For many years, the only cachaças available in the U.S. market were so-called industrial cachaças, and even today, they make up the bulk of Brazil’s cachaça exports. These are products run on vast column stills in tremendous quantity. Their flavors are often rough and unrefined, and they sometimes kick off aromas of petroleum or grease. Brazilian stores sell them for cheap, cheap, cheap, often for just a few dollars a bottle; they’re certainly not worth much more than that.
Chocotorta: Argentina
In the United States we celebrate birthday parties with cake, but in Argentina, it’s always the chocotorta, or “chocolate cake.” Its popularity is, in part, due to its simplicity: A tub of dulce de leche, a tub of queso crema (something like a hybrid of sour cream and cream cheese), store-bought wafer-like chocolate cookies, and brewed coffee. (Kahlua is optional if you’re after something a bit boozy.)
The chocolate wafer cookies are quickly dipped in coffee to soften and placed in a baking dish. The queso crema and dulce de leche are mixed together to form a creamy filling, and spread on top of the cookies. Then, a second layer of soaked cookies is added on top, more dulce de leche filling, more cookies, more dulce de leche, and so on. Stick the ice-box chocolate cake in the fridge to chill for a few hours, cut, and serve. It’s one of those simple desserts that ends up craveable, offering the perfect ratio of cookie to dulce de leche cream filling and a subtle hint of coffee flavor.
