The completo (Spanish for "complete", "total") is a hot dog variation eaten in Chile, usually served with ingredients such as chopped tomatoes, avocados,

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...

, sauerkraut,

salsa Americana Salsa Americana, also known as simply Americana, is a Chilean sauce made from a finely chopped or blended mixture of pickles, pickled carrots and pickled onions. One typically finds this condiment used on a traditional completo along with tomato ...

, ají pepper and green sauce. It can be twice the size of an American hot dog.

History

Origins

The dish was first made in the 1920s in the ''fuentes de soda'' (soda fountains) of central Santiago. The completo was brought to Chile by Eduardo Bahamondes who had recently travelled to the United States on business. It was there that he first saw the "hot dog" which he decided to bring back to his home country. Once back in Chile, he then opened a restaurant in Santiago's historic centre called Quick Lunch Bahamondes where he began to introduce the Chilean people to the hot dog.

Recipe

Ingredients

Most completos contain some or all of the following ingredients: * Avocado - Not to be confused with guacamole, traditionally only salt is added to the avocado puree before it is put on the completo. * Tomato - Fresh tomato is a favourite in Chile. Typically tomatoes are peeled before they are diced for completos. *

Mayonnaise Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...

- Chile is the country with the third highest consumption of mayonnaise per capita on earth. It is therefore a very popular completo topping. Completo mayo in Chile tends to be house made as this remains the preferred method of preparation by Chileans. * Sauerkraut - Introduced to Chile by the large wave of German immigrants it received in the 19th century, sauerkraut is now completely accepted as being a staple food in Chilean cuisine. It is popularly called ''chucrut''. *

Salsa Americana Salsa Americana, also known as simply Americana, is a Chilean sauce made from a finely chopped or blended mixture of pickles, pickled carrots and pickled onions. One typically finds this condiment used on a traditional completo along with tomato ...

- A form of relish, what is commonly referred to as ''americana'' is a finely chopped or blended mixture of pickle, pickled carrot and pickled onion.

Variations

Throughout Chile, specific names are used to describe the different variations of completos: *''Completo'': Sometimes referred as completo-completo in order to differentiate it from the other variants, it's the most traditional version. Its ingredients include chopped tomatoes, mayonnaise (a large amount), sauerkraut and ''salsa americana''. *''Completo Italiano'' or simply ''Italiano'': topped with chopped tomatoes, mashed avocados and mayonnaise, this variation is widely viewed as the most popular. The name comes from its resemblance with the colors of the

Italian flag The national flag of Italy ( it, Bandiera d'Italia, ), often referred to in Italian as ''il Tricolore'' ( en, the Tricolour, ) is a tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical Pale (heraldry), pales of green, white and red, ...

. *''Dinámico'' ("Dynamic"): A mix of the aforementioned ingredients (tomatoes, avocados, mayonnaise and sauerkraut) or salsa Americana. *''Completo A lo Pobre'' ("Poor man's ''completo")'': Made with fried onion, french fries and a fried egg on top of the hot dog. The "poor man's" in the name is due to the fact that the main ingredients are the same of '' bistec a lo pobre'' a main dish historically favoured by low wage workers. *''Tomate mayo'' ("Tomato-mayo"): As its name suggests, it is a version with only chopped tomatoes and mayonnaise. Combinations of the Chilean ''completo''

Similar international versions

The completo is also a type of hot dog eaten in Brazil, which generally includes

, ketchup, mustard,

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s, tomatoes, onions, Parmesan cheese and fries. In São Paulo, it is common to add mashed potatoes. Common extra fillings include chicken, cream cheese, ground meat and olives.

References

{{Cuisine of Chile Chilean cuisine Hot dogs