Category: Tours

Looking for Smut on the Internet?

Not that kind! What in the world do you think we're thinking!

Ustilago maydis, called corn smut, or huitlacoche.

Mexico Cooks! is rejoicing in a wealth of corn smut, known in Mexico as the delicacy huitlacoche (aka cuitlacoche) and known in the rest of the world as disgusting. The word cuitlacoche comes from the Nahuatl word cuitlatl (excrement) and cochi (sleeping). You wanted to know that, didn't you?

Ustilago
maydis (corn smut's biological name) is a fungal disease that most
often attacks corn before the ear forms. Spores enter corn stalks that
have been wounded by hail, insects, or cultivation cuts. The fungus
grows inside the corn kernel, distorting and discoloring it, leaving
only the husk of the kernel remaining. The fungus winters over in the
ground or in old corn stalks left to rot. Smut spores can blow long
distances, invading every cornfield in a region. No country is exempt
from its infection and losses to the fungus may be as high as 20% of a
corn crop. Most of the world's corn growers use every means possible to
stave off the infection, but here in Mexico, we love to see the fungus
come to market.

Here in Mexico City, the huitlacoche season just started. Some of the vegetable vendors at our Tuesday tianguis had piles of it for sale last week, in amongst the broccoli, chiles,
leeks, tomatoes, and the rest of the weekly array in their stands.
Twenty-five pesos (about $2.50 US) per half pound seemed like a fair
price, so we bought a bag of big juicy-looking fungus and brought it
home for comida, our main meal of the day.

The taste of huitlacoche
is deep, rich, earthy, and is frequently compared to truffles. The
texture is meaty, similar to a portabello mushroom. The color–well, we
don't eat many coal black foods, but it's quite elegant on the plate.

In Mexico, huitlacoche is sold either on the cob or loose, by the kilo. Once in a great while, fresh huitlacoche is available in a Latin market outside Mexico. It's said that the canned variety works as well as the fresh, although Mexico Cooks! hasn't used the canned product and makes no guarantees. Look for this variety:

Here's Mexico Cooks!' recipe for our comida muy de la temporada (very seasonal dinner).

Salsa de Huitlacoche con Espagueti y Pechuga de Pollo
(Cuitlacoche Sauce with Spaghetti and Chicken Breast)

Ingredients for the sauce:
1 large clove garlic, minced fine
2 tbsp white onion, minced fine
2 or 3 strips bacon, minced
3 chiles chilacas or 2 chiles poblanos
250 grams (1/2 lb) huitlacoche, roughly chopped
Sea salt to taste
Enough chicken broth to thin sauce to coat the back of a spoon
Bacon drippings plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Utensils:
10-inch nonstick sauté pan
Wooden spoon
Measuring spoons
Blender

Procedure:
Roast the chiles on a dry (not oiled) comal (griddle) until the skins are blistered and nearly black. Put them in a plastic bag and twist it shut. "Sweat" the chiles for about 10 minutes. Remove the stems and seeds and peel the chiles. Roughly chop the prepared chiles and reserve for later use.

Sauté the minced bacon until nearly crisp. Remove from pan and reserve with the chiles. Keep the bacon drippings in the pan. Add the oil.

Sauté the garlic, onion, and huitlacoche in the drippings/oil until the cuitlacoche is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Be careful that the huitlacoche does not become mushy. It should retain some texture. The mixture in your sauté pan will be inky black.

Put the huitlacoche mixture, the reserved chiles
and the bacon in the blender. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and purée.
The mix should thickly coat the back of a spoon. Add more chicken stock
if needed and blend again. Add sea salt to taste and blend briefly.
Again, the sauce will be black.

Chicken breasts:
Cut
two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves into 1/2" wide strips as
long as each breast. Put 2 Tbsp flour and 1/2 tsp sea salt in a plastic
bag and shake to mix. Add the chicken breast strips and shake to flour
thoroughly. Shake off excess flour. Sauté breast strips in olive oil
until they are golden brown. Be careful not to overcook the breast
strips. Remove and reserve.

Spaghetti:
I used 1/2 lb fettucine and cooked following package directions.

Plating:
Serves two generously.

Put half the spaghetti on each plate. Divide the cuitlacoche
sauce between the two servings of spaghetti. Divide the chicken breast
strips between the two plates, laying them across the spaghetti and
sauce. Drizzle more sauce across the chicken breast strips.

We all but licked our plates.

So…we've got rough stuff (the chopping), breasts (the chicken), and licking (the plates). I guess this really is smut on the Internet!

Provecho!

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

25 de May de 2013
Kissing the Feet of Two Volcanoes: Amecameca, State of Mexico

This article about the volcano Popocatépetl, published just over a year ago, is once again appropriate. Don Goyo (the volcano's nickname) is even more active today than it was twelve months ago.

The active volcano Popocatépetl is the second-highest mountain in
Mexico at 5,452 meters (17,887 feet) above sea level. Some sources say
that Popocatépetl is slightly higher than those quoted figures. Only
the Pico de Orizaba (5,610 meters or 18,406 feet) is higher. All photos
by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

During the last few weeks, Mexico City's newspapers have been full of
information about Popocatépetl, the Náhuatl word for 'smoking
mountain'. This volcano, which sits in the very back yard of the city,
has once again been growling and grumbling and belching gases, steam,
smoke, and red-hot ash. Its last major eruption was in December of 2000
and everyone in this vicinity hopes the mountain won't explode again.

Popocatépetl, 1953. Taken as a young man by my good friend Roger Hagan, this magnificent photograph lets us see how both the shape of the mountain and its cap of snow have changed during the last 60 years. The photograph appears in Roger Hagan's remarkable book, Mexico 1953. Photo courtesy Roger Hagan.

In mid-April of 2012, curiousity and excitement about Popocatépetl's current
activities led us to make a Sunday afternoon trip to Amecameca in the
State of Mexico, the town closest to the volcano from our Mexico City
neighborhood. The town is southeast of Mexico City and we were there in
a bit over an hour. Had we not stopped along the way to take
photographs, we could have arrived sooner.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZAvtPJKg8U&w=420&h=315]
Popocatépetl erupting, December 2000. Video courtesy NBC News.

The alert system for possible eruptions
ranges from green (no danger) to red (extreme eruption). Currently,
Popocatépetl has been at Alert Phase 3 Yellow (magma flow and growing
explosions) for about three weeks. Phase 3 Yellow is the alert just
before red. In spite of the high alert level, no evacuations from towns
around the volcano have been ordered. Click the link for updates to
the 'semáforo de alertas' (alert system stoplight): ALERTAS

Iztaccíhautl, the sleeping woman, lies northeast of Popocatépetl and east of the town of Amecameca in the State of Mexico. Mexico Cooks! took this photo from the atrium of the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
(Church of Our Lady of the Assumption) in Amecameca; you can see one of
the church arches in the foreground. The photo shows Iztaccíhuatl's
head (far left) and chest.

Full
view of volcano Iztaccíhuatl. Her head is at the far left in the
photo. The clouds are in fact due to the accumulation of steam and ash
emitted by Popocatépetl, just out of camera range to the right. The
northwestern sky (behind me as I took the picture) was clear blue and
brilliantly sunny.

Of course there is a romantic legend about Popocatépetl and
Iztaccíhautl. At the beginning of history, when the Aztecs arrived in
the Valley of Anáhuac and before the mountains had reached their
permanent form, a beautiful princess named Mixtli was born in the city
of Tenochtitlán–today's Mexico City. She was the daughter of Tizoc,
the Tlatoani Emperor of the Mexicas (to be known later as the
Aztecs). Mixtli was sought after by numerous noblemen, among them
Axooxco, a cruel and bloodthirsty man, who demanded the hand of Mixtli
in marriage. However, Mixtli's heart belonged instead to a humble
peasant named Popoca. Popoca went into battle, to conquer the title of
Caballero Aguila (Eagle Knight). If he claimed this title of nobility, Popoca would then be able to fight Axooxco for the hand of Mixtli.

Popoca carries his beloved Mixtli to the snowy mountains.

Mixtli knew the danger Popoca faced in this trial. Finally a
messenger brought the news that he had been killed in battle. But the
messenger was wrong: Popoca was returning victorious. Not realizing
this, Mixtli killed herself, rather than live without Popoca.

When Popoca returned to find Mixtli dead, he picked her up and
carried her body into the mountains. Hoping that the cold snow would
wake her from sleep to reunite them, Popoca crouched at her feet until
he froze there while he prayed for her to awaken.

They have
remained there ever since. The body of Mixtli became the volcano
Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman), the ever-watchful Popoca became the
volcano Popocatépetl (the Smoking Mountain). The evil Axooxco became
the Cerro Ajusco (the highest point of the Distrito Federal).
These volcanoes tower above Mexico City and the romantic legend of
this couple has been passed on since the pre-Columbian era as a symbol
of enduring and faithful love.

Popocatépetl exhales a huge cloud of steam, gases, and ash on April 18, 2012. Photo courtesy Notimex.

The volcano is generally known by a local nickname: don Goyo. Don is an honorific used to address or refer to any respected well-known man; Goyo
is a nickname for Gregorio, in this instance specifically referring to
San Gregorio (St. Gregory). Legend says that the volcano once erupted
on San Gregorio's March 12 feast day and subsequently received the
nickname, but the volcano's feast day (yes, he has one!) is celebrated
annually on May 2. On that date, some local residencts carry gifts to
the volcano: blankets and una copita (a shot of liquor) to keep
him warm, and they pay him their continuing respects. As the
white-haired toll booth attendant said when we told him we were on our
way to pay a visit to don Goyo, "Be careful up there! He's making all this racket while he's sober–imagine if he had already had his tequila!"

The
volcano on the night of April 24, 2012. Streams of molten lava flow
down the sides of the crater while fire, steam, smoke, and sparks rise
high into the evening sky. The volcano is so loud that some residents
find it hard to get a good night's sleep. Photo courtesy MSNBC.

During volcanic activity of this kind, the world keeps turning.
Residents in the several towns nearest the volcano go about their normal
daily lives while keeping one eye on the top of the mountain and one
ear out for the latest alerts. In Amecameca, a delightful old gentleman
stopped to chat with us on the street while we were letting a local
woman take a close look at the volcano through the camera's telephoto
lens. "You know," he ruminated, "we still have to shop, cook,
eat, and sleep even though we also have to be prepared for…" he
laughed and threw his arms high into the air. "In case it blows!"

Life
goes on: inside the municipal market in Amecameca, people shop for
food, gossip with their neighbors, and laugh at the latest jokes. Click
on any photo to enlarge it for a better view.

Our new guide continued, "You should go outside town for a better
view. It's easy to get there…" He proceeded to give excellent
directions for heading to the east into the foothills at the base of the
volcano. We shook his hand and followed his directions as far as we
could, but the rutted, stone-filled path we were driving outside
Amecameca was too difficult for our vehicle. We turned onto another,
even smaller road that took us to the crest of a hill. From there, we
had an unobstructed view of the two lovers, Iztaccíhautl and
Popocatépetl. While the wind blew from behind us, we watched as don Goyo sighed several times, sending heavy plumes of steam and ash into the heavens and away from Amecameca.

As
the volcano steams and roars, commerce continues as it has for
thousands of years. Amecameca has a huge Sunday market in the church
atrium outside Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunciòn. The peaches, bright-green oval chilacayotes, and round calabacitas (zucchini-type squash) are offered for sale piled up in pyramids, the traditional vendors' display method.

Will the volcano blast off into a major eruption? Will it calm down
and wait till another time? No one really knows for sure, not even the
scientists who monitor its activity. On April 25, the winds shifted and
small amounts of ash began to rain down on Amecameca and some of the
other nearby towns. We're watching, along with the rest of the
populace. And meantime, our lives go on as usual.

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

18 de May de 2013
A Flaneur in Mexico City: Out and About in the Distrito Federal

Wall art stencil in the Centro Histórico. "México is no country for cowards."

Vihuela player, mariachis along the canals in Xochimilco. One dictionary defines the vihuela as "an obsolete stringed instrument". Tell that to Mexico's mariachis–every group has one!

Mexico City's iconic purple glory: jacaranda in full springtime bloom.

Padlocks and ribbons, prayer reminders left at the feet of San Ramón Nonato inside the Catedral Metropolitano (the Metropolitan Cathedral). San Ramón Nonato is the patron saint of locksmiths and pregnant women.

Mango season is here, sound the trumpets! In Mexico, this variety is known as Paraíso (Paradise). It absolutely lives up to its name.

Painted chair, Xochimilco.

Organ grinder, San Ángel 2013.

Piloncillo (cones of raw brown sugar), large and small, light and dark, for sale at the Mercado de Jamaica.

Concert in the rain, Coyoacán. With Bola Suriana.

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11 de May de 2013
Restaurante Nicos, Mexico City Treasure: Traditional Mexican Cuisine, Family Comfort and Warmth

Chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo, consummately professional executive chef at Restaurante Nicos in Mexico City. Chef Gerardo's right-hand man at Nicos (and head of La Nicolasa, their organic food shops in Azcapotzalco and in Col. La Condesa) is César Galván Arciniega.

Freshly baked, still-warm bolillo (crusty white bread roll) served from a dried guaje (gourd) and accompanied by three salsas and a wee dish of sea salt.

Mexico City's gourmands–the many of us who are heartily fond of good food and drink–often travel substantially north of the Centro Histórico (downtown) to have a marvelous meal. The magnet that pulls us to Delegación Azcapotzalco? Restaurante Nicos, a Mexico City institution since 1957. Started by María Elena Lugo Zermeño (chef Gerardo's mother) and run by the Vázquez Lugo family for the last 56 years, the restaurant offers a warmly charming atmosphere, excellent service, and simply fantastic food.

It always makes me happy to see that Nicos makes its guacamole exactly
the way I've been doing it at home for 30 years. You can see that the avocado is left in silky
chunks; it's not mashed. Add a little olive oil, some sea salt, small-diced white onion, small-diced tomato, chopped cilantro, and as much minced chile serrano as your palate can handle. No limón (Key lime) is necessary.

Prepared at tableside with perfectly ripe, perfectly fresh ingredients, this guacamole brims over in its molcajete (volcanic stone mortar) and is a plentiful appetizer for four diners. It's served with freshly-fried salty totopos (tortilla chips).

This oasis of great eating has never pretended to be more than a family restaurant serving home-style Mexican cooking. Traditional recipes prepared and served in the spirit of Slow Food are the basis of Nicos' kitchen, and attentive, non-obtrusive, closely-supervised staff continue to ensure that the customer is king. Really, what more can we want?

Another appetizer, this time doblada de tinga (delectable stewed, spiced, and shredded chicken stuffed into a folded, hot-off-the-comal (griddle) tortilla). These dobladas are offered three to an order, but our server generously provided our table of four diners with an extra doblada.

Nick Zukin, a Mexican food enthusiast and restaurant owner visiting from Oregon, recently invited me, Ben Herrera Beristain, and Jon Seymour to accompany him for comida (main meal of Mexico's day) at Nicos. An eager sí, cómo no!, and Mexico Cooks! joined Nick's group of friends at table. Faced with the truly difficult choices among Nicos' marvelous appetizers, soups, salads, and main dishes, we of course ordered far too much food, and of course we polished it all off with delight.

Our third entrada (appetizer) was this beautiful plate of trancas—taquitos (small rolled and fried tacos) stuffed with chicken and served with farm-fresh crema de mesa (Mexican table cream, similar to creme fraiche), grated queso fresco (soft white cheese), lettuce, and tomato–plus a small bowl of guacamole.

We ordered two sopas to share. This is what Mexico knows as a sopa seca (dry soup). In this case, it's the very special sopa seca de natas; a 19th century recipe from the convent of the Capuchinas (nuns) in Guadalajara. It's made of crepes, layered with shredded chicken and a sauce made of natas (unpasteurized cream from raw milk), tomatoes, and finely sliced chile poblano. Once the ingredients are layered in a baking dish, they're baked for about an hour and a half.

A soup plate arrives at table already piled with accompaniments for sopa de frijoles, the sopa aguada (liquid soup) we ordered. The shallow bowl holds strips of thinly sliced, fried tortillas, queso Pijijiapan (a white crumbly cheese from the state of Chiapas), lightly fried chile de árbol, and crema de rancho (farm-style cream). Note the name Pijijiapan: it's the only place name in Mexico with five dotted letters in a row! You can count on Mexico Cooks! for this sort of fascinating trivia.

Absolutely delicious sopa de frijoles (bean soup), based on an ayocote (white runner bean) broth flavored with fresh epazote (wormweed) is then ladled atop the soup accompaniments, and our waiter added a few drops of organic olive oil.

The first of our three platos fuertes (main dishes) was adobo de antaño con carne de cerdo con tamal de ejote tierno (pork cooked in an old-fashioned smooth, spicy adobo (sauce) and served with a fresh-corn tamal.

A tiny pot of frijoles negros (black beans), for just a spoonful each to go with our main dishes.

And another tiny pot of frijoles charros (cowboy-style beans with bacon, onion, and tomato). We couldn't have just one pot of beans, right?

Our second main dish: conejo al chile piquín (tender rabbit in a chile piquín sauce), served with ensalada de nopalitos (cactus paddle salad). Next time I am at Nicos, I'll order this dish just for myself. It was unquestionably my favorite–fall-off-the-bone tender rabbit cooked in a supremely delicious sauce. Just try and get me to give you a bite!

This dish of pollo en hoja de aguacate con pulque (boneless chicken with avocado leaf, orange juice, butter, and pulque) was, for me, a close runner-up to the rabbit. Beautifully presented and carrying the subtle flavor of anise-y avocado leaf and earthy pulque, the recipe was created by one of Mexico's foremost chefs and my friend, the great lady Alicia Gironella d'Angeli.

Can you tell that we were simply too stuffed to order dessert? We waddled out of the restaurant into the first downpour of Mexico City's 2013 rainy season, happy to have spent several hours enjoying one another's company and a superb meal. Next time you're in Mexico City, Restaurante Nicos will be a truly memorable experience for you.

Restaurante Nicos
Av. Cuitláhuac 3102, corner of Clavería
Col. Clavería
Del. Azcapotzalco
Mexico City 02080
Tel: 55.5396.7090 (reservations suggested for hours of comida, 2.30-4:00PM)
Hours: Monday through Friday 7.30AM to 7:30PM

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4 de May de 2013
Rajas con Crema :: Chile Poblano Strips with Cream, a Mexican Classic Recipe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ingredients include half a white onion, sliced very thin, and about one-third of a large sweet red pepper, diced. Sauté in hot oil until soft and translucent. Most Mexican cooks use fresh corn kernels in this recipe; I happened to have part of a sweet red pepper that needed to be cooked, so I used that instead.

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

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

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

The cream will become a thick sauce for the vegetables. Salt to taste. The chile poblano is generally quite mild and flavorful, but once in a while you will come across one that is surprisingly spicy. There's no way to tell by looking at them whether they are mild or hot!

Mexico Cooks! served the rajas de chile poblano con crema topped with strips of chicken breast, lightly dusted with salted flour and sautéed in olive oil seasoned with a smashed clove of garlic. One large chicken breast half made ten strips and was plenty for the two of us for our main meal of the day. The one-dish meal was easy and delicious.

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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27 de April de 2013
Paletas La Michoacana: Big Business, Sweet and Icy in Tocumbo

When I was a little girl, a Popsicle was a big deal. Summertime meant that the ice cream truck, bell tinkling, would trundle through the neighborhood where I lived. After a frantic plea to Mom for money, she counted out coins and I raced to the corner where the rest of the kids were already gathered, waiting for the vendor to dig through his icy case for cherry, lime, or the reviled banana. The odor of amyl acetate (the chemical used for artificial banana flavoring) remains cloyingly in my memory. Photo courtesy ChezBeeper.

Remember? Hot summer days made those frozen snacks melt quickly, down childish fingers and the side of the hand, down the wrist and almost to the elbow in sticky trails of blood red and pale green. Nips of the cold treat slid in a chilly track from tongue to stomach, giving a few moments relief from childhood summers' heat and humidity. We didn't care that they were artificially flavored; Popsicles were a summer joy. Once I was an adult, I left them behind in favor of more sophisticated gelatos and sorbets.

Long before I dreamed of venturing to Mexico, Ignacio Alcázar of Tocumbo, Michoacán had a vision. Paletas—frozen treats similar to Popsicles—were on his mind. Tocumbo was a tiny village in the 1940s. Life there was harsh and subsistence was difficult. Eking a hardscrabble living from the sugar cane fields of the region around Tocumbo depended as much on Mother Nature's vagaries as on a farmer's backbreaking work. In those days, the pay for peeling 2,000 pounds of sugar cane was two pesos. Campesinos (field workers) could expect to earn a maximum of three pesos a week.

But making a living selling paletas depended solely on creating a desire for something delicious and refreshing to satisfy someone's antojo (whim). In the mid-1940s, Ignacio Alcázar, his brother Luis, and their friend Agustín Andrade left the misty mountains and pine forests of Michoacán and headed for Mexico City, the country's burgeoning hustle-bustle capital. The men had made paletas in Tocumbo for several years, but it was time to try their hand in the big city.

In 1946, the three men, illiterate native sons of Tocumbo, established an ice cream shop in downtown Mexico City. The new paletería (paleta shop) wasn't elegant, but it worked. People clamored for more and more paletas. The Alcázar brothers and Andrade expanded, and expanded again. They sold franchise after franchise of their paleta brainchild to their relatives, friends, and neighbors from Tocumbo. The single shop that the two men started became the most successful small-business idea in Mexico in the last half century, known across the country as La Michoacana. More than 15,000 La Michoacana outlets currently exist around Mexico, most of them owned by people from the town of Tocumbo.

Mexico City alone has more than 1,000 La Michoacana outlets. Usually the paleterías are called La Michoacana, La Flor de Michoacán or La Flor de Tocumbo. Every Mexican town with more than 1,000 residents is without one. Only Pemex, the nationalized petroleum company, has blanketed Mexico so completely.

When I moved to Mexico in 1981, a Mexican friend insisted that she was going to buy me a paleta. "A Popsicle?" I scoffed. She took me by the scruff of the neck and all but shoved me into the nearest La Michoacana. I peered into the freezer case and was amazed to see hundreds and hundreds of rectangular paletas, organized flavor by flavor, lined up in stacks in their protective plastic bags.

And what flavors! Mango (plain or with chile), blackberry, cantaloupe, coconut, guava, and guanábana (soursop) were arranged side by side with strawberry, vanilla, and—no, that brown one wasn't chocolate, it was tamarindo. Some were made with a water base and some with a milk base. Every single paleta was loaded top to bottom with fresh fruit. There was nothing artificial about these. I was hard pressed to decide on just one flavor, but I finally bit into a paleta de mango and was an instant addict.

The story of the paleteros (paleta makers) from Tocumbo piqued my curiosity. For many years I've been determined to visit this out-of-the-way town. I finally made the trip to the place where it all started. Getting to Tocumbo isn't simple, but driving the two-lane back roads winding along green mountains is lovely.

The names of the towns I passed through (Tarácuato, Tlazazalca, Chucuandirán, Tinguindín) roll off the tongue in the ancient rhythmic language of the Purhépecha (Michoacán's indigenous people). Women, teenage girls, and children wear beautiful ropa típica (native dress) as they walk to market or gather wood in the hills. Fragrant wood smoke mixes in the air with the crisp scent of pine. Wildflowers dot the roadsides and mountains with purple, orange, yellow and blue.

The well-manicured entrance to the town of Tocumbo lets you know immediately that you have arrived. No statues of Miguel Hidalgo or Benito Juárez grace the junction, nor is there a proud plaque commemorating a favorite local hero. Instead, the townspeople have erected a two-story statue of (what else?) a paleta. I'd seen photos of the monument, but the actual sight of the huge frozen delight made me laugh out loud.

Strawberry cream paletas.

Carefully trimmed trees, flowers, and lawns edge both sides of the road into town. Large, well-appointed homes line the streets and the local trucks and cars are recent models and very well maintained. Tocumbo has one of the highest per capita incomes of any town in Mexico.

My first stop was at the Tocumbo parroquia (parish church). Named in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the church is modern and beautifully adorned with stained glass. The architect who designed the church is Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. Arquitecto Ramirez also designed some of Mexico's most famous buildings, including the Basílica of our Lady of Guadalupe, the 1968 Olympic Games installations, Aztec Stadium, the National Anthropology Museum and the National Medical School buildings, all in Mexico City. Arquitecto Ramírez, born on April 16, 1919, died on April 16, 2013. His passing is a huge loss to the world's architectural community.

Ramírez was one of the most outstanding building designers in Mexico, a man who enjoyed international fame for his creations. It's particularly telling of the economic power of the town that the people of Tocumbo contracted with him to design their parish church.

As I sat for a bit in the town plaza, two local women strolled across the square eating paletas. After we greeted one another, I asked who the best person in town would be to give me local history. They directed me to the mayor's office on the other side of the plaza.

I spent several hours at the Tocumbo mayor's office talking with town official German Espinoza Barragán, who told me long stories of life and times in Tocumbo, and the history of the paleta.

Sr. Espinoza mentioned that many people erroneously believe that all La Michoacana stores throughout Mexico are owned by one family. "You already know that the founders were Ignacio Alcázar, his brother Luis, and their friend Agustín Andrade, and that they sold the first La Michoacana franchises to their relatives and friends. After that, the relatives and friends sold franchises to their relatives and friends, and the business just continued to spread. With a simple formula of handmade products produced every day and sold inexpensively, the business has produced hundreds of jobs as well as a high standard of living that's different from any other town in the region."

Sr. Espinoza commented, "All of our streets are paved, and all have street lights. People live very well here, although it's difficult to say how many actually do live here year round."

I looked up from my notes. "Why is that?"

"A lot of tourists from all over Mexico and many other countries pass through this town," he began. "Many see that our life here is peaceful, our climate perfect, and our town beautiful, so they ask about renting or buying a house here. Once they see Tocumbo, everyone wants to stay."

I nodded in agreement. The thought had occurred to me.

Sr. Espinoza nodded too. "People say, 'Find me a house to rent.' I just tell them to forget it, it's hopeless. Then they tell me, 'But so many of the houses here in town are vacant! Surely the owners would like to rent their houses.' I shake my head, even though up to 75 per cent of the houses here in Tocumbo are vacant for eleven months of the year.

"The thing is, everyone comes home at Christmas. No matter whether so-and-so's family lives all year round in Chiapas or Tijuana working in their La Michoacana store, in December everyone is here. Where would they stay, if their houses were rented?

"During the 1990 census, INEGI (the Mexican census bureau) tried to count the number of people in town. They counted about 2,400 people. But truly, triple that number call Tocumbo 'home'. No one misses the holiday season here. They come home to tell their stories, to find out the last word in the business, to look for a girlfriend, to get married, to have quinceañeras (a girl's15th birthday celebration), to baptize their babies. They put off all of these festivities for months, until the winter low season for selling paletas arrives and they can come home.

"This year, the Feria del Paletero (Fair of the Paleta Maker) starts on December 22 and ends on December 30. There will be sports events, free paletas, rides for kids and adults, and other things for everyone to do. You should come."

"The success of the Tocumbo paleta business must inspire people all over Mexico," I commented.

Once again Sr. Espinoza nodded. "It's a kind of work that offers even the person with the least schooling a way to make a good living, without going to work in the United States and without getting involved in selling illegal drugs."

He returned to the history of the business. "Of course, word of the success of the new paleta business in Mexico City reached Tocumbo really fast. All Tocumbo packed its suitcases and went to get in on the gold mine. Everybody was buying paleta stores. And the best is, all the contracts were made on the solid word of the parties, without any paperwork, and all the loans to start the businesses were made between the buyers and the sellers. No banks were involved.

"This first generation of paleteros (paleta makers) felt the obligation to let everyone have a part of the success. Remember that Tocumbo is a very small town. Almost everyone is related to everyone else. Everyone of that generation had grown up together, and everyone shared just a few last names. The belief was 'today it's your turn, tomorrow it's mine'. And everyone lived by that.

"Today, things are a little different, but only a little. There's still room for all the paleterías in Mexico, and the majority belong to Tocumbans. Even though other ice cream stores like Bing and Dolphy have opened and there are even new brands coming in from the United States, there's no other big success like we have had. To start with, the paleta is the people's business, not corporate business. Other businesses might spend huge amounts of money on advertising and special wrappings, but we Tocumbans don't run our businesses that way. We're flexible, we save our money, and we work very hard. The paleterías are open from early in the morning till late at night, every day of the year. Even when the owners are home for the holidays, their employees are working in the stores. We make only as many paletas as we can sell each day. We don't use chemicals in our paletas, and we adapt the flavors to the regions where our stores are."

The orange paletas are mango. Click to enlarge the photo and you'll easily see the chunks of fresh-frozenfruit.

Sr. Espinoza went on to tell me that the most popular flavor paleta is mango, because it's the fruit that everyone in Mexico loves. He continued, "In the south of Mexico, we have to offer mamey, zapote, and plátano. Where people have more income, we can sell a paleta for seven pesos. Where income is lower, such as in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, we sell a paleta for five pesos. We keep our stores very simple, so everyone can feel comfortable to come inside. And we try to open our stores in places where lots of people congregate: near schools, near hospitals, and near sports facilities."

The story of this business amazed me. I shook my head and said, "What was the next step for the paleteros?"

"When we saw that so many Mexicans were living in the United States, the next logical move was to start stores there. We started moving there too, and opened the first shops in California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. And now—now there are La Michoacana stores in Pennsylvania, in Chicago, and in New York. Next will be Central and South America, you'll see.

"Did you look at the monument at the entrance to town?" Sr. Espinoza asked me. "Of course! It's wonderful," I exclaimed.

"On the way out of town, look at it again," he said. "Look, a little drawing of it is on my business card." He handed me the card. "See the blue ball of ice cream in the paleta? And see the paletas all over the ball?" I did see them. "The blue ball represents the earth, and the bright colored paletas cover it." He smiled at me. "And someday, paletas from Tocumbo, Michoacán will truly cover the globe."

I have absolute faith that he's right.

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

20 de April de 2013
Food Fair in Uruapan, Michoacán: Una Muestra de Gastronomía

The Purhépecha woman in the foreground pats out tortillas while her companion sorts through a plate of golden, freshly cut flor de calabaza (squash blossoms).

The first two mornings of the huge annual artisans' crafts fair in Michoacán begin with a food fair: la Muestra de Gastronomía.
Fifteen or so outdoor kitchens, set up around a charming plaza just a
block from the crafts booths, offer cooking demonstrations and
inexpensive meals of representative Purhépecha dishes. The food, rustic
and rarely seen outside a Purhépecha home kitchen, is, in a word,
heavenly. The Mexico Cooks! group trooped
into the food fair just in time for Saturday breakfast. The crowd could have
known who we were by the way our mouths were watering with
anticipation.

Corn is the basis for the indigenous Mexican kitchen, and the
tortilla is the lowest common denominator. On the table in front of
this woman, you can see the metate (three-legged rectangular grinding stone) and the metapil (similar to a rolling pin) resting on it, along with the prepared masa from which tortillas are made. Both the metate and the metapil are hand-carved from volcanic rock.

To the left of the table is the clay comal (similar to a
griddle) that in this instance rests loosely on top of a metal drum in
which the wood cook fire is built. Prior to use, the comal is cured with cal (builders' lime). The cal serves two purposes: it gives the comal a non-stick surface and it adds nutrients to the masa as it toasts.

In the past, all of Mexico's women prepared dried corn for masa by soaking and simmering it in a solution of water and cal. The name of the prepared corn is nixtamal. Once it's processed, it's ready to be ground into masa for tortillas, tamales, and other corn-dough preparations. Some rural women still grind nixtamal-ized corn by hand using the metate and metapil. Some take the prepared corn to their neighborhood tortillería (tortilla vendor's shop) for grinding, and some prepare their masa
using commercial dried corn flour. In urban areas, the majority of
Mexican families buy tortillas hot off the tortilla baker at the tortillería and carry them home, wrapped in a special towel, just in time for a meal.

This woman prepares her stove, made of part of a metal drum with an
opening cut away for firewood. She's spreading a paste made of wood
ash and cal on and around the top of the the drum to hold the comal in place. The white streaks on the red clay comal are cal. The volcanic rock metate and mano are on the bench in the background. Her well-used clay cooking pot is visible to your left.

This joyous woman is patting out blue corn tortillas. The masa and metapil are on the metate in front of her. She's toasting the tortillas and roasting tomatoes and chiles on her clay comal. The comal is set into a clay stove fired by wood. The haze that you see is woodsmoke.

The Purhépecha kitchen repertoire includes numerous atápakuas (literally, a type of thick, soup-like salsa served plentifully over prepared food). The Purhépecha word atápakua has meaning deeper than its simple definition. Its connotation is food that is picante (spicy), nutritious, and life-sustaining in a spiritual sense. Mexican culinary historians agree that the preparation of atápakuas
dates from as long as 400 years before the Spanish Conquest, around
1100 AD, when the Purhépecha were strong rulers in the area of Mexico
that is now Michoacán.

An atápakua can be made from the ingredients that are easily
found in the region. The specialty of one tiny village of the Meseta
Purhépecha is atápakua del talpanal (wasp larvae). Another town's specialty is xururi atápakua, the principal ingredient of which is cotton seeds. More commonly, indigenous cooks prepare their atápakuas of seasonal and readily available vegetables along with a bit of meat, poultry, or fish.

We of Mexico Cooks! didn't eat wasp larvae or cotton seeds. We inhaled bowls of atápakua de flor de calabaza (thick, soupy salsa served over squash flowers, fresh corn kernels, and chunks of corundas de ceniza (unfilled tamales made with masa and wood ash).

In the closeup of the atápakua you can clearly see the corn kernels (closest to the bowl of the spoon), small pieces of calabacita (similar to zucchini), orange squash flowers, and a piece of white corunda. For flavor and color, chiles serrano and cilantro are blended into the cooking liquid. The thin, soupy salsa is then thickened by blending a small ball of masa into the hot liquid. This atápakua is deliciously spicy and tastes as fresh as the garden. I finished my portion and wanted another bowl.

Photo by Steve Sando, www.ranchogordo.com

Churipo, shown above, is one of my favorite Purhépecha specialties. Churipo is a hearty soup, the delicious broth flavored by long cooking with beef, cabbage, calabacitas, xoconostle (the sour fruit of a specific nopal cactus), onion, chile, and other ingredients. Served with a squeeze of limón (Mexican lime), a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, tortillas hot off the comal and corundas de ceniza broken up in the bowl, it's a wonderful meal in one dish. If your palate will take the heat, eat some raw chiles serrano along with your bowl of churipo. Remember that the tip of any chile is less picante than the stem end, where most of the seeds are.

Late in the afternoon, after we'd investigated as many of the crafts
booths as we could, we were all in need of something very light and
fresh for our comida (middday meal). We ordered a fruit plate and a plate of guacamole with totopos (triangular fried tortilla chips) at a local restaurant.

For dessert we found limones, with the pulp scraped away, candied and stuffed with cocada (coconut candy). Half of one of these is plenty!

This was such a sweet finish to a fascinating day in Michoacán. If
you'd like to travel to this event in 2014, be sure to email Mexico Cooks! in time to save your place for adventure.

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

13 de April de 2013
Semana Santa (Holy Week) :: La Feria de Artesanía (The Artisans’ Fair), Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

Paper maché marionettes from Michoacán dance merrily during Semana Santa (Holy Week)in Pátzcuaro.

Mexico Cooks!,
as you've probably guessed, rarely turns down an opportunity to visit
an artisans' fair. Although we had traveled to Uruapan for the mother
of all artisans' fairs just a week before, out-of-town company meant a
trip to nearby Pátzcuaro to shop at the fair set up in its Plaza Don
Vasco de Quiroga.

The Pátzcuaro fair is smaller than the Domingo de Ramos Tianguis de Artesanía
in Uruapan, but navigating through its booths is no less fun. The
Michoacán arts and crafts in Pátzcuaro are similar to those in Uruapan,
but many are more commercial and less expensive.

Small laca (lacquerware) boxes in the Pátzcuaro style, made with substantial gold leaf.

Catrines
(fancy-dress skeleton figures of men and women) parade through a booth
at the fair in Pátzcuaro. Several pirates maraud across the center of
the photo, two chef figures in their tall white toques bring up the
rear, and a woman models an 1890s-period dress at the far left.

The monarch butterfly is a brilliant natural symbol of Michoacán. These are worked in copper and enamel.

These handmade wooden flowers move when you push a button under the flowerpot.

Wooden
toys are everywhere, and all are made by hand in Michoacán. The
chickens peck their seed on the paddles in the foreground when you move
their string-operated mechanism.

During Semana Santa, Pátzcuaro honored Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (La Dolorosa)–Our
Lady of Sorrows–with numerous altars set up around town. Monseñor
Diego Monroy, rector of the Basílica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico
City and a native of the Pátzcuaro region, designed this immense altar
on Pátzcuaro's Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga.

Altar detail. The Virgin Mary mourns for her son.

The
heart aflame is set high on the altar. It represents the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, borne aloft by doves and surrounded by spectacular cut paper.

Mexico is a land of contrasts and contradictions. Semana Santa, which includes revelry and ritual, the Virgin and vacations, is simple evidence of Mexico's complexity.

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6 de April de 2013
Good Friday Procession of Silence, Morelia :: Viernes Santo Procesión del Silencio, Morelia, Michoacán

Nuestra
Señora de Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows) leads the procession. Hooded members of various
Catholic cofradías (confraternities, or religious organizations founded in Europe in
the 15th Century) carry life-size statues on their wooden
platforms approximately three kilometers through Morelia's Centro
Histórico.

Nuestra Señora de Dolores (detail).

Drummers marked the beat of Morelia's penitential Procesión del
Silencio: Good Friday's silent procession commemorating both the
crucifixion of Christ and his Mother's grief. Only the drumbeat broke
the silence along the route.

Jesus
during la Oración en el Huerto (praying in the Garden of
Gethsemane), just prior to his arrest on Holy Thursday night. Boy
Scouts (the young man in red at the right of the photo) hold the
protective rope all along the route of the procession.

Hundreds of cofradía
members marched in the still of this Good Friday night. Foreigners,
particularly those from the United States, are often shocked by the
hoods, which to them are cultural reminders of the Ku Klux Klan. In
Mexico, there is no association between the two. The procession is
penitential and the hoods are a guarantee of anonymity and humility for
the cofradía members. They believe that humility and works of charity are best practiced anonymously.

Roman
soldiers.

The
majority of Morelia's Procesión del Silencio takes place after
dark, by candlelight. For the first time in 2009 and again in 2010, city street
lamps were left on due to security issues.

The
Legion of Christ carry their banner and their lamps. The Procesión
del Silencio lasts about five hours. During that time, all of
Morelia's Centro Histórico is closed to vehicular traffic.

Jesus
carries the cross a cuestas (on his back) to Calvary. More than
50,000 spectators stood along the entire route of Morelia's Procesión
del Silencio.

Candle holders are made of many materials, from crystal to styrofoam to metal.

Penitents
from one of Morelia's confraternities carry their crosses the length of
the procession. Many march barefoot through the city streets. The
procession celebrated its thirty-seventh anniversary this year.

Robed
and hooded members of another Catholic confraternity carry this
image of the Cristo del Entierro (Christ of the Burial), nailed to the cross prior to his elevation. Hoods cover the faces of those who march
as a sign of penitence.

Clothed
in gold and black, these marching penitents carry huge metal torches.

Six
men of all ages carry Cristo Muerto (the dead Christ), while six
others follow as relief when the burden of the image, the platform, the
lights, and the flowers becomes too heavy. The man at the far right of
the photo carries one of two saw horses used to support the platform
during occasional pauses in the procession.

At
the end of the Procesión del Silencio, la Virgen de la Soledad
(Our Lady of Solitude) follows the body of her crucified Son. The
platform bearing her image holds burning candles, a purple and gold
velvet canopy, and banks of fresh flowers.

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

30 de March de 2013
Palm Sunday Artisans’ Fair, Uruapan, Michoacán :: Tianguis Artesanal Domingo de Ramos

Originally published on May 9, 2009, this article takes us to the annual all-Michoacán Tianguis Artesanal Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday Artisans' Fair) in Uruapan, Michoacán. The 2013 fair opens today (March 23) and runs until April 6.

Waving papel picado (cut paper) dance sticks and elegantly
dressed in red velvet aprons trimmed with lace , these Purhépecha women
danced their way through the opening day parade at the annual
statewide Feria de Artesanías.

Mexico Cooks! has attended the Feria de Artesanía de Domingo de Ramos
(Palm Sunday Artisans' Fair) in Uruapan, Michoacán, every year for
nearly 15 years. The two-week-long fair is always the same and yet
never boring, a remarkable combination. This largest artisans' fair in
Mexico draws more than 1200 vendors and contestants for the
best-of-the-best from all over the state of Michoacán. It attracts
international tourism: we've heard languages from all over the globe as
we walk the vendors' aisles.

Purhépecha women's festive ropa típica (native dress) includes a knife-pleated skirt, a hand-embroidered guanengo (blouse), a cross-stitch apron, and the long, rectangular blue, black, and white striped rebozo (shawl) that is typical to the region.

This woman marched while carrying an enormous huarache
(shoe made of woven leather strips) representing the goods that her
region of the state produces. She's also carrying a bag of souvenir key
chains that she tossed to individuals in the crowd. Look closely and
you'll see the tiny huarache key chains that decorate her sombrero de paja (straw hat).

Clarinets, trumpets, trombones, and a pink tuba–what a great band!

Artisans hawk thousands of traditional low-fired clay pots and pitchers. These are from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Michoacán is famous world-wide for its traditional arts and crafts.
For hundreds of years, artisans in this state have produced highly
decorated articles made from locally found materials: clay, wood,
lacquer, textiles, copper, reedwork, and paper maché, among others.

Ollas para frijoles (clay pots for cooking beans) from Capula, Michoacán.

Molinillos (little mills) are used for whipping chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) to a thick froth.
For more about Michoacán-style, hand-made Mexican chocolate, look here: chocolate Joaquinita.

These blue jarras y platones (pitchers and platters) with their finely painted, intricate white designs come from one family workshop in Capula. Mexico Cooks! does not…DOES NOT…have room in the house for more pottery. Well, maybe just one more piece! These glorious jarras were all but impossible to resist.

Clay sculptures from Ocumicho, Michoacán, are full of whimsy and bright colors. Among all of these guaris (Purhépecha word for women), did you notice Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the upper right corner?

Hand-embroidered traditional cotton guanengos (blouses) are so important and finely made that they have their own concurso (competition) at the Feria de Artesanía (Artisans' Fair).

2014 will be the 55th anniversary of the Artisans' Fair in Uruapan. Come see it with us!

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23 de March de 2013