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Alright, let’s talk about this here suspiro de limeña stuff. I heard folks callin’ it “Lima lady’s sigh” or somethin’ fancy like that. Don’t know much about fancy, but I know good eatin’ when I taste it.
So, what’s in it? Well, first off, you gonna need some milk. Not just any milk, mind you. You need that thick, canned milk – the kind that don’t go bad for a long time. They call it evaporated milk, I think. And then you need the sweet stuff, the condensed milk. That’s the real sugary kind, like syrup almost.
Now, eggs. You gotta have eggs. Lots of ’em. Five, they say. Five eggs! Can you believe it? Back in my day, eggs were precious. But for this here suspiro, you need ’em. Gotta separate the yellows from the whites, too. That’s the tricky part. Always makin’ a mess, I tell ya.
Sugar! Oh Lordy, yes, sugar. One and a half cups! That’s a whole lotta sugar. But that’s what makes it sweet, I guess. They say you gotta cook that sugar with the milk, slow and steady. Not too fast, or it’ll burn. Nobody wants burnt sugar, no sir.
- Evaporated Milk: That thick, canned milk, ya know? Keeps forever.
- Condensed Milk: The real sweet stuff, like syrup. Sticky and good.
- Eggs: Five of ’em! Gotta separate the yellows and whites.
- Sugar: One and a half cups! That’s a lot, but it makes it sweet.
And then there’s this fancy wine they use. Port wine, they call it. Never had much wine myself, but they say it adds flavor. A whole cup, they say! Seems like a lot, but I ain’t complainin’. Probably makes it all warm and cozy inside.
Oh, and don’t forget the vanilla! Just a little bit, a teaspoon or so. That’s for smellin’ good, I reckon. Like them fancy perfumes the city ladies wear. But this vanilla goes right in the food.
Now, how you make it, that’s the real trick. They say you gotta cook the milk and sugar together real slow. Then you add the egg yolks, bit by bit, stirrin’ all the while. Gotta keep stirrin’, or it’ll stick to the bottom of the pot. And then you add the wine and vanilla, cook it a little more, and that’s the bottom part done.
The top part, that’s the whites. You gotta beat ’em till they’re all fluffy and white, like clouds. Then you add more sugar, a little at a time, keepin’ on beatin’ till it’s all stiff and shiny. They call it meringue, I think. Sounds fancy, but it’s just egg whites and sugar, far as I can tell.
Then you put the yellow stuff in a dish, and you put the white stuff on top, and you sprinkle it with cinnamon. That’s it! That’s suspiro de limeña. Sounds like a lot of work, but it’s worth it, they say. All that sweet milk and eggs and wine… makes your tummy happy.
Where’d it come from, this suspiro thing? Well, I heard tell it’s from Lima, that big city over in Peru. Been around for a long time, too. Hundreds of years, maybe. They say folks brought most of the stuff to make it over from Spain a long, long time ago. That blancmange stuff, that’s the base of it, they say. Don’t know what that is, but it sounds foreign.
Anyway, that’s all I know about suspiro de limeña. Milk, sugar, eggs, wine, vanilla, and cinnamon. Sounds simple enough, but I bet it tastes like heaven. Maybe I’ll try makin’ it someday, if I can find all that fancy stuff. But for now, I’ll just stick to my good ol’ biscuits and gravy. At least I know how to make that!
Now, you go on and try makin’ this suspiro. And if it turns out good, you come on back and tell me all about it. I’m always up for hearin’ about good eatin’. And if you don’t have all the right stuff, don’t worry. Just use what you got. That’s what I always say. Good food ain’t about bein’ fancy, it’s about bein’ good.
And that’s all there is to it, I reckon. Now, go on and get cookin’!
Tags: [suspiro de limeña, peruvian dessert, lima food, traditional recipe, evaporated milk, condensed milk, port wine, meringue, cinnamon]
