Category: Food and Drink

Mexico Cooks! in Tepoztlán and Cuernavaca…Heaven!

Tepoztlán's Restaurante El Ciruelo is the perfect setting for a leisurely mid-afternoon comida (main meal of the day), for drinks and botanas (snacks), or simply for coffee and dessert with friends.

Betty Fussell, Rondi Frankel, and I spent a warm, sunny Monday morning shopping in Tepoztlán's street market around the main town plaza. We didn't make any major purchases, but we had a terrific time looking at all the clothing and artesanía (arts and crafts) available at the booths. Suddenly all three of us were hot, tired, and more than anything, famished. Betty suggested that we head for Restaurante El Ciruelo, so off we went, praying to San Pascual Baylón (the patron saint of the kitchen) that El Ciruelo was open on Monday. It was!

At El Ciruelo, open every Monday, you will enjoy a beautiful setting as well as a marvelous meal. Our table faced lush green gardens with a backdrop of Tepozteco, Tepoztlán's craggy mountain.

We settled ourselves in the covered central open area of the restaurant and studied the menu. Everything sounded terrific and we wanted it all. Reason prevailed, however, and we limited ourselves to ordering a couple of appetizers, a sopa seca, and a main dish, all served al centro–to share.

In Mexico, there are distinctions between sopas, the literal definition of which is soup: one type sopa is sopa aguada (wet soup), which can be caldo (broth), consomé (consomme), or crema (cream soup). In rare instances, sopa aguada is called just sopa: Sopa Azteca (Aztec soup) or Sopa Tarasca (Tarascan soup) are two examples.

The second type sopa is sopa seca, which, to the foreigner, doesn't seem like 'soup' at all. Sopa seca refers to standard Mexican-style red rice, espagueti o macaroni con crema (spaghetti or macaroni served with cream sauce), or fideos, a thin pasta more like vermicelli than any other kind of pasta.

The three of us shared two appetizers: left, an absolutely delicious quesillo (Oaxaca cheese) wrapped in hoja santa and bathed in a light and subtle lemony sauce and top, pastel de elote (corn cake) served drizzled with crema (Mexican table cream) and sprinkled with rajas de chile poblano (strips of poblano chile).

Clockwise from the left, our platillo fuerte (main dish) included cecina de Yecapixtla (seasoned, grilled beef), served with black beans and slathered with crema and salsa, the sopa de fideos (garnished with sliced avocado) that we ordered separately, and guacamole garnished with squares of chicharrón.

We relaxed at El Ciruelo for nearly an hour after finishing our delicious meal, enjoying the breezes, the view, and one another's company.

Restaurante El Ciruelo
Calle Zaragoza #17
Barrio La Santísima
Tepoztlán, Morelos, México
Tel: 739.395.1203

If you'd like to try preparing sopa de fideos at home, Mexico Cooks! prepares it like this:

Sopa de Fideos Estilo Mexico Cooks!
Serves 3 or 4 as a side dish. It's a great change from rice or potatoes.

Ingredients
200 g pasta de fideos, either long or short (I prefer La Moderna brand, but any brand will do)
1 chile serrano, finely minced*
1/2 small white onion, finely minced*
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water
1 Tsp tomato bouillon powder (Knorr Suiza or other)

*Both of these may be omitted if you prefer.

In a heavy medium-size sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil and sauté the minced chile and onion over a medium flame until they are translucent. Add the pasta de fideos and sauté until the pasta is light golden brown.

Add the two cups of boiling water and the tomato bouillon powder. Stir until the powder is well dissolved.

Cover and simmer until the pasta has absorbed almost all of the water. Serve.

One of several elegant and formal terraces at Las Mañanitas.

Rondi Frankel, who grew up in Mexico City and its environs, wanted to introduce me to Hotel and Restaurante Las Mañanitas, a favorite childhood haunt in Cuernavaca. Betty, who had celebrated a birthday at Las Mañanitas just a few days before our visit, was eager to go back again.

A tray of botanas (salty snacks) served with drinks at Las Mañanitas. That's my paloma in the foreground. A paloma is prepared in a tall glass with tequila, jugo de limón (lemon juice), salt, and grapefruit soft drink, over ice. It's such a light and refreshing drink.

Once he realized that we were suckers for his looks, this irresistible beggar ate all of our botanas, first out of our hands and then right out of the dishes on the tray–peanuts, pepitas (squash seeds), and even the potato chips!

The pair of guacamayas (green wing macaws) at Las Mañanitas were much more photogenic than the three of us friends.

A gorgeous arched interior passageway at Las Mañanitas. The precisely manicured grounds, home to exotic birds both feathered and human, are also home to original bronze sculptures by Francisco Zúñiga.

One of the feathered type.

Another view of the gardens at Las Mañanitas. This mid-20th Century hotel has 20 guest rooms or suites, a restaurant a pool, a spa, and many other high-end amenities.

Las Mañanitas
Calle Ricardo Linares #107
Cuernavaca, México 62000
USA Tel: 01.800.789.4988

After more than a couple of hours' relaxation while bewitched by the old-style Mexican elegance that pervades Las Mañanitas, we reluctantly tore ourselves away and headed home to a more modern kind of Mexican elegance at Betty's borrowed heaven-on-earth pied a terre in Tepoztlán. What a blessed life!

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

21 de August de 2010
Mexico Cooks! Explores Tepoztlán with Betty Fussell

The view is from an upstairs bedroom at Betty's hideaway. Tepoztlán's jagged cliffs and crags are said to hide the secret birthplace of Quetzalcóatl, the omnipotent plumed serpent god of ancient Mexico. Tepoztlán, just 90 kilometers south of Mexico City, is a popular weekend getaway for harried capitalinos hungry for respite from the big city.

A little while ago, Mexico Cooks!' friend Betty Fussell emailed: "I'll be in Tepoztlán for a few weeks this summer, can you come to visit? Rondi's coming…" Never one to pass up a visit with these marvelous women, I answered instantly: of course! Not only was I eager to spend time with Betty and our mutual friend Rondi Frankel (highly respected wine connoiseur, sommelier, and former public relations director for Monte Xanic winery), I had never been to Tepoztlán. I couldn't imagine better company for my initiation into the mysteries of this enormously popular destination.

Midsummer roses graced a table at the house in Tepoztlán.

We had no sooner arrived and gotten our luggage into the house than we were out the door and up the cobblestone streets to the renowned Tepoztlán Sunday market. Rondi parked the car, we all hopped out–and Tlaloc, the rain god, immediately made his presence felt. What a downpour! We sloshed our way to the market, laughing all the way.

Betty, wet through but undaunted, savors her esquite.

We took temporary refuge from the storm under the lonas (tarps) that almost-but-not-quite cover the outdoor sections of the Tepoztlán Sunday market. While we waited for the downpour to slow, we all devoured delicious esquites–fresh, tender corn (either on or off the cob) simmered in water seasoned with epazote and chile de árbol, then slathered with Tepoztlán's famous crema (thick table cream, very similar to France's creme fraiche), finely grated cheese, and more chile muy picante, this time powdered.

Squash blossom vendor. Photo courtesy Roset Claes.

After picking our way down the crowded aisles of the market, we stopped for another bite. It was too late in the day for tlacoyos (a delicious corn dough-based snack)–all of the market fondas were out of the special masa (corn dough) used to prepare them–so we each ordered a quesadilla. Betty and Rondi had theirs with flor de calabaza (squash flower) and I had mine with papas y rajas (potatoes and strips of roasted chile poblano). After finishing our second tidbit of the afternoon, we gave up our near-swim through the market and headed for dry clothes and the warmth of home.

From the 1530s Codice Borboni: a drawing of Tepoztécatl, god of pulque. A whitewashed pyramid built to honor him sits atop the mountain called Tepozteco.

Tepotzlán is legendary home not only to Quetzalcóatl but also to Tepoztécatl, one of the several gods of pulque (Mexico's prehistoric alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of maguey cactus). The town is a land of both mystical and historical significance. Set in rugged mountains nearly 6000 feet above sea level, the area around Tepoztlán is believed to hold deep spiritual powers, concentrated in an energy vortex similar to that said to exist at Taos, New Mexico. Near the town, archeologists have found pottery and other artifacts dating to as early as 1500 BCE.

Today, Tepoztlán is partly a traditional Mexican town and partly a foreign artists' colony. Population is approximately 33,000, swelling enormously as hordes of primarily Mexican tourists arrive for weekends and holidays. Homes ranging from the most humble and tumble-down to the sort featured occasionally in Architectural Digest line the cobblestone streets twisting up and down its hills. Green-leaved sub-tropical trees and glorious flowers create bowers of beauty at every turn.

Tepoztlán's Ex-Convento de la Natividad, founded in the 16th Century by Dominican missionaries.

Local tradition at the Ex-Convento includes a mural on the church's arched entry wall, freshly re-created each year in September by local artists. The mural, made entirely of seeds, depicts symbols of pre-Hispanic history and tradition.

Pre-Hispanic family life, depicted in seeds on the entry wall at the Ex-Convento de la Natividad.

Pre-Hispanic symbol of the rabbit in the moon from the 2009 seed mural.

Broken 18th Century bells, removed from the towers at the Ex-Convento de la Natividad. The weight of the bell on the far right is indicated in arobas [sic], a unit of measure equivalent to approximately 15 kilos. Click on any photo for an enlarged view.

Hats for guests hang on a hall tree at the lovely home where Betty, Rondi, and Mexico Cooks! enjoyed time together.

We three spent part of a hot, sunny Monday browsing through the street stands and shops in Tepoztlán's central market. Clothing from the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero as well as neighboring Guatemala included Oaxacan and Guatemalan huipiles, regionally-made huaraches, hats, and fine linen or cotton guayaberas from Guatemala for men. As in most of Mexico's tianguis (street markets), merchandise at the market in Tepoztlán ranges from produce and meats to CDs, DVDs, and toys, and from flowers to fondas (food booths serving regional specialties).

Cecina de Yecapixtla, Tepoztlán.

The local meat specialty is delicious and hugely popular cecina de Yecapixtla, a type of thinly-sliced beef. The fresh beef is cut from the legs of steers into long, wide, thin strips. The men who train to cut cecina apprentice for as long as two years to learn the correct method. A single beef strip, properly cut, can measure up to 20 meters long. After cutting, the meat is seasoned with salt, allowed to dry slightly in the sun, and rubbed with pork lard. Cooked over a charcoal fire or briefly sautéed in a frying pan, cecina is tender and extremely flavorful. It's commonly served with black beans and crema.

Other local food specialties are tlacoyos and itacates, both of which we left for our next trip to Tepoztlán. There was only so much time and so much room in our stomachs!

Next week: Lunch at El Ciruelo in Tepoztlán, and a relaxing afternoon with the peacocks at Las Mañanitas in Cuernavaca.

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

14 de August de 2010
Sin Maíz, No Hay País: Without Corn, There is No Country

On July 22, 2010, UNESCO awarded Mexico's ancient corn-based cuisines–in particular the traditional cuisine of Michoacán–with the very first coveted World Heritage designation granted to a cuisine: Patrimonio Intangible de la Humanidad. Dra. Gloria López Morales, head of Mexico's Conservatorio de Gastronomia Mexicana, made the announcement in Bogotá, Colombia, where she was attending a culinary conference organized by that country's Mexican embassy. After six years of concerted efforts by Dra. Morales and many others involved in the preservation of Mexico's rich culinary history, the award brings honor to our beloved country and her exquisite traditional kitchen.

This article, originally published by Mexico Cooks! on June 14, 2008, offers a brief overview and a bit of insight into Mexico's history of corn and its uses.

Yumil Kaxob, the Mayan corn god.

Mexico is corn, corn is Mexico.   From prehistoric times, Mexico has produced corn to feed its people. Archaeological remains of early corn ears found in the Oaxaca Valley date as far back as 3450 B.C. Ears found in a cave in Puebla date to 2750 B.C.

Diego Rivera, Festival de Maíz, 1923-24.

Around 1500 B.C. the first evidence of large-scale land clearing for milpas appears. Indian farmers still grow corn in a milpa, (corn field), planting a dozen crops together, including corn, melon, tomatoes, sweet potato, and varieties of squash and beans. Some of these plants lack nutrients which others have in abundance, resulting in a powerful, self-sustaining symbiosis between all plants grown in the milpa. The milpa is therefore seen by some as one of the most successful human inventions – alongside corn.¹

Listen as this group from Burgos, Tamaulipas, sings a song from the early 20th Century: Las Cuatro Milpas. The song's sad verses recount the loss of a family's home and its milpas.

"Only four cornfields remain
Of the little ranch that was mine,

And that little house, so white and beautiful
Look how sad it is!

Loan me your eyes, my brown woman,
I'll carry them in my soul,
And what do they see over there?
The wreckage of that little house,
So white and beautiful–
It's so sad! The stables no longer shelter cattle,
Everything is finished! Oh, Oh!
Now there are no pigeons, no fragrant herbs,
Everything is finished!

Four cornfields that I loved so much,
My mother took care of them, Oh!
If you could just see how lonely it is,
Now there are no poppies and no herbs!"

The family-owned milpa is quickly disappearing from Mexico's flatlands and hillsides, giving way to agro-business corn farming. Today, Mexico's corn industry produces more than 24 million tons of white corn a year. Nearly half again that amount is imported from other countries. The imports are primarily yellow corn used to feed animals.

Woman singing to or praying over corn as she puts it in the fire– so that the corn will not be afraid of the heat. Florentine Codex, Fray Bernardino Sahagún, third quarter 16th Century.

According to the Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation story, humans were created from corn. Do you know the story?

At first, there were only the sky and the sea. There was not one bird, not one animal. There was not one mountain. The sky and the sea were alone with the Maker. There was no one to praise the Maker's names, there was no one to praise the Maker's glory.

Traditional milpa (cornfield) in the mountains of central Mexico.

The Maker said the word, "Earth," and the earth rose, like a mist from the sea. The Maker only thought of it, and there it was.

The Maker thought of mountains, and great mountains came. The Maker thought of trees, and trees grew on the land.

The Maker made the animals, the birds, and all the many creatures of the Earth.

Masa tricolor (three-color corn dough) ground by hand using the metate y mano.

The Maker wanted a being in his likeness. First the Maker used dirt to create a Human, but
made of mud and earth. It didn't look very good. Dry, it crumbled and wet, it softened. It looked lopsided and twisted. It only spoke nonsense. It could not multiply. So the Maker tried again.

Our Grandfather and Our Grandmother, the wise deities of the Sun and Moon, were summoned. "Determine if we should carve people from wood," commanded the Maker.

They answered, "It is good to make your people with wood. They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply."

"So be it," replied the Maker. And as the words were spoken, it was done. The doll-people were made with faces carved from wood. They had children. But they had no blood, no sweat. They had nothing in their minds. They had no respect for the Maker or the creations of the Maker. They just walked about, accomplishing nothing.

"This is not what I had in mind," said the Maker, and destroyed the wooden people.

In Michoacán, unfilled tamales called corundas are eaten with churipo, a richly delicious beef and cabbage soup.

The Maker sat and contemplated the ears of corn, the kernels of the ears. The Maker thought, "What comes from this nourishing life will be my people," and the Maker ground the corn, ground the corn and formed Man and Woman. On the first day, when Man and Woman, formed from corn, awakened, they rose up praising the Maker's name and giving thanks for their lives. They bore children, they praised the Maker as they planted corn and tended the crop. They were made in the Maker's image, born from corn. The Maker and his people rejoiced in one another."

Stone image of Yumil Kaxob. Photo courtesy of Michael Martin.²

Imagine an entire people formed from corn, formed to honor the seed, the earth, the plant, the crop! Corn cannot grow without human intervention; ancient Mesoamerican humanity could not have existed without corn. Spiritual planting rituals continue to be celebrated in the milpas every chosen planting day.

Corn is still the staple food of Mexico. Nixtamal (dried dent corn soaked in water and cal, builder's lime) is corn's basic currency. Nixtamal is the starting point for the tortilla, the tamal, the corunda, the sope, the cup of atole, and a myriad of other masa-based preparations.

This poster advertises a conference about "Nuestro Maíz" (Our Corn) held on June 3, 2008 at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico.

As Mexico changes, corn production also changes. NAFTA and globalization have affected Mexico's corn industry, as has genetic modification of corn itself. Is corn food, or is corn fuel for vehicles? Argument rages about the future of Mexico's corn. There is, however, no doubt: sin maíz, no hay país. Without corn, there is no country.

1. http://www.philipcoppens.com/maize.html
2. http://www.pbase.com/pinemikey/image/85632845

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31 de July de 2010
Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010: La Mesa de Blanca

The sign on the entry wall at Restaurante La Mesa de Blanca in Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán says that the place is a "restaurant of celebration". Whether your celebration is simply a pleasant comida (midday meal) for you and your family or a huge party for friends, the joy of life overflows at Blanca's table.

Two weeks ago, Mexico Cooks! wrote about the glorious Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010 tour through Michoacán. For me, the highlight of that part of the tour was our stop for comida at Restaurante La Mesa de Blanca in tiny, far off-the-beaten-track Ziracuaretiro.

The wonderful Sra. Chef Blanca Estela Vidales, who, together with her equally wonderful husband, Don Rodrigo Lemus, founded La Mesa de Blanca nearly nine years ago. Chef Blanca's joyful personality fills the restaurant with happiness.

Nearly 100 well-known chefs and journalists from all parts of the world had boarded tour buses and vans that morning, heading for truly fascinating culinary destinations in west-central Michoacán. The day bore down on all of us; no matter that we were eager to do and taste and experience everything on the tour agenda, the plus-ninety degree heat, blazing sun, and the accumulated exhaustion of nearly two weeks on the road had us all fainting in our bus seats. The buses took ever more twisting mountain roads through enormous avocado orchards as many of us dozed in silent appreciation of the on-board air conditioning. But where were we going? A few more turns in the road and we stopped in the tiniest town imaginable. The driver opened the bus door and WOW! The booming tuba and brilliant horns of a brass band shook the sleep from all of our heads.

The ofrenda de plátanos (banana offering) in Ziracuaretiro.

The Aromas y Sabores 100-member tour, preceded by a brass band, the ofrenda de plátanos, and a group of restaurant servers dressed in Michoacán's ropa típica (regional clothing) danced up the hill to the restaurant.

The charming restaurant was ready for the onslaught of the suddenly hungry members of the tour. Open to the fresh mountain breezes, decorated with tropical greenery, and roomy enough for the largest party, La Mesa de Blanca is a gorgeous surprise. Click on the photo for a better view of the restaurant's interior stream filled with golden koi.

Chef Blanca made certain that every table was complete with a variety of botanas (appetizers) and aguas frescas (fresh-made juice drinks. The house-signature agua fresca is made with locally-grown blackberries. The botana pictured above is ceviche made of Michoacán-farmed rainbow trout and the famous Hass avocados grown in the region around Uruapan.

Another botana, this time Blanca's famously delicious guacamole with house-made chicharrón and grilled nopal cactus paddles. The entire meal was accompanied by interleaved stacks of fresh-from-the-comal blue and white tortillas.

After a choice of either tortilla soup or sopa de milpa (chicken broth with corn and squash)–and some diners had both!–the main course included a locally grown, sun-dried chile pasilla stuffed with cheese, aporreadillo en salsa de aguacate (dried, seasoned beef and scrambled egg in avocado sauce), and a heavenly uchepo (regional specialty fresh-corn tamal).

In addition, servers brought each table a huge wooden batea (tray), lined with banana leaves and piled with freshly made, juicy carnitas. The carnitas were so delicious that the six tour members at Mexico Cooks!' table gobbled them all down and asked for more, which also promptly disappeared.

Along with locally-grown coffee, every diner sampled three desserts: volcán de mango (mango 'volcano' served on a purée of local strawberries), a tamal de zarzamora (sweet blackberry tamal) and ice cream made from regionally-grown mamey. Every item of meat and produce is produced within shouting distance of the restaurant.

The ofrenda de plátanos, called "La Cuelga", is a local Ziracuaretiro tradition celebrated especially during the banana harvest. Why? In 1554, Don Vasco de Quiroga brought the first five banana plants to this spot in Michoacán from the island of Santo Domingo. In thanksgiving for the first successful banana harvest in the New World, these offerings are still made every year on November 30. Aromas y Sabores 2010 was privileged to experience the tradition at La Mesa de Blanca.

Mexico Cooks!' delightful friends, Juan Bosco Castro García (Director of Promotion for the State of Michoacán's Department of Tourism) and Executive Chef Lucero Soto Arriaga, Restaurante LU, Hotel Best Western Casino, Morelia. Every person traveling with the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010 tour had a marvelous time–and an equally marvelous comida–at La Mesa de Blanca.

Every table in the restaurant offers a beautiful view. Choose from misty Michoacán mountainsides, the Ziracuaretiro pink and white church tower, or this vision of the restaurant garden and banana trees; no matter where you look, you will find a fresh and restful vision.

Whether you are visiting Uruapan, Pátzcuaro, or Morelia, it's a simple drive to La Mesa de Blanca. You need not be part of a special tour to receive a very special welcome and eat a very special meal. Please, when you go, tell Sra. Blanca that you read about her here on Mexico Cooks!–and give her a big hug from me.

La Mesa de Blanca
Avenida Ferrocarril sin número

Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán, México
Tels: 01.423.593.0355 or 01.423.593.0356

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

24 de July de 2010
Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Folk Art Museum) in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

This Mexico Cooks! article was originally published in early 2009. The museum is currently undergoing extensive restoration and expects to re-open to the public in August 2010 and I'll be there to take new photos for publication here. Meantime, let's take a virtual tour for old time's sake.

El
Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Folk Art Museum), located
at the corner of Calle Enseñanza and Calle Alcantarilla in Pátzcuaro,
Michoacán. This small museum, the original site of the oldest college
in the state of Michoacán, now holds arts and crafts treasures of the
regional indigenous Purhépecha people. Exquisite examples of copper,
silver, clay, wood, straw, and textile work from the 16th Century to the
present allow visitors to compare old and new techniques.

Mexico
Cooks! has visited Pátzcuaro's Museo Regional de Arte Popular
(Regional Folk Art Museum) so frequently over the course of the last 30
years that we all but have the exhibits memorized. Some of the items
are such favorites that at times, they populate our dreams. This
marvelously carved wooden dance mask, with its long beard and
exceptionally large nose, makes us laugh every time we see it. Notice
the cut-out slits between the mask's eyes and the eyebrows. They
allowed the wearer to see where he was going while he danced.

This
17th Century Christ is made of pasta de caña de maíz.

Sometimes
erroneously called 'corn dough', the core of the entire Christ figure
pictured above is made of a finely kneaded paste created from the
ground-up inner parts of cornstalks and a liquid exuded from deltatzingeni
(the bulbs of regional orchids). Early artisans created an armature, a
'skeleton' of dried corn leaves and incidental small pieces of wood.
Tiny parts (such as fingers) of some figures were sometimes formed using
turkey feathers as the armature. Artists then sculpted a figure with pasta
de caña. The artisans incorporated insecticides into the
corn/orchid paste, which has protected these sculptures over the course
of several centuries. The Museo Regional in Pátzcuaro has a number of pasta
de caña figures dating to the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Mexico
Cooks! is particularly fond of the museum's display of an early
Michoacán kitchen.

In the photo above, you can see many components
of a traditional Michoacán cocina (kitchen). The wood-burning
cookstove, at lower left, is made of clay-covered adobe. Long
rectangular holes for firewood are under recessed round openings for
balancing round-bottomed clay cooking pots. Ocote (sticks of fat
pine kindling, stored in a metal holder built into the stove,
near-middle left) quickly lights the fire. Ollas de barro (clay
pots) stack for storing kitchen staples–no lids required. To the right
of the stacked ollas, copper vessels line a wooden shelf. Other
ollas are ranged around the lower kitchen shelf. At middle left,
above the ollas, two carved wood cuchareros (spoon
holders) are both decorative and utilitarian. Above the cuchareros,
another wooden shelf holds pottery cups and small dishes and pitchers.
Above that shelf, the intricate wall art, made of individual tiny clay
cups, is typical of nearly every region of Mexico. Whether a simple or
complex design, in Mexico's traditional kitchens, it's always made of
cups.

A
carved wood cupboard, built into the museum wall, holds copper mugs,
pitchers, bowls and platters made in Sta. Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.
The graduated-size copper utensils hung on either side of the cupboard
are measures for dry and liquid ingredients.

A
charola de maque (inlaid lacquer tray) from the 19th Century.

This
large carved figure of Saint Ann holding the child Virgin Maria is made
of one piece of wood–except for one detail. When you visit the museum
on your Mexico Cooks! tour of Pátzcuaro, look closely for the
fine line near the ears of both heads. The faces were carved separately
to allow for the placement of the figures' glass eyes.

Mexico
Cooks! covets this hand-embroidered tablecloth. Every part of the
cloth is sewn with a Mexican dicho de la cocina (kitchen
sayings). We've often told the museum docents that if the tablecloth
disappears, it will be at our house. For more dichos de la cocina,
see Panza Llena, Corazón Contento.

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

17 de July de 2010
Ruta de Aromas y Sabores 2010: Touring Michoacán with Patricia Quintana

A decorative charanda barrel at the entrance to Distilería El Tarasco in Uruapan. Charanda, distilled from sugar cane and bottled as both blanco (newly distilled) or reposado (aged), is a regional alcohol specialty of Michoacán.

Eighty hardy souls, chefs, journalists, travel specialists and food writers all, recently toured Mexico's Central Highlands on a two-week fact-finding and eating binge that brought us together from Europe, South and Central America, the United States, and other points around the globe. Aromas y Sabores de México, Ruta del Bicentenario 2010, organized by Mexico's national tourism department, kicked off in Mexico City on May 29 and ended its culinary wanderings in Michoacán on June 10. Naturally Mexico Cooks! thinks they saved the best for last!

Eleven o'clock on a hot spring morning and my friend Betty Fussell was sucking down a charanda piña colada AND a torito at the distillery! It was Betty's first full-blown taste of Michoacán and we had a marvelous time together.

The two-bus, multi-van caravan wound its way from Mexico City to the State of Mexico, then to Querétaro, to Guanajuato and, for the last four days, to Michoacán. Tour participants, accompanied by Chef Patricia Quintana of Mexico City's hot-ticket Restaurante Izote, slept when they could, partied when sleep eluded them, visited countless historic sites gussied up for Mexico's 2010 bicentennial celebrations, and ate till they could eat no more.

John Rivera Sedlar, of Rivera Restaurant in Los Angeles, California, enjoys a super-refreshing torito (made with charanda, of course) and a visit with Mexico Cooks! Photo courtesy Cynthia Martínez, Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia.

On a hot spring day in Uruapan, Michoacán, Magda Choque Vilca, field coordinator of Argentina's Proyecto Cultivos Andinos, delights in a cooling paleta de aguacate (avocado ice pop).

Two of Michoacán's best known products are the avocado (we're the world's largest avocado grower) and the macadamia nut. This chilly and refreshing mousse, unique to Restaurante Tony's–(Morelos #183, Col. Morelos, Uruapan)–combines both delicacies. The creamy white macadamia bottom layer supports the pale green avocado top layer. It was absolutely delicious.

A metate y mano (volcanic three-legged flat grinding stone and its 'rolling pin') on display at the regional museum at Uruapan's La Huatápera. La Huatápera originated in the 16th Century. Nearly five hundred years ago, Bishop Vasco de Quiroga created the building as a hospitality center for the Purhépecha people.

For the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour, La Huatápera once again became a hospitality center. Tables along the portales (covered terraces) around the building held tastes of regional treats: ceviche de trucha, guacamole, paletas, and much more. Brought by Restaurante Tony's, these avocados were halved horizontally, the meat partially removed and then mashed with cream cheese, spices, and stuffed back into the avocado shell and decorated with these charming faces. The parsley eyebrows especially tickled me.

Restaurante Los Mirasoles in Morelia hosted the welcome dinner for the Michoacán portion of the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour. Executive chef Rubí Silva Figueroa pulled out all the stops to make the meal a high-end version of Michoacán's regional foods. Seated at a table with food professionals and journalists from Europe, South America, and the United States, Mexico Cooks! explained the food. It was, as one friend said, a comida didáctica–a teaching meal! Photo courtesy of Los Mirasoles.

Paracho, Michoacán, is known as Mexico's guitar central, but it is also famous for weaving, embroidery, and other artisan work. Michoacán's Secretaría de Turismo (state tourism department) had arranged for a small tianguis artesanal (artisans' street market) for our tour. Among the items on display and for sale were rebozos (long rectangular shawls) woven by the famous reboceros de Aranza (rebozo-makers of Aranza). Finely loomed and beautifully patterned and colored, each of these dressy cotton rebozos take anywhere from two weeks to a month to complete.

We had a marvelous time on the tour! Left to right: Lic. Elizabeth Vargas Martín del Campo, director of the Politécnico de Guanajuato; Chef Patricia Quintana, executive chef, Restaurante Izote, Mexico City; Sacha Ormaechea, Restaurante Sacha, Madrid, Spain; Olivia González de Alegría, Director General, Instituto Gastronómico de Estudios Superiores, Querétaro; Cynthia Canela, owner, Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia; and Mexico Cooks!. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Canela.

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10 de July de 2010
Museo del Dulce, Morelia: The Sweetest Heritage

Lilia Facio Hernández offers us one of the 37 gorgeous varieties of cakes made at the Museo del Dulce de la Calle Real (the Royal Road Candy Museum). Buy as little as a slice to indulge yourself, or purchase as much as an entire cake for a party dessert. Each cake is more beautiful than the next and each one has a name from Mexico's history. This one is the Iturbide, named for General Agustín Iturbide, hero of Mexico's 1810 War of Independence and designer of Mexico's first flag.

Mexico Cooks! has had some very sweet interviews, but none has been sweeter than the time we spent recently with Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, owner of Morelia's Museo del Dulce (candy museum). Imagine spending several hours in a 19th Century Morelia mansion presently converted into a real-life version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! Delicious aromas of melting sugar constantly waft through the air, sepia-tone photographs carry us back to earlier times in Morelia, and charmingly attractive employees treat each customer like visiting royalty.

Walking into the Museo del Dulce's retail chocolate and cake shop is a voyage to the Porfiriato (the era of Porfirio Díaz), a trip to the 19th Century.

De la Calle Real, the candy-making firm that's part of the Museo del Dulce, has been in constant business since 1840. The oldest family of candy makers in Morelia prides itself on the continuity of its passion for the sweet life. Family recipes, hand-written in spidery script on yellowing pages, family photographs dating over the last two centuries, and the importance of family heritage glow in every corner of the building that was at one time the Torres home. Every corner of the many rooms of the house, now converted to a museum and retail shop, breathes history and love of Mexico.

An old wooden carreta (cart) parked in one of the museum patios looks like it's just waiting to be hitched up to a team of draft animals.

The original De la Calle Real candy shop was located in Morelia's portales (arched, covered walkways) on Avenida Madero, across from the Cathedral. Later, the shop moved to its current spot–still on Avenida Madero, just a few blocks to the east. Now, De la Calle Real has locations in Morelia's upscale Plaza Fiesta Camelinas, in Mexico City's traditional neighborhood Coyoacán, and will soon open branches in both Sanborns and Palacio de Hierro, two of Mexico's swankiest department stores.

One room of the museum is set up with machinery used in the 1940s, when the family candy business was only 100 years old! This beautiful hand-made copper pot has a double bottom, like a bain-marie, to keep the cooking candy from burning.

Not only does the company continue to produce candy from old family recipes, Arq. Torres also prides himself on participating in the rescue of recipes dating back as far as pre-Colonial days. Sweets composed of native fruits and vegetables were made with honey until the Spanish brought sugar cane to the New World. Chocolate, native to Mexico, was consumed only by the indigenous nobility as an unsweetened cold drink–served either as bitter chocolate or flavored with chile–prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

Decorated like a convent shop, this museum and sales room carry us back to the time when fine candies were made in Morelia by cloistered Dominican nuns. Click on the picture to enlarge any photo.

In the demonstration kitchen, Mexico Cooks! watched as the cook combined equal parts fresh membrillo (quince) pulp and cane sugar in a copper pot. She was preparing ate de membrillo (quince candy). When the mixture formed una cortina (a curtain) without dripping as the wooden spoon was lifted from the pot, the ate was at its point of perfection.

It's an easy walk from the Centro Histórico (Morelia's historic center) to the Museo del Dulce, but why not take the little tourist trolley instead? Hop on in front of the Cathedral (buy tickets at the Department of Tourism kiosk in the Plaza de Armas, just to the right of the Cathedral). The trolley will take you from there to some of the most important historic sites in Morelia, including the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Conservatorio de las Rosas (the oldest music conservatory in the New World) and the glorious Templo de las Rosas (Church of St. Rose of Lima, originally the home of Morelia's 16th Century Domincan nuns), and the Museo del Dulce. The trolley trip, which lasts slightly over an hour, gives the tourist plenty of time to enjoy all of these Morelia traditions.

Dulces de la Calle Real (the candy maker's brand name) prepares specialty ates de membrillo in molds which create the embossed images of some of Morelia's historic landmarks: (from left) Las Tarascas fountain, the 18th Century aqueduct, and the Cathedral.

The candy maker prepares and packages small gourmet ates made of strawberry, pineapple, blackberry, and other fruits that are little-used in this presentation. Each box tells a story, each ate is perfectly molded.

For special culinary events, the museum occasionally re-creates antique recipes, some of which date to Mexico's colonial days. This just-made historic ate contains chayote (vegetable pear, or mirleton) and fresh fig leaves.

An excellent video, shown for everyone visiting the Museo del Dulce, tracks the history of candy making in Morelia. Long known for ates (fruit pastes) and laminillas (fruit leathers), Morelia developed another culture of candies during the Porfiriato, the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1875-1910). During those 35 years, the influence of everything French invaded Mexico and colored the fashion of Mexico's upper-class society. French-style sweets became all the rage, and Morelia never lagged in preparing candies and cakes to meet the demand. Today, Porfiriato-style cakes, beautiful to see and delicious to taste, are made and sold by De la Calle Real. You can sit for a while in the cozy elegance of the Café del Patio de Atrás (the Back Patio) coffee shop and choose from a menu of 37 different cakes, house-made Mexican hot chocolate, delicious fresh-made ice creams, and a mind-boggling selection of other delights from the Museo del Dulce's menu.

The candy maker created beautiful embossed jamoncillo (milk candy similar to penuche) ovals to honor Mexico's 2010 Bicentennial. Each one carries the image of a hero of Mexico's independence. These candies represent Miguel Hidalgo, father of the Independence. The candy molds are hand-carved by a museum employee.

There's a room of the store where you can dress up in Victorian-era clothing–from elegant feathered hats to fancy silk dresses, from black top hats to cutaway suits–and a shop employee will take your picture. What a terrific souvenir!

In part of the retail shop, lines of baskets hold individual candies for instant gratification of your sweet tooth–or to pack easily into your suitcase to carry home as gifts. The tissue-paper-wrapped candies are similar to jamoncillo.

Another entire room of the store is just stuffed with a variety of small toys, perfect for an inexpensive souvenir from Morelia. Inexpensive and easy to pack, they're exactly right for the child in all of us. These are baleros. The idea is to hold the long handle in your fist (with the cup on top) and catch the small wooden ball. It looks easy to accomplish–but it's quite a challenge!

Nuns originated Mexico's famously delicious rompope (a kind of eggnog). You'll find it in several flavors and bottles ranging from small to large, all made by the artisan candy makers at Dulces de la Calle Real.

Absolutely everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real is devoted to reverence for the past, passion for perfection in the present, and devotion to the future preservation of Mexico's traditions. Every product and its packaging, designed and developed by Arq. Torres, is an homage to Mexico. Each candy box incorporates an old photo and a paragraph-long history lesson, with the treat you purchased as your sweet reward for learning.

Elia Ramírez Ramírez is packing small sweet treasures in Mexican pottery containers. The packaged candies are destined for the retail store. All employees who work directly with the public wear 19th Century costumes.

As Arq. Torres said during our time together, "We are the in-between generation. We still remember mothers and grandmothers who made candy at home. We still hold that tradition in our hearts. It's up to us to keep those memories alive, to pass them to our children and help them pass the traditions to the generations that follow. Otherwise, we will forget everything that truly makes us who we are."

Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, the delightful gentleman who runs this sweet business with passionate care, comes from a long line of candy makers. He showed Mexico Cooks! lovely old photos of his mother, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother–candy makers one and all.

Whether you are a fan of jamoncillo, ate, chocolate,
rompope or another traditional Mexican sweet, you will be as
thrilled as Mexico Cooks! was with everything about the Museo del Dulce
and De la Calle Real. If De la Calle Real is your first experience of
heavenly Mexican candy, it will spoil you for every other kind.

Come to visit, stay to give in to temptation! Employees at the Dulces de la Calle Real Museo del Dulce will be glad to help you find the perfect house-made candy for yourself, your relatives, and your friends.

De la Calle Real Museo del Dulce
Av. Madero #440
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán, México
443.312.8157

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3 de July de 2010
Everything But the Squeal: Chicharrón (aka Fried Pork Skin)

Hot-out-of-the-grease porky deliciousness: chicharrón (chee-chah-ROHN, fried pork skin), as made at the Morelia tianguis (street market) where Mexico Cooks! shops every Wednesday. The piece of just-made chicharrón in the photo above is about 60cm high by 45cm wide (two feet by one and a half feet). The cazo (cooking vessel) in the photo is about three feet in diameter at the top.

Mexico is a huge producer of pork, and not just any pork: the little piggy that goes to market here is usually finely grained, tender, and flavorful. The meat has just enough fat-to-lean ratio for a wonderful feel in the mouth. Every part of the pig is consumed, from the head (pozole) to the curlicue tail (cooked in a pot of beans). Even the skin is eaten, in at least two forms: fried as chicharrón or sliced into thin strips and pickled as cueritos.

Fresh chicharrón, almost ready to eat, gets a final dowsing with boiling oil.

In the United States, pork
rinds destined for the snack food aisle begin as hard, dry pellets made in a factory. Meat processing plants
sell these pellets in bulk to snack food producers and individual pork rind vendors. The
dehydrated pellets are placed in vats of hot cooking oil, maintained at a
temperature around 400 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 204 degrees
Celsius). A consistent cooking temperature is crucial, since colder oil
may not cause the pellets to puff out during the deep frying
stage. The individual pork
rind pellets are held
down in the near-boiling oil with a metal screen to insure consistency; after about 60 seconds, they're ready for packaging.

Typical pork rind marketing from the United States. Crunchy pre-packaged pork rinds and NASCAR go together like gin and tonic, bread and butter, or mashed potatoes and gravy.

In Mexico, very little processing takes place between the on-the-hoof pig and the cazo (huge metal pot used to make chicharrones). The slaughterer skins the pig in as large a single piece as possible, soaks the skin briefly in brine, and sends it to market. At the tianguis where I shop on Wednesdays, the chicharrón vendor's brother kills the pig at the rancho. Another relative–the vendor next to the chicharrón purveyor–sells the rest of the freshly killed animal: ribs, tongue, liver, kidneys, legs, chops, tenderloin, etc. Feet sell fresh or pickled, ears sell fresh or fried.

In Mexico, customers usually wait in line for fresh chicharrón to come out of the cazo. Although packaged chicharrón is available in supermarkets, freshly-made is infinitely better. Truly, there is no comparison.

Pork rinds, long a popular snack food in the southern United States, became
popular country-wide with the advent of high-protein food plans such as
the Atkins and South Beach
diets. Unlike potato or corn chips, fried pork rinds have no
carbohydrates at all. They are exceptionally high in protein, however,
which makes them ideal for those who prefer snack foods that have no starch component.

Fresh chicharrón can be delgado (thin, above) or gordito (thick, below). Chicharrón delgado is just the crispy, crunchy fried skin of the pig. Ask the vendor to weigh out as much or as little as you need; in Mexico, chicharrón is sold by the kilo. You can see the old-fashioned scale that my vendor uses in the photo above. Other vendors at the tianguis use digital electronic scales.

Chicharrón gordito is fried with little squares of pork meat still attached to the skin. The meat develops a creamy texture, which contrasts beautifully with the crunch of the crisp-fried skin. The difference in color between this photo and the one above is due to the red lona (tarp) that hung above the first booth and the blue lona that hung over the second booth.

The main concern about pork
rinds, however, is their high sodium content. Pork
rinds can have up to three times as much sodium as regular potato
chips. In spite of their sodium content, pork rinds are usually less
greasy than other snacks.

In Mexico, guacamole is often served with chunks of chicharrón instead of totopos (tortilla chips).

In addition to eating chicharrón as a snack food, most Mexicans also enjoy it as a high-protein yet inexpensive meal. Served everywhere in Mexico, chicharrones en salsa verde is enormously popular.

Chicharrones en Salsa Verde
Fried Pork Skins in Green Sauce

Sauce
1 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and washed
1 large bunch cilantro, washed well
4 to 6 chiles serranos, depending on your heat tolerance
Salt to taste

Mexico Cooks! already ground the tomatillos and chiles in the blender. The cilantro is ready to add.

In
a large, heavy saucepan, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Add the husked tomatillos and the
chiles. Allow to boil until the
tomatillos begin to crack open. As each
one opens, remove it to your blender jar.
A few may not open; when the rest are done, just add the unopened
tomatillos to the rest in the blender jar.
Add the chiles as well. Blend
until roughly chopped. Using the hole in
the center of your blender top, add the cilantro little by little , blending
until the cilantro is finely chopped.
Add salt to taste.

Heat the salsa verde in the large, heavy saucepan until the sauce is simmering. Add six or so ounces of freshly-made crunchy chicharrón delgado.* Allow the chicharrón and salsa to simmer for several minutes. The texture of the chicharrón will change; during the simmer time, it will become soft and slippery.

If you prefer, you can put a portion of chicharrón into a bowl and pour the heated sauce on top. The chicharrón will stay crunchy.

*Don't try to make this recipe with pre-packaged snack food pork rinds; they will fall apart in the sauce.

Serve with hot tortillas, steamed rice, and a cold beer.

Serves two or three.

Provecho!

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5 de June de 2010
Casa Limonchelo, Morelia: An Oasis in the Heart of Downtown

Just a few of the fresh seasonal fruits and house-squeezed juices from the full breakfast buffet at Hotel Limonchelo B&B, Morelia. Other breakfast treats on the fruit bar include yogurt, granola, nuts, and honey.

A few weeks ago, our friend Sheila Velazco mentioned that she had found a new hotel in downtown Morelia that we just had to see. Last week, Sheila invited Mexico Cooks! to join her for breakfast at Casa Limonchelo Bed and Breakfast in Morelia's Centro Histórico (historic downtown).

It was a great day to be in downtown Morelia. Just for the day, the Centro Histórico was closed to vehicular traffic; our taxi dropped us two blocks from the hotel and we ambled the rest of the way under blue skies and bright sunshine.

The young Duarte family opened Casa Limonchelo in April 2010. Raúl Duarte Ramírez, who trained as an architect, was actually born in this late 17th Century house that he and Susana Carrasco, his wife, now run as a bed and breakfast.

A view of the gift shop at Casa Limonchelo, which features some of Michoacán's regional products–candy, jewelry, and hand-made souvenir items.

Raúl Duarte grew up just down the street from the 225-year-old building. Ten years ago, as a young single man, he moved into a few upstairs rooms in the old building. During the years of his architectural studies, he grew more and more concerned about signs he noticed of the slow deterioration of his family home. His main preoccupation became the restoration of the historic house.

INAH, Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, closely monitors the restoration of homes in Morelia's Centro Histórico. Even though the restoration and minor remodeling of Casa Limonchelo was primarily cosmetic, INAH's strict regulations for historic preservation governed Sr. Duarte's work.

A covered terraza (terrace) surrounds three sides of the sunny
central patio at Casa Limonchelo.

After Raúl and Susana married, they continued to live upstairs while they dedicated themselves to the work on the house. Opening the hotel became their joint dream. Due to their hard work and determination, they have been able to open the hotel sooner than they expected. Even so, they say that more amenities will be added to the public rooms and the guest quarters as time goes on.

Furnished in typical highly decorative late-17th Century style, the sala principal (guest living room) is elegant but relaxing and comfortable.

The charming bed and breakfast has nine guest rooms, a large, comfortable living room, two patios, a cozy bar, and a small gift shop specializing in Michoacán's regional products.

One of the two double-sized guest rooms at Casa Limonchelo. Susana Carrasco took charge of all the hotel's decoration and added everything that was, as her husband said, 'the woman's touch'. The B&B also offers free wireless Internet service to all guests.

One of the six Casa Limonchelo guest rooms suitable for one person or a couple.

The nine available rooms at Casa Limonchelo:
Six individual rooms:
–1 person…….400 pesos
–2 people…….500 pesos
One double room:
–2 people…….500 pesos
–4 people…….700 pesos
These seven rooms share bathrooms.

One individual room with en suite bath:
–1 person……550 pesos
–2 people…….650 pesos

One double room with en suite bath:
–2 people……700 pesos
–4 people……950 pesos

All beds in all rooms are double bed size. All prices include a full breakfast every day of each guest's stay. All prices are as of May 2010 and are subject to change without notice.

The dining patio at Casa Limonchelo. Cheerful umbrellas offer plenty of morning shade. Breakfast the morning that Mexico Cooks! was at the bed and breakfast included a guisado (prepared hot dish) of chicken and potatoes, aporreadillo (a dish of eggs, cecina [spicy dried beef], and broth from Michoacán's Tierra Caliente [hot lowlands]), beans, house-made salsa picante (hot table sauce), freshly made hot tortillas, a variety of seasonal fresh fruits and juices, and bread brought oven-hot from a nearby bakery.

The delicious fresh-baked bread offered at the bed and breakfast.

Little Raúl, age two and a half, with his father, arquitecto Raúl Duarte Ramírez.

This new bed and breakfast offers a terrific and inexpensive option for a stay in Morelia's Centro Histórico. Whether you're coming from out of town or have more guests coming than your Morelia home can accommodate, Casa Limonchelo is super-comfortable, and close to all of Morelia's main tourist attractions. Its guest rooms are set far enough back from the street that normal city noise will not intrude on your times of relaxation or sleep. The owners are charming and willing to go the extra mile to please their guests. You'll have a great time here.

Casa Limonchelo Bed and Breakfast
Avenida Madero #742
Col. Centro
Morelia, Michoacan, México
Casa Limonchelo
Tel: 443.232.2114

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29 de May de 2010
Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción: Friends’ Big Night Out in Morelia, 2010

The Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción (Church of the
Immaculate Conception) is located on Calle Tejedores de Aranza in
Morelia, Michoacán. The Immaculate Conception, a dogma of the Roman
Catholic Church, means, "conceived without stain of original sin" and
refers to the Virgin Mary.

This past Wednesday (May 12, 2010), thirteen friends, some of whom are long-time Morelia residents who had never experienced this local tradition, got together for a Big Night Out at Morelia's Templo de La Inmaculada Concepción. It seemed timely to publish this 2008 article again, with a few photos just taken this week.

Shortly after Mexico Cooks!
moved to Morelia, a friend here insisted that we go to supper with her
at a local institution. She wouldn't tell us exactly where we
were going, just settled herself in our car and told us, "Turn here.
Now here, and left at the next corner. Then right…" In a few
minutes we were parking at the curb in a well-kept working class
neighborhood, a huge church looming on the corner. Imagine our surprise
when she told us that we were going to supper at the church!

Just
a few steps down from the sidewalk, we were astonished to see a huge
room filled with tables, chairs, and the hustle and bustle of a horde of
people.

Bring enough people so that some can stand in one line, some in
another, and some can save a place for your group to eat supper.

This
was no run-of-the-mill church supper, with covered casseroles and your
Aunt Joan's coconut cake. Morelia's Templo de la Inmaculada
Concepción (Church of the Immaculate Conception) started its nightly
food fair as a kermés, way back in the 1960s. A kermés
is a street fair devoted to the sale of food, soft drinks, and sweets
for the purpose of raising money for a cause. More than 30 cooks in the
neighborhood of La Concha (that's the affectionate nickname for
any woman named Concepción, and it's the nickname for the church
as well) prepared enchiladas, pozole, tamales, buñuelos, atole
and an infinity of other typical Mexican dishes, all for sale in front
of the original adobe church. Every night of each kermés,
thousands of people ate their fill of delicious food. Before long, the
funds from kermés La Concha made the new church a
reality.

Pay for everything from drinks to dessert with tickets you buy at the
booth pictured below. Ticket denominations range from two to six pesos.

When you finish your meal, you can exchange any leftover tickets for
money. You can rent silverware, too, and turn it in for a refund when
you're finished eating.

The nightly kermés–it opens at about 7:00PM and closes at about 10:00PM–has changed a
lot over the course of more than forty years. When the neighborhood
built the new church, the lower level became a permanent cenaduría
(supper spot) that continues to raise funds for the parish. Nearly 30
booths range around the perimeter of the huge space, serving everything
from soup (pozole, a thick, rich pork, chile, and corn
stew) to desserts (tamales dulces (sweet tamales) and
crispy, crunchy, syrupy buñuelos). Current prices for food range from thirty
pesos for a plate of chicken with enchiladas and vegetables down to nine
pesos for a soft drink.

Lucille Arneson had never tasted a pambazo and was about to dig into this one when Mexico Cooks! all but grabbed the fork out of her hand. "Wait! Let me take its picture first!".

To make a pambazo,
start with a really good bolillo, split almost in half. Dip the whole thing
in rich enchilada sauce and deep fry it till it's smooshy and
crunchy and totally decadent. Stuff
the roll with as much picadillo as you can. Plate it with fried diced carrots and
potatoes and top with freshly diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and
crumbled cheese.

Alice Katz, who celebrates her 13th birthday in July, said that her pambazo was great–"almost as good as the ones I get in Mexico City." Alice liked her first visit to La Inmaculada and said she'd go back any time.

Me
traes un refresco…a mi unas servilletas…me falta un salero, por
favor…" "Bring me a soft drink…some napkins for me…I need a
salt shaker, please…" When you're finished with your supper, the
children take your plates, clear the rest of the table, and make it
spotless for the next round of guests. A tip is nice for the kids, even
if they've only cleaned your table. Give them a couple of your
leftover food tickets–your waitstaff will exchange them for cash.

Ready for the customer who ordered them: four orders of enchiladas
with chicken and a pambazo, Michoacán style.

Rodger García enjoyed his quesadillas and pozole blanco while he mugged for the camera. Linda Pierce egged him on.

Bunny Richards devoured a bowl of pozole blanco, a juicebox of
Boing! mango drink, and then ordered a buñuelo, which she shared
with the table.

Bunny's buñuelo.

Buñuelos are similar to very large
flour tortillas. Form the dough into a big disk, deep fry it, and then cover it with a rich
syrup of made from piloncillo (cones of brown sugar)and anís
(anise). The buñuelo in the picture above was broken into three
or four pieces so that it would fit on the eight-inch plate.

The choice of drinks is almost endless. In addition to soft drinks,
you can also choose from several house-made aguas frescas.
Alcohol is not permitted.

So, you might ask yourself, if the
biggest bill comes out to thirty
pesos for a big plate of food and nine pesos for a drink to go with it, how
profitable could this neighborhood charity be? Naturally most people
order other foods as well, raising the cost of their supper by a
little. When Mexico Cooks! eats at La Inmaculada, we
usually spend about 120 pesos per couple. It's almost impossible to
resist eating too much.

Cyndie Katz (Alice's mother) and Lucille Arneson enjoyed everything about our Big Night Out at La Inmaculada.

Okay, how much money does the parish take
in? Are you sitting down? Every night, the profits are approximately
40,000 pesos (about $4,000 USD). The parish priest administers the
funds, which are used, among other things, to provide school breakfasts
and food baskets for the needy. The parish also provides a free
doctor's office and a variety of other services.

Once in a while, roving mariachis sing at La Concha.

At the Templo
de la Inmaculada–La Concha, when we're feeling tender-hearted–we
eat well and we know we're contributing to a variety of good causes.
Next time you're in Morelia, come along with us!

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15 de May de 2010