[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":423},["ShallowReactive",2],{"recipe:ajiaco-santafereno":3,"recipe:country:colombia":194},{"slug":4,"title":5,"nativeName":6,"pronunciation":7,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"emoji":10,"summary":11,"intro":12,"story":13,"whyThis":14,"tips":19,"substitutions":25,"variations":38,"serveWith":48,"storage":50,"faq":51,"equipment":67,"baseServings":71,"prepMinutes":72,"cookMinutes":73,"difficulty":74,"course":75,"diet":78,"mainIngredients":80,"ingredients":86,"instructions":142,"nutrition":168,"images":174,"keywords":184,"publishedAt":192,"updatedAt":192,"authorSlug":193},"ajiaco-santafereno","Ajiaco Santafereño (Bogotá Chicken and Three-Potato Soup)","Ajiaco santafereño","ah-hee-AH-koh san-tah-feh-REH-nyoh","colombia","Bogotá and Cundinamarca","🥣","The soup that defines Bogotá: three kinds of potato cooked to three different textures with chicken and guascas, finished at the table with cream, capers, avocado and corn on the cob.","Ajiaco santafereño is a thick, pale chicken soup thickened by potatoes rather than by anything added. Three varieties go in and each does a separate job — small yellow papa criolla dissolves completely and turns the broth opaque, a floury variety half-collapses into it, and a waxy one survives in recognisable chunks. Shredded chicken, half cobs of corn and a handful of guascas, a wild herb with a faintly artichoke-like bitterness, finish the pot. What arrives at the table is deliberately unfinished: each person stirs in heavy cream, spoons over salted capers and eats it with avocado and white rice, so the same pot tastes different in every bowl. It is cold-weather food from a city sitting at 2,600 metres, and it eats like a full lunch rather than a first course.","Santafé de Bogotá is the old colonial name of the capital, and the qualifier matters because ajiaco means different things across Latin America. Cuban ajiaco is a heavy stew of root vegetables and several meats; Peruvian ajiaco de papas is a chile-based potato dish. The Bogotá version shares only the name. Its foundations are Andean: the potato was domesticated in this part of the world, and Colombia still grows dozens of varieties that never reach export markets, papa criolla among them — a small, intensely yellow potato that falls apart on purpose.\n\nGuascas is the ingredient that makes the soup itself rather than a chicken and potato soup. The plant, Galinsoga parviflora, grows as a weed across the highlands and much of the world; Colombians dry it and sell it in packets, while gardeners elsewhere pull it up without knowing what they have. Its flavor is grassy and slightly bitter with an artichoke edge, and nothing else reproduces it. Cooks who live far from a Colombian grocer usually make the soup anyway and accept that it is a cousin rather than the real thing — an honest compromise, and better than an invented substitute.\n\nThe serving ritual is fixed and worth keeping. Cream and capers go on at the table, never into the pot: capers stirred in early turn the whole soup salty and sour, and cream boiled in the broth can split. Corn is served as half cobs sitting in the bowl, picked up and eaten with the hands mid-soup, which is messy and universally accepted. Bogotá restaurants serve ajiaco year-round to locals and to every visitor who has been told to try it, and it is one of the few Colombian dishes that people from other regions concede the capital does better than anyone.",[15,16,17,18],"Three potatoes at three cut sizes, added at three moments — the whole texture of the soup depends on this and most recipes skip it.","The chicken is poached in the same pot that becomes the broth, so nothing is wasted and the stock tastes of the bird.","Straight about guascas: what it does, where to find it, and what the soup honestly becomes without it.","Garnishes stay off the heat, which keeps the cream from splitting and the capers from taking over the pot.",[20,21,22,23,24],"Slice the floury potatoes thin, no more than 3 mm — thin slices break down into the broth, thick ones sit there in lumps.","Frozen papa criolla, sold in Latin American shops, works perfectly here and needs no thawing. It is often easier to find than the fresh potato.","Add guascas in the last 15 minutes. Boiled for an hour the herb turns dull and slightly medicinal.","Keep the pot at a lazy simmer once the potatoes go in; a hard boil breaks the corn cobs apart and clouds the soup with starch.","If the broth is still thin at the end, mash a ladle of potato against the side of the pot and stir it back in rather than reaching for flour.",[26,30,34],{"original":27,"swap":28,"note":29},"Guascas","No true substitute","Dried guascas keeps for a year and ships easily from Colombian grocers online, so it is worth ordering. Without it you will have an excellent chicken and potato soup, but Bogotanos would not call it ajiaco.",{"original":31,"swap":32,"note":33},"Papa criolla","Small yellow-fleshed potatoes, quartered","Yukon Gold, Charlotte or similar waxy-yellow potatoes broken up with a spoon get close to the color and body, though they never collapse quite as completely.",{"original":35,"swap":36,"note":37},"Heavy cream","Crème fraîche or thick sour cream","Colombians use nata or crema de leche, which is thinner and less sweet than most cream. A spoonful of crème fraîche thinned with a little milk is the closest everyday match.",[39,42,45],{"name":40,"description":41},"Ajiaco with chicken breast on the bone","Using bone-in breast rather than thigh gives a paler, cleaner broth and firmer shredded meat — the more common restaurant choice in Bogotá.",{"name":43,"description":44},"Vegetarian ajiaco","Skip the chicken and build the soup on a strong vegetable stock with extra corn. The potatoes and guascas carry it, though it loses the body the bird provides.",{"name":46,"description":47},"Ajiaco with mazorca desgranada","Some households cut the kernels off the cob before serving so nobody has to wrestle with corn in a bowl of soup. Purists consider this a loss.",[49],"White rice on the side, sliced avocado, and a jug of aguapanela or fresh lulo juice.","Ajiaco thickens dramatically as it sits and keeps 3 days refrigerated — loosen it with hot water or stock when reheating, over gentle heat so the potato does not catch on the base. Freeze only the potato-and-chicken soup itself, never with cream stirred in, and expect the texture to soften further after thawing. Store the capers, cream and avocado separately and add them freshly to each bowl, exactly as you would on the first day.",[52,55,58,61,64],{"question":53,"answer":54},"What is guascas and where can I buy it?","Guascas is a dried herb from the plant Galinsoga parviflora, common as a weed across the Andes and much of the temperate world. It tastes grassy and slightly bitter with an artichoke note, and it is the flavor that identifies ajiaco. Colombian and Latin American grocers sell it dried in small packets, and it is widely available online; it keeps about a year in a sealed jar.",{"question":56,"answer":57},"Why is my ajiaco watery instead of thick?","The thickening comes entirely from potatoes breaking down, so it usually means the wrong varieties or too much liquid. Use a genuinely floury potato sliced thin plus small yellow potatoes that disintegrate, keep the pot at a simmer for long enough that they fall apart, and start with less water than you think — the soup should look almost too thick before the garnishes go on.",{"question":59,"answer":60},"Should the cream and capers go into the pot?","No. Both are added by each person at the table. Capers simmered in the soup make the whole pot aggressively salty and sour, and cream held at a boil can separate into grains. Set them out in small bowls with the avocado and let everyone season their own portion.",{"question":62,"answer":63},"Is Colombian ajiaco related to Cuban or Peruvian ajiaco?","Only by name. Cuban ajiaco is a heavy stew of tropical root vegetables with several cuts of meat, and Peruvian ajiaco de papas is a potato dish built on chile paste. The Bogotá soup shares neither ingredients nor method with either, which is why Colombians always specify santafereño.",{"question":65,"answer":66},"Can I make ajiaco a day ahead for guests?","Yes, and many cooks prefer to. The flavor settles overnight and the potatoes finish breaking down. It will set almost solid in the fridge, so reheat gently with extra stock or water until it pours from the ladle again, then check the salt — it usually needs more the second day.",[68,69,70],"Large stockpot","Sharp knife or mandoline for thin potato slices","Slotted spoon",6,25,70,"medium",[76,77],"soup","main",[79],"gluten-free",[81,82,83,84,85],"chicken","potato","corn","capers","avocado",[87,92,97,101,106,111,115,118,121,123,126,130,136,139],{"ref":81,"qty":88,"unit":89,"name":90,"group":91},800,"g","bone-in chicken thighs or breasts, skin removed","For the broth",{"ref":93,"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":96,"group":91},"scallions",3,"piece","long scallions, halved",{"ref":98,"qty":94,"unit":99,"name":100,"group":91},"garlic","clove","garlic, lightly crushed",{"ref":102,"qty":103,"unit":104,"name":105,"group":91},"cilantro",1,"cup","cilantro, stalks for the broth and leaves for serving",{"qty":107,"unit":108,"name":109,"noScale":110,"group":91},2.5,"l","water",true,{"ref":82,"qty":112,"unit":89,"name":113,"group":114},500,"floury potatoes (pastusa, Maris Piper or russet), peeled and sliced 3 mm thick","For the soup",{"qty":112,"unit":89,"name":116,"note":117,"group":114},"papa criolla, or small yellow potatoes, quartered","frozen papa criolla works and goes in straight from the freezer",{"qty":119,"unit":89,"name":120,"group":114},400,"waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 3 cm chunks",{"ref":83,"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":122,"group":114},"corn cobs, each cut into halves",{"qty":94,"unit":124,"name":125,"group":114},"tbsp","dried guascas",{"qty":127,"unit":128,"name":129,"group":114},null,"to taste","salt and black pepper",{"ref":131,"qty":132,"unit":133,"name":134,"group":135},"heavy-cream",200,"ml","heavy cream","To serve",{"ref":84,"qty":137,"unit":124,"name":138,"group":135},4,"salted capers, rinsed",{"ref":85,"qty":140,"unit":95,"name":141,"group":135},2,"avocados, sliced",[143,148,151,154,158,162,165],{"title":144,"text":145,"timerSeconds":146,"tip":147},"Poach the chicken","Put the chicken, scallions, garlic and cilantro stalks in a stockpot, pour over the water and bring slowly to a bare simmer. Skim off the grey foam that rises in the first few minutes, then cook for 25 minutes until the meat pulls away from the bone easily.",1500,"Never let it boil hard — a rolling boil turns the broth cloudy and the chicken stringy.",{"title":149,"text":150},"Strain and shred","Lift out the chicken and set it aside to cool. Strain the broth and discard the aromatics, then return the liquid to the pot. Pull the meat off the bones in coarse shreds with two forks and cover it so it does not dry out.",{"title":152,"text":153,"timerSeconds":146},"Melt in the first two potatoes","Bring the broth back to a simmer and add the thinly sliced floury potatoes together with the quartered yellow ones. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the slices have disintegrated and the broth has turned opaque and pale gold, thick enough to leave a film on the back of a spoon.",{"title":155,"text":156,"timerSeconds":157},"Add the chunky potato and corn","Slide in the waxy potato chunks and the halved corn cobs. Simmer another 15 minutes, until a knife meets no resistance in the chunks but they still hold sharp edges and have not started to fray.",900,{"title":159,"text":160,"timerSeconds":161},"Season with guascas","Crumble the guascas between your palms into the pot and stir it through with a good amount of salt and a little black pepper. Simmer 10 minutes more — the soup should smell green and faintly bitter under the chicken, and the color should shift slightly darker.",600,{"title":163,"text":164},"Return the chicken","Stir the shredded chicken back in and heat it through for 3 to 4 minutes without boiling. Taste and correct the salt now; the garnishes add saltiness later, so stop just short of where you think it should be.",{"title":166,"text":167},"Serve unfinished, on purpose","Ladle into deep bowls, making sure each gets a half cob of corn, and scatter over the cilantro leaves. Bring the cream, capers and sliced avocado to the table in separate bowls and let everyone stir in their own, with white rice on the side.",{"calories":169,"protein":170,"carbs":171,"fat":172,"fiber":173,"estimated":110},470,33,47,17,7,[175,178,180,182],{"src":176,"alt":177},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fajiaco-santafereno\u002Fhero.jpg","Deep bowl of thick pale Colombian potato soup with shredded chicken, a half corn cob, cream and capers",{"src":179,"alt":177},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fajiaco-santafereno\u002Fhero-16x9.jpg",{"src":181,"alt":177},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fajiaco-santafereno\u002Fhero-4x3.jpg",{"src":183,"alt":177},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fajiaco-santafereno\u002Fhero-1x1.jpg",[185,186,187,188,189,190,191],"ajiaco","guascas","bogota","potato soup","colombian soup","papa criolla","chicken 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over soaked bread and chopped cilantro",[286,301,302,303,187,102,304],"colombian breakfast","milk soup","poached egg","andean",{"slug":306,"title":307,"nativeName":308,"countrySlug":8,"region":309,"baseServings":137,"prepMinutes":310,"cookMinutes":72,"restMinutes":266,"difficulty":74,"course":311,"diet":314,"mainIngredients":316,"images":317,"keywords":321,"publishedAt":192,"updatedAt":192,"authorSlug":193},"colombian-empanadas","Empanadas Colombianas (Fried Corn Pastries with Potato and Beef)","Empanadas colombianas","Nationwide, strongest in Antioquia and Valle",45,[312,313],"street-food","snack",[79,315],"dairy-free",[218,82,245],[318],{"src":319,"alt":320},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fcolombian-empanadas\u002Fhero.jpg","Golden deep-fried Colombian corn empanadas, one broken open to show potato and beef filling, with green ají",[322,227,323,324,325,326,327],"colombian empanadas","aji","street food","fried empanadas","potato beef filling","gluten 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