Caldillo de Congrio

the Chilean coast's conger eel soup on a bed of potato, onion and tomato, finished with cream and given an ode by Pablo Neruda

Origin: Valparaíso & the Chilean Coast

From the journey of Potato.

Caldillo de congrio is a soup of conger eel built in layers in a clay pot: onion and tomato softened at the base, sliced potato over them, the fish laid on top, white wine and stock poured round, and cream stirred in at the very end. It is the dish of the Chilean coast, and it has the distinction of being the subject of one of the best known food poems in any language. Pablo Neruda's Oda al caldillo de congrio, published in the Odas elementales of 1954, is a recipe in verse. It specifies the clay pot, the order of the layers, the drowning of the cream at the last moment, and the marriage of land and sea in the bowl. Neruda kept houses on the coast at Isla Negra and Valparaíso, ate a great deal of it, and the poem is genuinely used as a recipe in Chile, which very few poems are. The fish is congrio, and Chileans distinguish three: congrio colorado, negro, and dorado, the last held to be the finest. None of them is a true conger, and all are cusk eels of the genus Genypterus. The flesh is firm, white, and low in fat, which is why it holds up to a soup that would break a softer fish, and the head and bones go in first to make the stock. The potato is not an accompaniment here but the body of the dish, sliced thickly and laid in a layer that takes up the wine and the fish liquor. Chile has a claim to the potato that few countries can match: the Chiloé archipelago in the south holds one of the two great centres of potato diversity, and remains of wild potato from Monte Verde on the Chilean coast are among the oldest yet found anywhere.

Ingredients

Fish

1.2 kg conger eel or firm white fish, in thick steaks, head and bones kept

Stock

1.2 litres water
1 onion, halved
2 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns

Base

2 onions, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried oregano

Body

700 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
250 ml dry white wine

To finish

200 ml double cream
1 handful coriander, chopped

Seasoning

2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Method

Make a stock from the fish head and bones with the water, halved onion, bay, and peppercorns, simmering for twenty-five minutes, then strain it.
Simmer the stock gently and do not boil it. Fish bones give a clean broth in twenty-five minutes and a bitter one in fifty.
In a wide clay or heavy pot, soften the sliced onions, garlic, and carrot in the olive oil over a low heat for twelve minutes.
Add the paprika and oregano, cook for one minute, then add the tomatoes and cook for eight minutes until they collapse.
Lay the potato slices over the vegetables in an even layer and season them.
Pour in the wine and enough hot stock to just cover the potatoes, and simmer for fifteen minutes until they are nearly tender.
Lay the fish steaks on top of the potatoes, season, and add a little more stock so they are half submerged.
Cover and cook for eight to ten minutes, until the flesh parts from the bone. Do not stir the pot at any point once the fish is in; shake it instead.
Take the pot off the heat entirely.
Stir the cream into the liquor around the fish, tipping the pot rather than moving a spoon through it, so the steaks stay whole.
Adding cream off the heat is what keeps it from splitting, and it is exactly what Neruda's ode specifies.
Scatter the coriander over and serve at once, in the pot, with bread.

Notes

Make the stock from the head and bones; a caldillo built on water tastes of very little. Build the pot in layers and never stir it once the fish is in. The cream goes in off the heat. Waxy potatoes hold their slices; floury ones disintegrate into the broth. Any firm white fish works if conger is unavailable, though the texture is what the dish was designed round. It does not keep or reheat well and is made to be eaten immediately.

The Gastrographer

Name: Caldillo de Congrio
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Valparaíso & the Chilean Coast
Ingredients: 1.2 kg conger eel or firm white fish, in thick steaks, head and bones kept; 1.2 litres water; 1 onion, halved; 2 bay leaves; 6 black peppercorns; 2 onions, thinly sliced; 6 garlic cloves, sliced; 4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped; 1 carrot, thinly sliced; 4 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp sweet paprika; 1 tsp dried oregano; 700 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm slices; 250 ml dry white wine; 200 ml double cream; 1 handful coriander, chopped; 2 tsp salt, or to taste; 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control