Mandel Brodt at 10,000 feet

Monday night, I tried to cook a family specialty for my Ecuadorian family: mandel brodt (pronounced ‘bread’). It is a type--my favorite type--of almond/dried fruit dessert.

I am not the most culinarily inclined in my family, but in my Ecuadorian family, I might be the most epicurian of the bunch. A gourmand. The rest of the bunch isn’t really motivated to bring anything new in the kitchen, but they are excited to eat anything that I make them. Like two nights ago, I made my first ever veggie lasagna, and they called it “rico” or rich.

Which brings me to Monday night. In my suitcase to Ecuador, my mom packed me a container of mandel brodt as a gift for my family. And my family loved it (who wouldn’t?). So I told them that I would try to make it for them.

Keyword in that sentence is “try.”

This weekend, I got all the necessary ingredients at the market in Cayambe. I got the recipe from my mom and adjusted it for altitude. Apparently, you are supposed to change things around because there is less oxygen in the air, water boils at a different temperature, and baking can be affected.

Well, we had a great time baking and whatever we made was delicious. I just wouldn’t describe it as “mandel brodt.”

My “cooking at altitude” sheet says that you are supposed to add more liquid the higher up you are. So I did this. But when I put the dough in the pan, it ran to the edges. I guess I made more of a mandel cake than anything else. And also, with less oxygen, the dough didn’t rise as much as it should.



Nonetheless, whatever my family received was met with rave reviews. And I learned my lesson for next time.

I also bought ingredients to make a challah (Jewish egg bread) and a kugel (noodle pudding).

So you should get excited for more tales from the kitchen.

Here is my lasagna, which has already been brought back by popular request.