Southern ChileShellfish and meatAt the table

Pulmay: A Feast with Its Own Cup of Broth

Pulmay · Curanto en olla

In southern Chile’s pot-cooked curanto, the shellfish and meat are only part of the serving. The broth gets its own cup, while the potato accompaniments reveal how differently cooks can organize the same feast.

SmartRestro editorial Updated September 17, 2026 4 min read

Shellfish, meat and potatoes share the platter; the cooking broth has a place of its own beside it.

At the table

Make room for the broth

A platter of pulmay asks for more than a plate. Alongside the shellfish, chicken, smoked pork and potatoes, several Chilean recipes give each diner a cup or bowl of the cooking liquid. The broth is part of the serving, carrying the flavors gathered in the pot. Gourmet Chile makes the arrangement explicit: meat, shellfish and potatoes go onto a platter, with glasses of their broth alongside.

Pulmay is also called curanto en olla: curanto cooked in a pot. Chile’s patrimonial thesaurus places it in the south of the country and describes layers separated by cabbage leaves. ProCultura’s Patagonia Verde guide connects it with the coastal food traditions shared with Chiloé, including those of Chaitén and Hualaihué. What happens inside that pot, however, is not identical from one cook’s account to another.

Read the layers

The same dish, different arrangements

The potato accompaniments make the differences especially clear. These two published versions share layered cooking and a separate serving of broth, while organizing the meal differently.

The family menu: potatoes and doughs within

In the “De Puerto Montt con amor” menu in El Menú de Chile, smoked pork and longaniza are followed by chicken and whole potatoes. A covering separates these from the shellfish. Prepared milcaos and chapaleles occupy further layers above, with coverings between them. Wine and water supply the liquid; a bowl of the resulting broth accompanies each serving.

Whole potatoes cook in the main pot.
The potato doughs cook above the shellfish.

Marín’s version: accompaniments alongside

Roberto Marín Vivado describes a larger assortment of seafood and meat separated with cabbage. He keeps the whole potatoes in another pot and serves the milcaos and chapaleles fried. At the table, the cooked components fill separate platters, while the concentrated cooking liquor goes into a jug.

Whole potatoes are cooked separately.
Fried accompaniments join the meal at the table.

Cooked cabbage leaves folded back over open mussels and clams in a tall pot of pulmay — Cabbage leaves can separate layers and cover the pot’s contents. The precise arrangement changes between recipes.

Inside and beside the pot

Layers describe an arrangement, not a single schedule

Pilar Rodríguez’s recipe for Enoturismo Chile offers another useful distinction: she starts cooking the chicken, then adds the sausage and smoked ribs, before putting the shellfish on top and covering them with cabbage. A layered dish need not mean that every ingredient enters the pot at the same moment. When following a recipe, its assembly and sequence belong together.

The potato doughs also deserve their own names. In Marín’s accompaniment recipes, milcao combines mashed cooked potato with squeezed, grated raw potato, lard and chopped pork cracklings. Chapalele uses cooked potato and wheat flour, with fat and cracklings in his version. They are different doughs, even when they appear at the same meal.

His milcao recipe allows frying, baking or cooking within the curanto. That range explains why the accompaniment can arrive with a browned crust in one version and cook among the covered layers in another. Whole potatoes, milcaos and chapaleles give the meal several expressions of the same staple; the method determines which ones share the pot.

Fried milcaos with one cut open to show dense potato dough and small pieces of pork crackling — A fried milcao has a browned surface around dense potato dough. Marín serves this accompaniment separately from the pulmay pot.

A meal with a setting

A birthday table remembered from Puerto Montt

“De Puerto Montt con amor” was assembled to celebrate Elfi Uribe Altamirano’s eighty-first birthday. Her family’s contribution to El Menú de Chile links the meal to her Puerto Montt roots and memories of Angelmó. Pulmay with milcaos, chapaleles and its broth forms the main course, between southern sopaipillas with pebre and a raspberry kuchen. The pot belongs to a whole menu of remembered foods.

Marín’s serving instructions are similarly attentive to the table: platters for the different components, a cup of broth for each person, and a receptacle for discarded shells. For someone meeting pulmay for the first time, that is a useful way to approach it. Enjoy the shellfish and meats as distinct pieces, notice how the potato accompaniments were cooked, and leave room beside the plate for the broth.

Research notes

Sources behind the story

Chilean heritage records, local food writing and named recipes establish the dish and document its different arrangements. The accounts are attributed rather than combined into a single recipe.

Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural — Pulmay Institutional definition of pulmay as curanto en olla, with southern Chilean context and cabbage-separated layers.
ProCultura — Patagonia Verde Printed pages 17, 43 and 74 place pulmay in southern coastal foodways and describe its shellfish, meat and potato accompaniments.
El Menú de Chile — De Puerto Montt con amor Printed pages 152–155 introduce Elfi Uribe Altamirano’s family menu; pages 172–173 give the layered pulmay and milcaos.
Roberto Marín Vivado — El Curanto en Olla o Pulmay An authored account of separate potato accompaniments, serving platters, a jug of cooking liquor and cups for the diners.
Roberto Marín Vivado — Milcaos The combination of cooked potato and squeezed grated raw potato, with lard and pork cracklings; several cooking options.
Roberto Marín Vivado — Chapaleles A distinct dough of cooked potato and wheat flour, with fat and cracklings in this version.
Gourmet Chile — Curanto en Olla o Pulmay Corroborates the platter service with separate glasses of cooking broth.
Pilar Rodríguez, Enoturismo Chile — Pulmay A local chef’s variation that starts the meats before adding shellfish and a covering of cabbage leaves.