Eating Out: La Brasa Roja First impressions: It should be noted before I begin the review that I may be biased towards La Brasa Roja, as it is one of my favorite restaurants and I have been going there for years. That being said, immediately upon walking into the restaurant, there was already a great feel. The walls were painted with idealistic depictions of tropical beaches, already adding a calm and soothing vibe to the restaurant. There was a slight issue with service, as neither my friend nor I spoke spanish. We were able to point to what we wanted on the menu, but we were unable to get additional information on the food. Appearance: There was nothing particularly special about the appearance of the empanadas. As shown on the right, they were served on a plate with sliced limes on the side. They had a golden brown color, which became darker near the edges of the empanada. Apart from the lime, there is no garnish and no particular arrangement in which they are served. Smell: When the empanadas were first served, they were presumably straight out of the boiling oil as they were steaming, carrying the smell directly to our noses. They smelled vaguely of oil and corn at first, until we cut into them, releasing the scent of the seasoned beef and potatoes. The scent changed once again after squeezing the lime over the top. Taste: The first thing I tasted upon biting into the empanada was the slightly sweet taste of the cornmeal based shell. Then, I began to taste the filling. The filling overall had a
pleasantly salty taste, with hints of the onion and garlic. The potatoes added a buttery taste while the beef added an umami flavor. I would advise squeezing the lime over the top, adding a citrusy after taste, or eating it with the green salsa they supply to add a both spicy and tangy kick. Texture: When biting into the empanada, the crispy shell is what you feel first. As the shell begins to break down in your mouth, you can feel the cornmeal. This also opens up the filling, as shown on the right. The potatoes are cooked to have a perfect, soft texture. The meat is stringy but tender. When taking a bite of the whole thing, it mixes together to make a pleasing mouthfeel.
Home Cooked Version First Impressions: One thing that may have contributed to the review of my empanada was the feeling of relief that I felt as I was finally able to taste it. From start to finish, the process took somewhere between 5-6 hours. The recipe I followed was fairly comprehensive and easy to follow, but I had a few difficulties. Appearance: My empanada was served in no particular placement, and neither were the limes. While the limes added a little color, the dish was overall dull looking. The empanada did not achieve the golden brown color I was looking for, and instead had a color similar to an uncooked tortilla. Smell:
The dish smelled overwhelmingly of corn, even after cutting into the empanada. Squeezing a lime over the top may change that every so slightly, but the smell was still overpowered by corn. The smell of the oil was also present, but not so much as the corn. Taste: The first bite into the empanada was purely fried, unseasoned corn meal, tasting like an unsalted tortilla chip. As you may be able to see on the left, there was much more cornmeal than filling, causing it to overpower the taste of the filling. Once finally reaching a spot where I could reach the filling, I was disappointed. The filling was under seasoned and bland, with almost no hint of the onion or the meat. Adding the lime was only a slight improvement, as it now tasted like a poorly made tortilla chip with lime. Texture: As I mentioned previously, there was far more of the shell than there was filling, making for an undesirable texture. The shell was not fried enough, so it did not achieve the nice crispy outside I was hope for, but instead a moist and mealy texture. The potatoes were cooked well, and had a soft sort of mashed potato feel. The beef, however, was a bit too chewy and stringy.
Main Differences Who Won? Overall, it was pretty clear that I had been beat by La Brasa Roja in all categories. There were some clear aspects in each category that pushed La Brasa Roja’s empanadas past mine. I had difficulty cutting the edges of the empanada without destroying it, so I had to leave on the scraggly sides while La Brasa Roja cut them off and left a nice clean edge, pushing them ahead in terms of appearance. I don’t really have an explanation for this, but somehow the scent of their empanadas was stronger and carried further, giving them a better smell. Furthermore, from what you could smell of mine, there was a lot more cornmeal than stuffing. I also experienced some
difficulties getting a good amount of stuffing in the empanadas without bursting them open, and my cornmeal mixture was much thicker than it should have been. These together threw off the ratio of stuffing to shell, making mine taste much worse than the well perfected ratio from La Brasa Roja. Also as a result of this ratio, the texture was thrown off, as around half of the empanada was made of the corn mixture. Other Details: At this point you may be wondering how healthy this food is. While it may not be the healthiest, considering it is fried in oil, most of the ingredients are not bad for you. Michael Pollan describes five food transformations, whole to refined, complex to simple, quality to quantity, leaves to seeds, and food culture to food science. I tried to be conscious of the ways our diets have changed while choosing my recipe, and that is one of the reasons I chose empanadas. The transformation, from whole to refined, describes how the refining of grains and flours has led to a large decrease in nutrition. In an attempt to recognize this transformation, the style of empanadas I chose is made with cornmeal rather than any sort of refined flour. For the most part, in my recipe, all of the ingredients were organic. However, I was unable to find an organic alternative to Goya food dye. To see how this was affecting the nutrients of the food, I took a look at the ingredients and nutrition label. On the nutrition label, the only data was 170 mg sodium, and everything else was 0mg. The ingredients were “MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SALT, DEHYDRATED GARLIC, CUMIN, YELLOW 5, TRI- CALCIUM PHOSPHATE (ANTI-CAKING AGENT), CORIANDER, ANNATTO (COLOR), RED 40.” Everything on this list seemed to be pretty self explanatory as far as what purpose it has in the mixture, except monosodium glutamate, so I did some research to find out why it was included. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is used in many foods as a flavor enhancer. It is described as having a meaty or savory flavor. There is some controversy surrounding the safety of MSG, but the FDA claims that it is safe to eat. Recommendation: I would definitely recommend going to La Brasa Roja over attempting to make empanadas yourself. This is for several reasons. While I do not have exact prices for my empanadas, I estimate that they are around twice the price of La Brasa Roja’s, which were $1.50 each. The second reason is the time it took. Cooking mine at home took around 5-6 hours, while you could walk in and out of La Brasa Roja in less than ten minutes. My third reason is the most important. La Brasa Roja’s tasted way better than mine. The had an overall better taste, superior texture, smell, and even appearance.