Breakfast, Panama Style

While staying in Panama City for a few weeks, it has taken a trip to the Los Santos region of the country to give us a true appreciation for the traditional breakfast here.  

As a person who doesn’t love eggs for breakfast, I’m not an eat-breakfast-out kind of person and usually stick to something simple at home.  So, the fact that I’m inspired to talk about Panamanian breakfast surprises even me.  

The traditional breakfast is like a tapas style collection of many foods.  (Snacking through breakfast?!?  Yes, please!)  I’ll try to cover off some of the options we experienced while staying at Hostal Familiar La Casita De Los Kimmell. 

1 Pineapples are becoming big business here and people have worked hard to ensure they can grow fruit all year long.  Recently, they’ve even started shipping pineapples to China.   

2 Pork or Chicken Tamale.  Corn meal stuffed with your choice of protein wrapped up in a leaf.  

3 Dip de pollo with fried platano chino.  This wasn’t on the menu, but our hostess had it so gave us some.  It’s a heavily pureed chicken dip—like you might put on a salad with a pretty tasty flavor.  It was served this day with platano chino—a shorter, fatter and whiter plantain than the majority you will find.  Rumor says it’s got more nutritional value than its yellow counterparts.  I can’t comment on either the health benefits or where it gets its Chinese name reference but it was tasty and not quite as sweet as yellow plantain.  

4 Coffee, of course.    

5 And also a blended fruit juice.  Today’s was papaya, I think.

6 Hummus.  Is this a traditional Panamanian option?  I don’t know, but our hostess made it fresh and it was deliciously garlicky.

7 Chorizos Santeños.  Since we were in the Los Santos region, we had to try these regional sausages that are coveted around the whole country.  The sausages are smoked and contain big chunks of pork that make it one of the densest sausages I have eaten. Lots of annatto gives it a distinctive red color. Being smoked is nice, because you don’t have to fry the sausage to serve it.

8 Bollo.  Take a corn dough, add honey, coconut and some anise, wrap it in a leaf and boil it.  It becomes a slightly sweet carb component to your endless tapas breakfast.  I really loved this.

9 Pipotitos.  Another local specialty and one that I want to like more than I do.  It’s kind of like a scone.    I had them twice in the hopes that my first one was stale, but no.  But the best thing about these rolls?  Slathering them down with homemade fruit jams—like pineapple preserves and mango butter (like apple butter, but mango-ey).

10 Local fresh cheese.  I love this stuff. Soft, salty and very fresh.

But, wait there’s more!  If you don’t like the 600 options above, there is another set of things that are often eaten together with a cup of coffee for either breakfast or dinner traditionally (yeah, I don’t get how that works either).  This option is definitely not so healthy, so glad we didn’t have the chance to eat it often because it was gooooooooood.

Buñuelos.  Take some corn dough, quenelle it with teaspoons to make the shape, and drop it in hot fry oil.  Love these.  

Chicaronnes.  Some of the best chicaron I have ever had, and this comes from someone who ate it on camera with Guy Fieri.  Here it’s more about the meat than just the skin.  Be sure your pig is young so it’s not tough, and get perfectly sized cuts, and fry it in a big pot outdoors.  Be sure once the fat has rendered you add in a whole bottle of fat you strained and collected from the last time you made them! 

And more fresh, local cheese.  The key—stack the buñuelos and cheese together—like a Panamanian cheese and cracker to get the salty and fried together.

Now I’m probably at risk of dying of a heart attack or obesity, but I think it was worth it!