Recipes in Spanglish
A lot of my cooking brainpower goes into getting international recipes to work in Chile. There are issues with ingredient equivalents, units of measurement, and cooking temperatures. Over the years I’ve chileanized different recipes. The successes save me time and effort and sometimes even get rave reviews. So I’ll be posting them here occasionally, as they appear on my household menu.
Recipes in Spanglish?
Here’s what a recipe in Spanglish consists of, along with the reasoning behind each decision.
| What | Why |
| Introduction in English | A little about the translation itself |
| Ingredient list in Spanish | All of the ingredients can (and often should) be named Spanish, and you will be buying them in Spanish. Many people know that harina con polvos de hornear is called self-rising flour in English, but I for one never used the stuff in the States, so it’s easier to use the Spanish term. Same goes for other ingredients. |
| Instructions in Spanish | 1) Your Chilean friends will ask you for the recipe. They are first horrified then captivated by things like carrot cake and pumkin pie. Give them something their kitchens can handle. 2) If you have kids, you probably have a nanny. You can just print one of these out for her, no explanation needed. |
| Volume measurements in U.S. units (cups, teaspoons, etc.) | Chilean recipes (and therefore cooks, households etc.) tend to use non-standard measures such as tasa (which I’ve read is officially 200 c.c., but people just use any teacup they have), cucharada (soup-spoonful), and cucharadita (teaspoonful). Since I bake a fair amount, I need more precise measures of ingredients. So while the recipe is in Spanish, the measurements are in English, to distinguish them from their unstandardized equivalents. |
| Other measurements in metric units | You’ll need to buy things in kilos, grams and liters, so when a recipe calls for a whole or partial container of something, it will be in local units. |
Equipment
These recipes assume you have the following equipment:
- Measuring cups with U.S. units: 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup
- Measuring spoons with U.S. units: 1 tablespoon, 1/2 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon (I bought these awesome magnetic ones at Homecenter)
- Cheese grater
- Mixing bowls
- Pyrex baking dishes
- Cookie sheet
- Springform pan
- A 9-inch deep dish pie pan (molde redondo de 23 cm)
You will notice that I don’t use precise oven temperatures in the recipes; I gave up on those years ago. Your oven control dial may come with numbers printed on it, but they should be used as a guideline only. For a time I used an oven thermometer I brought from the U.S., but I eventually gave in. Some recipes say high, medium or low temperature, but some just say “bake”!
Questions? Contact us.
Here are the most recent Recipes in Spanglish on expat.cl:
[catlist=10]
| Test1 | Test2 |
| Test3 | Test4 |
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