Lampreado, also known as Lambreado or “Payaguá Mascada”, is a dish typical of the cuisine of

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, that has a high nutritional value. This is a delicious fried cake which base is one of the most characteristic features of culinary taste of Northeast of

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

(cassava Manihot = Manihot utilísima, "family plant of

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, e ...

which roots are edible and for its high content of

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

used to produce a

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

which is high in protein).

Origin of name

While the word "Lambreado" is a degeneration of the correct "Lampreado" there is little data about the origin of the name of this fried cake made of

, known in Paraguay as

mandioca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated a ...

, and

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

. In

, a Castilian-Guarani bilingual country, and in Northeastern Argentine (where the

Guarani language Guaraní (), specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani ( "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of P ...

is also spoken) it is also called "payaguá mascada", an allusion to one of the tribes of the Guarani people ("payaguáes") who populated the Paraguayan geography in pre-Columbian times.

Ingredients

There are several varieties of "Lampreado." The more traditional ingredients are as follows: cassava/mandioca, boiled and ground beef, garlic, onion, salt, oil and breadcrumbs. In other varieties that are heavier on the stomach (but which according to many are tastier), pella or pork fat is used, and the starch and cassava are mixed with raw meat.

Preparation

The preparation process is simple. The

is peeled and cooked in salted water until it is reasonably soft but not too soft. It is then mashed and mixed with ground beef, garlic and onions previously fried in oil, and salt and breadcrumbs. With this mixture, you get “small cakes”, or more properly "tortillas” which are fried in oil. To reduce its caloric value and its heaviness it's recommended that you serve the tortillas with a mixed vegetable salad.

Further details of interest

The Lampreado can be kept for several days, and it is ideal for the "avio" (definition taken from the Royal Academy of Spanish Language: "Among pastors and country people, the provision taken to feed the herders for as long as it takes them to return to town or the farmhouse"), also provisions taken by travelers and "troperos" (mainly cattle drivers) to eat during their journey. In the area of the department of

Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...

, it's called "Lambreado", what elsewhere is known by the name of "marinera", made with either

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. * According to some scholars of the social history of

, all the popular Paraguayan cuisine was consolidated as a small family industry after the War of Paraguay against Triple Alliance (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, 1864 and 1870) This was very blunt in caloric content because of the situation of the country after the war made food scarce, for which reason the entire Paraguayan cuisine has high protein content in response to the fact that daily meals were limited.

References

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External links