Ode to the Completo Chileno

Pablo Neruda wrote odes to Chilean foods, but he left out one of the most beloved of all: the Completo. Some might think I’m talking about a Chilean hot dog, but don’t be fooled! Don’t believe me? Check out: A Hotdog is Not a Completo.

When it comes to a frankfurter on a bun, it’s hard to beat the Chilean version—the completo—for a colorfully creative revelry in excess gunkyness. And it is so well loved that there are entire Facebook pages dedicated to it!

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Fuente de Soda: Schop, Cortado, Completo, Cueca Brava & Buddy Richard…

Quick: where was this picture taken?

It’s a pretty safe bet that there’s only one country on Earth that this picture could have been taken. Do you know?

Cachando Chile: a Year in Review

Writing the landmark 100th post is a bit of a daunting task. I had intended to post this on December 1, which I had declared Cachando Chile’s 1-year blogiversary, but with all the hoopla over the Alienating Chileans post (which hit and passed the 100 comments mark that day), followed by an enormous amount of real-life events—you know the kind—all those things that get in the way of blogging, but that end up becoming “blog fodder*’ anyway. (*Eileen gets credit for coining this extremely apropos term).

In honor of this landmark, I wanted to look back over my first year of blogging.

Anthony Bourdain has his word on Chile

Dear Cachando Readers-

I apologize… once again I fell into the “I forgot I’m at the end of the world” trap. Hanging out with Alice in the rabbit hole again…

It turns out that Anthony Bourdain will NOT be regaling those of us who live in Chile tonight with his quick-witted tales of how much he enjoyed (or didn’t) his time in Chile. My mistake. They had contacted me from the program itself to say that the show would air tonight, but… silly me… I forgot to ask what continent they were talking about. See, with internet and all, it is so easy to forget that “tonight” there may well mean “six months or so” here… so for the time being, we will have NO Reservations and no Bourdain just yet… Apparently it will air here in 2010!!

So now, go have a completo, or a lomito, or an arrollado with a good beer, or better yet Chilean wine to drown your sorrows and wait for the real thing…

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The original post… which WILL be true one of these days!  (the links are still worth checking out!)

Anthony Bourdain made waves during his visit to Chile a couple months back as he traveled through the country’s mid-section and on to the south in search of “real food” Chilean style. Hot dogs, lomitos, arrollado, sea urchins, oysters, and wine were on his list of hits… piure definitely was not.

He was taping for his show “No Reservations” and the word is out… the Chile episode will air at 10pm on Monday, July 13 on the Travel Channel.

Wanna know what’s to come? You can catch the drift by taking a look at his itinerary. Then read about what he had to say when he was here at “Anthony Bourdain loves Lomitos” or what he says himself on his own blog: “Antonio/Antonia.” Local gringa expat Liz Caskey was involved in the production and tells her side of No Reservations at Eat Wine, and then you can also see a sneak preview of Tony’s first confrontation with the ubiquitous completo, check this out:

A Hotdog is not a Completo

Ask any non-Chilean what food amazed them most while in Chile and they are likely to tell you the “completo.” I have never seen this on anyone’s list of typical Chilean foods, but it should be. Literally tons of the things are consumed each year.

Para español, usa la herramienta de traducción o lee el resumen de abajo…

You might think this is a hot dog, but don’t be fooled. It may start out with the same basic ingredient (frankfurter or “vienesa” as they are called here”) but no self-respecting Chilean would ever eat it with just a squirt of mustard. No sir. A completo must be complete! That means ketchup, mustard, relish, chopped tomato, sauerkraut, pickled green chili pepper, gobs of avocado (palta) and an absolutely obscene amount of mayonnaise on a hot dog bun. A variation is the “italiano,” which is a hot dog topped with just chopped tomato and avocado.

You’ll find familiar looking squeeze bottles on the table. The yellow one is filled with runny, grainy mustard, and the red one is probably NOT filled with ketchup, but rather a thick red hot sauce, which many a gringo palate has discovered the hard (or rather the “hot”) way!!

Look for the popular “Dominó” restaurants that have been serving completos and other typical sandwiches since 1952 (downtown at 1016 Agustinas and on Huerfanos and Ahumada, as well as others around town). Or the famous Quicklunch in the covered corridor on the south side of the Plaza de Armas. In both cases are eaten standing at the bar.

For more about Chilean sandwiches, check out “Sánguches.”

And for more about the Flavors of Chile, see:  “Tasting Chile.”

Do you have a story about “completos”? Please let us know!

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• EN ESPAÑOL:

Un hotdog no es lo mismo que un completo. Básicamente podría serlo, pues consiste en una salchicha (o vienesa, como le dicen en Chile) en un pan alargado. Pero no. Los completos en Chile son verdaderamente completos. Pueden llevar, además de la típica mostaza o el ketchup, tomate natural picado, palta (aguacate), chucrut, cebolla, queso y enormes cantidades de mayonesa.

En las fuentes de soda, lugares donde se comen completos y sándwiches, siempre encontrarás tres botes: uno es amarillo, que tiene, evidentemente mostaza; pero cuidado con los otros dos. El rojo no lleva ketchup, sino una salsa roja de ají picante. El verde es el del ketchup.

La cadena de restaurantes Dominó es clásica y puedes encontrar muchos de sus locales en el centro (calle Huérfanos), así como en Providencia. El Dominó se especializa en muchas otras variedades de completos (con huevo frito, pimientos, etc.)

Ver también “Sánguches” y “Tasting Chile.”

¿Tienes una historia sobre los completos chilenos? ¡Cuéntanos!