The smells of Hallacas only means one thing: Venezuelan Christmas. When December arrives, Venezuelan homes are filled with the sweet aroma of a hallaca stew or guiso. It is unique, and smells like Christmas.
The hallaca is internationally recognized as Venezuelan Christmas meal and is a kind of daughter of the tamale (tamal), but with the time it became a mother, because its preparation is more complex Its guiso preparation included a whole family ritual: Only one person should prepare it, while the others work on their tasks that in the end are united. The whole family participates.
What is the difference between the tamale and the hallaca? The tamale, which comes from Mexico, is made of corn dough seasoned with chicken broth, herbs or chili, fat and inside is a stew of some protein or vegetables. Then, it is wrapped in either corn or banana leaves. Each region has its own particular touch of preparation.
The hallaca, on the other hand, has had a different evolution than the tamale. It is not spicy. The complexity and perfection is given by the guiso whose variety depends on the region in Venezuela in which it is made, in addition to the decorations that are included with the wrapping. The preparation of everything can last about 7 hours or more.
The dough is yellow and its tone varies depending on who prepares it, besides the Venezuelan has a kind of care about whether it is thick or thin, more yellow or pale. And there is a healthy competition to recognize which hallaca tastes better, and the comment will always be: “the best hallaca is my mother’s.”
The stew can be only beef or pork, or only pork, or chicken, or chicken with beef, fish or only vegetarian with eggplant. But the other ingredients should be placed in a sort of alphabetical order to give the point you want.
We invite you to try the process of the hallaca as a family, which is also loaded with a unique mystique: one person makes the guiso, another prepares the decorations, another the dough and the most inexperienced tie them up.
As nothing is wasted, after a few hallacas are made and one is exhausted from the work, the stew and the dough are mixed until they are united. From there the bollo comes out. The dough is placed on the sheet and wrapped in the same way as the hallaca. It is usually smaller.
That is why people have dinner with hallaca and breakfast with a bollo.