Sopa Paraguaya (Cheesy Cornbread) Recipe (2024)

P.A.N. is a brand of cornmeal. Goya is another brand (their pre-cooked cornmeal is called Masarepa). Both are good. You can get it at a grocery story with a well-stocked ethnic food section. Or easy to find online

I am seeing a lot of questions and comments about the cheese. I am not Paraguayan but lived in rural Paraguay for about two years. Queso paraguayo is a fresh farmer’s cheese, but it is very different than Mexican queso fresco in both taste and consistency. The cheese itself changes a lot as it ages. You can put any cheese in here you want - it’s cornbread! But I think something stretchy and melty like mozzarella or Muenster will get you a little closer to the real thing than queso fresco.

I'm a big fan of corn bread.....but look at the nutritional information for this recipe..Each serving is approximately 450 calories..Can something be substituted for one cup of corn oil (2000 calories) ?

What does P.A.N. mean? And how do you pre-cook corn meal?

The corn-meal traditional in most Central/South American regions is made with what we call "hominy," (corn kernels boiled with calcium hydroxide, washed and dried before hulling and grinding). This treatment is called "nixtamalization," and prevents dietary diseases such as kwashiorkor and pellagra as well as neutralizing some fungal toxins. In Southern US - where pellagra was a serious problem into the 20th century - wheat flour was added to prevent the disease.

MJP, it appears to be the name of a pre-cooked corn meal/flour brand which I found on internet, "P.A.N. Yellow Corn Meal – Pre-cooked Gluten Free and Kosher Flour for Arepas". The initials stand for Productos Alimenticios Nacionales, and produced in Venezuela, but now in the States as well.

For our general knowledge, what happens if one uses regular cornmeal? Or stated differently, what are the cooking/baking characteristics of pre-cooked versus regular cornmeal? I will look this up, but it would be great explained here.

Great explanation of cornmeal here, including pre-cooked: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/how-to-buy-and-use-cornmealI’m sure one can experiment with regular cornmeal in this recipe, although it may require additional liquid such as buttermilk.

If looking for a substitute, note that P.A.N. cornmeal has not been nixtamalized. When looking at other corn flours in a Latin foods section, I found that most were. Tortillas, tamales, hominy, and grits use nixtamalized corn. Apparently this process increases the nutritional value, but it also changes the flavor.

Nope, it's a different product. You should be able to get PAN at a well stock hispanic grocery. I can find it here in Pittsburgh so I would think it would be even easier to find in Texas.

I was looking forward to this and was very disappointed. For all of the ingredients.....the number of eggs, the amount of cheese, oil and milk, it was not soft or creamy....

This was a lot of work, and not very good. I won’t be making this again.

To have a real, authentic (and more complex) flavor, I think you should use lard (not a lot, but some).

As a Paraguayan, I am thrilled to see one of our beloved traditional dishes, Sopa Paraguaya, featured in the New York Times!😊If you're a fan of Paraguayan Food, I'd love for you to check out my food blog, Camila Made. There, you'll find my unique take on the Traditional Sopa Paraguaya recipe 👉https://camilamade.com/sopa-paraguaya/ and many other delicious Paraguayan foods. Can't wait for you to try them! 😉

This recipe is supposed to emulate a traditional recipe, and it appears that a big part of the dish is its texture. If you start messing with the oil content, the texture will change. If the fat content is a concern for you, I would suggest that you serve small portions or skip this recipe entirely. But I can’t wait to try it!

Wow, this was one of our first failures with any of the recipes. After re-heating just a bit, the bread was rubbery and dense. All that work!!

This recipe is lovely. It’s a rich, dense, moist cornbread. It’s not difficult, just follow the directions. If you’re scared of the nutrient density - don’t make it. That doesn’t make it a bad recipe.

After high hopes and a lot of steps - simply not that great. Fine, but missing something to kick it up a notch.

I should have heeded the comments before making this recipe. It was time consuming, bland, heavy and utterly forgettable. I ordered the Pan cornmeal online and waited eagerly to make this. I wish I had put those 8 eggs to work in something more deserving.

The instructions say “add the onion”, not “add the onion/oil mixture”Am I reading it wrong?M

Not sure what kind of intense flavor folks were expecting from cornbread. This is a delight, dense and soft. Ate it as the starchy base to a sloppy chicken taco type filling, (think shrimp and grits or African stews with fufu,) it was incredible.

Lots of ingredients, not a lot of flavor.

This was a fail. Flavorless. Did I mis-measure the salt? I don't know but it was not good. So much work and the 4 cups milk and 8 eggs and a half pound of cheese basically wasted. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the giant pan of nothingness. Maybe I'll make it into corn croutons. Oh well. Sticking with Jiffy from now on.

This cornbread was delicious. I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand- cheddar cheese worked great, and I used 1/2 buttermilk and 1/2 2% milk. I made a half recipe in an 8 x 8 pan- perfect. I used the proportionate amount of oil (1/2 c)- I kind of think its important but since I'd never made this before I don't really know. I found the PAN cornnmeal at a local Mexican grocery- It's got fine texture and a beautiful yellow color. I'm going to try it for "regular" cornbread.

Made this per recipe with mozzarella cheese. The texture was nice, but the flavor was meh. Maybe some parmesan or more salt would help?

Huge caloric intake for a side dish. While my evaluation team ( husband) liked it, after seeing how much time it took to make, he said there are other cheesy cornbread recipes he preferred. Fun cultural experience, though!

Tried this today and loved it. It lends itself to little modifications that could go either sweet or savory (or, with careful application, both). I didn’t use that much oil (maybe 3 tablespoons), and the texture was still soft and very much like a bread pudding. Really beat the egg whites, though - get some air in there!

Wish I’d read these notes. I cooked regular Bobs Mill cornmeal and weighed out the grams then saw later it was supposed to be dry pre cooked! Had to add a lot of dry to get a better consistency. And NO way could this fit in 9x13. I used a 16x20 roasting pan! Would not make this again.

Great base cornbread without the gluten. Texture was smoother and less cakey than traditional cornbread.We made this as a base for the Parmesan Braised Beans with Olives recipe from NYT, and the whole meal was warm, satisfying, filling, and generally delightful.

So NOT a “bread pudding” texture. Dry. Perhaps because we used a fairly granular cor meal. Still delicious. Looking forward to fixing leftovers with butter and honey.