Cooking in Argentina

[Rease]

I'm curious to see how other expats have adjusted to cooking in Argentina and maybe we can share some tips!

I personally love to bake and was very upset when I figured out how difficult it is to get certain baking ingredients.

I am thrilled to report- chocolate chips DO exist here!

You can get them as certain resposterias/cotillones, the biggest one being Dona Clara.
http://www.donaclara.com.ar/

I found things like Cream of Tartar at dietecticas.

What have you discovered?

 

[fifs2]

Rease, you've made a great find with Dona Clara. Funny how the years have changed as now jumbo sporadically sells Cream of Tartar and since the recent spurt of bakery additions like pirate muffin cases, cake decorations being sold in Cotillones I havent felt the need to bring so much from Europe. What I do still miss and cannot replace is Tate and Lyle Treacle or Golden Syrup. None of the corn or other syrups here even come close..any recommendations greatly appreciated.

 

[hepdoll]

Great thread!! Can't wait to hear about everyone's findings.

I have found chocolate chips at larger grocery stores, like Coto, under the brand Aguila. Aguila makes other types of chocolate for baking, too, like semi-sweet chocolate bars and chocolate coating / bath / topping.

I've also found chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and cream of tartar at the dietetica. In general I've had a lot of success at dieteticas for things like that which are hard to find at the grocery stores.

Barrio Chino (Chinatown) is another great resource. It's the only place I've been able to find anything close to brown sugar, so far.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

...What I do still miss and cannot replace is Tate and Lyle Treacle or Golden Syrup. None of the corn or other syrups here even come close..any recommendations greatly appreciated.

Have you tried Miel de Caña for golden syrup? I've bought it from La Casa de Miel on Cuenca at the intersection with San Martin but I think it's a chain and there are other stores elsewhere. It's thinner than Lyles and the taste isn't quite the same but it makes a great Syrup Tart if you are into that kind of thing

 

[sheawj]

Ah cool! My son is always bothering me to make chocolate chip coookies and is so sick of peanut butter ones!

 

[Rease]

for the syrup - I make my own by looking up recipes online! It seems easier.

For brown sugar- you have to be careful because there is Azucar Rubia Azucar Moreno, and Azucar Negro- going up in darkness. Usually Azucar moreno is what you want but even then it is often MUCH darker and sweeter than what I am used to. When I baked chocolate chip cookies I was sad they looked burnt but it was just because of the brown sugar. You just have to find the right dietetica!

 

[Soozieloo]

This is a great thread!

I have also been doing a fair bit of baking recently and have struggled to get certain things. I made pumpkin pie a couple of weeks ago and was thrilled to find brown sugar in my local grocery shop. However, as my flatmate pointed out it is actually white sugar that has been dyed with colouring and not proper brown sugar at all!

Does anyone know where to buy ground nuts like almonds and hazelnuts?

Also i am really missing fresh coriander (cilantro) and couldn't even see it in Barrio Chino...

 

[French jurist]

Also i am really missing fresh coriander (cilantro) and couldn't even see it in Barrio Chino...

Everytime I go to the barrio Chino, I go to the same supermarket on Mendoza (x Arribenos). This supermarket is facing a school (you'll see flags on the front of it).
They always have coriander.

 

[irina]

I didn't realize they have chocolate chips here, are they more expensive than the baking bars? If they are the same price I'll go get those, but otherwise I've just been chopping up baking chocolate bars and using that as chips. tom-ae-toe to-mah-toe.

 

[cafeconleche]

Also i am really missing fresh coriander (cilantro) and couldn't even see it in Barrio Chino...

Many verdulerías do have cilantro. Just have to ask for it as it's not always on display. And it's most definitely in Barrio Chino as we buy it there often (I forget which store but one which had a lot of vegetables and fish) and freeze it to use later.