Special Tastemakers Holiday Feast
The Tastemakers: Dulce De Lechosa From Chef Sumito Estevez
With the help of Chef Sumito, sweeten your holiday with this traditional papaya-based dessert, a Venezuelan must for the festive season
Last month, top Venezuelan Chef Sumito Estevez brought us a simple recipe for a classic Andean dish. Now he’s back to share his expertise in traditional Venezuelan cooking with his recipe for dulce de lechosa – a special dessert that can be found on every holiday table across the country. Made with green papaya and festive spices, this is just the treat to sweeten your holidays in an unconventional, but undoubtedly exquisite way.
For your version of dulce de lechosa, you combine the recipes of two Venezuelan chefs. What have you added to make it your own?
There are some recipes that I feel should remain old-fashioned. This is one of them. I feel that some traditional recipes should be protected, and that when ‘gourmet’ variations of them are made, there’s a risk of changing the heritage, the knowledge of the people and, above all, the techniques. So the recipe I’m making here is the closest thing to how a mother would make it for her family.
What specific memory or feeling does preparing (and eating) dulce de lechosa evoke for you?
I have two: I learned to prepare this dessert from a theoretical point of view, following the recipe from Mi Cocina by Armando Scannone (the most important gastronomic reference in my country). There, he recommends adding a fig leaf during cooking. It brings an aroma that’s impossible to forget!
The second memory it evokes is from the time when I lived on Margarita Island. My neighbour made a wonderful, creamier version of this dessert, and it was he who taught me that the papaya must be left out in the open all night before cooking. For most people, dulce de lechosa reminds them of Christmas; for me, it’s my recent years cooking, and an island where I was very happy.
There are some recipes that I feel should remain old-fashioned. This is one of them. I feel that some traditional recipes should be protected, and that when ‘gourmet’ variations of them are made, there’s a risk of changing the heritage, the knowledge of the people and, above all, the techniques.
Besides dulce de lechosa, what other special desserts do you usually prepare for a holiday dinner?
The other traditional Christmas dessert in Venezuela is the Torta Negra (nut- and fruit-based cake), a dessert that I have not yet recorded for my digital recipe book on my YouTube channel.
What are your five must-haves for a traditional Venezuelan holiday?
Christmas in Venezuela is a subtle set of codes. One of them, in my case, is the non-negotiable Hallaca (traditional Christmas dish). I made this dish on my YouTube channel.
Besides our main dish, the other four must-haves would be villancicos (traditional Venezuelan carols), family, good Venezuelan rum and gifts. Christmas is an atmosphere, and we try to combine as many elements as possible to achieve that ‘feeling’.
Coming from such a diverse cultural background – born to an Indian mother in Venezuela, now living in Chile – do you incorporate any traditional dishes from other places and cultures in your holiday meals?
Not really. I’m a super traditionalist when it comes to Christmas. Although, probably due to the fact that my mother was not a Christian, Christmas in my house did not have the same religious weight seen in many Western cultures.
Can you share your most special holiday memory to date?
Undoubtedly any Christmas at my father’s house in the mountains of Merida. That house is the epitome of what it means to be a host. It is an open house to all who come. We sing, we eat, we watch the fireworks… a true Venezuelan Christmas.
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