREA HANDBOOK FOR NICARAGUA
co-authors John Morris Ryan, et al.
Prepared for The American University
by Johnson Research Associates
Research and writing were completed on 17 March 1969
Published July 1970

Pg. 103:  Corn, as the most frequently grown crop in almsot all regions,
serves as the basic ingredient of the rural diet and is prepared in various ways.
It is eaten green, both in the form of tiny ears of corn, _chilotes_, and as
the larger green _elotes_.  After being thoroughly matured, harvested and
dried, it is prepared as _tortillas_, to be found at most meals in every
household.  The _masa_ or corn paste is also prepared into _tamales_, and
_nacatamales_.  The _nacatamal_ is basically similar to the _tamal_, but in addition to the
_masa_ and a small piece of meat, it often includes tomatoes, potatoes, rice,
yuca, chili and some kind of meat of fowl.  There is also a dish called
_rosquillas_ prepared from corn and cheese.
   Various types of drinks are prepared from corn.  _Atol_ is made from the
_masa_ of green corn, and _atolillo_ of dry corn.  _Pinol_ is made of toasted
corn, and _pinolillo_ of toasted corn and cacao.  _Chicha_, fermented from corn
with the addition of crude sugar, is a fairly common drink; equally common is
_cususa_, the distilled _aguardiente_, (liquor) made from _chicha_.  _Cususa_
is prepared by the _campesino_ in clandestine stills which ar found over most
of the countryside.
   In many rural houses of the Pacific belt, a frame of poles is set on the
rafters over the hearth; on this frame are stored the cheeses, salt, and grains
in order to keep them dry and to keep insects and rodents out of them.
Common among the rural population of the highlands are _bunques_, large board boxes
in which corn, sorghum and beans are stored.
Pg. 367 (GLOSSARY):
_atilillo_--Drink  made from dry corn.
_atol_--Drink made from green corn.
_bateas_--Wooden dishes.
_bunques_--Storage bins for foods, Pacific region.
_cantinas_--Bars.
_chicha_--Fermented drink made from corn.
_chilotes_--Ears of green corn.
_cususa_--Distilled liquor made from chica.
_elotes_--Large ears of green corn.
Pg. 368:
_masa_--Corn paste.
_nacatamales_--Dish including meat, corn paste, tomatoes, potatoes, rice,
yuca, chili.
Pg. 369:
_pinole_--Drink made from toasted corn.
_pinolillo_--Drink made from toasted corn and cocoa.
_pulperia_--Small, local store.
_rosquillas_--Dish prepared from corn and cheese.
_tamales_--Meat-filled corn dumpling.
_tortillas_--Corn patties.


NICARAGUA: THE LAND OF SANDINO
by Thomas W. Walker
second edition, revised and updated
Boulder and London: Westview Press
1986
Pg. 78:  Another delightful aspect of Nicaraguan culture is the cuisine.
Again, there are elements of both the universal and the particular.  Like
Mexicans and other Central Americans, Nicaraguans eat corn in the form of
_tortillas_.  _Tortillas_ very in size, color, and thickness from country to country.  In
Nicaragua they are large, thin, and made of finely milled white corn.  They
are often used as a edible utensil in which to wrap barbecued meat, beans, or
whatever one happens to be eating.  Another absolutely essential item in
Nicaraguan cookery is beans.  As elsewhere in Latin America--since most people
cannot afford the regular consumption of animal protein--beans serve as the main
source of protein.  The small red bean to which Nicaraguans are particularly
addicted is refried with rice to produce a delicious dish called _gallo pinto_
(spotted rooster)--a favorite breakfast food of people of all classes.  Like
many other Latin Americans, _nicas_ also enjoy _tamales_.  Their _nacatamal_,
however, has its own particular character.  Wrapped in a pungent leaf from a
banana-like plant rather than a corn husk, it consists of corn _masa_ (dough),
rice, tomatoes, potatoes, chili, cassava root, and often a small piece of meat.
Another very typical Nicaraguan dish is _vaho_, which is prepared by slowly
steaming salted meat and various vegetables in layers over the same banana-like
leaves in a large covered container.  In general, Nicaraguan cuisine is well
worth trying.  Though usually tastefully seasoned, it is seldom hot.  For
lovers of "hot stuff," however, a bottle or bowl of fine, lip-mummifying _salsa de
chile_ (chili sauce) is seldom very far away.
   No discussion of food would be complete without some mention of drink.
The favorite nonalcoholic beverage in Nicaragua is coffee--the best (very good,
indeed) coming from the high country around Matagalpa.  Like othe Latin
Americans, Nicaraguans who can afford it drink their coffee 50-50, with hot milk, at
breakfast and black with sugar during the rest of the day.  Other typical
sweet drinks are made from toasted cacao and green or toasted corn.  In the field
of alcoholic beverages Nicaragua excels.  The typical lightly alcoholic
drinks are beer and the more traditional and indigenous _chicha_, made from (Pg.
79--ed.) fermented corn mash.  The favorite hard liquor is rum, of which
Nicaragua has one of Latin America's very best, _Flor de Cana_ (Flower of the Cane).


NICARAGUA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
by Peter F. Stout
Philadelphia: John E. Potter
1859

Pg. 131:  The standard, I may add the national dishes, are tortillas or
corn-cakes, and frijoles or beans. (...)  Frijoles are beans of a different flavor
and appearance from those of our latitude.  They are small, and in color
ranging from white to black.  Tortillas, frijoles, and hard-boiled eggs (Pg.
132--ed.) comprise the Bill of Fare of every Nicaraguan posada;...
(No "tamales"--ed.)

Pg. 132:  The air was cool, the road level, the sun had not yet risen, and it
was a delightful beginning to a day which we knew full well would be a
"scorcher."
(OED has 1874 for "scorcher"--ed.)

Pg. 156:  The pine-apples, particularly, are very luscious, the nisperos
remarkably fine, and the oranges sweet and cheap.
(The December 2003 revised OED has "nispero" from 1858, then 1874--ed.)


NICARAGUA:
ITS PEOPLE, SCENERY, MONUMENTS, RESOURCES, CONDITION, AND PROPOSED CANAL;...
by E. G. Spuier
a revised edition
New York: Harper & Brothers
1860
First AMS edition published in 1973

Pg. 51:  The boats used upon the river for carrying freight and passengers
are exaggerated canoes, called _bongos_.

Pg. 51:  These boats have a small space near the stern, called the "_chopa_,"
covered with a board roof, a thatch of palm leaves, or with hides, which is
assigned to the passengers.

Pg. 64:  Every bongo, on leaving the interior, takes on board a large number
of plantains, not yet fully ripe, and which are therefore called _verdes_.
These are detached from the stalk, "corded up" in the bow of the boat, and
constitute the principal reliance of the men.  A few, that are nearly or quite
ripe, called _maduras_, are also taken on board for immediate use.  Besides these,
there is a box of jerked beef, or what the Americans ironically call _yard
beef_,--i. e. beef cut in long strips and dried in the sun.  Some bottles of
_manteca_ (lard), or a quantity of kidney fat and a bag of rice are added, and
then the substantial supplies for the voyage are complete.  The cookery is very
simple.  Stakes are driven in the ground to support the kettle, in which is
first put a portion of fat, next a layer of _platanos verdes_ from which the
skin has been stripped, then a layer of beef cut in small pieces, a calabash of
rice, some salt, and so on until the kettle is filled.  Water is poured over
all, and the whole is thoroughly boiled.  While this is going on, the men amuse
themselves with roasting bits of meat on the ends of pointed sticks.

Pg. 65:  When the mess in the kettle is cooked, each one fills his calabash,
and with his fingers or a cocoa-nut spoon disposes of it at his leisure.  As
the "yard beef" has always a most suspicious odor, I could bring myself to
taste the contents of the kettle but once.  I must do the marineros the justice to
say that it was not an unsavory dish.  It is always arranged to have half a
kettle full of the compound over, to which the men help themselves at their
pleasure.
   Besides these common stores, every sailor has a private stock, consisting,
generally, of a bag of _tiste_, (parched corn, ground with cacao and sugar,)
which is mixed with water, making a nourishing and most delicious beverage.
He has also a few cakes oif _chancaca_, or, as he calls it, _dulce_, i. e.,
unrefined sugar, which he eats in its raw state.

Pg. 92:  We were now, for the first time, introduced to the eternal
_tortilla_ and the omnipresent _frijoles_, to say nothing of the endless variety of
_dulces_ (sweetmeats), for which all Spanish America is famous.  We commenced
with beef, culminated over chicken, and finished with oranges, bananas, coffee,
and cigars; with a pleasant stomachic conviction that goo dinners were not
incompatible with cane-huts, brooding hens in the corners, and amative pigeons
under the caves!
(No tamales?--ed.)

Pg. 129:  The entire dress was often pure white, but generally the skirt, or
_nagua_, was of some flowered stuff, in which case the _guipil_ (_anglice_,
vandyke) was white, heavily trimmed with lace.

Pg. 134:  We were nevertheless received with the greatest civility by the
mayordomo, who insisted that we were hot and thirsty, and wanted "_algo fresco_,"
and incontinently despatched a boy to get some fresh cocoa-nuts, the milk of
which, when the nut is not too much matured, is transparent as water, and
makes a cool and delightful beverage,--especially when a drop of brandy is mixed
in "to take off the edge," and prevent fevers!

Pg. 190:  Oranges, plantains, maranons, jocotes, nisperos, mamays, and tall
palms, with their variously-colored fruits blushing brown or golden among the
leaves, and here and there a low calabash tree, with its green globes strung on
every limb, all clustering otgether, literally embowered the cane huts of the
simple-minded and industrious inhabitants.

Pg. 191:  Beneath some large trees upon one side of the plaza, we descried
our carts and their escort, taking what at home would be called "a nooning."
("At home"=U.S.  "Nooning" for revised OED?--ed.)

Pg. 191:  The officer in command, in anticipation of our arrival, had
prepared two or three jars of "algo fresco," something fresh, delightfully compounded
of water, the juice of the cocoa-nut, and of the acidulous maranon,--a
delicious and refreshing beverage, to which we paid our respects in protracted
draughts, not forgetting "_mil gracias_," and sundry _medios_ to a plump, laughing
Indian girl who dispensed it, in snowy calabashes, to the thirsty strangers.

Pg. 256:  There is a delicious kind of _liqueur_ made from the Muscatel
grape, called "Italia," or "Pscio," which is brought from Peru.

Pg. 256:  In their food, the Nicaraguans are also exceedingly simple.
Tortillas and frijoles are the standard dishes.

Pg. 257:  The man who cannot "go" the _frijoles_ had better keep away from
Central America.  For the weary traveller, in soliciting the bill of fare at the
Indian hut where, four (Pg. 258--ed.) times out of five, he is obliged to
stop for the night, has generally this brief catalogue, "_hay tortillas,
frijoles, frijolitos, frijolitos fritos y huevos_," --"tortillas, beans, little beans,
little baked beans, and eggs!"
(Where are my nacatamales?--ed.)

Pg. 250:  Tea is only drunk by foreigners, and by them to a very limited
extent.  It is not to be found therefore in any of the shops.  A cup of chocolate,
or more frequently a cup of _tiste_ (parched corn ground with chocolate and
sugar and mixed with water), passed unceremoniously in the evening, supplies
its place, and is not an unacceptable substitute.  It should be mentioned,
however, that large quantities of "dulces," literally "sweets" or sweetmeats are
eaten between meals, especially by the women.  The Spanish taste for "dulces"
long ago passed into a proverb, but it rather surpasses itself in Nicaragua.
The venders of "dulces," generally bright Indian girls, gaily dressed, and
bearing a tray, covered with the purest white napkins, and temptingly spread, upon
their heads, pass daily from house to house; and it is sometimes difficult,
and always ungallant to refuse purchasing something, however, trifling, from
their stock.  The "mil gracious Senor!" in the silverest of voices, is always
woth the money, and swo one gets the "dulces" gratis.

Pg. 272:  They also make drinking vessels from the calabash; the largest
varieties are called "_guacals_," or "_aguacals_," and the smaller ones, made from
the long or pear-shaped calabash, "_jicaras_."  These last are often
tastefully carved ipon their exteriors, and are generalloy used instead of tumblers.
It is indispensable that "_tiste_" should be served in "jicaras," and (Pg.
273--ed.) amongst the people at large they are also used for coffee and
chocolate.  But as their bottoms are round, little carved stands are made to receive
them.  The Indians near the city of Nicaragua make similar cups from a variety
of cocoa-nut perculiar to that vicinity, which are celebrated throughout their
country for their beauty of shape and ornament.
(OED has 1859, then 1892 for "jicara"--ed.)

Pg. 583:  From the roof depended quantitites of _plantains_, _maduras_ and
_verdes_, intermixed with festoons of _tasajo_ or hung-beef.

Pg. 615:  Dr. Drivon, who has recently returned from California, in high
disgust, was established at the Dona Antonia's, but a square distant; and as he
had often praised the oysters found in the Bay of Fonseca, I hinted to him,
before we had fairly got ashore, that I was ready to pass judgment on them.
Fortunately, the Indians had brought in a fresh supply that morning, and he sent
round a sack-full, which were served for breakfast.  They were small, compact,
and salt, and we ate them with the utmost relish.  All hands concurred in
saying that they were quite equal to the best "New -Haveners," and the value of the
Gulf of Fonseca became straightway doubled in our eyes.
("New-Haveners?"  They're edible?--ed.)