Anyone familiar with Honduran cooking?

[easyas123]

Hello everyone. The other day my new DIL casually mentioned a type of Honduran stuffing her family has at the holiday. I'd love to try to find a recipe for it - my google search turned up nothing. I'm not sure of what it's called but she described it as a ground beef based type of stuffing.
Anyhow, she (and possibly her parents) will be joining us for the holiday and even though she's lived in the States for many years now I thought it would be nice to include the dish since she mentioned it and it seemed like something she remembers fondly as part of her families Thanksgiving meal since they moved to the States.
So that's it - if anyone is familiar with this dish and can pass on any info on it I'd appreciate it. I want to make her at at home as possible as she spends her first holiday with us as part of the family. Thank you!

 

[NYCgrrl]

What a lovely way to welcome your new family members. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with the meat stuffing but perhaps it would be easiest to go back to your DIL and ask for a recipe/technique? She could actually help you make it for a nice bonding experience. Most of the Central American countries have their own twist on how to make dishes with similar ingredients so if I gave you say a Panamanian recipe it probably would differ vastly.

HTH and enjoy your holiday.

 

[easyas123]

Unfortunately, I can’t help you with the meat stuffing but perhaps it would be easiest to go back to your DIL and ask for a recipe/technique?

I was hoping you might reply, you seem so food knowledgeable! You are right asking her to show me how to do it and share the recipe would be the optimum way to go about it. Unfortunately, they won’t be here until just before dinner since they’re currently living an hour and a half away. But perhaps I’ll ask her for the recipe and some tips or I’ll see if she wants to make it and bring it. I just wanna make sure she’s got a little taste of what her family does for Thanksgiving at our families Thanksgiving .
Thanks!

 

[Lord Manhammer]

When you say it's a stuffing, is it a stuffing in the American sense, as we understand it? Or is it something else? I did find some sort of Honduran stuffed pastry that is filled with beef but I'm not sure this is what you're referring to. I consider myself well travelled but my experience with most Latin cuisines is nonexistent (that's my wife's department). If you find the recipe, please post for us.

 

[easyas123]

If you find the recipe, please post for us.

I will!
She described it as a ground, beef, or ground meat-based mixture with vegetables and maybe rice? I’m trying to remember – anyway that they usually stuffed in chicken or baked in a casserole dish kind of sorta like ‘traditional’American stuffing.

 

[White Cat]

https://www.santacruzmountainbulletin.net/peruvian-stuffing/

This is probably similar. What I have had most of my life. I would not care for bread stuffing. Don’t think I ever tried it.

 

[easyas123]

Ok so since I couldn't properly replicate it as a surprise to her, I asked my DIL for her Mother's recipe. Here it is in case anyone is interested:


ground beef
chopped tomatoes
chopped onions, celery, potatoes
Malher chicken bouillon
minced or powdered garlic
chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce
optional - chopped olives & carrots
allow everything to simmer together

So this is from her Mother, as my DIL translated for me. Her Mother doesn't have a recipe so much as a way she prepares it, how she learned from her Mother. So perhaps I'll experiment a bit and see if I can come close!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Ok so since I couldn't properly replicate it as a surprise to her, I asked my DIL for her Mother's recipe. Here it is in case anyone is interested:


ground beef
chopped tomatoes
chopped onions, celery, potatoes
Malher chicken bouillon
minced or powdered garlic
chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce
optional - chopped olives & carrots
allow everything to simmer together

So this is from her Mother, as my DIL translated for me. Her Mother doesn't have a recipe so much as a way she prepares it, how she learned from her Mother. So perhaps I'll experiment a bit and see if I can come close!

It sounds like Picadillo. If you have any leftover, make empanadas -- yummy!

 

[AustinTink]

Ok so since I couldn't properly replicate it as a surprise to her, I asked my DIL for her Mother's recipe. Here it is in case anyone is interested:


ground beef
chopped tomatoes
chopped onions, celery, potatoes
Malher chicken bouillon
minced or powdered garlic
chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce
optional - chopped olives & carrots
allow everything to simmer together

So this is from her Mother, as my DIL translated for me. Her Mother doesn't have a recipe so much as a way she prepares it, how she learned from her Mother. So perhaps I'll experiment a bit and see if I can come close!

Interesting. That’s a recipe for picadillo where I come from. I make it a lot.

 

[Minnesota!]

I was going to say it sounds like picadillo (and heavenly!). I think it is so sweet of you to make something so welcoming to her and her family! Enjoy experimenting and tasting!

 

[easyas123]

Well - I've never hear of Picadillo, so I'm learning some new stuff this Thanksgiving!

 

[AustinTink]

Well - I've never hear of Picadillo, so I'm learning some new stuff this Thanksgiving!

I was thinking about this thread and I thought maybe something was lost in translation with your DIL. Picadillo is traditionally a stuffing for either stuffed peppers (Chile rellenos) or picadillo is used to stuff empanadas or tacos. Maybe she heard stuffing and that’s what came to mind.

Anyhoo, very sweet of you to cook something special for her and her family.

 

[Imzadi]

When you say it's a stuffing, is it a stuffing in the American sense, as we understand it? Or is it something else? I did find some sort of Honduran stuffed pastry that is filled with beef but I'm not sure this is what you're referring to.

I was thinking about this thread and I thought maybe something was lost in translation with your DIL. Picadillo is traditionally a stuffing for either stuffed peppers (Chile rellenos) or picadillo is used to stuff empanadas or tacos. Maybe she heard stuffing and that’s what came to mind.

Anyhoo, very sweet of you to cook something special for her and her family.

Yes, you might want to ask her one more time if this "stuffing" is for a turkey or to stuff other items. Having a turkey on Thanksgiving is a North American custom from the time the settlers first came over. While other cultures adapt recipes all the time from other cultures and then make their own versions, especially if they will also celebrate the same holiday, it may not have occurred to your DIL when you mentioned stuffing that it would be used in a bird. The taste of the turkey would be different as it flavors the turkey from the inside out. (Maybe make it as a side dish passed around?)

This may turn out to be a cute, funny, and endearing story years from now if you accidentally used a chile rellenos stuffing to stuff a turkey, if you don't ask for clarification.

 

[easyas123]

Thanks everyone!
So what I asked my DIL was if there were any special dishes her family usually makes for Thanksgiving that she'd like me to make...her family LOVESLOVESLOVES Thanksgiving. She told me about this but said "but we don't usually stuff the bird with it, it's just on the side". I do wonder if something did get lost in translation, although her english is pretty good but maybe I misunderstood something. I'll clarify with her!

Thanks again everyone for your kind remarks & helpful suggestions.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

No. I am not familiar with Honduran cooking. Why would I want to cook a Honduran?