Latin American barbecue makes for a delicious quick dinner or a great sitdown feast, all depending on where you are and what you’re looking for. In Colombia you’d be having a Fritanga.
Fritanga is a popular form of barbecue in Colombia, usually served streetside. A fritanga platter typically includes chorizo, pork sausage, and many other types of meat, along with fried plantains and other vegetables.
This article will explain the basics of fritanga, its history, and how to make it.
What Is Fritanga?
Fritanga is a South American barbecue platter made with many different kinds of meats and usually served with crispy plantains, rice, and beans.
Fritanga may also be served with fried banana, stuffed potato.
Popular meats for fritanga include chorizo, chicharrón, pork sausage, blood sausage, and even fried pork intestine (also called chunchullo).
The platter is nicknamed “the vitamin Ch” plate for the chunchullo, chorizo, and chicharrón. The dish is often served with a cold latin beer, or “una fría.”
Fritanga is most popular in the Andina region of Colombia, in cities such as Cundinamarca, Tolima, and Boyacá.
Here, you’ll find fritanga served most often in plazas de Mercado or outdoor marketplaces, where fruits and vegetables are sold alongside barbecue stands.
Although you can find fritanga in restaurants across Colombia, one of the best places to find it is in Bogota, a city known for great barbecue.
There are famous street vendors in Plaza 12 de Octubre, such as Piqueteadero Doña Segunda, who specialize in fritanga.
You can find Andres Carne de Res, a restaurant that occupies an entire city block in the same region and specializes in traditional barbecue, including fritanga.
On a typical Saturday, as many as 3,000 customers come to this restaurant for their well-known grilled and fried delicacies.
Other Colombian Dishes Similar to Fritanga
In Bogota, Colombia, you’ll find many dishes that are similar to fritanga. You’ll see a diversity of grilled meats, including chiguiro, a guinea pig-like animal roasted over a fire on sticks.
And you’ll find not only patacones, which are grilled and fried plantains, but other traditional Colombian street foods like arepas or obleas.
Lomo al trapo is another popular Colombian dish, made by wrapping beef tenderloin in a towel with a thick layer of salt and throwing it straight into a fire to cook.
This gives the beef a rich, smoky flavor.
History of Fritanga
Latin American barbecuing traditions date back to the indigenous peoples who lived in the region 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, who cooked fish and other meats over smoky wooden embers.
Fresh green branches were used to hold fish and other meat over the flames, as they could hold the food without burning.
When Spaniards arrived in the region, they continued the tradition, referring to the branch-made structure that held meat over the flames as barbacoa.
Not to be confused with Barbacoa, name of the famous Mexican shredded beef dish.
Colombia has since become especially well known for its barbecue, cooking veal, capybara, and even giant armadillo in some remote areas.
Pork is also common and an especially popular choice.
When it comes to pork, Colombian barbecuers tend to choose the fattier cuts, using the butt and belly in making chorizo and other fermented meats now used in fritanga.
The word fritanga comes from the Spanish word Frito, meaning fried.
This term originated after a 1931 earthquake devastated Managua, Nicaragua, and streetside barbecues populated the streets in the aftermath.
After that, the term spread to describe traditional streetside barbecues not only in Nicaragua but also in Colombia, Ecuador, and other neighboring countries.
Other latin countries have special names for their versions of the barbecue.
In Argentina, the asado is not only the term given to barbecuing but also includes the social gathering aspect of friends and family.
In Peru an old and traditional method of barbecuimg and smoking meats is called Pachamanca. Stones in the ground are used to cook various cuts of meat.
How To Make Fritanga
Fritanga is a great dish to share at a party, and especially an outdoor summertime celebration.
It can be made with many different kinds of meats, grilled or fried plantains, other vegetables, and pairs especially well with a cold beer.
Fritanga o Picada Colombiana is a recipe true to Colombian tradition.
It pairs cooked vegetables alongside fried meats, with guacamole and hot sauce on the side.
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs. Pork ribs
- ½ cup aliños sauce
- 1 cup frying oil
- 2 lbs. Chorizo, cut in pieces and cooked
- Patacones (fried plantain)
- Yuca fries (fried yuca root)
- Papa Criolla (fried potatoes)
- 1 large tomato, cut into pieces
- Lime wedges
- Guacamole
- Hogao (red salsa)
- Ají (green sauce)
Procedure
- In a large bowl, combine the pork with the aliños sauce. Mix thoroughly, cover, and refrigerate overnight (or at least three hours).
- Pour the oil into a pan over medium heat, then when hot, add the pork ribs to fry for about 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
- Arrange pork ribs with patacones, yuca fries, papa criolla, tomato, and lime wedges on a platter, along with guacamole, hogao, and ají.
The Nicaraguan version of the dish served with Gallo pinto, or rice and black beans.
Conclusion
Fritanga is a Latin American kind of barbecue popular in Colombia and Nicaragua.
It is often served streetside but can also be found at formal restaurants or prepared at home.
The dish combines various barbecued meats with patacones and other vegetables and pairs well with a cold beer. Salud!
Sources
- The Culture Trip: A Brief History of Fritangas
- Learn More than Spanish: The Fritanga
- Uncover Colombia: Two Traditional Colombian Dishes: Lechona and Fritanga
- My Colombian Recipes: Fritanga o Picada
- Smithsonian Magazine: A Worldwide Quest for Barbecue
- Barbecue and Fried Fish: Foods of the Colombian Llanos
More Colombian Foods
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.