Arepas, Round 2.

Wow, did I get arepas wrong the first time. After much, much arepa research, and a few panicked calls to Caracas Arepa Bar (where my new friend Luis made the process sound as simple as making a bowl of cereal: "mix the dough with your hand until it's done. Heat on a griddle until its done." Things got much clearer when we switched to Spanish.), I think I perfected arepas on the second try.

These were totally different than what I made Sunday. The white cornmeal made for a lighter, fluffier, english muffin-like patty as opposed to the yellow hockey puck I got last time. I'm still not sure they souffled enough... everyone kept saying "bake until they make a hollow sound when tapped." What does a hollow arepa sound like? If a hollow arepa is tapped alone in a forest and no one hears it, would it make a sound? Answer me that, Luis.

Step 1: "Mix the dough until it's done. Form a pelotita with your hand."

 (Note the Harina P.A.N.  Much better than stupid Masarepa.)

 Step 2: "Heat on a griddle until they are done"

              Step 3: "Bake until they make a hollow sound when tapped alone in a forest. Then stuff with whatever you like."

For this try, I marinated hot dogs in a mixture of Sofrito and Salzon Liquido for a little while, and grilled until crispy and caramelized on the outside. I didn't know that it was possible to make a hot dog saltier than it already is, but thanks to our friends at Goya, you can significantly increase the salt factor, and add a little latino kick too.

I also added a generous amount of avocado (which i would have to reduce for 300 people, I guess), and cotija cheese. I would do some sort of a salsa or pico de gallo on top, but I haven't gotten that far yet. 

All in all, this was an enormous improvement over my first arepa experiment. The marinating/grilling of the meat was tangy, salty, and satisfying next to the avocado. I am leaning toward doing this one, but I'll hold out on a final verdict until I do Arepas Part 3 tonight.