Thursday, October 7, 2010

El Submarino - How to Make Hot Chocolate the Argentinian Way

The weather has turned unseasonably cold here in the Southern US. We were sitting in our patio last night having BBQ, which we though was appropriate for a fall evening, fire and all, except our friends - the friendly mosquito brigade - were not informed of the change in weather plans, and they decided to swoop down on us before they ...well, I dunno...where do mosquitoes go for the winter? Florida? ....and sent us scuttling indoors for safety.

Colder evenings and mornings do call for one of my favorite drinks - Hot Chocolate, and I'm giddy with excitement over a new way to prepare it that I gleamed from a recent trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before travelling, I was perusing websites of the city and came across a lot of people discussing their undying love for Argentinain Hot Chocolate, so I made it a point to take some snaps of their preparation - cutely named El Submarino - or "The Submarine" at one of the numerous cafes dotting the city, where I was lucky to find ONE waitress who knew a little English and could explain what I was attempting to eat or drink. Students, grab your notes!

1. Get a glass of hot, scalding milk.
2. Grab a bar of chocolate, dark seems to be the variety they use. I'm partial to milk chocolate, though. Ignore ooeey, gooey chocolate dessert the significant other is scarfing down. Is scarfing a real verb?
3. Carefully place chocolate bar in milk. Pose, for posterity sake.

4. Actually, students, that was a mistake. You are supposed to DUNK. Think Kobe Bryant. But in Argentinian.
5. Swirl with spoon and watch the ensuing chocolatey, frothy goodness that evolves. Is chocolatey a real adjective?
6. We enjoyed said El Submarino beverage at the very pompous sounding Establecimiento General De Cafe where I was lucky to get a menu with pictures, because my Spanish would make your ears hurt. That's probably one of the waiters fleeing the cafe while I was trying to order off the menu.

Establecimiento General De Cafe
Reconquista 591 (Esq Tucuman)
Buenos Aires,
Argentina

12 comments:

My Kitchen Antics said...

Thats an interesting twist on the usual hot choc...

Rachel said...

That is so neat. Am definitely trying it.

Bharathy said...

:) love the way you've written! :)

Namitha said...

Wow...That looks irresistible and chocolatey (of course this cannot be found in any dictionary..lol..)
I think bloggers are contributing a lot to Oxford dictionary :D

Pavani said...

That looks awesome. Perfect for this chilly weather.

Rebecca said...

Yum! Can't wait until we get a cold rainy day so I can enjoy one!!

AJ said...

Perfect for Autumn!!

LimeCake said...

yum hot chocolate. thanks for showing me a new way to have it.

Sarah Naveen said...

Oh u guys went to Argentina...How lovely!!! i really wanna make a trip to BA..those pics making me drool!!!
and btw...we live in Changanacherry in Kottayam ...great to know that u are also from KTM

Shaheen said...

Nice new twist - It is def. hot chocolate time.

Kulsum@JourneyKitchen said...

I must say I can't make out what your nationality is. Often the type of food tht is being made on once's blog can lead u to have certain idea but you have the whole world on your blog :)

Great twist.Chocolate on my mind !

Katie said...

I love submarinos! In fact, I could really go for one right now... There's a company here in Argentina that makes little chocolate bars shaped like a submarine, specifically for use in this drink. Isn't that cute? Hugs from Argentina!