Charlie Larga’s Field Guide to life in Cuenca: How to beat the slow, slow boil in Cuenca

Why are your beans so stubborn, your beef is gristly, and your salvation hisses like a steam engine?

It’s no secret that some things can take a little longer in Cuenca. Buses. Bank queues. Getting your cedula laminated. But if you’re new in town, nothing quite prepares you for the long, slow, high-altitude heartbreak of waiting for potatoes to boil.

Yes, up here at 2,500 metres, water boils at around 92°C. That means your pasta turns sulky, your rice goes sullen, and your beef stew may start ageing in the pot before it ever gets tender. But fear not: the Andean kitchen has its own secret weapon. It’s called a pressure cooker, and it deserves your affection, admiration, and possibly a small shrine on the counter.

Pressure Cookers: Faster, Hotter, Smarter
These clunky, hissing pots may look like Cold War science projects, but they are the best way to reclaim your sanity and slash your gas bill at altitude. By locking in steam, a pressure cooker raises the cooking temperature inside to 120°C or more. That means beans in 25 minutes instead of two hours. Stewing beef that falls apart instead of fighting back. And plantains that don’t need a full presidential term to soften.

If the traditional stovetop version intimidates you or your gas is rationed like wartime sugar, consider joining the modernists and investing in an electric pressure cooker (sometimes called an Instapot These programmable countertop wonders can pressure cook, slow cook, steam, sauté, and they won’t even hiss at you.

Note: Don’t try to stick the whole Instant Pot in your fridge. You’d be amazed what people attempt when faced with leftovers and limited shelf space.

Speaking of stewing beef, let me put in a good word for the frozen pack of diced beef I picked up from Tuti last week. About 500 grams, all muscle and no mystery, for less than what you’d pay for a taxi across town. It was clearly cut from a real animal and not, as sometimes happens, swept together with a shovel. Browned up nicely too, once it hit the hot fat.

The Tomato Economy
While we’re in thrifty mode, here’s a pro tip for Italian food lovers.

Those catering-size cans of chopped tomatoes (the ones that look like they were meant to feed a football team) are surprisingly good value. Just spoon the contents into muffin tins or better still silicone molds, freeze them solid, pop them out, and bag up your tidy little tomato pucks. You’ll have the makings of a stew or sauce for a dozen meals on hand, and none of that fridge-door guilt from a half-used can.

Final Thoughts from the High Sierra
Sure, cooking in Cuenca might require a bit of gear and a few tricks, but once you’ve adjusted, you may even prefer it. A pressure cooker is the mountain-dweller’s microwave. It brings back the possibility of soup on a weeknight, or tender beef that doesn’t involve sacrificing half your gas tank.

So next time your stew seems stuck in time, remember: it’s not you. It’s the altitude. But there’s always a workaround — and it starts with a hiss, a click, and a puff of steam.

Happy cooking, Charlie