I had the privilege to join Isabelle’s family for this year’s tradition of hallaca making. Let me tell you, there is a lot of work involved, including the whole family. Together they make hundreds of hallacas, which then are divided between the families. It usually takes two days to prepare them. We missed the first day, the preparation of chicken stock, pork lard with Onoto (carne de hallaca, hard boiled eggs, chopping and dicing, bell peppers and onions.
We arrived at
The guys, stayed out of the house and show up around
It was an incredible experience for me and I felt like I was home with my family.
Here is what I found out about this tradition:
The hallaca is the staple Venezuelan Holliday dinner dish and its preparation is practically limited to that time of the year. It is still prepared in a similar fashion to colonial times with some modern refinements. The hallaca is also considered one of the most representative icons of Venezuelan multicultural heritage, as its preparation includes European ingredients (such as raisins, nuts and olives), indigenous ingredients (corn meal colored with annotto seeds and onions), and African ingredients (smoked plantain leaves used for wrapping). The Venezuelan hallacas and Mexican tamales have almost identical fillings.
Popular myth has it that, in colonial times, it was common practice for plantation owners to donate leftover Christmas food scraps, such as bits of pork and beef, to their slaves, who would wrap them in cornmeal and plantain leaves for subsequent preparation and cooking, which could take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours.
Preparation
The traditional hallaca is made by extending a plantain leaf, greasing it with a spoonful of annatto-colored melted pork lard and spreading on it a round portion of corn dough (masa, roughly 30 cm), which is then sprinkled with various fillings. While no two families make hallacas in quite the same way, the most common fillings include a mix of stewed (or rare) meats (pork, poultry, beef, lard, crisp or pork rind), raisins and pitted green olives. Pepper filled olives are becoming more popular nowadays. People in the Llanos (savannah) add boiled eggs and pieces of red pepper. Others might add nuts and almonds.
The filled dough is then skillfully wrapped in an oblong fashion and tied with string in a typical square mesh before its cooking in boiling water. Afterwards, it is picked from the pail with a fork, unwrapped and served on its own plantain leaves with chicken salad, pan de jamón (ham filled bread) or plain bread. In the Andean region, the filling is cooked with the rest of the hallaca, while in the rest of the country it is usually cooked beforehand.
The ideal hallaca has a silky golden-reddish glow. In taste, it aims to balance the saltiness of the meats and olives with the sweetness of the raisins and of the dough itself.
After making a number of hallacas, the remaining portion of ingredients is occasionally mixed together in order to obtain a uniform dough. The dough undergoes the same hallaca wrap and cooking preparation, although they tie two together to recognize them. These are called bollo and are typically eaten for breakfast.
After cooking, hallacas can be frozen for several weeks with no change in flavor. It is common for families to eat hallacas as late as May or June of the next year.
Ingredients differ from region to region and from family to family. It is not uncommon to find hallacas with chickpeas, tomato, bell pepper, pickled vegetables, and garlic. Potatoes are included in the Andean variation. Also, some of the traditional ingredients may be substituted by local variants such as fish and lobster (East Coast) and plantain dough (
Culture
Hallaca-making requires many hours of intense work, so hallacas are typically made all in one go, in large enough quantities to last the entire holiday season (from a few dozen to several hundred). Hallaca making is a logistical feat and an economic stretch for many. The most important Venezuelan newspapers usually carry stories in their Economics sections at the beginning of December noting the rise in the cost of making hallacas.
Hallaca-making reunites family members at Holidays time. It is a job joyfully done by whole families together, marking the start of the Holliday festivities. However, the most important part of “hallaca-preparation” is that it represents one of the strongest Holliday family traditions in
The hallaca making party is matriarchal, with grandmothers and/or mothers in the lead roles. Traditional music and drinks contribute to the festive atmosphere, and maternal power is unimpeded. Scenes of mothers scolding children for stealing bits of fillings from the table and men complaining of being left to clean leaves and to do last minute shopping are integral parts of Venezuelan Holliday tradition.
It is customary between families, neighbors and friends to share several hallacas as a way to evaluate the skills of the other party in their making. It is also customary to offer them to all visitors. Foreigners in
Friendly rivalry over whose hallacas are the best is part of the Venezuelan Holiday culture, leading to the popular saying la mejor hallaca es la que hace mi mamá - the best hallaca is the one my mother makes - an expression of familism. This expression was immortalized in a Holiday song by Venezuelan pop singer Raquel
Recipe
Isabelle’s family does not have a written down recipe, this one I found on the Internet and changed certain things that I know her family does. This recipe makes about 24 hallacas. Remember you can change any ingredient, make your own staple recipe!
MEAT FILLING
- 1 lb top round beef, cut into 1/4-to 1/2 inch-dice
- 1 lb lean pork, cut into 1/4-to 1/2-inch dice
- 1/4 lb bacon, strips cut into 1/2-inch lengths (ham can be used)
- 3 medium tomatoes, peeled and seeded
- 1 onion, peeled
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons marjoram or thyme
- 1 medium leek, diced
- 1/4 cup capers (can be added when wrapping hallacas)
- 1 tablespoon mustard relish, pickle, minced
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-to-1/2-inch dice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
MASA DOUGH
- 2/3 cup lard made out of pork fat then add annatto seeds
- 1 teaspoon annatto seeds/onoto seeds
- 2 cups masa harina flour (dehydrated, treated corn flour, yellow not white)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 1/3 chicken stock
FINAL PREPARATIONS
- 24 plantain leaves (corn husks if you can't find them or 24 (9-inch squares parchment paper or tinfoil)
- 1 lb shredded cooked chicken (make chicken stock first)
- 4 hared boiled eggs, sliced (I leave them out)
- 1/4 cup blanched almonds (I add pine nuts)
- 2 ounces bell peppers, sliced
- raisins (I leave them out, I'm thinking about trying dried apricots next time)
- 5 ounces pimento stuffed olives, cut in half
- Hot sauce your choice to taste
Directions
FOR THE MEAT FILLING:
1. Put beef, pork and bacon in a large pan. Puree the tomatoes with the peeled onion and garlic. Add mixture to the meat pan along with the salt, marjoram and leed. cover nad bring to boil. Lower heat and continue cooking until all is tender, abotu 2 houres.
2. When meat is tender, add to to the meat mixture of capers (can be added later), mustard pickles, vinegar, bell pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Also add the shredded chicken to mix.
3. Raise the heat to high and cook the filling, stirring, until almost all liquid in pan has evaroraped, about 10 minutes. Add raisins and set filling aside (remember raisins can be addes later).
4. FOR THE MASA DOUGH: Over low heat, melt 1/3 cup pork lard with annatto seeds. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Beat in masa harina, salt, cayenne pepper, chicken stock and if you like some of the pork lard pieces. Finally, add strained lard, discarding annatto seeds (make sure you have some lard left for plantain leaves). Form dough into 24 balls.
6. FOR THE FINAL PREPARATION: Put a ball of masa dough in the center of each conr husk. Flatten dough out to 1/8-inch thickness. Top each mas coated husk with en equal amound of meat mixture, hard boiled egg, almonds, pimiento, olives, capers, sliced red pepper and slices onions, or any other ingredient of your choice.
7. Fold plantain leaves to completely encase the filling. Tie each hallaca with thin strips of plantain strips or kichen string. When tighly assembled, stem hallacas for 1 hour. Serve piping hot. If you don't serve them right away, boil in hot water for 15 minutes, they then can be stored in the fridge or freezer for a later time. When heating hallacas either boil them in hot water, steam, microwave or even pan fry in plantain leave.
