No.
Uruguay…for those who are not Jeopardy regulars…is a small South American country nestled between Argentina and Brazil on the east coast. It has a very important port and access to the Atlantic Ocean which inspired the British to help Uruguay fight for independence back in the early 1800s. Without independence from Spain, the Brits wouldn’t have been able to so easily trade for all the goodies Uruguay has to offer. Among Uruguay’s current exports: beef, lamb, citrus, blueberries, wine, leather, and wool.
The entire county has about 3.3 million residents, a third of which reside in its capital city of Montevideo. We were told cattle and sheep outnumber the country’s inhabitants by a ratio of 4 to 1…each. That’s a whole lotta livestock. And good eatin’.
We arrived in Montevideo this morning to the wafting aroma of natural gas. Not in an alert-the-captain way. More in the we’re-in-a-working-port way. Indeed, our ship was surrounded by cargo ships and containers and cranes.
Our original plan was to take a lovely old restored steam train through the Uruguayan countryside to a winery where we would tour the vineyards, sample wine, and feast on meatstuffs.
However, about 4 days ago we received a letter from the tour desk informing us that the train operators are on strike and our tour was therefore cancelled. BOO! In its place we were offered essentially the same tour but via bus instead of train. Clearly this is not the year for us and trains.
Naturally, we agreed to the substitute tour and wondered how the 3-hour train ride would be replaced by a 20-minute bus ride. Turns out, it was a great substitution and in the end, gave us a much better sense of the area than the train would have. A hard-learned rule of travel: go with the flow and search for the happy in any situation.
Our Grand Tour of Montevideo started in the business district. It oddly reminded me of downtown Seattle. Some hills (although not many – the place is predominantly flat), lots of trees, abundant smartly dressed worker folks. Instead of Starbucks cups, everyone was carrying little wooden mugs made out of gourds in one hand and a thermos of hot water in the other.
The energy-boosting beverage of choice in Uruguay is something called “mate” which is pronounced “mah-tah.” Although I didn’t have a chance to try it, it was described as an herb…not a tea…that is similar to green tea and turbocharged with caffeine.
Uruguayans fill their gourd with the mate leaves, pour hot water over them, and sip the steeped liquid through a silver spoon-straw. Apparently all day long. Best I can tell, they buy the leaves at grocery stores; there are not mate cafes where folks gather for free Wi-Fi and acoustic rock music.
Our bus tour took us past important statues and monuments, parks and beaches, old buildings and new shopping malls. The more we meandered, the more I grew to really dig this city I never knew existed.
Montevideo felt colonial and historic yet modern and capitalistic(ish). It had mature, tree-lined streets, and beaches that had hints of Hawaii’s Waikiki. There were tons of soccer fields and scenic walking paths and people of all shapes and sizes and modesty levels strutting their exercising selves along the promenades. There were palm trees and eucalyptus trees and jacarandas and bougainvilleas. Much to my surprise, I actually started day dreaming about what it might be like to live in Montevideo. Gotta admit, since I adore Woodhaven I rarely muse about living anywhere else.
Ready for food and beverage, our tour of 32 finally arrived at Establecimiento Juanico…Uruguay’s oldest and biggest winery that was established in 1849. The country’s biggest winery that inexplicably had absolutely no branded swag (did I mention capitalistic-ish?). We were told that 25% of the bottles of wine consumed in Uruguay come from Juanico. Personally, I think some branded baseball hats could help them grab even more market share.
We stopped in some vineyards, trying to wrap our heads around grapes ripening in late January. We sampled a few Tannat grapes right off the vine. Rob and I had heard of this French varietal…and had sampled it once…but we had no idea it was Uruguay’s premier grape and wine. And had certainly never had it in its rawest form.
Although the purple grapes were still about a month from being ripe, they were about the size of blueberries and were lightly sweet with about 3-4 seeds in each grape. Yes, I plucked enough to assess that average. What can I say…I was hungry. And thirsty.
We made our way to an old stone building where tables were set with real linens and multiple wine glasses. I snagged a photo of our beverage line-up and settled in.
We sampled a total of five wines: a Chardonnay (unoaked and very crisp like a Sauvignon Blanc); a Marselan which we had never heard of (a hybrid grape made from crossing Grenache with Cabernet Sauvignon which was surprisingly light and forgettable); a Tannat which smelled like dried fruit (raisins or prunes) and tasted sort of like a smoky fruit roll-up; a blend called Alianza that was a 50%-50% mix of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon; and a dessert wine that was a light ruby port made from Tannat grapes.
I was the only one at our table of eight that like the Alianza; it was big and fruity and sort of slapped me in the face (in the good way that bold wines can). However, when lunch was served I opted for the Tannat. I figured I should have the local specialty, plus it seemed to go best with meat. Because we had a LOT of meat.
Lunch was overwhelming. I kept eating yet they kept bringing food. I have photos of my plate before, during, and after I was finished and you really can’t tell the difference. We had chicken, pork, two types of beef, sausage, sweet potatoes, crispy potatoes, a quiche thing, several types of veggie slaws, cheese, bread, salami… It was all quite delicious and tasted like an authentic Uruguayan meal – as if I have anything to compare it to. I skipped dinner.
All of the meats were bar-b-qued. The meat had such a unique flavor – sort of sweet and citrusy – I asked what wood was used in the grill. The answer: old grape vines that had been trimmed throughout the vineyard. I was told at home they would use eucalyptus, but for special occasions with visitors, they used the grape wood. WOW!
The most unique part of the meal, however, was something I never ever ever thought I would try. In the spirit of my vacation philosophy of “Do what you can’t do at home,” I tried sweet bread. No, I’m not talking pastry. I mean that part of a cow you don’t even want to think about eating. The part of the cow that the cow can’t think about you eating because you are eating its thinking parts.
Yes, I ate cow brain.
And would you believe…it was really good?!? So good, in fact, that I had seconds?!? Yes, I eat some weird stuff (186 days ‘til Fair!) but this is probably the top of my Strange Foods list.
If you look closely at the photo above, you can see it does indeed look like brain with its squiggles and curly-cues. And as you might imagine (or not), it was a bit chewy…sort of like squeaky cheese curds. Flavor-wise, it honestly tasted bacony with a hint of lemon zest. Which is why I had a second hunk. Mind you, I wasn’t eating lobes of it; just a couple squiggles. But it was good enough, I wouldn’t think twice about having it again…unlike the cow.
Vacations are awesome!
We have one more port to go before we start the long trek home. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: Thanks to some Googling, I have just learned that sweetbread is NOT cow brain. It’s pancreas. All these years I’ve been avoiding the wrong bovine organ. Moo!
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