Caldillo de congrio is a Chilean eel-based dish, made with conger eel. The eel is cooked in a pot of water to produce the broth, then sautéed with vegetables and seasoned. The dish is traditionally served with crusty bread and wine. Variations include adding shrimp or potatoes, and substituting other types of fish. The dish is the subject of a poem by Pablo Neruda.
Originating from the South American country of Chile, caldello de congrio is an eel-based dish. Caldillo de congrio, translated from Spanish to English, means “conger broth” or conger soup. The dish takes its name from its main ingredient, an eel called conger eel.
The caldello de congrio eel belongs to the Congrids, a family that includes almost 200 species. A subcategory, the garden eel, lives in colonies and sticks out of the sea as plants. Garden eels are very difficult to catch, as they retreat to hole-shaped dwelling places at the sight of a human. Some other conger eels, however, are easier to find, one of which is the congrio colorado, or red conger. This species of eel is usually found in the part of the Pacific Ocean that surrounds or touches the coast of Chile, known as the Chilean Sea, and is the order of fish used for the preparation of the caldello de congrio.
The preparation of the caldello de congrio begins with chopping and cooking the eel in a pot of water, producing the broth. Meanwhile, vegetable or olive oil is heated in a saucepan. Then chopped onions, garlic, jalapeno or bell pepper, tomatoes and carrots are added and sauteed until all elements are soft. The mixture is seasoned with salt and black pepper.
After about 5-10 minutes of cooking over medium heat, the broth is added to the sauteed items. After another 10 to 20 minutes, the cooked eel is added and the heat is reduced to simmer the contents for about five minutes. The cream can be mixed during this time. When finished, the caldello de congrio is usually garnished with parsley, coriander or shallots. The soup is traditionally eaten with pieces of crusty bread and some wine.
There are some variations of the caldello de congrio, mainly based on the preferences of the cook or the place of preparation. Some people choose to buy the stock and cook the eel with the sauteed ingredients, and many recipes include shrimp or potatoes. In places where eels are inaccessible, people substitute conger eel for other types of fish such as whiting. In popular culture, the caldello de congrio is best known for being the subject of the poem Oda al Caldillo de Congrio, or Ode a Caldillo de Congrio. The ode was written by the celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
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