Author: typepadtowordpress

What Defines “Authentic” Mexican Food?

I wrote and first published this article in 2010, in response to inquiries from readers who were confused about other authors' articles about "What is authentic Mexican food?" The subject has come up again and again, most recently in comments and queries from readers and food professionals about Mexican and other cuisines. I still stand behind what I wrote nearly 10 years ago.

"Real" Mexican chile relleno (stuffed, battered, and fried chile poblano), caldillo de jitomate (thin tomato broth), and frijoles negros de la olla (freshly cooked black beans). Notice that the chile is not suffocated with globs of melted cheese: the cheese is inside the chile, as its filling.

More and more people who want to experience "real" Mexican food are asking about the availability of authentic Mexican meals outside Mexico. Bloggers and posters on food-oriented websites have vociferously definite opinions on what constitutes authenticity. Writers' claims range from the uninformed (the fajitas at such-and-such a restaurant are totally authentic, just like in Mexico) to the ridiculous (Mexican cooks in Mexico can't get good ingredients, so Mexican meals prepared in the United States are superior to those in Mexico).

Much of what I read about authentic Mexican cooking reminds me of that old story of the blind men and the elephant. "Oh," says the first blind man, running his hands up and down the elephant's leg, "an elephant is exactly like a tree." "Aha," says the second, stroking the elephant's trunk, "the elephant is precisely like a hose." And so forth. I contend that if you haven't experienced what most writers persist in calling "authentic Mexican", then there's no way to compare any restaurant in the United States with anything that is prepared or served in Mexico. You're simply spinning your wheels.

It's my considered opinion that there is no such thing as one definition of authentic Mexican. Wait, before you start hopping up and down to refute that, consider that in my opinion, "authentic" is generally what you were raised to appreciate. Your mother's pot roast is authentic, but so is my mother's. Your aunt's tuna salad is the real deal, but so is my aunt's, and they're not the least bit similar. And Señora Martínez in Mexico makes yet another version of tuna salad, very different from any I've eaten in the USA.

Carne de puerco en salsa verde (pork meat in green sauce), a traditional recipe as served at the restaurant Fonda Margarita in Mexico City.

Carne de puerco en salsa verde from the Mexico Cooks! home kitchen. The preparation looks similar to that at Fonda Margarita, but I tweak a thing or two that make the recipe my personal tradition, different from the restaurant's.

As you can see, the descriptor I use for many dishes is 'traditional'. We can even argue about that adjective, but it serves to describe the traditional dish of–oh, say carne de puerco en chile verde–as served in the northern part of Mexico, in Mexico City, in the Central Highlands, or in the Yucatán. There may be big variations among the preparations of this dish, but each preparation is traditional and each is considered authentic in its region.

I think that in order to understand the cuisines of Mexico, we have to give up arguing about authenticity and concentrate on the reality of certain dishes.

A nearly 200-year-old tradition in Mexico that shows up every September on Mexico's home and restaurant tables: chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles poblano in a creamy sauce made with fresh (i.e., recently harvested) walnuts. It's the Mexican flag on your plate: green chile poblano, creamy white walnut sauce, and red pomegranate arils. But hoo boy–there are arguments to the death about the "authentic" way to prepare these chiles: battered or not battered? Put up your dukes! (I fall on the not-battered side, in case you wondered. God help me.)

Traditional Mexican cooking is not a hit-or-miss let's-make-something-for-dinner proposition based on "let's see what we have in the despensa (pantry)." Traditional Mexican cooking is as complicated and precise as traditional French cooking, with just as many hidebound conventions as French cuisine imposes. You can't just throw some chiles and a glob of chocolate into a sauce and call it mole. You can't simply decide to call something "authentic" Mexican x, y, or z when it's not. There are specific recipes to follow, specific flavors and textures to expect, and specific results to attain. Yes, some liberties are taken, particularly in Mexico's new alta cocina mexicana (Mexican haute cuisine) and fusion restaurants, but even those liberties are based, we hope, on specific traditional recipes. As Alicia Gironella d'Angeli (a true grande dame of Mexico's kitchen) often said to me, "Cristina, you cannot de-construct a dish until you have learned to construct it." Amen.

In recent readings of food-oriented websites, I've noticed questions about what ingredients are available in Mexico. The posts have gone on to ask whether or not those ingredients are up to snuff when compared to what's available in what the writer believes to be more sophisticated food sources such as the United States.

Deep red, vine-ripened plum tomatoes, available all year long in central Mexico. The sign reads, "Don't think about it much–take home a little kilo!" At twelve pesos the kilo, these Mexico-grown tomatoes, brought to market red-ripe, cost approximately 75 cents USD for 2.2 pounds.

Surprise, surprise: most readily available fresh foods in Mexico's markets are even better than similar ingredients you find outside Mexico. Foreign chefs who tour with me to visit Mexico's stunning produce, fish, and meat markets are inevitably astonished to see that what is grown for the ordinary home-cook end user in Mexico is fresher, riper, more flavorful, more attractive, and much less costly than similar ingredients available in the United States.

Chicken, ready for the pot. The chickens raised in Mexico for our food are generally fed ground marigold petals mixed into their feed–that's why the flesh is so pink, the skin so yellow, and why the egg yolks are like big orange suns.

It's the same with most meats: pork and chicken are head and shoulders above what you find in North of the Border supermarkets. Fish and seafood are direct-from-the-sea fresh and distributed by air within just an hour or two from any of Mexico's long coastlines.

Look at the quality of Mexico's fresh, locally grown, seasonal strawberries–and the season starts right now, in February. Deep red to its center, a strawberry like this is hard to find in other countries.

Nevertheless, Mexican restaurants in the United States make do with the less-than-superior ingredients found outside Mexico. In fact, some downright delicious traditional Mexican meals can be had in some north of the border Mexican restaurants. Those restaurants are hard to find, though, because in the States, most of what has come to be known as Mexican cooking is actually Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex cooking. There's nothing wrong with Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex cooking, nothing at all. It's just not traditional Mexican cooking. Tex-Mex is great food from a particular region of the United States. Some of it is adapted from Mexican cooking and some is the invention of early Texas settlers. Some innovations are adapted from both of those points of origin. Fajitas, ubiquitous on Mexican restaurant menus all over the United States, are a typical Tex-Mex invention. Now available in some of Mexico's restaurants, fajitas are offered to the tourist trade as prototypically authentic.

Pozole blanco (white pozole) with delicious clear broth that starts with a a long-simmered whole pig's head, nixtamalized native white cacahuatzintle corn, and lots of tender, flavorful pork meat. Add to the pot some herbs and spices. Then add hunks of avocado at the table–along with a squeeze or two of limón criollo (you know it as Key lime), some crushed, dried Mexican oregano, crushed, dried chile de árbol, a raw egg fresh from the shell (it cooks in the hot broth), and, if you like, a tablespoon or two of mezcal. Traditional and heavenly!

You need to know that the best of Mexico's cuisines is not found in restaurants. It comes straight from somebody's mama's kitchen. Clearly not all Mexicans are good cooks, just as not all Chinese are good cooks, not all Italians are good cooks, and so forth. But the most traditional, the most (if you will) authentic Mexican meals are home prepared.

Diana Kennedy, UNAM 2011. Mrs. Kennedy was at the Mexican National Autonomous University to present her book, Oaxaca Al Gusto.

That reality is what made Diana Kennedy who she is today: she took the time to travel Mexico, searching for the best of the best of the traditional preparations. For the most part, she didn't find them in fancy restaurants, homey comedores (small commercial dining rooms) or fondas (tiny working-class restaurants). She found them as she stood facing the stove in a home kitchen, watching doña Fulana prepare desayuno (breakfast), comida (the midday main meal of the day), or cena (supper) for her family. Ms. Kennedy, an English woman, took the time to educate her palate, understand the ingredients, taste what was offered to her, and learn, learn, learn from home cooks before she started putting traditional recipes, techniques, and stories on paper. If we take the time to prepare recipes from any of Ms. Kennedy's many cookbooks, we too can take advantage of her wealth of experience and can come to understand what traditional Mexican cooking can be. Her books will bring Mexico's kitchens to you when you are not able to go to Mexico. But please: do follow the recipes, or your dish will come out different from what it is supposed to be.

My dear friend Abigail Mendoza, cocinera tradicional (traditional home cook) from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, prepares a vat of mole negro (black mole, the king of moles) for a large party she invited me to attend at her home.

In order to understand the traditional cuisines of Mexico, we need to experience their riches. Until that time, we can argue till the cows come home and you'll still be just another blind guy patting the beast's side and exclaiming how the elephant is mighty like a wall.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

30 de May de 2020
Burguer Locas “La Vía” :: Crazy Burgers, on the Other Side of the Tracks, Morelia, Michoacán

One night a few months ago, Luisa and I went to collect a mutual friend from Morelia's Central de Autobuses (long-distance bus station), partially seen in the photo above. I have been to and from this bus station a zillion times and the route to it from my house and back is simple and quick–about 15 minutes by taxi or private car. This time, the trip TO the bus station was, as usual, a snap. Our friend piled her suitcases into the car and we were off, taking her to her lodging in the Centro Histórico. Easy-peasy…except that all the regular routes were blocked off for who-knows-what reason. And oh boy, were we lost, wandering around for over an hour on semi-dicey streets searching for a way home.

Not only were the streets closed, but along the one street that would have taken us straight to the Centro Histórico, all the cross streets were blocked by a long, parked train. We stopped more than once to ask directions, and every time we could get just so far till we were stymied again.

We kept passing the place in this photo, brightly lit in the late, dark evening and filled with people doing we didn't know what. Eating tacos? Having a beer? Watching wrestling on TV? The joint doesn't look like much, does it? This innocuous-appearing place has been open since 2005. In 15 years, it's positioned itself as Morelia's iconic gotta-go-there hamburger stand.

No sign, no walls, no visible access from the street–but hang onto your hat, readers. It's certainly not your white-tablecloth, wine-list, chef-graduated-from-culinary-school restaurant, nor is it anyplace I ever knew existed. But now I've been there, and I vouch for the astounding food on the extremely brief menu of Burguer Locas La Vía (Crazy Burgers by the Railroad Track), barely north and west of Morelia's Centro Histórico. Next time your stomach is pleading for a great big juicy hamburger, you can find the Burguer Locas La Vía location easily on Google maps. Just type the name, Burguer Locas La Vía Morelia, in the search window.

We decided that lost in Morelia night that one evening when we had some free time, we'd look for that yellow-tarp lean-to and see what was what. That day came a couple of weeks ago, when Luisa's car needed some early-morning attention at a car dealer not far from our house. To get there from here, the map showed a straight shot–but it turned out that we had to take a right turn on Av. Michoacán, the street that leads directly past–ta-daa!–that yellow tarp place.

And just a week ago today, we were near there and had some free evening time, and we wanted take-out for supper at home. "Let's go see what that place sells!" we screeched. And we were there in a heartbeat: just about sunset, no blocked streets, no train on the tracks, and a temporary sign on the inside wall, because of COVID-19, reading, "Take-out only".

We parked and walked just a few steps along the side of the street to a spot where we could cross the tracks to get inside, and our jaws dropped. A hamburger joint! And not only a hamburger joint, but what we later found out is arguably the most popular hamburger joint in Morelia! Who knew!

Two long stainless steel grilling areas, where the hamburgers are prepared to order. We were there at about 8:00PM on a Saturday, early for supper in Mexico. Add the general nervousness about going out and you can see that there is almost no one in line. That big empty area where you can see a couple of red chairs is normally filled with tables and chairs–and eaters! Later on the evening we got take-out, even with COVID-19, I suspect there would have been a long line.

This photo shows you the entire menu. Click on any photograph to enlarge your view. Here's what's available:
–Single: one big hand-shaped beef patty, one square of yellow cheese and one of white, chopped lettuce and tomato, a really big patty-shaped disk of thick mashed potatoes, and a huge quantity of perfectly fried bacon, all on a gigantic bun.
–Double: two big hand-shaped beef patties, two squares of yellow cheese and one of white, and all the rest that the single offers.
–Maniac: three big hand-shaped beef patties and all the rest. All the rest, indeed.
–Hot dog: a turkey dog with Oaxaca cheese and bacon, on a bun.

You can also get extra tocino (bacon), extra Oaxaca cheese, and extra salchicha (hot dog). The place serves soft drinks and horchata or jamaica aguas frescas.  Oh, and malteadas (milk shakes).

Because we were rookies and didn't know what we were getting into, we each ordered a double. The bag that contained them weighed at least a kilo and a half. What in the world had we done? When we unwrapped these babies at home, our jaws dropped again. In the first place, there was no way to force even a wide-open mouth around that thing. In the second place, there was at least half a pound of bacon on each one. This one is Luisa's.

Here's the what happens after you place your order:
Distant top: grilling the buns.
One flat-top down: grilling the bacon.
Next flat-top: grilling the enormous hamburgers. Each of those patties is crazy-big. And we ordered a double– did I mention a double each?
Foreground: grilling the mashed potato patty and cheese.

Finishing the grillwork. The one on the left is a double, the one on the right is a single.

Two of the numerous guys who do the work. The service at Burguer Locas is sensational. Note that their anti-virus masks have the Burguer Locas logo directly in front of the mouth. I'm going back to ask for one of those masks!

Top: an encurtido (cured in vinegar) of raw onions and chiles, for a garnish. Bottom: chiles toreados (grilled with a little oil) to eat as a side.

My hamburger and its extraordinary pile of bacon.

There was no possible way to open my mouth wide enough. We did manage to finish both of these humongus things, but we both swore that we would never order a double apiece again. It's been a long time since I needed to lie down after a meal, but this was that time. Truly, these are Crazy Burgers: crazy big, and crazy delicious. By all means, go.

Burguer Locas La Vía
Av. Michoacán at the corner of Calle Vías
Colonia Jacarandas
Morelia, Michoacán, México
Hours:
Closed Sundays
Open Monday through Saturday 4:30PM until 2:30AM
See you there!

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23 de May de 2020
The Astonishing Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve in Southeastern Mexico

This is a tiny part of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere near the town of Coxcatlán, Puebla. Many huge columnar cardón cactus are visible through the trees and shrubs. An all but unmarked entrance to this section of the biosphere is approximately five kilometers from Coxcatlán. The dirt road into the biosphere is in relatively good shape during this part of the year when it rains very little. The greenery and hills looked at first like any other part of rural Mexico, but what I saw and learned here excited me enormously.

As we wound slowly along the dirt road, we saw a roadrunner skitter across our path and into the undergrowth; even our old-hand guide to the reserve was excited! He said it was really unusual to get to see this elusive bird. I'd previously seen two or three of them near Albuquerque, but never in Mexico. The roadrunner ran across the road so fast that his legs truly looked like they were spinning in circles, just like the famous cartoon. He was far too quick for me to take his picture from the car; thank you Joe Schelling for the use of this wonderful image.

The bottlebrush-shaped flower of the senegalia greggii (uña de gato, or cat's claw acacia) bush. The plant is said to be medicinal. While walking a short, sandy, uphill trail, I slipped, fell on my posterior, and an insect stung me there several times, and quite painfully. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise mentioned.

Leaves, branches, and cat-claw shaped thorns of the uña de gato tree. One of the men in our party cut two thin, 3" long pieces of a green branch of uña de gato and told me to put one little stick behind each ear, the way you'd put a pencil behind your ear, to take away the pain of the stings. I followed instructions and little by little the pain diminished. Would it have lessened anyway? Probably, but I've learned to say 'yes' to most possibilities in Mexico. I never want to miss anything!

Meet the cardón cactus (Pachycereus pringlei), which grows prolifically in the Tehuacán biosphere. It is the tallest cactus species in the world and an enormous specimen such as this one can weigh as much as 25 tons. The cardón bears a delicious fruit. Woodpeckers drill into its columns to make their nests and small animals also invade them for shelter. This particular columnar giant in its prime of life is approximately 20 meters (nearly 70 feet) tall. Its rate of growth? Just a smidge over two centimeters per year. Its age? You do the math. Clue: its lifespan is measured in hundreds of years.

This common ornamental–you might even have one growing in your garden–is lantana. It's so widespread that most of us don't know that it is native to Mexico, particularly to semi-arid and tropical regions. It grows wild in the biosphere. Between its orange and yellow flowers, the varied greens of bushes and trees, and the white and pink flowers of the uña de gato, the underbrush glows like the colors on an artist's palette.

The tall pochote tree, native to Mexico and sacred to the Maya, looks as if it is wearing an exotic armor of fearsome thorns, but in reality they are merely protuberances similar in their soft texture to cork. I noticed that one of our companions, a guide to the biosphere, had hitched himself partway up the trunk and was breaking some of them off the tree; just before I asked him to take one or two for me, he slid down and put five of them into my hand. How lovely that he read my mind!

Another of our guide companions explained that the pochote is host to a kind of worm called cuetla, which is about ten centimeters (four inches) long and relatively thick through the body. The cuetlas are harvested, roasted or fried, and eaten; they are allegedly quite tasty and are thought of as a delicacy. The bulbous roots of the tree store substantial water; the roots can be dug up and chewed to quench thirst.

The five pochote spines, with some other tiliches (tchotchkes, little stuff) on the top shelf of a miniature trastero (literally, dish cupboard) in my kitchen. The tallest pochote spine, far left, measures about two inches high.

The pods of the pochote, about six to eight inches long, are filled with a very light, cottony, fibrous material that can be used to stuff pillows. The pochote fibers, known in English as kapok, were at one time used as a filling for life vests.

Mica, a silicate mineral found everywhere in the world, is abundant in the biosphere. Our small group noticed light glinting from what we thought were numerous but ordinary stones on the sandy paths. Our guides immediately told us that the 'stones' were mica. They seemed almost magical, reflecting the strong light of the summer sun. Photo courtesy Google Images.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

16 de May de 2020
Corn: A Prehistoric Gift from Mexico to Feed the World

At first glance, these appear to be flowers–but look closely: they're actually cross-sections of different varieties, sizes and colors of maíces nativos (native corn), grown continuously in Mexico for thousands of years, right up to the present time. They're so beautiful–and delicious! Photo courtesy Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana.

A few years ago, CONACULTA (Mexico's ministry of culture) invited Maestro Rafael Mier and Mexico Cooks! to speak about the preservation of traditional tortillas and about the milpa (millennia-old sustainable agricultural method still used in Mexico) at the Second Annual Festival Universo de la Milpa, held this year in Santa María Coapan, Puebla. Santa María Coapan, a part of the municipality of Tehuacán, is at the epicenter of the documented-to-date 11,000 year history of corn.

Left to right in the photo: Maestra Teresa de la Luz Hilario, Regidora de Educación y Cultura de Santa María Coapan; Maestro Rafael Mier of Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana; Mexico Cooks!; (speaking) the humanitarian and life-long human rights abogada del pueblo (advocate for the people) Concepción Hernández Méndez; and at far right, Lic. Roberto G. Quintero Nava, Director General de Culturas Populares of Puebla, CONACULTA. It was an honor to be part of this event and to meet its outstanding participants in this center of Mexican corn production. Photo courtesy Rafael Mier.

In tiny Coxcatlán, Puebla (just down the highway on the road south out of Tehuacán), a main attraction is the monument to corn. The legend at the base of the recently refurbished monument reads, "Coxcatlán, Cuna del Maíz (Cradle of Corn)". All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

From the small town of Coxcatlán, our driver took us about five kilometers further, south toward the Oaxaca border; there's a turnoff onto a dirt road at the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve. The September 24, 2016 Mexico Cooks! article offers some fascinating general information about the biosphere.

If you didn't know to turn onto that poorly marked, narrow, and winding dirt road, you'd just keep whizzing along the highway, saying, "Nothing to see here, just a lot of big cactus and scrub trees. The Oaxaca border is only 30 kilometers away, let's hurry so we get there before dark." But this humble dirt road twists through a portion of an internationally important site marking the origin and development of agriculture in Mesoamerica and the world. Archeological research here has provided key information regarding the domestication of various species such as corn (Zea mays sp.), chile (Capsicum annuum), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), avocado (Persea americana), squash (Cucurbita sp.), bean (Phaseolus sp.), and numerous other plants that are with us still in the modern era. This biosphere is home to just under 3000 kinds of native flora plus the largest collection of columnar cacti in the world. In addition, the biosphere contains approximately 600 species of vertebrate animals. Let's not hurry–let's spend some time here.

Archeologist Richard S. MacNeish (April 29, 1918-January 16, 2001). In 1965, Dr. MacNeish and a group of his colleagues first uncovered the agricultural treasures in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán biosphere. Their excavation resulted in some of the most significant agricultural finds in the world. A statue in his memory is prominent today in Tehuacán. Dr. MacNeish, one of the most outstanding archaeologists of the Americas, developed innovative field methods that allowed him and his teams of co-archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, agronomists, and others to use science rather than educated guesswork to locate potentially important sites for excavation. Other than his discoveries in this biosphere, which are crucial to our understanding of Mesoamerican agriculture and settlement, his greatest legacy is probably his influence on and encouragement of students, other archaeologists, and the multitude of scientific professionals with whom he worked. Photo of Dr. MacNeish courtesy LibraryThing.

My good friend and colleague Rafael Mier, founder of Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana (by all means join the Facebook group), had talked a good while with me about his desire to visit the site where, over 50 years ago, Dr. MacNeish documented the remains of ancient corn. The more we talked about going to the cave, the more my heart raced: We were going to visit one of the places in Mexico where corn was born. Where corn was born. I felt that the trip would be much more than a Sunday drive in the country: it felt like a pilgrimage, to the most basic food destination in Mexico. To the origin of everything.

The extremely ancient peoples of what is now Mexico domesticated a native wild-growing plant called teocintle, which over the course of many years became what we know today as corn. Teocintle–the photo above is a seed head of the plant, harvested in 2015 in the State of Mexico and framed in sterling silver–is a grass similar to rice in that the grains grow and mature as a cluster of individuals, on a stalk. A mazorca (seed head) of teocintle has no center structure; no cob, if you will. One of the primary features that distinguishes corn from teocintle is the cob. Scientists tracked the domestication of teocintle from the wild grain to its semi-domesticated state, and from semi-domestication to the incredible variety of native Mexican corns that we know today. The actual teocintle seed head in the photo measures approximately three inches long. What you see in my hand is the million-times-over great-grandfather, the ancient ancestor of corn.

The mouth of la Cuna del Maíz Mexicano (the cradle of Mexican corn). I grew up in the southern United States, where I knew a few caves. I had expected to see a cave along the lines of Wyandotte Caves in Indiana, or Mammoth Cave in Kentucky: huge, multi-room caverns in which a person can walk along seeing rivers, stalagmites, stalactites, and other underground cave formations. Not here; this cave is simply what you see in the photograph, a sheltering karst-formation in the limestone, a pre-historic bubble. Standing in this spot gave me chills, and simply thinking about it while looking at the photograph now makes a shiver run up my spine. Out here in the vastness of this ancient natural world, in some ways so similar to the primitive world into which corn was born, one forgets about the crowded city, one forgets about modern problems, and one returns both mentally and spiritually to another time and to a connection with those Stone Age people who gave us the gift of corn, the true staff of life in much of today's world.

This shelter, according to years-long archeological research by Dr. MacNeish and others, was used as a camp, as a shelter during the rainy season for as many as 25 to 30 people, and as a post-harvest storage place for corn and other native vegetables (corn, beans, chiles, etc). Families, bands of families, and tribes living in or traveling through the Coxcatlán area used this type shelter for 10,000 years or more, primarily during the time in Mesoamerica that is analogous to the Archaic archeological period: approximately 5000 to 3400 BCE. Dr. MacNeish's extensive research showed more than 42 separate occupations, 28 habitation zones, and seven cultural phases in this cave.

At the Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum) in Tehuacán, there is a small display of the original dehydrated corn cobs and utensils found in the cave in the biosphere. This tiny cob measures less than one inch long.

These dehydrated cobs, also found in the cave, are quite a bit larger and probably somewhat younger than the tiny one in the photo above. They measure between 2 and 3 inches long. Some ancient fingers plucked this corn from its stalk, some long-ago woman–she must have been a woman–removed the kernels from the cobs and prepared food. How similar the growing methods, how similar what they ate, those people who created corn from a wild plant. Corn, beans, chiles, squash, amaranth, avocado: all served up in some way for millennia-past meals, and all available in Mexico's markets today. What foods do you eat that nourished your Stone Age forebears? How precious it is to know and taste the flavors of eleven thousand years worth of comidas (Mexico's main meal of the day)!

In addition to the important finding of dehydrated corn cob specimens (nearly 25,000 samples) and other kinds of vegetables in the substrata of the Tehuacán cave, Dr. MacNeish and subsequent archeologists found a large number of ancient tools such as chipped-flint darts used for hunting, grinding stones, and coas (pointed sticks used for planting). The investigators also found approximately 100 samples of human feces, which were examined to document the human diet of those long-ago days. Thanks to carbon dating, a method of determining the age of organic objects which was developed in the 1940s, scientists were and continue to be able to assign dates to ancient artifacts.

Part of a mural found in ruins dating to 650-900 AD in Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala. Click on the photograph to enlarge it; you'll see that what initially appear to be ears of corn are in fact a part of Mexico's creation myth: humankind is born of corn, and corn is born of humankind. Corn, which humankind created in the domestication process, cannot in fact exist without a human helping hand to husk it, take the dried kernels from the cob, and plant those kernels for subsequent harvest. Aside from wheat and rice, corn is the single-most planted grain in the world; there are countries and regions where humans could not exist without corn.

This tiny mazorca (dried ear of corn) is maíz palomero: (popcorn, scientific name Zaya mays everta), native to Mexico, the only kind of corn in the world that pops. Maíz palomero is believed by many scientists to have been the first corn. Today, this original corn is tragically all but extinct in Mexico. My colleague Maestro Rafael Mier, who lives in Mexico City, wanted to plant it; he contacted a number of possible sources without locating any seed at all. He ultimately called a seed bank in another Mexican state to see if they had some. They did, and they took seeds out of their freezer bank so that he could sow them on his property. His goal is to begin the reversal of the extinction of this original Mexican corn. This wee ear of popcorn, the standard size for this variety, is just about four inches long. Look how beautiful it is, with its crystalline white and golden triangular kernels.

Mexico still grows and cooks with 59 different varieties of native corns, corns that are essential to the regions in which they grow. A type of native corn that grows well in the state of Tamaulipas, for example, will probably not produce as well in Oaxaca. Nor will a native corn that is easily produced in the state of Guerrero grow well in the state of Coahuila. Climates differ, altitudes differ, soils differ: all impact Mexico's native corns. If you click on the poster to enlarge it, you'll see how very, very different Mexico's 59 corn varieties are from one another. Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better view. Photo courtesy CIMMYT.

These elotes (ears of freshly harvested young corn) are native to the state of Michoacán.

These large fresh ears are elotes from the State of México, for sale earlier this summer at Mexico City's Mercado de Jamaica.

A basket of multi-colored mazorcas (dried ears of corn) grown in the state of Tlaxcala, the smallest state in the República.

Mexico knows itself as 'the people of the corn'. Mexico knows that sin maíz no hay país–without corn, there is no country. Right now, Mexico is at a crisis point, the point of preserving its heritage of corn–or allowing that heritage to be lost to the transnational producers of uniform, high-yielding, genetically modified corn that is not Mexico's corn. I take my stand on the side of the 11,000 year history that defines us.

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9 de May de 2020
Popcorn, The Original Mexican Corn :: Maíz Palomero, El Maíz Original de México

From the un-popped kernel to the fully popped microwave-able snack treat, popcorn's evolution is many millennia old. Popcorn was the first corn in Mexico, domesticated at least 5000 years before the common era. In other words, the cultivation of popcorn is at least 7,000 years old–and probably closer to 11,000 years old!

The non-profit organization Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, founded by my dear friend Rafael Mier, celebrated its first birthday on November 17, 2016. In the single year of its existence, the group has gathered together more than 153,000 followers on Facebook. Every one of these followers, people from all over Mexico, from Guatemala, and from other countries in Central and South America, is nervous about the decline of the tortilla, the possible loss of Mexico's native corns as well as those where they live, and the near-extinction of popcorn: Mexico's original corn. Here's the link to the group; please join! Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana

Update: just prior to publication of this article, membership in the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana jumped to approximately 450,000 members! There is plenty of room for more, join up!

Two of the first beautiful ears of maíz palomero toluqueño (popcorn from Toluca, Mexico) that the preservation team harvested in late September, 2016.

This basket is filled to overflowing with maíz palomero (Mexican popcorn), seed sourced and sown in the State of Mexico by my colleague maestro Rafael Mier and his team of assistants: harvested on September 25, 2016, a day to remember. The thrill of being just a tiny part of this project makes my heart skip a beat!

One ear of maíz palomero rests in the palm of my hand. The photo gives you a good idea of the size of these ears; compared to the size of USA-grown hybrid ears, these are tiny. USA growers have hybridized popcorn to give a large ear that yields more popcorn in a smaller planting area. Popcorn, however, has been hybridized, not genetically modified. There is NO GMO popcorn. Think otherwise? Google is your friend!

Obtaining the popcorn seed was the result of an exhaustive investigation in which he traveled to different small towns around Toluca (in years gone by, a tremendous source of Mexican popcorn) to obtain the grain. To Mier's great surprise, almost no one had kept any seed from former plantings. Popcorn truly was on the verge of extinction. Mier explained, "The United States is the leader in popcorn production, the popcorn business in that country has dedicated itself hugely to the grain’s development. Mexico could have the power. We are only lacking programs that push a viable cultivation of the varieties that are in Toluca, Chihuahua, and Jalisco. With those, we could satisfy the national demand.”

Here's Mexico Cooks! as a very tiny part of the very first harvest of Mexican-grown popcorn in the grand project of saving this original Mexican corn from extinction. I was so, so excited to peel back the green husks of this ear of popcorn, harvested just moments earlier, and see the tiny ears grown from 50-year-old seed. Yes! CIMMYT (International Maize and White Improvement), an international seed bank with research facilities near Mexico City, gave Maestro Rafael enough banked, refrigerated seed to plant several small parcelas (sections of land) with popcorn.

These tiny dehydrated olotes (corn cobs)–each measures two to three inches long–were discovered in 1965 in the cave near Coxcatlán, Puebla, and are on daily exhibit at the Tehuacán (Puebla) Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum). For more information about this cave and its agricultural and archeological importance, please see Mexico Cooks!' article dated October 1, 2016. These corn cobs are carbon-dated to approximately 5,000 B.C.E. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

One huge pot filled with popcorn, a direct descendent of Mexico's very first corn: maíz palomero (popcorn). Today, many thousands of years after Mexico's great-great-a thousand times-great-grandparents domesticated maíz palomero, 95% of all popcorn grows north of the Mexican border. Popcorn has crossed the border into the United States of America and become one of the USA's most popular exports. Photo courtesy Lori Lange.

Popcorn is a simple food that we associate with snacking and with moments of entertainment. Who doesn’t want some buttered, salted popcorn at the movies, or while enjoying a day at the fair? Long ago in what is now Mexico, popcorn was already a treat: they were called “corn flowers” and according to the 16th century chronicles of Fray Bernadino de Sahagún, popcorn was sold in what is now Mexico’s plazas and was used as necklaces and in rituals. People did eat it, of course, but its consumption was not recreation-based.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBgT62f3W4&w=560&h=315]
In this beautiful and evocative video, Maestro Rafael explains what has happened to Mexico's maíz palomero and what he and others, including myself, are doing to save Mexican popcorn from extinction. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll be able to watch the process of planting and harvest. Video courtesy Rafael Mier.

Despite the fact that Mexico is the country of origin of all corns, including popcorn, less than 2% of the popcorn eaten in Mexico today is grown here. The enormous majority comes from the United States of America, with a much smaller amount imported from Argentina. “In Mexico, over time we’ve lost the planting of this corn,” comments Rafael Mier. “Sowing popcorn is difficult work now because our native seed is all but extinct,” he says. He and his team are working every day to reverse Mexican popcorn's slide into extinction. Photo: invitation to the November 17, 2016 public presentation of the popcorn project.

The best way to get involved in this project is to join the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana. If you'd rather not use Facebook, subscribe to Mexico Cooks!. How? Look at the right-hand side of this page: you'll see a box titled, Share Mexico Cooks with Your Friends. In that box, there's a link called, "Subscribe to this blog's feed". Click on that, then follow the simple instructions. Mexico Cooks! will arrive in your email inbox every Saturday morning at about ten o'clock.

We look forward to having you as part of the Mexican popcorn and tortilla team! During 2020, Mexico Cooks!' 14th consecutive year on line, you'll see more about what has happened with this initiative since its beginning.

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2 de May de 2020
Simona Barra Saludable in Morelia, Michoacán :: Discovering a Restaurant During the Pandemic Lockdown

The exterior of Simona Barra Saludable during lockdown. Photo courtesy Voofla, Morelia Pet Friendly.

Morelia, Michoacán–where Mexico Cooks! lives–has been under quarantine for several weeks due to the novel coronavirus, and is currently under full-on lockdown. The government's list of essential services that can remain open is fairly short, and the list of who's allowed outside includes only people who work for those services. The list of private citizens who are allowed to go out for medicines, food, or banking is even shorter. This is the case pretty much everywhere in the world right now, and options for discovering unknown eating places are limited, to say the least. To my considerable surprise, yesterday I had that pleasure.

A word to the wise: due to the pandemic, we have not been to the restaurant. Nevertheless, the restaurant came to us!

Luisa and the huge wicker basket of marvelous breakfast foods that Simona Barra Saludable brought to our home yesterday morning.

For a surprise breakfast to celebrate a special occasion, Luisa, who was looking around online, spotted a restaurant offering home delivery. The project director, Josvi Luna Silva, sent her their menus. Unbeknownst to me, Luisa placed a breakfast order to be delivered to our home. Clueless, I asked her on Thursday what she might like me to prepare for breakfast on Friday morning. "Don't worry about it," she said, flashing her glorious smile. "I'm in charge of breakfast. And no, don't ask."

Center: yoghurt with granola and fruits. Both sides: combo of orange/carrot juice. Photo courtesy Simona Barra Saludable.

At ten o'clock Luisa set the breakfast table. At 10:15 the doorbell rang. At 10:17, I walked into the dining room to discover her holding an enormous wicker basket filled with containers: two biodegradable black takeout boxes, two tall glasses full of a beautiful dark-orange juice, a mysterious small paper bag, little clear-plastic cups filled with–salsas? They didn't look like salsas, but what? A clear-topped container with what might have been–I couldn't tell! She sat me down and started taking everything out of the basket!

Left: four enchiladas verdes with chicken. Right: a LOT of chilaquiles rojos.

Here's what we discovered:
–a blend of fresh orange/carrot juice
–yoghurt with granola and seasonal fruits (locally grown blueberries, red raspberries, and blackberries)
–a huge amount of chilaquiles in red salsa, topped with cream, crumbled cheese, and thinly sliced red onions
–another box of chicken enchiladas in green salsa
–a half-order of waffles and and their syrups (in those clear-plastic cups!)
–a stack of three small pancakes, prepared with finely ground coffee and stone-ground chocolate beans in the flour and topped with pecans, berries, and cacao nibs
–two tall cups filled with hot coffee

An order of three really marvelous hot cakes.

My jaw dropped to see these beautiful dishes. Every presentation was perfect, and what we ate was exquisite, prepared with the best local ingredients and freshly made to Luisa's order. You readers know that I can be a bit snarky about how food is prepared, but I could find nothing that could have been better "if only they had…".

We did our best, but we couldn't finish everything. But how lucky is that: we put the leftovers away for later!

Not only was the food impeccable, but the service was as well. Our breakfast arrived on the dot of its appointed hour. And the prices are truly accessible and fair. The photo above is one part of the restaurant's April-May menu. Photo courtesy Simona Barra Saludable. Click on the photo to enlarge for a clearer view.

The staff at Simona Barra Saludable is fully professional, and it shows. Sra. Claudia Peredo Rincón is the owner of the space; Chef Jonathan Rangel Hidalgo, who heads up the kitchen, graduated from CEDVA, a professional working center in Morelia which offers a degree in gastronomy. Josvi Luna Silva, the director of the restaurant project, graduated from the Colegio Culinario de Morelia with a culinary degree. Among the three of them–and with their staff–they have created a marvelous option for all of us who appreciate really careful, creative, and professionally prepared meals.

Are you tired of cooking? Do you want a wonderful option in Morelia, for breakfast or for midday? Let's help Simona Barra Saludable survive the lockdown. Call them today, or tomorrow, or any day next week starting on Tuesday. You can pick up your meal, or they'll take it to you. Or you can order from Rappi, if you have that app. You'll be so happy that you called–and by all means, tell them that Mexico Cooks! sent you. You're going to love it.

Simona Barra Saludable
Calle Santiago Tapia 679
Centro Histórico
Morelia 58000
Michoacán
Tel. 443-355-3366
Hours: 9:00AM – 4:00PM (during the current coronavirus lockdown). Take out or home delivery ONLY.
Tuesday through Sunday
8:00AM – 8:00PM (normal hours once this lockdown is over).
Monday through Sunday

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25 de April de 2020
Rajas con Crema :: Chile Poblano Strips with Cream, A Mexican Classic

The chile poblano is one of the most commonly used fresh chiles in Mexico's kitchen. A very large, fleshy chile, it can measure as much as seven or eight inches long. The stem end is much wider than the point, and the color ranges from dark green to almost black-green. Shopping tip: if you buy chiles poblano that are flat on all sides, they will roast more quickly than if they are deeply creased in spots. The flat sides will evenly touch the roasting surface.

The chile poblano is commonly used for preparing main dishes such as chiles rellenos, including the seasonal and festive chiles en nogada. It is also used for making rajas de chile poblano con crema (strips of chile poblano with cream), a marvelously flavorful vegetable side dish. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

To prepare chiles poblano for use in any recipe, wash and roast them. Don't try to use them with the peel on; the peels will be as tough as trying to chew through plastic. Mexico Cooks! uses a cast iron comal (griddle) placed over a high flame to roast as many as four to six chiles at a time. Other cooks prefer to roast these chiles one at a time over an open flame, or on a broiler pan in a slightly open oven. No matter which roasting method you use, the roasted chiles should look like the ones in the above photo. Photo courtesy Maura Hernández.

Once the chiles are roasted, put them in a plastic bag, twist it shut, and allow the chiles to 'sweat' for 10 to 15 minutes. You'll easily be able to remove the blackened peels. It's best not to rinse them–or rinse them only a little–as rinsing removes a good bit of the delicious chile poblano flavor.

After you have peeled your roasted chiles, they will look like this. If just a bit of toasted peel sticks to the chile, it will simply add another layer of flavor to your dish. Click on the photo to enlarge and better see the remaining blackened bits of peel.

Make a slit down the full length of each chile and cut off its stem end. Remove the seeds by brushing them into a trash receptacle.

Chiles poblano, roasted, peeled, and laid flat on a cutting board. The next step is to slice them into strips–rajas, in Spanish.

Rajas, ready to prepare and serve. For this meal, Mexico Cooks! used three large chiles to prepare a side dish for two people.

The ingredients include half a white onion, sliced very thin, and about one-third of a large sweet red pepper, diced. Sauté in hot oil until soft and translucent. Mexican cooks normally use fresh corn kernels in this recipe; I happened to have no fresh corn on hand, but I did have part of a sweet red pepper that needed to be cooked, so I used that instead.

Peppers and onions, ready for the addition of the chile strips!

Continue to sauté the vegetables until the chiles are soft. Because the chile strips are already roasted, the sauté process will not take long. You do not want your rajas to be over-cooked; they should still be bright green at the end of cooking.

Add about half a cup of crema para la mesa (Mexican table cream or creme fraiche–NOT sour cream) to the vegetable mix. Stir until well incorporated.

The cream will become a thick sauce for the vegetables. Salt to taste. The chile poblano is generally quite mild and flavorful, but once in a while you will come across one that is surprisingly spicy. There's no way to tell by looking at them whether they are mild or hot, and either way they're delicious and not overly 'hot'.

Mexico Cooks! served the rajas de chile poblano con crema alongside strips of a very large chicken breast, lightly dusted with salted flour and sautéed in olive oil seasoned with a smashed clove of garlic. This chicken breast half, which weighed nearly a pound, made ten strips and was plenty for the two of us for our main meal of the day. This simple meal was easy and delicious.

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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18 de April de 2020
Saint Jude Thaddeus in Mexico City :: San Judas Tadeo, Patron Saint of the Impossible

Normally during the pre- and post-Easter season, Mexico Cooks! devotes its articles to this holy time of the Christian year. This year, Semana Santa (Easter Week) observations and celebrations–including all Roman Catholic Masses–have been closed to the public due to the novel coronavirus quarantines everywhere in Mexico. Rather than Easter observations, I offer you an older article about a different religious belief.

Mexico City's Templo San Hipólito, built starting in 1559 to commemorate the 1520 victory of the Mexica (later known as the Aztecs) over the Spanish invaders in a battle that became known as la Batalla de la Noche Triste (the Battle of the Sad Night), one of the worst defeats the Spanish suffered at the hands of the people they subsequently conquered. The church was finished late in the 17th century.

The church location has been a major influence in Mexico City since those early times. Prior to the building of the church, the first mental hospital in the Americas, founded by Bernardino Álvarez, stood on this corner. San Hipólito was the first patron saint of Mexico's capital city.

A prayer card image of St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of difficult or impossible causes. Your Catholic mother or grandmother–or maybe you yourself– probably have an image like this tucked into a Bible.

Not your grandmother's version of St. Jude. Photo courtesy Tattoomuch.com.

Today, Templo San Hipólito is the site of enormous devotion to Saint Jude Thaddeus, known in Spanish as San Judas Tadeo. The most venerated statue of the saint in Mexico is here, and Mexico is deeply devoted to him and to his image. San Judas's feast day is celebrated on October 28 each year, when as many as 100,000 faithful converge on the small church. The huge number of faithful who visit their beloved saint–starting with the first Mass celebrated at midnight–inevitably cause chaotic traffic jams at the corner where the church is located, one of the busiest junctions in Mexico City.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoEsO7rDFoA&w=420&h=315]
The video will give you an idea of the devotion to St. Jude.

Devotion to San Judas in Mexico City is so great that his feast day is celebrated not only on October 28 each year, but also on the 28th of every month. In July a few years ago, Mexico Cooks! went to visit the saint on his day.

Merchandise sold by vendors around the perimeter of the church–merchandise like these rosaries–is often colored green, white, and gold, the traditional colors of San Judas's clothing.

My companion and I arrived at Templo San Hipólito relatively early, but people had been pouring into the church for each Mass of the day; on the 28th, Masses are said on the hour, all day. This view, from outside the church entrance, did not prepare us for the packed sanctuary.

Once we entered the sanctuary, we were unable to advance beyond the half-way point due to the enormous number of people already inside. At the top middle of this photo, you see a very large statue of the Virgin Mary. Below her is San Judas.

Unlike predominately female crowds at Masses in other churches or at prayer services devoted to other saints, the majority of this crowd is male. While women are certainly present, you can see in the photo that the people in front of us were almost all male.

Custom here is to wrap a figure of San Judas in scarves, scapulars, beads, and medals. When I asked this woman, seated on a bench along the inside of the church, if I might take a picture of her statue, she said yes, but bowed her head to show him, not herself. It's also customary to take small gifts, such as the candy this woman is holding, to share with others at the church.

St. Martín de Porres is also much-venerated in Mexico. This life-size statue of him, holding a real broom, is at one side of the San Hipólito interior. Notice that much of the broom straw has been broken off and taken by the faithful. C
lick on the photo (and any photo) to enlarge it.

This young man gave me permission to photograph him and his statue.

Many parents dress their babies in the green, gold, and white colors of the saint. Usually they have made a vow to St. Jude to do this in thanks for a favor granted; oftentimes, the favor granted is the birth of a healthy child after complications of pregnancy.

The man who carried this large and elaborately wrapped statue during the entire Mass set it on a stone wall so that I could photograph it.

Vendors along the sidewalks sell every kind of St. Jude-related goods. People carry these candles into the church to be blessed, and then carry them home to light their personal altars dedicated to the saint.

We visited many of the booths selling figures of San Judas. The sizes range from about six inches high–like the ones at the left in the front row–to life size or larger. The seated figure just right of center represents Jesús Malverde, an 'informal' saint (one revered by the people but not a saint in the church). Jesús Malverde, a Sinaloa legend, is also known as the 'narco saint', the 'angel of the poor', or the 'generous bandit'. The green sign refers to the copitas (little goblets) filled with San Judas's seeds of abundance just above it. Each goblet with seeds costs 10 pesos. That's approximately 40 US cents, at today's exchange rate.

Feeling like your own world is standing on its head due to the pandemic? You might want to try a chat with St. Jude.

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11 de April de 2020
Coronavirus (Covid-19) and What Sustains Us in Isolation

Because of the novel coronavirus, many of us in Mexico and around the world have been self-quarantined (bajo cuarentena, sheltered in place, or any of a number of English- and/or Spanish-language names) for two or more weeks. Many more of us are unable to keep a full-time quarantine–due to work requirements, income difficulties, and a number of other situations). That's me in my brand new cat mask, a gift from Luisa to help keep me from innocently spreading germs to the populace–and to keep me from breathing in others' germs. Remember that if you are wearing a mask, that it MUST cover both your mouth and your nose, the two most common places where germs, along with your breath, can flow out, and can flow in.

Mexico Cooks! has been out of the food loop for about two weeks. The 17th Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales de Michoacán just barely scooted in under the quarantine wire (it took place March 13-15, this year) and my favorite restaurants in Morelia are closed until further notice. I've tried to simplify food and household necessity shopping, most (but not all) of the items I've ordered are being delivered, and I'm preparing nourishing meals with fairly basic ingredients, as I'm sure most of you are, as well. Some items are hard to find here, just as they are hard to find in other countries. We who live in central Mexico are blessed by a continued proliferation of high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables, meats (particularly our beautiful chickens), and fresh fish and seafood.

We read so many opinions and ideas about how to live in newspapers, magazines, medical journals, and on social media. Do this, do that, don't do that, don't do this. Stay home, wear a mask, don't wear a mask, go out but not to big events, do what you want–pay no attention to any of it, hide under the bed…what's the answer, or is there an answer? Given quarantine, social distancing, and other situations to which no one is accustomed, what sustains us physically, psychologically, and intellectually–and in particular, because I have had almost no in-person contact with others, what sustains me during these unusually isolated days?

My personal answer is: my family of friends, the group of boon companions in my life whom I love intensely. Pretty much constantly available for a chat on Facebook or Whatsapp, through photos on Instagram and other social media, and privately available via photographs that I and others have taken all over Mexico, we are a family of choice. Most of us live distances apart from one another, but distance doesn't disrupt our deep caring for one another. I'd like you to meet a few of them, so that you know that the deep love that supports me comes from many sources.

Cynthia Martínez, chef/owner at Morelia's Restaurante y Cantina La Conspiración de 1809. Cynthia and her husband, Roberto González, have been a major source of love and care for me since–well, for almost 15 years, since I first moved to Morelia, Michoacán in 2007.


Rafael Mier is a mainstay in my life and has sustained me in every way possible since we began to form our friendship about five years ago. A close friend, a colleague, a teacher, a gentleman: what more could a person want in a friend?

Anita and Ken Caldwell, much-loved adopted family since at least 2002, when they still lived in Ohio and before their move to Mexico. We spent a glorious, loving time together at the end of February 2020, just prior to their move from Ajijic, Jalisco back to the USA. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Rose Calderone, the irreplaceable, irresistible, Wonder Woman of Morelia. We're sisters through good times and bad, it doesn't matter that we don't have the same Mom and Dad. Sistahs! I'm a lucky woman to have Rose in my life.

Rosalba Morales Bartolo, cocinera tradicional de Michoacán (traditional Michoacán cook). Rosalba is one of the wisest, deepest, most spiritual women I know, we have been friends for 10 years, and we have been there for one another through thick and thin. Photo courtesy Cynthia Martínez.

Alma Cervantes Cota. A pillar of strength in my life, we have been close friends since 2009, sharing joys and sorrows and so many of the puzzle-pieces of our lives. No matter what, I know that I can count on Alma–and she can count on me.

Darrell Schmidt. We've been friends for more than 20 years, sharing philosophies, ideas, commentary on our private and public lives, and many, many lengthy meals. We last spent time together in February 2020, snarking and complaining about growing old. But–in truth, there is nothing much better than being 'old' friends.

The ultimate Paco (Francisco de Santiago Lázaro), a renaissance man if there ever was one. Chess master, student of literature, literate in every respect, knows more Mexican slang than anyone else, and is truly the most knowledgeable person I know, about all things Mexico City and beyond. We're close friends, colleagues, and almost-but-not-quite siblings. I'd pick Paco for a brother any day. A tip of the hat to his wonderful wife, Lourdes Rosas, for letting me take so much of his time.

With (back L to R) Alam Méndez Florián (chef at Pasillo de Humo), Alondra Maldonado, Paco de Santiago and (front L to R) Cristina, Lourdes Rosas, and her daughter Monse. Rafa must have been taking the picture! At Restaurante Pasillo de Humo, Mexico City, doing what we do best together: eating and gossiping talking!

Pamela Gordon of Toronto. There's no one with whom I have shared deeper care, broader sharing, and talk that has ranged from the earliest memories of our lives to the latest news about our adventures in the kitchen ("Look at this recipe, let's both make it tomorrow!") and our (between us) many, many much-cherished cats.

Luisa Fernanda Ruiz Montiel, my nearest and dearest. Luisa is an enormous gift from the universe, beyond definition and beyond words.

My personal list of close companions, here in Morelia or at a distance, could go on for pages. Leslie Morrison, Claire Ramsey, Amaranta Santos, Lucero Soto Arriaga, Joaquín Bonilla, Evan Schoninger, Tonia Deetz Rock, Linda Katz Verdugo–I wouldn't know where to stop if I added every name and photo. Think about your own family–whether chosen family or family of origin–and give thanks that they are present to you in this time of separation. What we we do without them?

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4 de April de 2020
The Michelada :: A Beer-Based Toast From Mexico to the World
A perfect michelada, rimmed with Tajín and topped with crunchy fresh cucumber. Spicy, salty, beery, umami-rich, and completely refreshing.

Here in Mexico–everywhere in Mexico!–the single most popular beer drink is the michelada. Its ingredients, always based on beer, depend on the bartender, the part of the country one is in, or on one's personal taste. A michelada is an any-time, any-season drink.

We see fútbol (soccer) stadiums full of people slugging down liters of stadium-prepared micheladas, parties at home where no other alcoholic beverage is served, and restaurant tables full of people slurping them down along with their barbacoa, carne asada, or pozole–or accompanying a hamburger and fries, or a salad. The michelada goes with just about any sort of food. Popular wisdom also knows it as a super hangover cure, so hey–beer for breakfast in your hour of need? Why not, just this once?

The primary ingredient of any michelada is beer. Most people prefer a light-colored lager, but once in a while someone will order a michelada made with dark beer. Corona is just one option; any light-colored lager will do. First and foremost is to use the lager you prefer: Corona, Pacifico, Modelo, or any other. And your beer doesn't even have to be made in Mexico; use what you like. Photo courtesy Corona.

The seasonings in a michelada typically include either Clamato, V8, or plain tomato juice, plus Worcestershire sauce, a very hot bottled salsa like Valentina, Cholula, Yucateca, or any of dozens on the grocer's shelf, salt—lots of salt—powdered chile, the umami-heavy seasoning liquid called Maggi, and freshly-squeezed jugo de limón (the juice of a key lime).

Rim a frosted pint mug or glass with powdered Tajín (a commercial mix of powdered dry chile, limón flavoring, and salt). You can find Tajín in almost any supermarket. There are imitators, but if you can find Tajín, it's the best. Photo courtesy Tajín.

Now add the rest of the ingredients. Here's a recipe to get you started; experiment with micheladas till the flavor blend is exactly the way you like it.

Michelada a la mexicana
- light-colored lager beer of your choice
- Clamato or V8 or tomato juice
- 3 or 4 splashes hot sauce, more or less to taste. Try Valentina, or Cholula, or use your favorite.
- 2 splashes of Worcestershire sauce
- 2 splashes of Maggi sauce
- Juice of one lime
  Fill the glass about ¼ to ? with the Clamato juice. Add the hot sauce, the lime juice, the Worcestershire sauce, and the soy sauce. If you used Tajín to salt the rim, pour any excess from the plate into the glass. Fill the rest with cold beer and top off your micheladas with sticks of celery or jícama, skewers of shrimp or olives, half-moons of cucumber, freshly-cooked octopus–really, anything within the limits of your imagination. And for good measure, add another splash of Maggi.
Clamato contains water, tomato concentrate, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, salt, citric acid, onion powder, celery seed, garlic powder, dried clam broth, unspecified spices, vinegar, natural flavors, food coloring, and ascorbic acid to maintain color. Photo courtesy Clamato.

V8 juice contains a blend of reconstituted vegetable juices including tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach, plus a tiny percentage of salt, ascorbic acid, citric acid, and natural flavoring. Photo courtesy V8.

Campbell's tomato juice contains tomato juice from concentrate, potassium chloride, ascorbic acid, citric acid, salt, malic acid, and other flavorings. Photo courtesy Campbell's.

In the United States, the ingredients in Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce are: distilled white vinegar, molasses, sugar, water, salt, onions, anchovies, garlic, cloves, tamarind extract, natural flavorings, and chili pepper extract. Anchovies–did you know that? Photo courtesy Lee & Perrins.

Valentina is arguably Mexico's best-known bottled salsa. The photo shows the four liter bottle–nearly a gallon! That size should keep you in micheladas for quite a while. If you'd prefer a smaller bottle, you can buy Valentina, either hot or extra-hot, in a 12.5 ounce size. The ingredients are water, chile peppers, vinegar, salt, spices and sodium benzoate (as a preservative). The taste can be described as a citrus flavor, with a nicely spicy aftertaste. Photo courtesy Valentina.

If you're not already using Maggi for cooking, look for it until you find it for your micheladas. Of Swiss origin, Maggi is ubiquitous, literally a global phenomenon, used all over the world to add an extra touch of taste to savory recipes. It's indispensable in a michelada, bringing the utmost in umami to the drink. Your micheladas will be pale in flavor without it. Ingredients vary by country; if you have an MSG sensitivity, be sure to look for it in the ingredients list. Some countries' Maggi have it, some don't. Photo courtesy Maggi.

Finally, the taste of freshly squeezed jugo de limón (juice from the key lime) will brighten up your michelada in a way that regular lime juice won't. You'll find limones in many supermarkets and Latin specialty markets. The juice of one limón per liter of michelada is the ratio you want. Mexico Cooks! photo.

The name michelada is said to be made of three words: 'mi' (my) 'chela' (a popular nickname for any beer) and 'helada' (icy cold). How many micheladas are consumed in Mexico every year? Untold millions! Do your part to keep the numbers up!

Salud! (To your health!)

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28 de March de 2020