Peruvian Cuy to debut in a grocery store near you, it tastes just like guinea pig

by Jonathan M. Forester, Posted Dec 1st 2006 @ 5:33PM

Peruvian food is one of my favorite cuisines and has a huge variety of dishes. It is based on South American Indian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, and myriad other cuisines that have developed into what food researchers call the cuisine with the highest number of distinct dishes. That's around 400+ compared with French cuisine which has far less. I love ceviche, jalea (lightly battered and fried seafood), deliciously spice rubbed rotisserie chicken, chicha morada (a sweet, spiced purple corn drink) and Cuy. That's the Peruvian, Ecuadorian, and Bolivian name for guinea pig, also called cavies, raised for meat in the Andean Mountain region.

This is a traditional Peruvian food served on special occasions. The cuy has been a domesticated meat animal since 2000 B.C. It wasn't until Dutch and British traders brought them to Europe that these tasty little fur balls started to become known as exotic pets. Many times a young Peruvian couple would be given a breeding pair when they got married and they would raise nice, fat, furry, cuy roasts in their backyards and on their rooftops, to enjoy when the time was right. I have had it a few times fried and quick grilled, but sadly never prepared how it should be. Spice and herb rubbed rodents, slow cooked on a rotisserie over a smoky fire.

They have only been available in some parts of the Eastern US, mostly New York, New Jersey, and Florida. I have seen and tried it in restaurants in the NYC area and it isn't unusual to see them roasting at food stalls in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. Now it will become more widely available because a Houston, Texas based import company plans to start distribution soon. Cuy is a high protein, low fat meat that is very healthy. Reminiscent in taste of a combination of rabbit and dark meat chicken, with a texture more like quail, it makes for some mighty fine dining. It is so popular in the Andean region, especially Peru, that in the main cathedral in Cusco, Peru there is a painting of the last supper with Christ and his disciples eating with gusto a nice roast cuy. Peruvians alone eat approximately 65 million each year.

I have seen it for sale in my NYC suburbs area in the freezer section, nice, clean butterflied roasts all ready to pop on the grill. They are raised on vegetables and grass which give them such a great flavor. If you get the chance, try this tasty meat. Just don't go getting ideas about your kids cuddly pet. It may be a nuisance but those have been bred to be much smaller, cute and friendly, and with a complete lack of taste from eating those nasty little dry pet food pellets. Not only will it be a scanty meal, but your kids will never forgive you.

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Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: america, meat, south america

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-01-2006 @6:59PM Kiwi Carlisle said... I took an archaeology course some years back from a professor who did field work in Bolivia. He said that a fair number of the really traditional Bolivian people he knew who lived up in the mountains raised guinea pigs in little runs under the dirt floors of their houses. They fed them vegetable peelings, and when they needed meat for the pot, they'd put out some peelings and chirrup, and pop the pig on the head when it came out for its food. Hey presto, dinner!
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12-02-2006 @11:41AM KYen said... Cuy (when done right) is really quite tasty. I'd love to see alpaca steaks come over to the U.S. Besides cuy, alpaca meat is a huge staple in Peru and one that's healthy and full of flavor.

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12-04-2006 @1:25PM Myron said... I've had cuy. It does taste like chicken.

Peru has a drink called chicha, which is made from fermented corn. Its not bad. it doesn't taste like beer but fills a similar role.

Anyway, the spent corn from the making of chicha is then fed to guinea pigs. Its a clever use of resources.
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12-05-2006 @2:55PM Reuben said... Does anyone know where I can get cuy in NYC? I tried Salinas in Brooklyn and they said they were out. I tried a different restaurant called Salinas in the Bronx and they said they don't serve it, even though a list of local restaurants says that's what their known for.

Other suggestions would be very welcome.
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12-10-2006 @10:22AM TRCunning said... There was a time in Peru where a diet of cuy was so standardly accepted that a muralist in Cuzco (Lima) assumed it was the dish SERVED AT THE LAST SUPPER. The painting is still up in a church with Jesus & the apostles ready to carve the roast cuy.
By the way, I've never had guinea pig but I have had squirrel & I'm going to assume the cuy would be more tender because the don't run around as much.
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12-29-2006 @6:30PM Jeffrey said... Cuy can be found at the Food Bazaar located in Brooklyn near Woodhull Hospital. Good luck!! I've tried the frozen ones several times but they don't match the same taste I remember in Peru where you raise them and cook them fresh. I would say the state of being frozen takes a little bit of the taste away, but since I haven't had it in a very long time, it does get rid of that craving I used to have.
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2-25-2007 @8:29PM Jay said... is there a way for me to order a cuy??? i'm kinda hoping to use one for my senior project. i live in massachusetts and i don't know of anywhere to go and buy one....please help
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