Cusco - The Real McCuy

Those childhood memories of pet guinea pigs which would be taken home for the weekend by one of the kids. Strange how ´teacher´always took the pet home for the long summer holiday and even stranger how poor ´Pigsy´would have a mystery illness over the summer and sadly pass away.

I can now reveal that there was no mysterious guinea pig swine flu going around London in the 1970s but can reveal from further investigations that the Peruvian population soured during this period necessitating the need for them to seek a ´taste of home´.

So guinea pig, or Cuy as it is known locally is available on many menus. It is a bit of a delicay and costs abour twice the price of steak. The example about was 44 Peruvian Sols whilst a steak would be about 25 sols. Presentation as you can see was excellent. It gave off a duck like aroma and the taste and texture was a mix between both duck and pork. The skin had been roasted similar to pork crackling and it seemed to come complete with the sweetbreads. It was also damn hard work to get any meat out of it. Would I try it again? Yes...but probably not as a roast. Something where the meat had been already extracted then maybe.