Hallaca
Form: Small packet wrapped in banana or plantain leaves or in corn husks
Country of origin: Venezuela
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Corn dough stuffed with meat and nicely tied up like a gift package; steam-cooked
Category of bread: (7, 9 and 10) Of all the stuffed breads (Mexican tamales, Chinese baozi, Latin American empanadas, etc.), hallaca is most certainly the one with the most personality of its own
Particularity: Made at Christmas time
Ingredients: Dough: ground corn; salt; water. Stuffing: beef and pork cut into cubes; sweet peppers; tomatoes; onions; garlic; shallots; herbs; banana or plantain leaves
Venezuela
Hallaca belongs to a type of bread that is particularly abundant in Latin America. The Mexican tamale, Peruvian or Chilean humita, and Brazilian pamonha all fit into the same category as hallaca. What do these cornbreads have in common? Elegance, the trait of being incomparable to other breads. The question is often asked which is the ancestor of the other, and each country jumps forward to make its country the first. The Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún, who spent 1529 in Mexico, mentions tamales in his Histoire Générale des choses de la nouvelle Espagne (General History of Things in New Spain). There’s no reason to think that hallacas already existed in a region that was later to become known as Venezuela.
Making of hallacas is a collective effort. At Christmas, the entire family, including the extended family, gathers together to prepare these cornbreads, presented in the form of little parcels all tied up nicely, and that people offer as gifts during the entire month of December. It consists of stuffing a corn dough with a mixture of different meats to which may be added raisins, olives, eggs, red bell peppers, black beans, chickpeas, hazelnuts, almonds, etc. to one’s liking. People also take advantage of the occasion to empty their cupboards, but above all, they seek to step outside their routine.
The parcel is prepared first using corn husks or plantain leaves (these days, plantain leaves are used most often). These leaves are then used to wrap the cornbread, and then the whole thing is carefully tied up to offer as a gift package. The hallacas are then dropped into boiling water, or they are steam-cooked. This is why this “bread gift”, all spiffed like a nicely wrapped gift, became the star of Venezuelan cooking.