What is an Empanada, Hand Pie, Pasties, Patty... Turnover.... Delicius pastry wrapping an incredible filling.

Empanada is a serious stuffed issue. There is a whole culture around empanadas, as serious as it gets when discussing about your favorite sports team. Nevertheless, there are not as many and great sports teams out there, as there are empanadas.  So, it is just to give you an idea how serious this might get.

Let’s review the History of the Empanada and where is the empanada originally from

From ancient Persia, to modern cuisines, most cultures around the World have their own and very special Empanada. From an etymology stand point, the word “empanada” in Spanish is a derivate from “empanar” (compose word between root word “Pan” (bread), and the derivative morpheme “en” (in) and the suffix “ada” (action form such as the ing). Then, a literal translation of the word Empanada, would be something like  “In-breading”. Have you ever had and “In-breading” treat?

In Europe in general, and in Latin America, it was the Al-Andalus (711-1492), the Arab domains over the Visigoths Empire, in Hispania - what is today Spain and Portugal- who introduced many scientific advances such as the use of paper, wide spread education system and advanced medicine practice, and reintroduced Greek philosophy to Europe.  Berbers armies -the main forces brought to the Iberic Peninsula by Muslims from Northern Africa- brought with them Persian recipes, which evolved during the Al-Andalus rein to what today is known as Empanadas.

From Hispania, the Empanadas not only crossed the sea to reach Latin America with Spanish colonialism; earlier -not sure when- they made their cross to the northern boundary to the rest of Europe, especially and first most to the Frank empire, where old literature dated around 1300 La Viandier -a cook book- contains various recipes for pasties, the English word derived from Medieval French “paste” from Latin root “pasta”, referred to a pie filled with meats and vegetables.

In England, the Pasties became not only a lunch item for workers such as fishermen and farmers.  It found a special place among tin miners in Cornwall. The Pasties were and are meant for workers who had to travel, since they could keep the pasties in their pockets and today’s lunch boxes, and have it later for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Moreover, it was in those mines, where the pasties were marked on its edges to identify the owner of the delicious meal.

From mines in England, the pasties made their own trip across the sea to land in the northern part of the New World -America- in 1840, as many Cornish mine workers moved to Michigan Peninsula to help develop the iron and cooper deposit beneath the forest. The pasties not only went deep into the ground in Michigan, but also established itself as a favorite staple dish.

Empanadas or Pasties embroiled, literally, a mixture of flavors and remembrances due to its high labor process, time sharing while waiting for Empanadas to be ready, and unique recipes each family gives to its fillings or companion sauces. Empanadas are rooted in each nation culinary culture as the perfect quick bite that tastes like home.

What is an Empanada?

Although we could blandly state empanadas is a dough wrapping a filling, both the wrapping and the filling submerges the patron into the richness of a family history, towns’ traditions, and Cities’ identities.

Empanada is a versatile and universal dish, that can be used as breakfast, lunch and dinner option, as well as an appetizer or a dessert. You could have empanadas in restaurants.  However, the empanada is most commonly a street food you will find in small kiosks located around beaches by the Caribbean Sea, or improvised carts in the sideways of the roads in many Latin American Cities.

Eating empanadas is synonyms of hanging out with friends and fun times; having empanadas usually resurface family memories and loving moments with family eldest members and gatherings. Eating empanadas is feeling young while eating with your hands a piece of culinary art dipped/topped with your favorite sauce.

How to make empanadas?

Making an empanada is a laborious process, which requires equal parts of logistics and dexterity.  You’ll have to prepare both the dough and the filling ahead of time to be ready when required to assemble enough empanadas for your guests.

Usually empanada making requires 3 steps: Preparing the fillings; Preparing the dough discs; and assembling and cooking the Empanada.

You could choose to deep fry or to bake the empanada. Please keep in mind that you’ll need to let it rest before eating, because it is likely to have a pocket of heated steam in it, waiting to be released at the first bite.

What is a good Empanada?

What if we tell you that all the following, based on what was discussed before, are if not the same, at least really closed relatives but with different names and flavors depending on the cuisine: Empanadas; Pastelitos; Pasties; Turnovers; Pies; Patty, Fatey; Samosas; Sambusas; Shaobing; and Bridie.

There are empanadas and empanadas-type all over the World. Many different names, shapes, and flavors. Nonetheless, although they are all unique in savor, names and cultural background, they have a few based common characteristics:

Wheat crust: almost all of them are prepared with wheat crust or shell, which is the dough that will wrap over the filling. There is some cultural interexchange, so there are some empanadas made from rice flour, cassava flour or corn flour, or a mixture of all of them.

The shell is meant to hold a juicy filling. So, although the inner face will remain soft/humid due to the contact with the moist filling, the outer face of the empanada’s crust needs to be crispy enough to hold its shape.

This shell provides the perfect “handle shape”, for the product to be hold in your hands.

Unleavened dough.  It does not have yeast, nor would -usually- puff. The crust might get layers or bubbles when cooked but won’t self-rise. One of the reasons is to hold the moisture while cooking. Most of those great treats are baked, but you could also find some that could be deep-fried.

Wrapping on the outside: the dough will always be on the outside of the product, wrapping the filling. It might have various shapes, being the most common a crescent one.

It is also common to find garnished pressed icons or shapes around the borders where the crust edges come together to seal the filling. Those icons or letters on the border are usually meant to identify what is in the inside of the empanada.

Other just use a rubber stamp with a chocolate solution to mark on the empanada belly a letter or group of letters for identification purposes.

Finally, you will also find another method, which is chipping part of the edge, or adding dough or poking a hole to the edge, developing their own and unique code system to identify each empanada flavor. Isn’t that fun?

Finger food: most versions of this unique but universal dish are meant to be eaten with the hands. In fact, most of them will be one serving size. Maybe, because it is a simple to carry meal, or because it could fit into your pocket, or meant to eat away from home while lunch at work, or during the conquer wars, the empanada is designed to be eaten with your hands.

Nevertheless, there are others such as Empanada Gallega, which is a pan size huge empanada, but once it is baked, it would be cut in individual portions that could be eaten too with your hands.

Flavorful fillings: although there are as many assortments as nationalities and regional cuisines, there is little doubt that each cook will provide the perfect and unique flavor to each recipe. There are two main groups of fillings: Savory and Sweet. Yes, that is right, you could have an empanada stuffed with whatever your occasion demands.

Sauce of Signature: it does not matter the cultural background.  These treats are meant to be eaten with a sauce jar just at the reach of your hand. There are many recipes, and exceptional flavors, but what makes an empanada so unique, and the reason you’ll always have more than 2 empanadas, are the sauces you’ll use as companions. Sweet, Spicy, Salty, Creamy, Dry, Milk based, Vinegar based, Oil based, Vegetable based, you have endless possibilities to play with, and the perfect excuse to have another empanada. Enhance the experience of having empanadas with different sauces. 

The empanadas are a popular -and becoming even more popular dish- since they are already part of many cuisines under diverse names. Therefore, empanadas have a unique property for multi-cultural crossing alongside many cuisines as few other concepts might have, added to its versatility, thanks to the wide assortment of fillings you can stuff it with.

The most common empanadas in many Latin American countries would be filled with any of the following:  cheese, beef, chicken, shrimps, spinach, egg and cheese, among others. There are many other flavors as exotic as: shredder or “pisillo” shark; clams; squid; octopus; capybara; venison, or crocodile.

Of course, there are empanadas made of a combination of flavors, such as: peperoni pizza empanada, beef and cheese, potatoes and cheese and so on.  One of our mixed favorites is the “Empanada de Pabellón” which is the Empanada version of Venezuela’s main staple dish (Pabellón); Shredded beef, black beans, white cheese and ripe plantain in corn shell.

What about you? What is the most noteworthy and/or exotic empanada you ever had?

Have not had one yet?  You must try them now. Contact us to schedule a sample visit you will definitely enjoy.