The food of Peru has long been celebrated as an elegant alloy of Indigenous, Spanish and Japanese cuisine. In this century, the reputation of Peruvian gastronomy has risen as Lima’s innovative young chefs incorporate ancient techniques and an ever-widening diversity of ingredients from the high expanse of the Andean altiplano and the rainforests of the Amazon.
With that recent history in mind, I had assumed that the provenance of the lomo al trapo — beef tenderloin, encased in salt and wrapped in a wine-soaked dish towel — that the chef Jaime Pesaque serves at his wood-fire restaurant Sapiens had been repurposed from an age-old Incan recipe.
Recipe: Lomo al Trapo (Salt-Grilled Beef Tenderloin)
“Actually, nothing so far out,” said Mr. Pesaque, who is better known in the fine-dining world for his version of Nuevo Andean and Amazonian cuisine at his flagship restaurant, Mayta. Like every Latin American chef I have encountered, though, he has a lifelong affinity for meat and fire. “I learned about lomo al trapo from my brother in-law, who picked it up when he lived in Bogotá. People there often make it for a Sunday barbecue.”
Mr. Pesaque’s method, which I observed on a restaurant ramble through Lima a few years ago, is quite simple. First, he soaks a dish towel in red wine and lays it out on a table. He then places a two-pound piece of the center portion of the tenderloin on the towel.
This cut, also known as chateaubriand, is prized for its tenderness, but lacking in the robust flavor of, say, a rib-eye or hanger steak. Mr. Pesaque adds flavor by slathering the tenderloin in mustard and oregano, encasing it in salt, wrapping it up in the wine-drenched dish towel, and placing the package directly on red-hot coals.
The wine infuses the salt and, through it, the meat. The salt hardens into a rigid shell that protects the tenderloin from burning while preserving its juices. Although there is a good amount of salt required, the meat itself is not overly salty. You can brush away any extra before slicing and serving.
A bit of smoky char along with the salt, mustard and oregano elevates the fillet from humdrum banquet dish to a savory luxury. A slice of medium-rare tenderloin prepared in this way has a gradient of slightly more well done to a rosy pink interior (rather than the edge-to edge pink of a standard filet mignon).
Preparing lomo al trapo calls for a resolute attitude at the grill. Tenderloin is costly, so you must have faith that you are not going to incinerate a prized piece of beef by enshrouding it in a dish towel and committing it to the flames like a sacrificial mummy.
“Don’t be abstemious with the salt and the wine,” Mr. Pesaque advised. “It is important that the cloth be well soaked so that the wine penetrates the thick layer of salt. It hardens like a plaster coating that gently cooks the lean meat and preserves its juices.”
Part of the attraction of this recipe is its theatricality. The fire and flame are dependably hypnotic. Then, when the blackened bundle is brought to the table (eating outdoors is best here), pretty puffs of smoke curl upward. As you crack the crust to reveal the cooked tenderloin within and serve it up in thick slices, the event is quite dramatic. Your dining partners will not want for conversation.
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