Category: Food and Drink

Patron Saint of The Impossible: Saint Jude Thaddeus–San Judas Tadeo–in Mexico City

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 of this year, 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. Click 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 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 60 US cents, at today's exchange rate.

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

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

3 de October de 2015
Azul Histórico: Chiles en Nogada, the King of the Mexican Table
Azul Histórico, a star of the constellation of three restaurants that make up Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's Grupo Azul, has become one of Mexico Cooks!' favorite destinations for comida (Mexico's midday main meal). Nestled under a canopy of trees in the patio of a 17th century Mexican palace, the restaurant is among the most beautiful–and most delicious–in Mexico's capital city.

We recently insisted that a dear friend visiting from Texas accompany us to experience the once-a-year delight of chiles en nogada (poblano chiles, stuffed with a special picadillo (meat, fruit, and vegetable hash) and then bathed with walnut sauce, as presented and served at Azul Histórico. In last week's article, we shared a terrific recipe for chiles en nogada with you. Today, we'll see the chiles, considered to be the king of Mexico's cuisine, honored at table in the restaurant.

Our friend, who serves sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup) in his own restaurant, wanted to try the version served at Azul Histórico.

Four of us shared a small order of mildly spicy, delicious salpicón de venado (venison, cooked, seasoned with onion, pepper, vinegar, oil, and salt, and shredded).

Once we finished our appetizers, two of our extremely competent wait staff laid the table with a long black linen tablecloth, plus colorful appliquéd individual placemats and extra candles, all in honor of the king of chiles. The plates, also in special use for chiles en nogada, are talavera pottery from Puebla, where chiles en nogada originated.

The serving platter of chiles. Each color ribbon indicates the type stuffing in each chile. The choices are:
- red ribbons from Atlixco, Puebla. The filling is composed of a complex picadillo with quite a lot of fruit.
- green ribbons from Coxcatlán, Puebla. The filling is shredded pork, with more spices and less fruit than the first.
- grey ribbons from Puebla de los Ángeles, Puebla. The filling is beef with fruits and spices, for those who prefer not to eat pork.
I chose the chile from Atlixco, Puebla. At the Azul restaurants and at most others, the chile is roasted, peeled, and seeded prior to stuffing, but is not coated with a stiffly beaten egg coating. The significance of the colors of the chile en nogada is the vision of the Mexican flag on your plate: green, white, and red. Were it coated and fried, the green would not be visible. The chile's red ribbon (and yellow flower) are removable. The blue and white sphere with the red ribbon are part of the table decor that honors the chile.

Once the chile is on your plate, the waiter serves the nogada (walnut sauce). At the Azul restaurants, the diner may choose savory or sweet nogada, or a combination of the two. I chose the combination. The waiter poured the thicker nogada salada (savory) onto the half of the chile near the tip; he then poured nogada dulce (sweet) onto the half closer to the stem. In the photo, you can easily see the dividing line between the two nogadas.

After the waiter bathes the chile with its walnut sauce(s), he garnishes it first with seasonal pomegranate seeds and then with a sprig of parsley. Voilà, presenting Su Majestad el Chile en Nogada!

You can see the rich filling inside the chile. Last week's Mexico Cooks! article gives you an excellent recipe to make your own chiles en nogada. If you try it, please let us know how delicious it was!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
19 de September de 2015
Seasonal Chiles en Nogada: The Mexican Flag on Your Plate
Mexico Cooks! couldn't start the month of September without paying tribute to our iconic chiles en nogada (chiles in walnut sauce), the Mexican flag on your plate.

Mexico celebrates its independence the entire month of September with parades, parties, and traditional food and drink in restaurants and at home. The traditional festive dish during the weeks before and after the Independence Day holiday is chiles en nogada, a magnificent tribute to the seasonal availability of granadas (pomegranates) and walnuts. From mid- August till mid-October, fresh pomegranates and walnuts make chiles en nogada possible. Mildly spicy chiles poblano, stuffed with picadillo and topped with richly creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds, flaunt the brilliant green, white and red of the Mexican flag.

This festive dish is traditionally served especially on September 15 or 16 in honor of Mexico's Independence Day, though it is popular anytime in the late summer and early fall. During August and September in the highlands of Mexico, particularly in Mexico City and Puebla, the dish is very popular. On streets bordering city markets and tianguis (street markets), you will see village women sitting on blankets painstakingly cracking open nutshells and peeling the thin brown skin from each freshly harvested walnut. It is important to use the freshest walnuts possible, as they produce such a creamy, rich sauce that it is worth the effort demanded to peel them. Yes, the recipe is time-consuming…but you and your guests will jump up and shout "VIVA!" when you've licked the platters clean.

Fresh peaches, in season now.

Ingredients

For the Meat
- 2 pounds beef brisket or other stew meat or 1 pound beef and 1 pound pork butt
- 1 small white onion, quartered
- 2 large cloves garlic
- about 1 Tablespoon sea salt
Biznaga cristalizada (candied barrel cactus).

For the picadillo
- 4 Tablespoons freshly rendered pork lard or canola oil
- 1/3 cup chopped white onion
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 heaping Tablespoons raisins
- 1 or 2 chiles serrano, finely minced
- 2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans
- 2 Tablespoons chopped candied biznaga (cactus)
- 2 fresh peaches, skinned and diced
- 1 fresh pear, peeled and chopped
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 extremely ripe platano macho (plantain)
- 1 large potato, peeled and diced
- 3 large, ripe tomatoes, roasted, peeled and chopped
- sea salt to taste
Chiles poblano. Choose the largest chiles with the smoothest sides for easy roasting.

For the Chiles

6 fresh chiles poblano, roasted, peeled, and seeded, leaving the stem intact

Newly harvested, freshly peeled walnuts. All of the shell and the thin brown skin must be removed to make smooth, creamy-white nogada (walnut sauce). Photo courtesy Gabriela.

For the Walnut Sauce
- 1 cup fresh walnuts
- 6 ounces doble crema or full-fat cream cheese at room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups crema mexicana or 1-1/4 cups sour cream thinned with milk
- about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
Fresh, seasonal pomegranates, available now in Mexico's markets.

For the Garnish
- 1 Tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds
Method

Cut the meat into large chunks, removing any excess fat. Place the meat into a large Dutch oven with the onion, garlic, and salt. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface. Lower the heat and allow the water to simmer about 45 minutes, until the meat is just tender. Take the pot off the stove and let the meat cool in the broth. Remove the pieces of meat and finely shred them.

Warm the oil in a large, heavy skillet and sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until they turn a pale gold. Stir in the shredded meat and cook for 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon, pepper, and cloves, then, stir in the raisins, the 2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts. Add the chopped pear, apple, and potato, and mix well. Add the tomatoes and salt to taste, and continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the moisture has evaporated. Stir often so that the mixture doesn't stick. Let cool, cover, and set aside. The picadillo may be made 1 day in advance.

Make a slit down the side of each chile, just long enough to remove the seeds and veins. Keep the stem end intact. Drain the chiles on absorbent paper until completely dry. Cover and set aside. The chiles may be prepared a day in advance.

At least 3 hours in advance, place the 1 cup walnuts in a small pan of boiling water. Remove from the heat and let them sit for 5 minutes. Drain the nuts and, when cool, rub off as much of the dark skin as possible. Chop into small pieces. Place the nuts, cream cheese, crema, and salt in a blender and purée thoroughly. Stir in the optional sugar, cinnamon, and sherry, if using, until thoroughly combined. Reserve at room temperature.

The stuffed chiles pictured above were dipped into an egg coating and fried prior to finishing with walnut sauce and garnishes. In Mexico, passionate diners argue the pros and cons of coating the chiles; many insist that coating and frying is not traditional, and many insist that it is. Mexico Cooks! prefers chiles en nogada with no coating.

Preheat the oven to 250ºF. When ready to serve, reheat the meat filling and stuff the chiles until plump and just barely closed. Place the chiles on a serving platter or on individual plates, cover with the walnut sauce, and sprinkle with parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Chiles en nogada as presented at Restaurante Azul/Histórico, Mexico City. This beautiful service is only surpassed by the flavors of the chiles.

This dish may be served at room temperature, or it may be served chilled.

Note: Many people in today's busy world prefer to make this recipe using a mixture of ground rather than shredded beef and pork. Using this quick method, simply brown the ground meats and add the rest of the picadillo ingredients once the meats are browned. The results will be excellent!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
12 de September de 2015
The Joy of the Purépecha Language in Michoacán, Part 2

Adolescent boys walk the length of Santa Fe de la Laguna's Purépecha vocabulary-teaching wall. See the sombrero (hat) to their right? In Purépecha, it's kájtsikua. Just as in Spanish, a written accent over a letter in a word means that the stress of pronunciation falls on that letter. KAJ-tsi-kua.

Last week, Mexico Cooks! taught you the Purépecha names of various animals and insects. Today, we're going into the home and its garden to learn a few more words for common household items. All photos by my travel companion, Pamela Gordon, unless otherwise noted.

Native Mexican comestibles from the milpa (family food-growing parcel of land) include the calabaza (squash). In Purépecha, it's purhu.

Purépecha cooking includes the use of several varieties of yellow, red, white, or blue corn, all native to Michoacán and all grown in the milpa for family use. Each portion of the corn plant from tassel to stalk has a name; this elote (fresh ear of corn) is tíriapu.

Many species of wild mushrooms appear during Michoacán's summer rainy season. Here's an hongo silvestre (wild mushroom)–terekua—a common ingredient in soups and Purépecha guisados (stew-like dishes).

Handmade cucharas de madera (wooden spoons)–yurhesï–are some of the most-used utensils in a Purépecha cook's battery of equipment. Remember that the umlaut over the letter 'i' changes the pronunciation of the letter 's' to 'sh'. Yurhe-shi.

Here's a hand-carved bastón (cane). Now you know that in Purépecha, it's a t'óndasï. This type cane is commonly used by people who need aid for their balance or gait, and by dancers who use canes as part of their costumes.

Michoacán's iconic dancers, complete with t'óndasï: la Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Little Old Men). Photo courtesy Google Images.

A rendering of the Purépecha woman's typical rebozo (rectangular fringed shawl): in Purépecha, atache. The atache has multiple uses: wrap yourself in it for warmth, fold it and put it on top of your head for shade, use it as a scarf, and wrap it around yourself in different ways to carry firewood, purchases from the market, large and bulky items, and most especially, a baby. Babies are wrapped close to their mothers' bodies from the time they're born until they are mid-toddler age. The legend of this
rebozo tells us that the blue is the blue of the Spanish eye, the black is the black of the Spanish hair, and the white is the ray of the sun.

You know the old adage: a new escoba (broom) sweeps clean. In Purépecha, it's a p'ankua. This charming painting lets you believe that the brand-new broomstick still has a leaf attached!

Ah, kawikua (hard liquor)! In Michoacán, we make and drink charanda (a very strong sugar cane liquor), mezcal (made from maguey cactus), and to a lesser degree, tequila. Here's an old Mexican toast to repeat as you raise and lower your glass, and before you sip your kawikua: Arriba! Abajo! Al centro! Adentro! (Up! Down! In the middle! And down the hatch!) Today, we're toasting the Purépecha language.

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

5 de September de 2015
The Purépecha of Michoacán in the 21st Century

This is Imelda, a charming Purépecha child already learning the traditional kitchen skills used by the ancestral generations of women on whose shoulders she stands. Morelia, Michoacán, 2012.

Today, more than 120,000 Purépecha live in 16 municipalities in the Zona Lacustre (Lake Zone) and the Meseta Purépecha (Purépecha tableland) of Michoacán. Within those municipalites are numerous towns and villages. Most Purépecha are bilingual. Generally the language spoken by the family at home is Purépecha. Children learn Spanish when they are part-way through primary school. There are still approximately 10,000 Purépecha who speak only their native language.

Maíz criollo (native Mexican corn) in three colors, grown for personal use in a Purépecha family's garden.

The present-day economy of the Purépecha is based, for the most part, in agriculture. The Purépecha grow corn for their own use and grow wheat to sell. In the Zona Lacustre, there are also a number of people who fish commercially.

Making the fragrant base for a pine needle basket. Uruapan, 2010.

Another significant source of income is the creation of arts and crafts. In the mid-16th century, Don Vasco de Quiroga taught the Purépecha not only Christianity but also the idea of self-sufficiency based on the refined production of items for daily use: pottery, textile weaving, copper smelting, and wood carving. Approximately 40,000 families in Michoacán presently work at one form or another of artesanía.

Eleven-hundred-year-old petroglyphs from Tzintzuntzan have a new home (with the approval of INAH, the Instituo Nacional de Arquitectura e Historia) in a visible but untouchable space in a Morelia, Michoacán gallery. It is believed that these and other Michoacán petroglyphs have spiritual and religious meaning that we cannot yet guess.

The ancient Purépecha believed that the Universe was divided into three parts: the region of the heavens, the region of the Earth, and the region of the dead. Each region had its own set of gods. The most important gods were those of the first region–the heavens–and among those, the most important were Kuerajperi, the Lord of Light, and Xaratanga, the goddess of the moon.

Today, the Purépecha practice a Catholicism colored by their reinterpretation of the teachings of the early Franciscan and Dominican missionaries. Many Purépecha believe that God, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the saints have special powers which interact among them. The devil, in some of his manifestations, has an importance which goes beyond that of the saints.

Many Purépecha continue to live in small villages, in some respects isolated from cultures other than their own. Their homes, called trojes, are made of heavy, hand-hewn thick pine boards. Each room of a troje is separate from every other room. The buildings are constructed without nails and can be dismantled and moved. The kitchen, living quarters, sleeping and storage rooms are individual small buildings such as the one in the photo to the right.

A close Purépecha friend, Débora Cortés, who has passed away since I took this photo, washed dishes in an outdoor pila (combination water storage basin, sink, and scrub board). The pila is the only source of running water for the household. Her bathroom was an outdoor toilet. She warmed water for bathing in buckets placed in the afternoon sun. My friend was fortunate to have a township water source rather than face the daily necessity of hauling water from a well. Note the roof of the troje at the upper left of the photo and the stalks of corn at right center. The greenery closest to the foreground is a coffee tree. Débora usually kept a pig in the garden, to raise for market and for meat. Mexico Cooks! photo, 2002.

Life for the Purépecha today is a battle for survival, both economic and cultural. Physical survival depends on many factors, including money sent home by the sons and daughters of the pueblos who now work in Morelia (the Michoacán state capital), Guadalajara, Mexico City, and in the United States.

The design on this troje is made with old music CDs. Pre-conquest Mexico, meet the 21st century. Angahuan, Michoacán, 2013.

Cultural survival is constantly assaulted by the influences of television, print advertising, and innovations brought home by the sons and daughters who work 'away'.

Cherán, an indigenous Purépecha community in the west-central part of Michoacán, is well known for its high level of political awareness and activity. The banner in the photo reads, "CHERÁN DEMANDS SECURITY AND JUSTICE" and is signed, "The indigenous community of Cherán".

Political survival is crucial to the continuation of the Purhépecha nation. In Cherán, Michoacán (pictured above), the Purépecha community holds its own community elections and does not subscribe to state and national elections.

Night of the Dead altar dedicated to a deceased relative, private home, Santa Fe de la Laguna, November 2013. The Purépecha tradition of spiritual and religious practices combines ancient rituals and customs with Roman Catholic beliefs. The amalgam sustains and nourishes a community which is itself a combination of the ancient and the modern.

Spiritual survival depends on the handing down of the old ways, the old traditions, by a generation of elders that is fast disappearing. The question of globalization in indigenous communities is not an idle one, but one which must be addressed if the Purépecha are to survive as more than a curiosity in the modern world.

Next week we'll make our final stop (for now!) in the Purépecha towns of Michoacán, in which a delightful visit to Santa Fe de La Laguna turns into a language lesson! Come with us!

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

22 de August de 2015
Máximo Bistrot, Mexico City: Food, Wine, and Service, LO MÁXIMO! (The *Best*)

Eduardo (Lalo) García, chief cook and innovator at Máximo Bistrot Local in Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Unlike many of the Distrito Federal's successful restaurant owners/chefs, Lalo has no culinary school background. He's a self-made man with many reasons to be proud of himself, but he's completely without pretension. Just about any time you dine at Máximo Bistrot, Lalo himself is in the kitchen.

Máximo Bistrot opened its doors in 2012 and almost immediately became a sensational success. After nearly 20 years of work in other heavy-hitting restaurants (at Le Bernadin in Atlanta and New York City and at Pujol in Mexico City, among others), Lalo García and his wife, Gabriela López, had finally opened the doors to their own domain.

While diners are still pondering their food orders, each table receives a portion of extraordinarily delicious berenjena ahumada (smokey eggplant purée) and individual servings of hot, crusty bread. It's just enough to whet your appetite and make you crave most of what's on the daily menu.

Just a few months after Máximo Bistrot had become the restaurant that every diner in Mexico City was buzzing about, the restaurant was suddenly in the news for another reason: you can read here how Lady PROFECO raised the roof with her father, head of a Mexican agency similar to the Better Business Bureau. Máximo Bistrot reopened to further social and gastronomical acclaim a mere few days after the incident.

Mezcal with a little orange juice (the glass rimmed with sal de gusano (sea salt ground with chile de árbol and maguey worm) adds to the pleasure of reading the menu, which changes daily.

Neither Lalo García nor Gabriela López seeks the limelight. Instead, the limelight has sought them and deservedly so. The restaurant has a well-rounded menu featuring fresh, seasonal ingredients prepared in deliciously innovative dishes which both seduce and surprise the diner.

We chose several salads. This fresh green pyramid is composed of artichokes and arugula, with a roasted garlic vinaigrette.

Here, a salad of burrata, heirloom tomatoes, greens, and balsamic vinaigrette.

A very different salad: roast porcini mushrooms with thyme and caramelized onions.

My personal pick: a salad of roasted beets, avocado, and crème fraiche, with some scattered pepitas, freshly grated cheese, and lovely edible flowers. I could eat this fantastic salad every day without tiring of it.

Between the salads and our main dishes, we shared a plate of raviolis stuffed with requesón (a fresh cheese similar to ricotta) and served with nut butter.

We also shared this beautiful plate of atún toro (raw sushi-quality bluefin tuna) topped with a garlic vinaigrette, paper-thin radish slices, and individual slices of caramelized onion.

Four at table, we chose three different main dishes. Here, pierna de cordero (leg of lamb) with morel mushrooms and a squash purée.

Next: lechón confitado (suckling pig slow-braised in oil, the skin crisp and the flesh tender) with baked tomato sauce and mashed potato.

Two of us chose the flat iron steak with chanterelle mushrooms, puréed potatoes, and a veal reduction. Chanterelles grow wild in Oaxaca and Chiapas during Mexico's summer long rainy season.

With our meal, we drank this Montefiori Horizonte Cabernet Montepulciano, from Baja California. Full-bodied, smooth, and full-flavored, it combined perfectly with the various main dishes we chose.

How could we resist the ever-so-tempting dessert menu? We couldn't!

Two at our table chose the mil hojas (mille-feuille, or puff pastry–the literal meaning is thousand-layers) with fig conserve and a dollop of whipped cream.

Would you believe pineapple upside down cake? It's served with chopped fresh pineapple, chopped strawberries, a blackberry or two, a blueberry or two, and some edible fuschia flowers as the crowning touch. This dessert is absolutely rich and absolutely delicious. Our companion who ordered it said it was without question the best he had ever tasted.

My choice was a honey-vanilla panna cotta with a layer of sliced fresh strawberries and a scoop of delicately sweet cucumber ice cream, topped with finely diced fresh cucumber. The dessert was refreshing, multi-textured, and a perfect ending to the meal.

How many times in this report have I used the word 'perfect'? From the seating to the ever-attentive but non-obtrusive service; from the hot crusty bread (which re-appeared magically every time our bread plates emptied) and chilled water; from the first taste of eggplant to the last scrape of spoon on dessert plate, there was nothing that could have been improved. Every moment in the restaurant was professional, every portion of our meal was at its peak. The place was filled to capacity but never noisy; our table conversed easily. We kept a leisurely pace throughout our meal; no one rushed us to turn the table. It's clear that Máximo Bistrot will be one of Mexico Cooks!' first choices for special occasions.

Gabriela López and Eduardo García, spouses and partners in the most most delicious of restaurants: Máximo Bistrot Local. Photo courtesy Adriana Zehbrauskas, New York Times.

Máximo Bistrot Local
Calle Tonalá 133
Corner Calle Zacatecas
Colonia Roma Norte
Mexico City, Mexico
Tel: 55-5264-4291
Reservations a must; call at least two weeks prior to the date you want to go.
Closed Sunday and Monday
Open Tuesday – Saturday 1PM – 5PM and 7PM – 11PM

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

8 de August de 2015
A Pre-Hispanic Treat in a Modern Kitchen: Mexico Cooks! Makes Alegrías

Mexico Cooks!' homemade alegrías, freshly turned from the parchment-lined baking sheet onto the cutting board and ready to cut into pieces.

Lots of people are like Mexico Cooks! when it comes to cookbooks. We own hundreds of them, but actually cook from very few. For over a year, I've read and sighed with delight over the stories and recipes in Fany Gerson's My Sweet Mexico–and last week I finally prepared alegrías from her recipe. Fany calls them 'amaranth happiness candy'. Why? Happiness or joy are the English meanings of the Spanish word alegría.

A couple of weeks ago, friends at the superb web page Cocina al Natural invited Mexico Cooks!' household to a wonderful comida casera (main meal of the day at their home). For dessert, they proudly carried a big tray of alegrías to the table. "They're home made!" they proclaimed. "No way!" we remonstrated. Well, yes, güey, it was the absolute truth. The alegrías were beautiful, professional, delicious, and prepared from Fany Gerson's cookbook, which is actually in my kitchen library. We joyfully crunched these delicacies down.

According to Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, legendary Mexico City chef and author of the Diccionario Enciclopédico de Gastronomía Mexicana (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Gastronomy), among other books, alegrías are the oldest candy in Mexico. In pre-Hispanic times, before sugar cane had been introduced to New Spain (now Mexico), the amaranth candy was sweetened with maguey cactus syrup. In that long-ago era, this candy had a highly religious meaning. Shaped in the form of a cookie or cracker, it was utilized for communion in indigenous rituals and also was made into huge sculptures of pre-Christian gods. Because these god-figures appeared so horrible to the Spanish, they outlawed the use of this candy after the conquest. But in the 16th century, a Spanish monk had the idea to mix amaranth with bee honey. Rejoicing over the return of the right to eat this sweet treat, the ancient inhabitants of Mexico named it what they felt 'alegría'–joy.

The topping mixture for the alegrías–raisins and lightly toasted pecans, peanuts, and pepitas (pumpkin seeds), spread onto the parchment-paper lined baking sheet.

The following week, Betty Fussell, our wonderful friend from New York, invited us once again to visit her in Tepoztlán, just south of Mexico City. The light bulb went on: alegrías would make a great gift to take to Betty!

The recipe for alegrías is simplicity itself. Here's the recipe, taken straight from My Sweet Mexico.

Alegrías (Happiness Candy)

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup chopped toasted peanuts
1/2 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup dark raisins
8 ounces chopped Mexican piloncillo (coarse brown sugar) or standard dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
4 ounces puffed amaranth seeds

Equipment
Large bowl
Large spoon
15" X 10" X 1/2" baking sheet
Parchment paper
Medium sauce pan
Cutting board
Sharp knife

Preparation
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the pecans, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and raisins in a bowl and then spread them on the prepared pan.

Piloncillo, honey, and lemon juice in the pot.

Combine the piloncillo, honey, and lemon juice in a medium pot over medium heat and cook until the piloncillo has melted and the mixture has thickened slightly, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Squeezing the jugo de limón (lemon juice) into the mixture is simplicity itself using a Mexican lime squeezers. You can find one in metal or plastic at your local Latin market.

Remove the syrup from the heat and add the amaranth seeds, stirring quickly to mix everything well.

Mixing the cooked and thickened piloncillo, honey, and lemon juice mixture with the amaranth seeds.

The amaranth mixture, patted firmly into the parchment-lined baking sheet. Remember that the nuts and raisins are the topping–they're on the other side of the alegrías. Once this rectangle is completely cool, it will be firm and you will easily be able turn it over onto a cutting board.

Pour the amaranth mixture into the baking pan with the nuts, seeds, and raisins, and carefully press down with slightly dampened hands (so you don't burn yourself) to compact the mixture.

Allow to cool completely, 30 to 40 minutes at least, then invert onto a cutting board. Cut the mixture into the desired shapes with a sharp knife. If your mixture seems to be sticking to the knife, simply dip the knife into hot water, dry, and continue cutting.

Freshly made alegrías, ready to travel!

Mexico Cooks!' alegrías turned out overly crispy and difficult to cut, so instead of battling with the knife, I simply broke them into reasonable-size pieces and packed them in a tightly sealed container to travel the next day.

Were the alegrías a hit? They definitely were! Five of us ate almost all of them. We left all but a couple of the remaining pieces with our hosts, but we had to bring a little bit home. Minimal ingredients, minimal cooking, and maximal enjoyment: what more can you ask for from pre-conquest Mexico! Your family will love them and you can send a big thank you to Fany Gerson at My Sweet Mexico–and to Mexico Cooks!.

If you don't have your copy of the book yet, look over on the left-hand sidebar and just click on the book cover. That click will take you to My Sweet Mexico's Amazon.com page. Grab the book today and make your family a sweet Mexican treat as soon as it's in your kitchen.

And by all means visit our friends at Cocina al Natural. Their website and their videos are marvelous. In the very near future, Mexico Cooks! will be partnering with them to post some of the videos with English-language subtitles. We're all very excited about this new venture.

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

1 de August de 2015
Ricardo Muñoz Zurita and Azul/Condesa: Consistently Excellent

One of the best places to eat in Mexico City's leafy, gentrified Colonia La Condesa is Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's Azul/Condesa at Nuevo León #68, almost at the corner of Calle Laredo–and walking distance from Mexico Cooks!' house. This eagerly awaited joint venture between Chef Muñoz and restauranteurs Gonzalo Serrano Orozco and Salomé Álvarez (formerly of Restaurante/Bar Ligaya) opened in late January 2011.  Mexico Cooks! photo.

Just as Mexico Cooks! was in the process of renting an apartment in La Condesa, our good friend Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita announced that his newest baby, Restaurante Azul/Condesa, was about to open right here in the neighborhood. After having made–and several times–the lengthy but worthwhile trek to the far-southern Ciudad Universitaria (UNAM campus) site of Chef Muñoz's first restaurant, Azul y Oro, the news that his menus would be available within walking distance of us produced an ecstasy of anticipatory drool.

The ambience in all of Azul/Condesa's dining spaces–downstairs, upstairs, and in the garden–is conducive to enjoying a relaxing drink, a fine meal from the fixed or festival menus, and a changing gallery of art. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

Start with a straight-up tequila, limones, and a chaser of terrific, flavorful, and picante house-made sangrita. Another option, served in typical jícaras (carved half-gourds), is a mezcal from Azul/Condesa's excellent tasting list.  Mexico Cooks!' particular favorite is Oaxaca's mezcal Amores.  Mexico Cooks! photo.

Several years ago, Gonzalo Serrano and Salomé Álvarez approached Ricardo Muñoz with the idea of opening a new restaurant in the Ligaya building. After fourteen highly successful years at Ligaya, the Serrano/Álvarez partnership wanted to offer something new to its public. Gonzalo Serrano said, "We believed that it was time to offer a discerning clientele a taste of Mexico that goes beyond the Vitamina T choices that are most common in this neighborhood." (Vitamina T refers to a steady diet of tacos, tortas, tamales, and other standard fonda (small restaurant) or street food fare that starts with the letter 't'). The three restauranteurs hit it off immediately and Restaurante Azul/Condesa was in the works.

Before opening, the new partners collaborated in making changes to the interior spaces as well as the menu. The kitchen underwent a complete renovation, as did the restaurant furnishings. Tables, chairs, linen, and dishware were re-designed for the new venture. Upstairs, a new cantera (stone) floor was installed. Everything was planned for the comfort and enjoyment of the client, as well as for a different style but equally professional use of the kitchen. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

From Azul/Condesa's fixed menu, a salad of arrugula, pear, roquefort cheese, and cashew nut dressed with balsamic vinegar. Each dish on the menus is a work of art as well as an incredible explosion of flavor on your palate. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

The Azul/Condesa menu concept divides between fixed and festival menus. Some menu offerings stay the same, ranging from salads to desserts. The festival menus change each month. The initial festival was Alma Jarocha (the soul of Veracruz), featuring dishes from that eastern coastal state. The main courses of the festival menu featured predominately seafood specialties such as Veracruz-style octopus, a fish in green pipián (in this case, a thick pumpkin-seed based sauce), and Boca del Río-style shrimp in a sauce of white wine and smoky chile chipotle en adobo. In addition, the Veracruz dessert menu showcased vanilla, mamey, guanábana, and other products from the state.

Buñuelos rellenos de pato rostizado (roast duck stuffed into wee packets and deep-fried, similar to fried wontons) are served with Oaxacan black mole, thin slices of steamed calabacita (zucchini), and fresh blackberries. This dish is on the menu as a main course for one person, but it also makes a marvelous appetizer for a table of three or four diners.  Mexico Cooks! photo.

During the month of March, we were in love with the menu called Festival de Moles y Pipianes. The menu was set up in two parts: one side offered a selection of twelve moles and pipianes–just the sauces–and the other side offered a selection of eleven different meats, birds, and fish. The possibilities were endless: for example, almendrado huasteco, an almond mole from Veracruz, combined equally well with imported pheasant as with breast of turkey medallions or New Zealand lamb ribs.  Chichilo negro, a Oaxacan black mole flavored with avocado leaves, made the kitchen's perfectly cooked medium-rare filete de res (filet of beef) a spectacular choice.

A vegetarian appetizer from the fixed menu: tamalitos de acelgas, bañadas en caldillo de jitomate (little swiss chard tamales, bathed with a thin tomato sauce), from the state of Tabasco. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

Traditional Yucatecan cochinita pibil (pit-roasted pork), cooked in a banana leaf and garnished with pickled red onions. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

During the month of April, the festival menu was called MMMM…Mango!, to celebrate the onset of that fruit's season in Mexico. Everything from salads to desserts included mango: diced into guacamole, garnishing your steak or shrimp, fresh-frozen into ice cream, or served as a simple bowl of the king of fruits, mango made your perfect choice of dinner even better.

Sautéed shrimp covered with mango salsa–delicioso!  Mexico Cooks! photo.

Have you bought your plane tickets yet? Just wait! Desserts are as marvelous as everything else on the menu at Azul/Condesa. Your choices range from the simplest bowl of ice cream to the outrageously delicious–well, I truly don't know what I prefer. You look:

Espuma de guanábana is a light-as-a-breath refreshing soursop (I know, a terrible English name for a fabulous fruit) mousse served with your choice of salsas: the red fruits that you see in the photo, black zapote, or chocolate. Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

Tamalito de chocolate (little chocolate tamal), accompanied with a custard sauce, chocolate sauce, AND a mixed-berry sauce, then topped with slivered almonds and whipped cream. Oh man… Photo courtesy Azul/Condesa.

Last, pastel de tres leches (three milks cake), served with a generous pour of rompope (Mexico's eggnog–this devilishly good liqueur has its origins in a convent) and presented with fresh fruit and a variety of sauces. Photo courtesy Mexico Cooks!' dear friend from Guadalajara, Tim Welch.

We've tried to capture a photo of the dessert that Mexico Cooks! prefers, but somebody has always snitched a forkful before we can take the picture.  Triángulo de café pluma is a multi-layered coffee-flavored cake, filled with coffee butter cream and covered with dark chocolate and is well worth snitching.

Beautiful in concept and extraordinary in execution, Azul/Condesa fills a niche in this Mexico City neighborhood that has been vacant until now. The fixed menu is marvelous, the festival menus are filled with regional and seasonal treats that you will love. Prices? Moderate.

Go. When you're visiting Mexico City, just go.

Azul/Condesa
Nuevo León #68
Colonia La Condesa
Mexico, D.F.
Telephone 5286-6380 or 5286-6268 for reservations
Monday through Saturday from 1:30PM until 1:30AM, Sundays 1:30PM until 6:30PM.

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

25 de July de 2015
Restaurante Yuban: Comida Casera Zapoteca (Oaxacan Home Cooking in Mexico City)

Restaurante Yuban takes the iconic Oaxaca tlayuda and brings it to Mexico City with the addition of fresh, crunchy vegetables. In addition to the visible vegetables, this tlayuda is stuffed with melted Oaxaca cheese, chorizo (spicy pork sausage), and tasajo (marinated grilled beef). We four split it as an appetizer; it was just enough to wake up our appetites for more. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted. Click on any photo for a larger view.

One part of the charming and comfortable dining room at Yuban. The restaurant also has a very popular bar with a large selection of mezcales. Photo courtesy Gastronoma.

The state and city of Oaxaca are deservedly famous for their cuisine, and the Zapotec communities outside the city of Oaxaca are celebrated for their regional dishes. Every household has its jealously guarded recipes; every grandmother has her personal way of preparing ancestral dishes. Restaurante Yuban, which opened its doors in October 2013, continues to be one of the few restaurants in the city where Zapotec food is prepared–and prepared deliciously.

Fernando Martínez Zavala has been the executive chef at Yuban since mid-2014. A native of Uruapan, Michoacán, chef Fernando is self-taught and has 14 years' experience, most notably as chef in the Mexico City restaurants Les Moustaches and Moustache Bistrot. He comes from a family of cooks. Just prior to starting his work at Yuban, Fernando won Mexico's well-respected Cocinero del Año 2014 (Cook of the Year) competition. Photo courtesy Yuban.

Two lovely friends, visiting recently from Los Angeles, invited Mexico Cooks! to join them for comida (the midday main meal of the day in Mexico) at Restaurante Yuban, where we had not been since chef Fernando took the helm. Yuban (the Zapotec name means living earth) was a favorite of ours when it opened, but it had obviously been quite a while since we'd enjoyed both the charming room and the delicious menu.

Lengua en salsa verde (tongue in green sauce) was deliciously tangy, sweet, slightly salty, and served with a mix of organic vegetables from Oaxaca. One of Mexico Cooks!' companions at table chose the tongue but allowed me to taste it.

Two of the four of us ordered this cooked-over-low-temperature lechón en pipián de pepita (suckling pig in pumpkin seed sauce) with nopales (diced cactus paddles), pea shoots and nasturtium flowers. Although the flavors were exquisite, the meat was extremely fatty and the sauce quite over-salted. With just a bit more attention to the details, this dish will have the potential for greatness.

My choice for comida was mole negro con guajolote (black mole with turkey). I loved the vegetable garnish: tender flor de calabaza (squash flowers) and still-crunchy baby calabacitas (similar to zucchini). The turkey was tender, but once again, the sauce was seriously over-salted.

The house very graciously sent two desserts to our table–along with four plates and spoons all around. This pastel de chocolate (in this case, cake made of stone-ground Oaxacan chocolate) is presented with a leaf of white chocolate freckled with ground chile chilhuacle, Oaxaca's iconic and very scarce chile.

Our second dessert was my favorite: Cremoso de requesón (creamy ricotta-type cheese ice cream) with a streusel of pinole (toasted, lightly sweetened and ground dried corn), roasted fresh pineapple, and coconut ice cream. Its textures and flavors surprised me with their depth and fresh combination. I hoped that my table companions might let me finish it by myself, but we all loved it too much to do anything but share it to the last crumb.

Another view of Yuban's inviting dining space. Photo courtesy DondeIr.

Mexico Cooks! was grateful to have time for a talk with chef Fernando about the opportunities for improvement in his dishes. I'm sure that by the time you read this, the very few kinks we noticed will have been straightened out and that you will love Yuban when you dine there. I certainly plan on returning–maybe we will see one another there.

Restaurante Yuban
Colima 268 near the corner of Insurgentes
Col. Roma Norte
Tel: 55-6387-0358
Hours: Monday – Wednesday 1:30PM – 11:00PM
Thursday – Saturday 1:30PM – Midnight
Sunday 1:30PM – 6:00PM
Reservations recommended

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

11 de July de 2015
Michoacán’s Own Soup: The Mystery of Sopa Tarasca

North-central Michoacán is frequently and with much reason called paradise on earth. Autumn's wildflowers, ripening corn, green mountains, and a partly cloudy sky combine to give you the sense that 'paradise on earth' just might be exactly where you are: in this case, near Senguio, Michoacán.

The state of Michoacán is well-known both for its lovely scenery and its even more lovely–and delicious–regional cooking. The indigenous Purépecha kitchen, in particular, is Mexico Cooks!' favorite. If you look back at the Mexico Cooks! archives (found listed on the right-hand side of this page), you'll see many, many articles about this marvelous cuisine, which dates back to pre-Hispanic days.

Misnamed "Tarascos" by unknowing 16th century Spanish invaders, the Purépecha have, just within the last 25 to 30 years, largely reclaimed their actual tribal name. Nonetheless, one of the most popular dishes in the Michoacán culinary repertoire bears the name sopa tarasca (Tarascan Soup).

Not precisely traditional, but certainly not modern, this pot of beans is cooking over a wood fire built in a deep tire rim in an open patio in Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

You might well ask, "Sopa tarasca must be a pre-Hispanic dish, right?" Or maybe, "Sopa tarasca was first made for her family by a long-ago Purépecha housewife, no?" Over the course of years, most people who have eaten and fallen in love with this remarkably delicious and filling soup have asked me these same questions. Much to their surprise, the answer is always, "No…but let me tell you the story I know."

Once upon a time, before Mexico Cooks! was born, the small plaza in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán looked like the above photo. Part of the two-story building with the arches, just to the right of the photo's center, became the home of the Hostería de don Felipe, which had a dining room to serve its guests. Later, the Hostería was renamed Gran Hotel. In the 1960's, Rafael García Correa was a young cook in the Gran Hotel kitchen.

When I met Rafael García Correa in 1982, he was the head of the kitchen at the Gran Hotel. The photo above, taken in 2004 by Luis Jiménez of the New York Times during an interview where I was present, is don Rafa (don is an honorific title given to a revered older man) showing us a bowl of sopa tarasca in the foreground, along with a plate of corundas (a kind of Michoacán tamal).

Don Rafa told me that in the mid-1960s, he himself, along with the hotel's then-owner and the owner's American wife, invented a dish that, once offered to the public, became an almost instant classic: sopa tarasca was born, not created in an indigenous kitchen but for a tourist hotel's dining room. Today, we'd call that cocina de autor: the cook's invention.

Sopa tarasca as served at Lu Cocina Michoacana in Morelia. Read more about the restaurant here.

Sopa tarasca as served at the Hotel de la Soledad, Morelia. Some sopa tarasca is based on beans; some, like don Rafa's, is not.

Was don Rafa the inventor? He swore his story is true. He also gave me a hand-written recipe which he promised is the original. Don Rafa passed away a few years ago, and any possible secrets of sopa tarasca's origins were buried with him.

Don Rafa reported that sopa tarasca was served for the first time as part of a Pátzcuaro wedding banquet, on May 8, 1965. Years later, he opened his own restaurant near Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra (the plaza chica) in Pátzcuaro. If you go to the restaurant, you can still enjoy a bowl of his own sopa tarasca.

Today, sopa tarasca is a Michoacán icon, prepared in almost every restaurant around Lake Pátzcuaro as well as in further-flung establishments. It's one of those you-have-to-try-it local dishes that people who know you've been to Michoacán will ask you about: did you taste it at so-and-so's restaurant? How about at this other place, did you like it there?

Sopa tarasca as served at Pátzcuaro's Mansión Iturbe, a hotel and restaurant.
Click on any picture to see a larger view.

Fortunately, sopa tarasca is a relatively easy soup to prepare at home. The ingredients should be readily available, if not in your nearby supermarket then at a Mexican market not far from you. The recipe I offer you here is don Rafa's, but there are others (notably an excellent one from Diana Kennedy) that are available either in books or on the Internet.

Sopa tarasca as served by chef Alma Cervantes Cota at Restaurante Azul y Oro Ingeniería, UNAM, Mexico City.

Sopa Tarasca Don Rafael García

Ingredients
500 grams tomato purée
2 tortillas
5 corn tortillas, cut into very thin strips and fried until crisp
100 grams chile pasillo, cut into thin strips and fried until just crisp. Be very careful not to burn the chiles, they fry quickly and burn in the blink of an eye.
250 grams Mexican table cream
100 grams Oaxaca cheese, shredded
50 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams unsalted butter
1 clove garlic
1 small white onion
10 cups rich chicken stock
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh marjoram or oregano
2 bay leaves

Preparation
In a heavy pot, prepare a roux with the butter and flour, stirring constantly so that no lumps form. Allow to cook until the roux is a deep caramel color.

In a blender, liquify the two tortillas listed, some of the fried chiles, and the onion. Add this mixture to the roux and continue stirring until it is well incorporated. Next, add the tomato purée, the chicken broth, the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Add half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and taste; if you think more is needed, add bit by bit. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Put equal amounts of the soup into each of 10 bowls. Garnish with fried tortilla strips, fried chile ancho or negro, some Oaxaca cheese, and some cream. You can add some cubed avocado and a few sprigs of cilantro. Take your cues from the photos I've included in this article.

Sopa tarasca, garnished in this serving with fried shredded tortillas and fried shredded chile pasilla.

Serves 10.

Provecho!

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

4 de July de 2015