Category: Food and Drink

You'll find the Hotel Best Western Turotel Casino at Portal Hidalgo #35 on Avenida Madero in Morelia.  The hotel is in the very heart of Morelia's Centro Histórico, just across the street from the Cathedral, Plaza Melchor Ocampo, and the Plaza de Armas.  Restaurante LU is on the ground floor of the hotel, with seating indoors as well as outside under the portales (arches).

A few weeks ago Mexico Cooks! received an email from colleague and friend Lucero Soto Arriaga, executive chef at Restaurante LU.  "Can you come for comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) at the restaurant on Friday ?  I have a big surprise for you!"  Could we resist a visit with Lucero, a surprise, or a meal at LU?  Of course not!

Mexico Cooks! has dined at the Hotel Casino over the course of many years.  The food was always just adequate, and the service was always friendly but lackadaisical.  About two years ago, I noticed a radical change in both the menu and in the quality of what was on my plate.  I was puzzled.  The Hotel Casino restaurant was one of those places where Mexico Cooks! took visiting firemen who wanted to have something to eat while they enjoyed views of Morelia's enchanting Cathedral and main plazas, but I would never have said the restaurant had much of a special touch.  Something had definitely changed and Mexico Cooks! wanted to know why.

Lucero Soto Arriaga, the extraordinarily talented young executive chef at Restaurante LU.

The answer turned out to be executive chef Lucero Soto Arriaga's passionate commitment to the traditional regional food of Michoacán and to its essence as well as its evolution.  She started her executive chef's career at the hotel in 2004.  After three years settling into the job and letting the employees become accustomed to her style of working, Lucero was ready to make big changes in the operation of the restaurant.  Her work in the restaurant is a treasured legacy from the former mayora (older woman who holds a kitchen's secrets) at the hotel and from her two childhood nanas (cherished nannies), both of whom were excellent cooks.  "But I didn't inherit my passion for the kitchen from my mother," Lucero said with a rueful smile.  "When she tries to cook, my mother burns water!"

Guinea pigs!  Which of the two is Mexico Cooks!?

The big surprise for our Friday comida was a new menu that Restaurante LU will offer in honor of Mexico's bicentennial year, just over the horizon in 2010.  Mexico Cooks! was happily a conejo de la india (guinea pig) for the menú bicentenario.  Chef Lucero asked for our feedback about the extensive new tasting menu, a series of dishes in small portions which she created for Mexico's 200th birthday celebration.

Chef Lucero has developed a new take on the margarita.  Our coctel de bienvenida (welcome cocktail) is a delicious mix of tamarindo (tamarind paste)and charanda (high-proof sugar cane alcohol similar to rum, a specialty of Michoacán).  A mixture of fine salt and spicy ground chile del árbol rims the glass.

Lucero calls our botana (appetizer) Salmón a Mi Estilo (Salmon My Way).  The smoked salmon carpaccio has an incredible list of ingredients: smoked salmon, of course, plus avocado, chile negro, a squeeze of limón, a sweet and sour marinade, and a touch of chocolate.  The golden 'lid' is a chicharrón de queso cotija, which adds both crunch and a savory finish to the appetizer.

Traditional tamalitos de harina (small wheat flour tamales) from the region around Lake Pátzcuaro, served in place of bread, arrived with butter, smoky, deep-flavored salsa, and limón.  Cooked al vapor (steamed), these tamalitos are reminiscent of Chinese steamed bread in both texture and flavor.

Next up were foods representing the three pre-Hispanic cooking methods: hervido (boiled), al vapor (steamed), and atápakua (stewed), plus a tiny brazier filled with salsa tzirita.

In the centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the land that would eventually become Mexico counted on three basic methods of cooking: boiling, steaming, and stewing.  Corn was the staple ingredient, the source of all life, and had been cultivated in the new world for well over 4,000 years prior to the Spanish conquest.

In addition to corn, the Spanish discovered that indigenous peoples of New Spain ate a widely varied diet: beans, squash, wild vegetables including cactus, quelites and hongos (mushrooms), tomatoes, various seeds, nuts, and chiles, along with hunted or captured animals, birds, fish and amphibians, and insects. 

Chef Lucero planned the menú bicentenario to reflect cooking
styles and ingredients that have evolved in the New World over the
course of time, starting with the pre-Hispanic kitchen.  Pictured in the photo above, starting at four o'clock are: tacos of atápakua made with squash flowers, peanuts, and honey; a miniature corunda (typical regional tamal from Michoacán); rescoldo de hongos (mushrooms wrapped in a corn husk and cooked in the embers of the brazier) at eleven o'clock); and in the center, a tiny olla (clay pot) filled with churipo, a meat, chile, and vegetable soup native to Michoacán.  On the side of the plate is a miniature brazier filled with salsa tzirita, made with roasted chile seeds, tomate verde (tomatillos), and a hint of mint.

The Spanish colonial era brought us, clockwise from four o'clock, tostadas de patita (pigs feet tostada), pollo en cuñete (chicken cooked in a covered clay pot), and salmón en escabeche dulce (salmon in sweet and sour pickling sauce), served on a tiny tostada topped with a dehydrated orange slice and shredded locally-grown chile chilaca.

Chile güero en nogada (stuffed 'blond' chile in nut sauce) and enchiladas placeras morelianas (plaza-style enchiladas from Morelia) flank dried nopal cactus strips–with the eagle perched on top.  The dish symbolizes Mexico's green, white, and red flag, proudly flown since independence in 1821.

The era of Mexico's fight for independence (1810-1820) brought the creation of dishes designed to show off not only the intense flavor combinations of indigenous and Spanish cuisines, but also highlighted the green, white, and red of the Mexican flag.  The meal most associated with the weeks closest to Independence Day (September 16) is chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles poblanos in creamy walnut sauce, left side of the plate).  Chef Lucero prepared this traditional dish using the small chile güero (blond chile) rather than the much larger chile poblano.  The list of ingredients for the chile's filling is long and complicated: chopped beef, quince, pear, Asian pear, apple, peach, sugared, dried pineapple, sugared, dried cactus, plums, raisins, almonds, and macadamia nuts, plus spices and herbs.  The roasted and stuffed chile is surrounded by its traditional walnut sauce (made from in-season fresh walnuts) and pomegranate seeds.

On the right side of the same plate is a small serving of enchiladas placeras estilo moreliano (plaza-style enchiladas as prepared in Morelia).  The three enchiladitas (little enchiladas) are no more than three inches long.  Dipped in sauce and rolled, they're topped with carrots, potatoes, a sprinkle of finely grated cheese, and a wee wheel of chile jalapeño en escabeche (pickled chile jalapeño).

Chef Lucero's sense of humor is apparent in the center of the plate: shreds of dehydrated nopal cactus, topped with a mix of chile with minced caramelized pepitas (pumpkin seeds).  "It symbolizes the eagle on the nopal–the shield on the Mexican flag," she explained with a grin.  We weren't quite convinced about the effect of the symbolism, but we loved the mix of flavors. 

Restaurante LU served this traditional but very updated dessert: ate de guayaba con queso (guava paste with cheese).  Its tremendously delicious combination of flavors was the perfect end to our comida.

When we were almost-but-not-quite stuffed, our waiter presented the special dessert del tiempo actual (today's era) for the menú bicenentario.  Lucero's dessert recipe for the classic combination of ate de guayaba (guava paste) with cheese is based on traditional flavors and textures, but lifted to a level only possible given today's high-tech kitchens.  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't dream of giving away the multiple delicious surprises literally at every level of this concoction, but will say only: don't miss it.  At once sweet and savory, it's a standout.

We Mexico Cooks! guinea pigs were completely enthralled with the new menú bicentenario at Restaurante LU.  As we talked about culinary philosophy and related ideas after our meal, Chef Lucero was adamant that the first ingredient in her gastronomic repertoire is respect: respect for the essence and tradition of the foods she prepares, respect for the knowledge and experience of those who have come before her, and respect for the ingredients that she uses to create meals that are at once firmly based in regional products and completely cocina del autor–her own creations.  There isn't another restaurant in Morelia where we've found a more exacting, exciting, and innovative kitchen.  Pair those attributes with Chef Lucero's devotion to local and regional cuisine and you'll call Restaurante LU what Mexico Cooks! calls it: very simply, the best restaurant in the city.

Felices Fiestas Patrias 2009!  Qué viva México!

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The wild Amanita caesarea and amanita jacksonii are two edible varieties of the common amanita fungus.  Watch out for the amanita phalloides, though: it's known as the death cap and is definitely inedible.

This time last year, Mexico Cooks! attended the annual Feria del Hongo (Mushroom Fair) in Senguio, Michoacán.  The fair was wonderful, a tremendous lesson in the wild and cultivated edible and medicinal mushrooms of Michoacán.  Since then (and to my great surprise), the article about the mushroom fair has appeared as a link on several mushroom and mycology websites.

Wild amanitas, sliced and ready to cook.  If you can't find amanitas where you live, try these dishes with farmed portabellos, another meaty and flavorful mushroom.

Due to a conflict on our calendar, Mexico Cooks! isn't able to attend the August 21-23 Feria del Hongo this year.  In honor of the mushroom fair, we'd like to present some photographs and recipes by Fulvio Castillo, a biologist who is also a mycologist, photographer, and extraordinary cook.

Frying amanitas in canola oil.

Chiles serrano, nuez (pecans), and nuez de la India (cashews).  Toasting the nuts and chiles intensifies their flavors.

Add the toasted nuts and cream to the frying mushrooms, along with a big pinch of marjoram.  Then grind the toasted chiles, avocado, onions, some cilantro, and a bit of salt in a molcajete (volcanic stone mortar and pestle) to make a simple salsa de aguacate (avocado salsa).

Green, yellow, and red sweet peppers, sliced into the sauté pan for yet another guisado (prepared dish) of amanitas.

Voilá!  A deliciously healthy comida (main meal of the day).

Roasted peanuts and dried, toasted red chile yahualica, crushed together in the molcajete.  The end product will be salsa de cacahuate (peanut sauce), a traditional indigenous accompaniment to main dishes.

Continue to crush the peanuts with a little salt and the chiles until very fine-textured.  The stone pestle (upper lefthand corner of the photo) is called the tejolote.  Little by little, add water and continue to grind until the salsa is smooth and of the consistency you like.

Ready to devour: mushrooms, vegetables, and two kinds of salsas: avocado and peanut/chile.  Clockwise from five o'clock: salsa de cacahuate, mushrooms with zucchini, mushrooms with cream, mushroom stems, and mushrooms with mixed sweet peppers.

Thank you, amigo Fulvio Castillo, for permission to use your fine photographs and marvelous recipes.  If you'd care to see more of his wonderful photos,
check this site.  During the coming week, Mexico Cooks! will be buying all the ingredients for at least one of these dishes–plus peanuts and chiles to prepare the salsa de cacahuate.  Se nos hace agua la boca–it makes our mouths water!

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

Templo del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child) is the spiritual heart of this neighborhood that is part of Morelia's Centro Histórico (historic center).

The pila del Santo Niño (fountain of the Holy Child), was built in front of the church as the water supply for the neighborhood.

The Santo Niño plaque, embedded in the wall at the side of the church.  The church was built because the plaque was found on the site.

The Mercado Nicolás Bravo is the commercial heart of the neighborhood.  Because of its proximity to the church, the mercado is more popularly known as the Mercado del Santo Niño.  The market has been a presence in Morelia for more than 34 years.  Some of the big differences between this market and others are its exemplary cleanliness, wide aisles, and the medical and dental offices upstairs.

Cocina Económica de Doña Felícitas (Doña Felícitas' Affordable Foods) is space number 127, upstairs in the Mercado Santo Niño.

Our dear friend Rosa invited us to lunch at her favorite fonda (small eating place) in the market.  Fonda food is usually just a half-step up from eating in Mom's kitchen, but once in a while we discover a treasure.  Don Joel Cuamba García and his wife, Doña Felícitas Díaz y Díaz, owners of the Cocina Económica de Doña Felícitas, are just as filled with the joy of life as their picture shows them.  Doña Feli's wonderful laugh boomed out across the fonda as Don Joel regaled us with old family stories.

Doña Feli's guisados (similar to stews) wait for customers.  Clockwise from seven o'clock: caldo de pollo (chicken soup), frijolitos (beans), carne de res en chile negro (beef in black chile), and sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup).  The small blue pot in the middle is hot water.  Don Joel mentioned that his wife never uses lard in her cooking; it's always done with vegetable oil.

Doña Feli's delicious, freshly prepared caldo de pollo contains a whole chicken thigh, a piece of corn on the cob, carrots, chayote, tomato, rice, and garbanzos.  All of Doña Feli's tortillas are hand-made as you eat.

Doña Feli started learning to cook from her mother.  She'd never worked outside her home until so many people begged her to open a restaurant that she finally agreed.  Don Joel said, "All our married life her wonderful food has just been for the family and our guests.  Now it's for everyone!" 

She prepares just enough of her marvelous guisados to serve during any given day.  Nothing other than the pot of beans is held over to be served the next day.  And, as Don Joel said, "Beans only get better after a day or two."

In the kitchen: Mirna (left, 18) and Marisol (right, 19), Don Joel and Doña Feli's smart, attentive, and beautiful daughters.

The fonda is open daily from 7:00AM until 5:00PM.  Don Joel said, "We four–my wife, myself, and our daughters–work as a team to make this business go.  Each of us has a role to play.  Our daughters serve the tables, I keep the customers happy with my chatter, and my wife–well, without her cooking we'd have to close up!  She's the heart of it all, she has the sazón (personal flavor, every fine cook's special touch) that keeps you coming back for more."

Open for just a year and a half, the fonda has plenty of regular customers.  For 45 pesos (less than $3.50USD), the little restaurant fills your plate and makes sure you go away satisfied.  Even more than filling your plate, the owners fill your heart.  Don Joel assured us that even though we were paying customers, we were also members of the family.  This was no empty promise; we felt more than welcomed and left knowing we'd be back soon for another serving of comida (the main meal of the day) and affectionate conversation.

Carne de res en chile negro (beef in black sauce), frijolitos, and arroz blanco (white rice) were absolutely delicious.

Doña Feli gave us a quick recipe for her rightly famous salsa de chile negro.  "You have to be very careful, because it's easy for the sauce to come out really bitter.  First you clean the chiles (in this case, chile chilaca) by wiping them with a towel.  You don't roast or peel them.  Cut them up and sauté them in a little oil, along with garlic, cloves, three or four peppercorns, and a large cut-up green pepper.  Last, add some toasted sesame seeds.  Then roast three ripe red tomatoes, add them to the pot, and sauté a while longer.  Add three more fresh tomatoes that you haven't roasted.  When it looks right, put it all in your licuadora (blender) till it's smooth.  Add salt to your taste.  That's all there is to it."

Downstairs in the market, vendors are currently selling seasonal huitlacoche (corn fungus).

The bright orange oreja de puerco (pig ear) wild mushroom is also in season.

A lácteos (milk products) vendor offered rich jocoque(a fermented semi-acid cream) from this olla de barro (clay pot).

Several of the booths at the Mercado Santo Niño sell a little bit of lots of items–this vendor offers red or white eggs, at least three kinds of dried, beans, rice, milk, oil, laundry soap, baby formula, two or three kinds of pot scrubbers, dried chiles, and a hundred other things.

If You Go:
Mercado Nicolás Bravo (del Santo Niño)
Calle Nicolás Bravo between Calle Corregidora and Calle Guerrero
Morelia, Michoacán

Breaking News!
David Leite, one of the best food writers around, has published a brand new book: The New Portuguese Table (Clarkson Potter).  Beautifully written, filled with glorious photographs and fascinating stories, the book belongs on your cookbook shelf.  Better, yet, the book–well used, smeared and spattered from your Portuguese culinary adventures–belongs on your kitchen counter!  Click on the book cover (left-hand sidebar) and order a copy today.  Like me, you'll be thrilled with The New Portuguese Table. 

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

A waiter at Morelia's Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara restaurant, on the run with a tray full of delicious tortas and tacos ahogados for hungry customers.

Mexico Cooks! lives in a beautiful and primarily residential neighborhood of Morelia, Michoacán.  However, just down our street and around a couple of corners is a wide street lined on both sides with small businesses.  On Wednesdays, our weekly tianguis (street market) sets up in a plaza on the west side of that street.  A wonderful La Michoacana ice cream store is next to the market, along with an upholsterer, a small discount pharmacy, a stained glass maker, an upscale kitchen design center, a shoe store or two, and several take-out food shops.

The torta ahogada from Tortas Ahogadas "El Chile".

Best of all, this street is home to at least three–or four, or maybe more–open-air restaurants that specialize in tortas ahogadas, the signature 'drowned' sandwich from Guadalajara.  The torta ahogada is a like a French dip sandwich gone crazy.  The restaurant-lined boulevard is affectionately known as el boulevard de la torta (Sandwich Row).  Every restaurant is popular and every diner has his or her favorite torta: this bread is more 'authentic', that sauce has more chispa (spark), the outside edges of this pork filling are crisper.  It's the kind of debate that creates conversation and friendly argument for years, not unlike the debate over thin versus thick crust pizza, Coke versus Pepsi, and soft-serve versus scooped ice cream.

Tortas Ahogadas "El Chile" opened about six months ago.  The afternoon we were there, our table and two others had a total of six customers, although the restaurant seats about 50.  It's hard to be the new kid on the block. 

Mexico Cooks! decided to take on the down-and-dirty job of taste-testing three of these tortas ahogadas joints.  As Judy pointed out, "It's in the name of research, you know.  It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it."  To keep the taste-test fair, Judy got to order whatever she wanted, but I ordered the same style torta at each of the three restaurants.  We dined at each place at about three o'clock in the afternoon, prime time for the main meal of the day in Mexico.

Long lines, day after day after day, are the hallmark of Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara.  This Morelia restaurant has been serving tortas ahogadas and little else for 17 years.  The restaurant seats about 150 people and has an equally busy second location just a few blocks away.

The formula for a torta ahogada is simple: split open a crusty, densely crumbed birrote salado (sugarless white flour sandwich roll), fill it with lean chopped pork, thoroughly drench the sandwich with a tomato-y salsa picante (hot sauce), and top with thinly sliced pickled onions.  It's that easy, and it's that complex.  For starters, where does the restaurant get its bread?  It's almost impossible to find a real birrote salado outside Guadalajara.  Is the pork overcooked and mushy, is it tender with those crispy, caramelized edges, is it fatty?  Does the salsa have just the right amount of vinegar, just the right amount of chile de árbol, just the right amount of tomato?  Are the pickled onions white onions or red onions?  Restaurant rivalries are born from these differences, as are friendly debates over the merits of various tortas.

The torta ahogada at Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara.

Originally from Guadalajara and still served at carts, stands, and restaurants everywhere in that city, the quintessential torta ahogada is best eaten at Estadio Jalisco during a game of fútbol (soccer) while the sauce runs down your hands and arms.  Tapatíos (nickname for a Guadalajara resident) or not, people now snarf down tortas ahogadas all over Mexico.

The sign at Ahogadas Jalisco reads, "Here and now and for many years, we are Ahogadas Jalisco, giving you, your family and your friends something different."  Ahogadas Jalisco seats about 80 people and has been in business for seven years.  It was jammed with customers the day Mexico Cooks! ate there.

Anywhere you eat a torta ahogada, you ask for it brought to you at just the level of picante you like: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, or muerta.  One-quarter means that the sauce for 'drowning' your sandwich is mostly very thin tomato sauce mixed with a quick hit of chile.  One-half means the sauce will be twice as hot as the 1/4.  Three-quarters…well, you get it.  Muerta means that your sauce will be 100% chile, no tomato.  Muerta
means DEAD, and you might well be if you eat this and aren't accustomed
to its substantially more than intense level of mouth heat.  For
research purposes, I ordered mine media (half) and added more chile as required.

The torta ahogada at Ahogadas Jalisco.

Here's a recipe:

Torta Ahogada Estilo Guadalajara (Guadalajara Style 'Drowned' Sandwich)

600 grams fresh ripe tomatoes
50 grams chile de árbol
pinch of pepper
pinch of salt
1 clove of garlic
1 bay leaf
Water
2 whole cloves
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp oregano, preferably Mexican
1 medium white onion, minced
600 grams thinly sliced freshly made carnitas
12 birrote salado or other small loaves of crusty, dense bread

Thinly sliced pickled onions for garnish.

Cook the tomatoes, minced onion, and garlic in water, until soft. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.  In a blender, blend until as smooth as possible.  Use cooking liquid to thin as necessary; the salsa should be quite thin.  Strain.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Reserve.

Cook the chiles.  Add vinegar, oregano, cloves, and salt to taste.  In a blender, blend until very smooth.  Strain.  Reserve.

Split open the birrotes, leaving the top and bottom halves hinged together.  Put each one on its serving plate (a shallow soup plate is the best).  Pack 100 grams of sliced carnitas into each birrote. 

Ask each of your comensales (diners) how much picante he or she wants on the torta and custom-mix the chile you prepared with the reserved tomato sauce.  Douse the torta very liberally inside and out with the sauces your guests requested.  The sandwich should be soaked and swimming in sauce.  Garnish with pickled onions, and serve.

Serve bowls of chile and bowls of thin tomato sauce on the side so your guests can add more of either.

Serves six.

These young Morelia beauties ordered tacos ahogados and shared a papa rellena (stuffed potato) at Ahogados Jalisco.  For an order of three tacos, the restaurant covers crisp-fried tacos de carnitas with tomato and chile sauce to your taste, then tops it all with shredded cabbage and pickled onions.

All three restaurants are bargains.  A torta ahogada costs about 15 pesos, an order of three tacos ahogados costs about 18 pesos.  All of the restaurants offer soft drinks, beer, and aguas frescas at reasonable prices.  Some of the restaurants have specialties other than standard tortas.  For example, El Chile has tortas y tacos ahogados de camarón (shrimp) on the menu and Ahogadas Jalisco sells addictive papas rellenas (baked potatoes stuffed with thin-sliced fried ham, melted cheese, and mustardy cream sauce and garnished with a chile toreado).

The outstanding papa rellena (stuffed potato) at Ahogadas Jalisco.

Just for you, Mexico Cooks! sacrificed herself on the altar of culinary research and ate tortas ahogadas for days, to the point that Judy laughingly said the next stop was Peptobismolandia.  Which tortas were the best? 

We loved the tortas at Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara for several reasons: the delicious, crisp-along-the-edges meat, the marvelous flavors of the sauce, the ambiance (including the recorded music), at the jumping restaurant, the attentive service.  The bread at Ahogadas Jalisco was the best, the tacos ahogados were great, and we swooned over the papa rellena.  The owner at Tortas Ahogadas El Chile was completely accommodating and trying his best to succeed, but his restaurant has a hard act to follow: it's right across the street from Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara, the major player on el boulevard de la torta.  You'll have to visit Morelia and try them all yourselves!

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Mexico Cooks! attended the July 1, 2009, Simposio de Los Quelites (Symposium of Wild and Cultivated Mexican Greens) at the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Garden) of the UNAM (National Autonomous University) in Mexico City.  The day-long symposium featured talks by scientists, chefs, nutritionists, and other members of Mexico City's culinary community.

Quelites are the edible, tender, newly grown parts of wild (and in some instances, cultivated) plants.  Those tender parts include buds and flowers, shoots, and new leaves.  The name quelite comes from the Nahua word quili-tl.  Quelites that are commonly eaten today are verdolagas, guías de frijol, puntas de calabaza, papaloquelite, flor de pitahaya, guaje, pata de gallo, huihuila, quelite cenizo, and hoja santa.  Some quelites are eaten as vegetables and some are used like herbs, for flavor in a prepared dish.  Many are common, both in fields and markets, and some are quite rare.

Dr. Javier Caballero, director of the Jardín Botánico, gave opening remarks about the history of research at the 50-year-old garden.  He celebrated not only the ongoing work at the research center, but also the part the center has played in the preservation and rescue of ancient Mexican greens.

In the pre-Hispanic era in Mesoamerica, maíz (corn) was the king of plant food.  Corn's companions in the kitchen were chile and wild herbs, in addition to occasional wild game.  In his Codice Florentino, Fray Bernadino Sahagún documented this same diet that prevailed after the Spanish conquest and which, in many instances, continues to be the predominate diet.  Almost five hundred years post-conquest, maíz is still king in Mexico.

The stage display at the symposium featured both native Mexican quelites and vegetables that came to Mexico during and after the Spanish conquest.

Many of the speakers referred to the Spanish Franciscan Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and his exhaustive Codice Florentino, a compendium of 16th Century 12-volume Nahua, Spanish, and Latin writings accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations.  In the Codice, Sahagún described thousands upon thousands of details about indigenous life in Nueva España, including an entire volume about everyday and ritual foods.

Maestra Edelmira Linares and Dr. Robert Bye were both organizers and presenters at the symposium.  Their well-received talk covered the discussion of quelites in the Codice Florentino.  Dr. Bye and Maestra Linares stressed that Mexico eats all of its weeds; of the nearly 2000 species of quelites known to Fray Bernadino Sahagún, 500 are still used in Mexico's kitchens.

Dra. Karen Dakin (left), noted UNAM linguist, and prominent chef and writer Diana Kennedy animatedly discussed Dra. Dakin's fascinating talk about the etymology of Nahua naming of various quelites.  In the afternoon session, Sra. Kennedy gave a delightfully informal talk about the quelites consumed in rural parts of Mexico.  Sra. Kennedy drew a laugh from the audience when she said, "Some of these dishes may be treasures in the pueblos where they're made, but not all of them are to my liking."

Dra. Dakin stressed that the 'why' of words–how they are formed, what their roots are–is as important as their definitions.  This slide from her fascinating talk shows that the Nahua word ayoh-yaca-quili-tl (guía de calabaza [squash vine tendrils]) comes from ayoh (calabaza=squash), yaca (point, or nariz=nose–the part that goes out in front), and quili-tl (green vegetable).  A later speaker pointed out that right up to the present day, children running ahead of of a group of adults–like a squash vine's tendrils running out in front of the main vines–are sometimes called narices (noses).  Another speaker, Maestra Jiapsy Arias, pointed out that the Codice Florentino contains nearly triple the amount of information in Nahua as it does in Spanish.

Berros con elotes y crema (watercress cooked and served with corn kernels and cream).

Mid-afternoon at the symposium was devoted to what was touted to be a muestra de gastronomía y degustación: a food demonstration and tasting.  Mexico Cooks! and the rest of the assembled assumed that the degustación would include small tastes of a variety of edible plants.  Some people (names deleted to protect the guilty) actually thought we'd best plan to have our comida (the main meal of the day) elsewhere: these weeds would never sustain us through the rest of the day!  We were so wrong.

Rollitos de pechuga de pato con quelites (little rolls of duck breast with quelites).  These tidbits were simply fantastic: the flavors of the delicate breast of duck, the deep green quelites, and the pepitas combined to be more than the sum of their parts.

The group of chefs in charge of the degustación prepared so many beautiful and delicious dishes that it seemed we were in the presence of a latter-day loaves and fishes miracle.  Nearly 150 people ate until we were all but comatose. 

Tamalitos de quelites con queso (little tamales with quelites and cheese), from Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's magnificent on-campus Restaurante Azul y Oro at the UNAM.

Rollos capeados de huauzontle con queso de cabra (Rolls of huauzontle and goat cheese).

The flavors of every dish were superb.  Mexico Cooks! is hard-pressed to say which of the many dishes were her favorites.  The rollitos de pechuga de pato were a revelation, as were the tamalitos de quelites from Restaurante Azul y Oro, as were the berros con elote y crema.

Jericalla de quelites con hojas de quelite, estrella de anís, y tres mieles (custard of quelites with cheese, star anise, and three kinds of honey).  These tiny custards, no more than an inch in diameter, were marvelous as prepared by Chef María Elena Lugo Zermeño of Mexico City and Querétaro.

If pushed to the wall, however, I think I would have to choose–for sheer surprise and perfection–the jericalla de quelites (photo above).  The unexpected silky sweetness of the custard,
the speck of crystalized leaf, the crackle of the star anise, and the drizzle of
three honeys made this finale to our comida simply breathtaking.

The symposium was an enormous WOW! from start to finish.  The organization, execution, and thoughtful details were absolutely tops.  It doesn't get much better than this.

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Fresh from the fields, these gorgeous pimientos morrón rojo y amarillo (red and yellow sweet peppers) sell for about 60 pesos the kilo ($2.25 USD the pound) at the tianguis where Mexico Cooks! shops.

Nearly two years ago, in August 2007, Mexico Cooks! featured every sort of produce, dairy product, and meat sold at a local tianguis (street market) near Guadalajara, Jalisco.  For the entire month of August 2008, you read about seasonal availability of fruits and vegetables at the dozens of regularly scheduled tianguis (it's the same word in singular and plural) in Morelia, Michoacán.  Mexico Cooks! would rather shop at a hot, crowded, and sometimes smelly tianguis than at an air conditioned supermarket, rather shop for supremely fresh foods at a tianguis than give a second glance to anything frozen, boxed, or canned that's offered for sale elsewhere.

A signmaker with a sense of humor stuck this tag on his fresh Roma tomatoes: "Like you saw it on TV".  These were offered at 14 pesos the kilo (about 50 cents US the pound).

The tianguis, wherever in Mexico it's held, is a basic part of the culture of modern Mexico.   Its name comes from the Nauhatl word tianquiztli, market.  Although Nahuatl markets are centuries old, the present-day form of the tianguis is fairly recent, originating during the 1970-76 Mexican presidency of Luis Echeverría Alvarez.  The author of the tianguis project in Mexico was José Iturriaga, Echeverría's former finance minister.

Cooked in a sweet syrup, whole calabaza de castilla (squash, left), camote (sweet potato, right), and higos (figs, rear) are available at the tianguis by the kilo or portion of a kilo.  They're to be eaten for breakfast or supper.

Although Iturriaga was himself a wealthy, educated, and cultured man, he worried about the ability of Mexico's poor to feed their families.  He was especially concerned about the availability of nutritious fresh foods sold at reasonable prices.  The tianguis, otherwise known as a mercado sobre ruedas (market on wheels), was his idea.  The government took charge of giving Mexico's working-class housewives and other food shoppers stupendous quality at the lowest possible prices.

Beautiful cebollitas de cambray (knob onions), ready for serving with carne asada (grilled meat, usually accompanied by grilled whole onions like these.

Still operated by local government, today's tianguis only sometimes reaches Iturriaga's ideal.  Often the produce can be second-rate, the meats and seafood far less than fresh, and the market's hygeine questionable–while prices are often as high or higher than the días de plaza (sale days) in upscale supermarkets.

Higos–figs, at the peak of maturity and ripeness–enjoy a relatively long season here in Mexico.  We recently paid 100 pesos for two kilos of beautifully ripe figs and prepared half a dozen jars of you-don't-want-to-know-how-good fig conserve.  Later this winter, spread on a toasted and buttered bolillo (small loaf of fresh-baked bread) from our tianguis, served over ice cream, or licked off the finger, the conserve will be an intense memory of summer.

Mexico Cooks! is a regular customer at one of the better tianguis in Morelia.  Our tianguis, set up early Wednesday mornings, is quite near our house.  Our normal purchases include tortillas, bread, seafood, excellent pork ranging from maciza (fresh pork leg) to tocino (bacon), all of our fruits and vegetables, cheeses and cream, grains, and flowers for the house.  We don't eat much beef and prefer to buy raw chicken at a supermarket.

Tiny plátanos dominico (finger bananas, about 2.5 inches long) are just one of the banana varieties we usually see at the tianguis.

Prices at the Wednesday tianguis in our neighborhood, while not substantially lower than those at the supermarket, are still not higher than we care to pay.  We usually budget 400 pesos (about $30 USD) to buy what we need at the tianguis for a week's meals, including pork and sometimes shrimp.  We budget another 400 pesos for purchases at the supermarket. 

On a recent Wednesday–when the refrigerator was bare of produce, as we had been out of the country for more than a week–these were our purchases:

6 large fresh white onions
1 huge cantaloupe
4 big mangoes
6 red-ripe tomatoes
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 big avocado
2 large bananas
1 large papaya
1.5 lb fresh green beans
8 h
ot-out-of-the-oven bolillos
Total cost: 150 pesos–the equivalent of about $11.00 USD.

Stands offering prepared foods are always popular at any tianguis.  This woman at the Tianguis del Sol in Guadalajara is preparing hand made huaraches (a long, thick oval of corn masa (dough), similar to a tortilla, served with various toppings).

Times and needs change.  Urban Mexico views the tianguis as both a terrible bother (who would want one on their street, with its attendant noise and mess) and a joy (but where else can we get produce this fresh!).  Mexico Cooks! knows people who will not shop at a tianguis, and we know people who will not shop anywhere else.  Come with us some Wednesday and see what you think.

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