AI-generated image
Cocido quemado
Burnt sugar mate drink
Kosído: yerba mate and sugar burned to caramel, then boiled with water into a smoky, amber Paraguayan breakfast drink
Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.
- Total time
- 14 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the cocido
- ⅞ oz yerba mateabout 4 heaped tbsp
- 2 ⅛ oz sugar
- 4 ¼ cups water
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional)for serving, optional
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat a heavy, dry saucepan over a medium heat. Add the 2 ⅛ oz sugar and ⅞ oz yerba mate together.
1 minStep 2: Stir constantly with a wooden spoon as the sugar melts and bubbles round the yerba. Keep going until the caramel is deep amber and smells of toffee and toasted leaves; take it off the heat before it smokes heavily or turns black.
4 minStep 3: Off the heat, carefully pour in the 4 ¼ cups water from the side of the pan at arm's length; it will hiss and the caramel will seize.
1 minStep 4: Return to the heat and boil gently, stirring, until the caramel has dissolved and the liquid is a clear dark amber.
5 minStep 5: Strain through a fine sieve or cloth into cups. Serve as it is, with a 1 cinnamon stick stick to stir, or top each cup with hot milk for cocido con leche (then it is no longer vegan).
1 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 60 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 15 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does cocido quemado take?
- About 14 minutes in total: 2 minutes to prepare and 12 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Power packApple, pear, kiwi and celery juice
A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.
Guava delightGuava, mango and banana drink
A thick, fragrant blend of ripe guava, mango and banana, boosted with a spoonful of guava powder from the health shop. The book calls it a modern-day vitality drink, drawing on guava's long use in traditional Indian medicine. Serve it well chilled; sieve it if you don't like the little guava seeds.
PingadoHot milk with coffee
Order 'um pingado' at the balcão of any São Paulo padaria at 7 in the morning and the attendant pours hot milk into a ridged glass tumbler (the copo americano) and 'drips' in a splash of strong coffee, hence the name. It is milkier and gentler than a média (half coffee, half milk), creamy and lightly sweet, usually drunk standing up with a pão na chapa, a toasted buttered roll. At home you need strong filter coffee and milk heated until steaming. Scalding the milk is the frequent mistake, as boiled milk tastes flat and forms a skin. Chef's tip: froth the hot milk for a few seconds with a whisk or by pouring it back and forth between two jugs before adding the coffee, as padaria machines do.
Brazilian