Category: Tours

Zirita: Exciting Cooking School Experience of the Taste of Michoacán

Zirita, in a rural paradise mere minutes from Morelia's busy Centro Histórico (historic center), is a center of traditional culinary teaching and experiences. Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.

The frame for Michoacán's traditional cuisine, in one of its most genuine forms, with the warmth of a wood fire and the application of hereditary techniques passed down through generations, are the essence of Zirita. Its creator, owner of Morelia's Restaurante San Miguelito and culinary promoter Cynthia Martínez, prefers to call it 'a workshop of gastronomic experiences'.

The old saying "…the mountain goes to Mohammed…" is especially true in terms of the opening of Zirita. The great merit of Zirita is its nearness to Morelia, Michoacán's capital. In the last several years, various regions of the state of Michoacán have become known for its ancestral culinary values. The subtleties, secrets, flavors and perfumes of some of the most reknowned sanctuaries of Michoacán's cuisines–for example, in the case of Angahuan, where Purhépecha women have continued and spread the great expression of food in their communities–will be present in these remarkable cooking classes. Zirita brings the regional cuisines of the most remote pueblitos (small towns) of Michoacán into readily accessible Morelia.

Michoacán's oro verde (green gold): the ubiquitous Hass avocado, which over the last 30 years has become one of the state's most lucrative crops as well as a prominent fixture in its cuisines.

Located close to Morelia's urban center and very nearly part of the city itself, Zirita is a space apart from the hustle and bustle of Morelia. The workshop location allows the visitor to experience the delights of country life, the sounds of nature, as well as the joys of flowers, fruits, and herbs as a daily recurring theme. Zirita is a small complex which has as its center a large troje (typical Purhépecha house). The troje, in turn, has, above all else, the kitchen as its heart: the place where supplies are stored, where preliminary food preparation is done. This is a traditional Purhépecha outdoor kitchen, supplied with all of the utensils used in any Purhépecha community's cooking techniques.

At Zirita, your hands-on experience will be preparing traditional foods typical of the pueblitos (small towns) of Michoacán as well as Mexican dishes common in other parts of the country. Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.

During a workshop experience, traditional cooks and visitors can prepare great delicacies from old family recetarios (collections of recipes). Those regional delights include atápakuas, corundas, uchepos, churipos, moles, adobos, and a thousand other culinary creations from the state of Michoacán. Needless to say, visitors learn to prepare tortillas from corn ground on the metate, patted out by hand, and cooked on a comal (clay griddle) placed over a fogón (cooking fire) contained by paranguas: the three stones which sustain the food world of the Purhépechas. The paranguas are a symbol of the cosmos, of family and community values, and of the relationship and harmony of humankind with nature and with the gods.

Chiles pasillas drying in the sun. When green, we know this long, fleshy chile as chilaca. Sun-dried in its mature (red) state, it is called chile pasilla. Typically part of the Michoacán chile repetoire, it is grown around north-central Queréndaro, Michoacán.

El Rincón de las Solteronas (the Old Maid's Corner), Restaurante San Miguelito. Photo courtesy Alejandro Canela.

Art and fine crafts are distinctive characteristics displayed at Restaurante San Miguelito, celebrated home of Saint Anthony standing on his head. The items displayed in the room, site of the hopes of so many women from Mexico and the world, are also a distinctive element of Zirita. In addition, Zirita has a great variety of herbs which complement the inventory of nuances, delicate touches, and details which nourish its cooking fires.

The wonderful Maestra Benedicta Alejo, fine regional cook and cornerstone of the Zirita experience, grinds green herbs and chile seeds on her metate. She is preparing tzirita, the typical Purhépecha dish that gives the cooking school its name.

Outdoor kitchen at Zirita, with its traditional fogón, comal, and all of the utensils common to the Purhépecha kitchen. Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.

Conceived as a cooking school, Zirita (which means 'seed' in the Purhépecha language) offers several different experiences to anyone who is interested in knowing the essence of Michoacán's culinary traditions. Those traditions, nourished by legends and family tips, by old sayings and anecdotes, by the wisdom of traditional cooks, is presented almost as if the women were in their own homes. However, in this case it is a shared home, completely outfitted as a faithful replica of the different processes of cooking. Broken down into specific themes, ranging from how to make a tortilla to the preparation of the most complex dish of mole de boda (wedding mole), Zirita offers an opportunity to learn these culinary traditions from their most worthy and authentic bearers. In addition, the visitor learns to use the tools and classical artifacts of the Mexican kitchen, right down to the teachers' secrets for their maintainance and use–including how to cure or 'educate' a metate.

The metate and metapil (three-legged volcanic stone grinding board and its roller). This kitchen tool has been used since well before the Spanish arrival in the New World.

Cynthia Martínez said, "This has been a very intense effort, from the construction of the site to the fitting-out of the different areas. To begin with, traditional cuisine is an authentic showcase of the riches of our people with the added factor that in addition to its beauty, everything in the cuisine has a use.

Zirita cooking class taught by Maestra Benedicta Alejo. Photo courtesy Rubén Hernández.

"Nevertheless, the intellectual and emotional richness, and the sum of so many lives are concentrated in this place with the presence of women like Benedicta Alejo, one of the most enthusiastic transmitters of our culinary inheritance. By way of the courses, local, national, and international visitors can live the excitement of making their own tortillas, of grinding chiles, of treasuring our wild herbs as part of one of life's rituals. The huge difference is doing these things in completely traditional terms, living the chat and the get-togethers which start in our markets. Much of the wisdom that our women possess makes them standard-bearers and the ones who will continue to impart the knowledge of food which is one of our great national treasures, as a culture and as a country."

Original article written by Rubén Hernández and published in Spanish at Crónicas del Sabor, translated by Mexico Cooks!.

Zirita
Zirita Culinary Experiences
Circuito de los Manzanos 250
Colonia Arcos de la Cascada
San José del Cerrito
Morelia, Michoacán
Tel. 011.52.443.275.4536 (from the United States)
All of the Zirita experiences are available in either Spanish or English.

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

12 de May de 2012
Camera in Hand in Mexico City: Con la Cámara en la Mano en el DF

Where is the online game starring these birds NOT the latest craze? A couple of weeks ago, Mexico Cooks! took a small group tour to Mexico City's enormous Mercado de la Merced and was not the least surprised to find Angry Birds^®piñatas in every party goods stand. Red, yellow, blue, black and white birds were all there–but there was not a single green pig in sight.

The great violinist don Pepe Martínez, director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán–the self-described best mariachi in the world. It's true: there is no other mariachi that compares with the 114-year-old group founded in Tecalitlán, Jalisco by don Gaspar Vargas López. We were up-close-and-personal with them this past March, when we sat in the third row at their concert at the UNAM.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_YLg7w4y9w&w=350&h=267]
Just in case you haven't heard Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, listen to one of Mexico Cooks! favorites: Entra en Mi Vida (Come Into My Life). Part of the lyric goes like this: "Come into my life, I beg you! I started out missing you, then I needed you, now I don't want anyone else…I want you to be the owner of my heart." Of course I think the entire song expresses my feelings for my beloved wife.

This enormous Judas figure hangs in a stairwell at the Museo de Arte Popular (Popular Arts Museum) in Mexico City's Centro Histórico. Paper maché figures representing Judas Iscariot are traditionally hanged and burned in parts of Mexico on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. They normally measure from this guy's shoe to his knee. This fellow is a giant, not to mention a fashion statement.

Can you look at the photo without tipping your head sideways? The green wall of plants, bringing a refreshing touch of the natural to downtown, makes up one side wall of Restaurante Padrino on Calle Isabel la Católica, Mexico City. The bicycle is parked on the–lawn? The doors lead into individual shops on the balcony of the former Palacio de los Condes de Miravalle, built in the mid-18th century. The former palace, which is now home to two restaurants (Azul/Histórico), a soon-to-open hotel, and some charming shops, is one of the Distrito Federal's oldest buildings.

Just when I think I have seen just about everything sweet or salty that people snack on here in the city, I learn about something I could not have imagined. A vendor outside the Mercado de la Merced sells these by the measure. I could not guess what I was seeing, can you? Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view–but the who-knew secret is that these are salted wild cherry pits. Suck one for a while, then break it open and eat the tiny almond-shaped kernel inside. I regret not asking to try one.

Sometimes a person just has to show off a little. Mexico Cooks! was expecting company and decided to prepare a tortilla española–a Spanish omelet with potatoes and onions. This simple dish, served chilled or at room temperature, is a classic from Spain.

In Mexico, February 2 is el Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas Day). Candelaria marks the official end of the Christmas season; it comes forty days after the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. It's said to be the day that the Virgin Mary took the newborn Jesus to the temple for the first time. Here in Mexico, the feast day is celebrated by dressing a figure of the Niño Dios (Child God) in all sorts of finery and taking him to church like a babe in arms to be blessed. These Niños Dios representing various saints and traditions are for sale in shops along Calle Talavera in Mexico City, as well as in a number of other spots. There are a number of other customs for the day, and the celebration always includes eating tamales and drinking atole. Candelaria is linked to the Day of the Three Kings (January 6), when we eat rosca de reyes (a kind of sweet bread) that contains a tiny plastic figure of the Baby Jesus. Tradition says that the person who gets the little figure in his or her slice of rosca throws the tamales party on Candelaria.

Speaking of tamales, a gentleman vendor at our neighborhood tianguis (street market) gave me these on February 2 this year. They are made of typical corn masa (dough) and filled with refried black beans. Each tamalito (little tamal–that's the word for just one!) measures about three inches long by an inch in diameter. The little clay dish that holds them is about three inches across. The vendor told me that he makes them twice a year and he promised to invite me to the tamalada (tamales-making party) the next time the day rolls around. Rather than being twisted or tied closed, the ends of the corn husks are pushed into a dimple at the end of each tamal. These are a specialty of Milpa Alta in the southernmost part of Mexico City.

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5 de May de 2012
500 Years Over a Hot Mexican Stove

Make-do old fashioned cooking technique in Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán. Frijoles boil in a clay pot on the fogón (an on-the-ground cooking fire). The fire ring, in this case, is the wheel rim of a truck; the wood is what was available at the time of need. The clay pot ensures old-fashioned flavor and Mexico Cooks!' interest in the cooking process ensured old-fashioned hospitality. "Come back at 1:30," the cook told us. "The beans will be ready and I'll make you some tortillas."

I often talk about Mexico as a country full of contradictions and paradoxes. As a case in point, the Mexican kitchen of the 21st century lives cheek by jowl with the Mexican kitchen that predates the 16th century arrival of the Spanish, and we're all the richer for it. Ancient utensils and techniques are put to daily use in modern kitchens so beautiful they could be in any of today's slick kitchen design magazines. In today's Mexican kitchen, a molcajete and its tejolote (volcanic stone mortar and pestle) often sit on the counter next to a Kitchen-Aid mixer, and a wood-kiln fired olla de barro (clay bean pot) may well share cupboard space with a Le Creuset Dutch oven.

Outdoor kitchen in San José de la Torre, Michoacán. In a few very rural parts of Mexico, it is still possible to find these old-style kitchens, built apart from the main house to keep the rest of the house cool. Just inside the kitchen, to the left in the photograph, you can see steam rising from a boiling pot.

It was in the convents that many of the most wonderful Mexican foods were invented to take advantage of local products, mixing and matching them in old European recipes. Today, those recipes that consist of the mix of Europe and the New World are among the most traditional of the Mexican kitchen.

The cooking utensils that were in daily use in Europe were almost nonexistent in the New World. Because metal utensils like those used in Spain were prohibitively expensive in the New World, they were replaced by utensils made of indigenous clay. Clay pots were gradually perfected, in large part due to the incorporation of new glazing techniques and new designs. Other utensils were made from native volcanic stone mined predominantly in Mexico's central highlands. Prehispanic utensils such as the molcajete, the comal (clay griddle), and the metate (flat rectangular grinding stone) were common. Most home cooks in the days of the Spanish colonial period were indigenous women servants who brought their utensils with them into Spanish New World kitchens.

Metate y metlapil (volcanic grinding stone with its volcanic stone mano), similar to a rolling pin. The cook has been grinding masa de maíz azul (blue corn dough). She will use some of the water in the small pot to dampen the dough as needed. The white cloth both shades the dough and protects it from insects.

The volcanic stone metate, along with its metlapil de metate (similar to a rolling pin made of stone) was the principal cooking utensil in the prehispanic kitchen, and it's still used today in rural areas to grind nixtamal-ized corn for making tortilla masa (dough). Volcanic stone is porous and microscopic pieces of it break off into the corn as it is ground, becoming an essential part of the dough. It's so essential to the texture and flavor of the masa that even in enormous commercial processing plants, the corn-grinding stones are made of volcanic rock.

The metate is also used to grind dried chiles and other grains used to prepare moles and other complex dishes, and to prepare highly prized chocolate de metate used for cooking and preparing hot chocolate.

The second most important piece in the indigenous kitchen is the three-legged molcajete, a kind of volcanic stone grinding mortar. It's still widely used, especially for grinding soft ingredients such as tomatoes, green chiles, green onions, herbs, and other condiments. A well seasoned salsa de molcajete (sauce to be used at table, made in a molcajete) is the mark of a wonderful cook.

Ingredients for salsa, ready to prepare in a volcanic stone molcajete. At the bottom and top of the photograph are comal (griddle)-roasted Roma tomatoes. You can also see roasted tomates verdes (tomatillos) and dried, toasted chiles.

Family-operated workshops in certain Mexican villages carve locally mined volcanic stone into the familiar shape of the molcajete and the less frequently seen metate. It can be difficult to find molcajetes and metates at the source, unless you know where to look. The first time I ventured to one of these small villages, I expected to see molcajetes and metates for sale in stores. I discovered that I had to knock on the doors at private homes in the towns and ask if anyone there made molcajetes.

Fortunately there is an easier way for most of us to find a traditional molcajete or metate. Next time you're on a shopping expedition to one of Mexico's regional mercados, ask the merchants where to find a vendor who sells them. They usually range in price from $65 pesos for a tiny molcajete just big enough to use for serving salsa at the table to the mother of all molcajetes priced at $125 pesos. The vendors may also sell even bigger ones carved with the head of a pig. Those are priced at approximately $600 pesos.

Classic Mexican kitchen from the 1920s. Casa Zuno, Guadalajara.

The basis and essence of the earliest and most current cuisines of Mexico is what is called the corn kitchen. Corn and corn masa have been used to prepare an infinite variety of staple foods in this country since before written history. The word masa comes from a Nauhatl word that means 'our flesh'. It's said that the Nauhatls believed that their gods created man and woman from corn dough. That equation of corn with the flesh of the human being is more telling than any long description of prehispanic, colonial, or present-day eating habits could be. Corn was all, and in many Mexican homes today, corn is still all.

For milennia, corn tortillas have traditionally been made by hand. Small balls of corn masa (dough) are rhythmically patted into near-perfect rounds, then toasted on a comal (griddle) over wood fire. The technique is passed from mother to daughter and mother to daughter in families everywhere in Mexico; girls start pat-pat-patting masa into tortillas almost from the time they start to walk.

Blue corn gorditas (thick tortillas) toasting over wood fire on a clay comal. These gorditas are also hand-patted, but are left relatively thick so that after toasting, they can be split and stuffed with your choice of delicious fillings and salsas.

The corn tortilla has always been the single most important staple food of Mexico. Tortillas with a serving of beans are a perfect protein. In many impoverished Mexican homes, corn tortillas and a pot of beans are even today the only daily fare. At all levels of society, a meal eaten at home is not complete without a large stack of tortillas, carefully wrapped in a special napkin. A family of five can easily eat a kilo of tortillas as many as eighteen tortillas per person or more along with the comida (main meal of the day).

From the time tortillas originated, women have patted balls of damp masa by hand to form it into perfect circles. It's still a mark of pride for a restaurant to offer tortillas "hechas a mano" (hand made). In some homes, especially in very rural areas, the rhythmic pat-pat-patting of hands making tortillas marks the dinner hour.

In many cases 'hand made' now means tortillas prepared using a tortilla press made of either wood or metal. Masa can either be purchased ready-made at a nearby tortillería or cooks can prepare it from dried corn. Either way, once the masa is ready the tortillas must be made quickly or the masa will be too dry to work. A piece of waxed paper or one half of a plastic storage bag is placed on the bottom half of the tortilla press. A ball of dough the size of a golf ball or slightly larger is pulled from the bulk of masa; then the dough is flattened slightly by hand and placed on the plastic. A second plastic or waxed paper sheet is placed on top of the dough and the press is squeezed shut.

Metal tortilla press in use. Note the sheets of plastic; one sheet is on the base of the press and the second is placed on the ball of dough. Photo courtesy My Home Cooking.

Open the press and there's a perfectly round tortilla, ready to have the plastic peeled off. Now do it again. And again. And again, and remember, there are five of you in the family and at least some of you will eat eighteen tortillas each at this meal! Even using the modern convenience of a tortilla press, it's still backbreaking work to prepare enough tortillas for a family's mealtime needs.

Of course Mexico is not only about rural tradition and the indigenous corn kitchen. I recently talked about recent trends in the Mexican kitchen with Licenciada Virginia Jurado Thierry, owner of Arquitectura en Cocinas in Guadalajara. Walking into her design center in fashionable Colonia Providencia is like walking into a high end kitchen designer's showroom anywhere in the world.

Sleekly modern wood cabinets are shown with stainless steel refrigerators and restaurant quality stoves; glass-front cupboards reflect top-of-the-line small appliances crouching on quartz polymer resin counters. When I explained the nature of this article, Lic. Jurado nodded and invited me into her private office to chat.

Mexico Cooks!' home kitchen in Morelia, Michoacán. The pottery, tile countertops and copper sink–and the wooden trastero (dish cupboard)–are traditional styles. The over-and-under-the-counter cupboards and the stove, washer, and dryer are new-fangled modern conveniences.

"So many people think the design of the Mexican kitchen is only done with talavera tiles. New kitchens are constantly evolving, and new design here is similar to new design everywhere. As you noticed as you walked through our showrooms, we offer nothing but the finest in kitchens. Everything is designed with convenience and efficiency and performance in mind." She paused to reach behind her and take down a thick notebook. "These are some of the products we offer to our clients."

We flipped through the book. Familiar names in high-quality, high-price tag kitchen design jumped out at me: European lines like Miele and Smeg, United States manufacturers such as SubZero, Wolf, Viking, and Dacor, and the noteworthy Italian Valcucina line were just a few important manufacturers' names I noticed. "We can offer the client a stove for $5000 pesos or we can offer the client a stove for $15,000 U.S. Usually we find a meeting place somewhere in between those figures," Lic. Jurado told me.

Twenty-first century Mexicans have gone crazy for the minimalist look, even in their kitchens. Sleek, modern design is most common in new construction. Photo courtesy Dotavideo.

Lic. Jurado smiled. "Our clients really want a bright, clean look. That translates into light woods such as oak for cabinets, lots of whites and tones of gray, stainless steel and glass. People also want aluminum accessories and opaque glass, especially for cupboard doors. Paint colors are light. For counter tops, we're getting many requests for melamine in new, stain-free colors, and polymer resin quartz in light colors. And some people want granite, or colored concrete. It's a whole range of effects, but with a very clean European look."

We've traveled more than 500 years, from pre-colonial days to the 21st century, in the course of a brief article. The contradictions of Mexico, even in as small a detail as the utensils and design of a kitchen, still amaze me.

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

21 de April de 2012
Mercado de San Juan, Distrito Federal: You Can Get Anything You Want…

The definitive book about Mexico City's marvelous Mercado de San Juan, available in Spanish at the market. Mexico Cooks! has never seen it for sale anywhere else. It was published in mid-2010.

Everybody in Mexico City who loves to eat, including Mexico Cooks!, loves the small but mighty Mercado de San Juan. Both wholesaler to restaurants and tourist attraction, this market offers its public almost anything you can think of to eat. Food that is available almost nowhere else in Mexico is available at this unassuming venue: bitter melon sits cheek by jowl with wild boar, deep green baby zucchini the size of golf scoring pencils rub shoulders with living escargots, fresh-killed deer hangs silent next to a row of ready-to-cook osso bucco. Want a quarter kilo of beautiful jamón serrano or a handful of chile serrano? Both are yours, just step up to the counter at their respective stalls.

Unusual stall-mates: a goat head, skinned but complete with long luxurious eyelashes, and live red maguey worms.

A huge bouquet of gorgeous baby artichokes, leaves tightly closed and tinged with purple. Each of these was smaller than a baseball, unlike the usual giant-size variety I've seen for sale elsewhere.

Imported cheeses and imported dried sausages. Buy an entire length or just a few slices of salami, buy a wheel or 100 grams of cheese–you may never see any of these at any other market.

Real honest-to-god crunchy-on-the-outside, densely-chewy-on-the-inside baguette to accompany your sausage and cheese! The Travel and Leisure magazine displayed on the lower shelf features the Mercado de San Juan among the 40 travel memories mentioned on the cover.

Among other items (including yet another shopping bag to cart home all our purchases), Mexico Cooks! bought ten lovely baby bok choy, a quarter kilo (half pound) of large, crisp snow peas, and a big hunk of fresh ginger for 33 pesos (about $2.50 USD).

Lechón (suckling pig), ready to roast.

Tiny zucchini, each approximately 3" long, and wee yellow squash, each about 2" in diameter. These miniature vegetables are among the few that come pre-wrapped.

Bottles and jars of Asian spices, sauces, and other condiments, including sesame oil, coconut cream, oyster sauce, snow mushrooms, hoisin sauce, and more. The only thing I didn't see that I sometimes need is thick soy–not black soy, but thick soy, like slightly salty molasses.

Fresh and glorious osso bucco, lined up for your viewing and purchasing pleasure.

Back to front: fresh oysters, big brown clams, and small white clams.

Lovely shiny purple Asian eggplants, beautiful ginger root, and assorted greens.

Detail of fresh octopus. Click to enlarge any photo for a closer look.

Rabbit is extremely popular–and generally quite delicious–as served in Mexico. These, fresh-killed, include the heads. Many are sold with the furry feet still attached. A butcher told me, "Some people think we sell cat meat. The heads or feet are left on to prove that the animals are rabbits."

Savoy cabbage and a variety of lettuces.

Preparing machitos for sale. The lacy membrane spread out on the butcher block is caul fat. The butcher is wrapping the fat around a small bundle of tripas (intestines). The packets are steamed, then browned and served in tacos with a spicy red salsa.

Your landmark. The Mercado de San Juan is just west of the Teléfonos de México (Telmex) central offices and tall tower of antennas.

Truly, there isn't another market in all of Mexico that is as beloved by chefs, gourmets, and gastronomes as the Mercado de San Juan. If you fall into any of those categories, let Mexico Cooks! know and I will happily tour you through the market stalls.

Mercado de San Juan
Calle Ernesto Pugibet, between José María Marroquí and Luis Moya
Metro San Juan de Letrán or Metro Salto de Agua

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14 de April de 2012
Sweet Home Mexico: Restaurante Dulce Patria and Chef Martha Ortiz

Chef Martha Ortiz, chef, owner, delightful human being, and creative guiding light extraordinaire behind Restaurante Dulce Patria–the name means 'sweet homeland'. Photo courtesy Martha Ortiz.

Several months ago, a close friend, a chef from Morelia, invited me to dine at Restaurante Dulce Patria. She wanted to introduce me to her friend, the restaurant's chef/owner Martha Ortiz. The restaurant, in the upscale heart of Mexico City's Colonia Polanco, had been open for a bit over a year and frankly, I had avoided going. I had heard so much hype about the space itself, about the chef, and about the wonders of the food and presentations–how true could it all be? Those of you who are faithful Mexico Cooks! readers know that I have occasionally been guilty of what I call contempt prior to investigation; my long avoidance of Dulce Patria wasn't quite that, but it was related to that thought: I just didn't want to be disappointed after hearing and reading so much deferential bowing and scraping about the restaurant's excellence.

Diners seated in a front window of the upstairs dining room at Dulce Patria. Photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

Your beautifully appointed table awaits you, either on the ground floor or at the top of the spiral staircase at Dulce Patria. Photo courtesy Dulce Patria.

That first visit to Dulce Patria left me wanting more: more of the ambiance, which is stellar; a better chance to read the menu, which is celestial; and more opportunities to taste various heavenly and completely Mexican platillos (dishes) as prepared and presented by the Dulce Patria kitchen.

My beloved wife would rather have a tequila than a mixed drink before comida (Mexico's midday main meal). Her tequila reposado is on the far right of the photo; the chasers are, right to left, (red) house-made traditional sangrita with finely diced pineapple and a jícama swizzle; (pale green) tomate verde (tomatillo) with minced jícama; and (wine-color) beet with finely diced cucumber. She liked the traditional sangrita best; she let me taste them all and I preferred the beet.

Mexico Cooks! was seduced by a powerful craving for this raspado sentimental de grosela y limón con mezcal (a frozen concoction of red current, lemon, and mezcal). The drink was delicious, although sweet enough for dessert instead of a pre-comida cocktail. The large red menu is Dulce Patria's standard, while the small black menu contains the special offerings of the month. Both menus are written in Spanish and English.

One of the several fresh, hot-out-of-the-oven house-made breads we tried. This center of this delicious bread is both colored and lightly flavored with violets.

In 2002, Chef Martha Ortiz opened Restaurante Áquila y Sol in Mexico City. Águila y Sol (the name means "Eagle and Sun" and refers to the two faces of a Mexican coin) became the favorite destination for diners crazy for alta cocina mexicana (Mexican haute cuisine). The restaurant was one of the first of that genre, was wildly praised, and was always packed with food-savvy foreign tourists and power-lunching Mexicans. For reasons beyond Chef Martha's control, the restaurant closed after several enormously successful years. Mexico City's high-flying foodistas were bereft and were left to console themselves with what they considered to be dimmer stars in the food firmaments.

Salad of crisp baby arugula with cabuches (cactus flower buds) and a shard of crunchy, seedy violet brittle. The salad's vinaigrette is made with peanuts and a whisper of chile morita. The small morita is a cousin of the chile chipotle and gives just a hint of that chile's same smoky flavor to the salad dressing.

A goodly part of the enormous success of Dulce Patria rests in the essence of the feminine, in the tremendous sensuality of not only the restaurant's ambiance but also the highly stylized presentations of what's in your glass and on your plate. Those, plus the intense attention to every detail of every diner's individual Dulce Patria experience, create the unique sensation of having left the world behind and entered into a magic realm of a heightened reality designed just for you by the chef. Did we like it? No. We loved it, and so will you.

Tacos de chilorio, served over shredded lettuce with papaloquelite, a traditional herbal accompaniment for Mexico City-style tacos. Chilorio is shredded, seasoned pork, in this instance used to fill tacos.

The four assorted salsas for the tacos de chilorio. The salsas ranged from the mild green (far right) to the hotter-than-the-hinges-of-hell dusky black (far left). Each salsa was delicious; my particular favorite was that hellishly hot one.

This entrée plate is composed of (left to right in the photo) refried black beans in a little deep-fried totopo (tortilla chip) bowl, a puddle of mole manchamanteles, four enchiladas de manchamanteles topped with a swirl of crema de mesa (table cream), pickled red onion, flowers of queso fresco (fresh cheese) and a small bowl of green salad. The added garnish–on the thin stick–is a little green squash star, a carrot flower, and a cube of beet. Not only is the presentation exquisite, but look at the detail (just click the photo to enlarge it): a heaping spoonful of beans on the rectangular plate keeps the totopo bowl from tipping or sliding, and under the salad bowl is a tiny round of banana leaf for traction to keep the bowl in place.

What can I say? This deep-red plate holds a tamal de frijol (bean tamal, foreground), a dish of marvelous salsa, two impeccable wedges of limón con chile (Mexican lime dusted with powdered chile), and a huge flower that hides a perfectly prepared portion of pescado zarandeado (marinated, grilled fish). Look again at that flower: it's a chile ancho, split into four petals and fried. I threatened to wear it behind my ear.

A whimsical post-dessert offering of house-made typical Mexican sweets: sweetened tamarind pulp with chile, glorias (burned milk candy with nuts), and more. Some tables received their candies in small toy trucks, some were arrayed on miniature painted wood trasteros (dish shelves). Ours were presented on a tray at the base of a spinning wooden airplane toy.

Among her many accomplishments, Chef Martha Ortiz has co-authored eight award-winning books and has participated in numerous international culinary events as well as similar events here in Mexico. She has dedicated her professional life to bringing Mexican cuisine to the forefront of the finest culinary traditions in the world. As a passionate and creative chef, she maintains the highest respect for Mexico's historic traditions. Her goal is to transmit "amor a lo propio"–love for what is our own–through a complete sensorial experience of the flavours, colours, textures and aromas of Mexican gastronomy.

Mexico Cooks! has eaten literally thousands of meals in Mexico's far-flung restaurants, ranging from Tijuana in the far north to Chiapas, the southern border state, and everywhere from the humblest choza (hut) to the most elegant of dining rooms. I was never privileged to enjoy the delights of Águila y Sol, but I cannot imagine that the experience would have surpassed that of our meal at Dulce Patria. If you live in Mexico City, if you travel here from within the country or from a foreign land, put a meal at Dulce Patria at the top of your list of must-experience culinary pleasures. From the time you walk through the front door until the time you leave with a little box of gift sweets in your hand, you will be in enchanted territory that will make you want to leave a trail of violet-scented breadcrumbs to facilitate your return.

Restaurante Dulce Patria
Calle Anatole France #100 (near the corner of Pres. Masaryk)
Colonia Polanco/Anzures
Mexico City
Tel. 3300-3999 (Cellular)
Reservations strongly recommended
Hours: Sunday 1:30PM to 5:30PM
Monday through Saturday 1:30PM to 11:30PM
Average cost per person: $600 pesos and up plus beverages

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7 de April de 2012
Carne de Cerdo en Salsa Verde (Pork in Green Sauce): Mexico Cooks! Favorite Main Dish for Parties

This article originally published a little over a year ago and has been extremely popular with Mexico Cooks! readers. When I recently prepared carne de puerco en salsa verde for guests, it occurred to me to re-publish the recipe and the photos. It's still a keeper and still Mexico Cooks!' simplest go-to company dish.

Tomatillos with their husks and fresh chiles serrano.

If you are like most cooks–Mexico Cooks! included–there are times when you want to astonish your guests with your intricate culinary skills by preparing the most complicated and time-consuming recipes you know. A seven-course Szechuan dinner that I prepared a year or so ago comes immediately to mind; it took me several days to recover just from the preparations, much less the actual cooking.

Then there are other times when you want to prepare something relatively quick but still completely delicious and which will inevitably win raves from your companions at table. This recipe for pork in green salsa completely satisfies both requirements. It's my never-fail dish for many company dinners.

Carne de Cerdo en Salsa Verde (Pork in Green Chile Sauce)
Six generous servings

Ingredients
Salsa verde (Green sauce)
1 pound tomatillos (known in Mexico as tomate verde), husks removed
4 or 5 whole chiles serrano, depending on your tolerance for picante (spiciness)
1/2 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 medium bunch fresh cilantro, largest stems removed
Sea salt to taste

Fresh cilantro.

Carne de cerdo (Pork Meat)
1 kilo (2.2 pounds) very lean fresh pork butt, cut into 2" cubes
White flour
Salt
Oil or lard sufficient for frying the pork

Preparation
Salsa verde
In a large pot of water over high heat, bring the tomatillos and chiles (and garlic, if you choose to use it) to a full rolling boil. Boil just until the tomatillos begin to crack; watch them closely or they will disintegrate in the water.

Let the tomatillos and chiles (and garlic, if you like) boil until the tomatillos begin to crack.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop the cooked tomatillos, salt, and chiles into your blender jar. There's no need to add liquid at first, but reserve the liquid in which the vegetables boiled until you see the thickness of your sauce. You might want to thin it slightly and the cooking liquid will not dilute the flavor. Set the vegetables aside to cool for about half an hour. Once they are cool, cover the blender, hold the blender cap on, and blend all the vegetables, including the chopped onion, until you have a smooth sauce.

Be careful to allow the tomatillos and chiles to cool before you blend them; blending them while they are fresh from the boiling water could easily cause you to burn yourself, the hot mixture tends to react like molten lava in the blender. (Note: don't ask me how I know this.)

In the blender, the boiled and cooled tomatillos and chiles. The cilantro goes in last.

While the blender is running, remove the center of its cap and, little by little, push the cilantro into the whizzing sauce. Blend just until smooth; you should still see big flecks of dark green cilantro in the lighter green sauce. Test the salt and correct if necessary. Reserve the sauce for later use.

Golden brown pork cubes.

Carne de Cerdo (Pork Meat)
Preheat oven to 170°C or 350°F.

Pat the 2" pork cubes as dry as possible with paper towels.

Put about 1/4 cup flour in a plastic grocery-size bag. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Melt the lard over high heat in a large heavy oven-proof casserole. While the lard is melting, shake about 1/4 of the cubed pork in the salted flour. When the oil or lard begins to smoke, add the floured pork cubes, being careful not to dump the flour into the pan. Cover the pan. As the pork cubes brown, shake another 1/4 of the pork cubes in flour and salt. Turn the pork cubes until all sides are golden brown. Remove browned cubes to a bowl and reserve. Add more floured pork to the hot lard. You may need more oil or lard as well as more salted flour. Repeat until all pork cubes are well browned. Reserve the browned pork in the same pan, scraping the crispy bits from the bottom.

Most Mexican housewives do not flour and brown the pork cubes prior to cooking them in the sauce. I like to prepare the dish this way because the browned flour adds a deeper flavor to the finished sauce. Everyone taste is different, though, and you are of course welcome to tweak the recipe till the finished product is just the way you like it.

Add the sauce to the pork cubes in the casserole, making sure that all the cubes are immersed in sauce. Cover and put the casserole into the oven, reducing the heat to 160°C or 325°F. Bake for two hours. Add cooking liquid from the vegetables if necessary to keep the sauce relatively thick but not sticking to the casserole. The pork will be fork-tender and the green sauce will take on a rich, deep, pork-y flavor and color.

The browned pork cubes and green sauce, ready to be baked. This particular batch of carne de cerdo en salsa verde was a little more than double the recipe included here. The recipe is very forgiving and can easily be doubled or tripled to fit the number of guests on your dinner party list. If a whole recipe is too much for your needs, make it anyway: it freezes very well.

Serve with arroz blanco (steamed white rice) or arroz a la mexicana (red rice), refried beans, a colorful, contrasting vegetable, and fresh, hot tortillas. Mexico Cooks!' money-back guarantee: everyone will come back for seconds.

Provecho!

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31 de March de 2012
Out and About on Calle República de Uruguay in Mexico City: Places to Go and People to See

A large portion of Mexico City's Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Balvanera, Calle República de Uruguay #36, is given over to the veneration of San Charbel Makhlouf, a 19th century Lebanese Maronite hermit whom Roman Catholic Pope Paul VI canonized in 1927. During the last ten to fifteen years, San Charbel has acquired quite a large following in Mexico. The church features any number of images of the saint, some professionally made and others, like this one, made by the devout. Mexico Cooks! is particularly fond of this home-made image of him, with its cotton batting beard and jiggly plastic eyes like those found on some stuffed animals.

Calle República de Uruguay, just south of the Zócalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the National Palace, is one of Mexico City's most interesting and varied streets. Mexico Cooks! loves to walk it block by block, discovering hidden and not-so-hidden treasures nearly every step of the way. The last time I took this walk, I noticed for the first time that one block was lined on both sides with mercerías (button and sewing notion shops) filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of different styles of buttons. AHA! A single button from one of my favorite dresses had recently gone missing in the washing machine. I found a similar button among the countless displays and asked the clerk the cost of just one. "Señora…," she hesitated, "solo se venden por cien." ('We only sell buttons in lots of one hundred.') We both laughed.

The ornately tiled dome of the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Balvanera. The church, built in the 17th century, is open daily for all who care to visit.

This rolling contraption belongs to an old-time camote (sweet potato) and plátano (banana) vendor. At the back of the three-wheeled cart is the steering wheel and a supply of plates and bags. In the center are the vendor's other supplies. The baked sweet potatoes and bananas are carefully lined up on the firebox and oven of the cart, where they stay hot until purchased. The firebox is stoked with carbón (Mexican real-wood charcoal). At the very front of the cart is the smokestack, with its traditional ear-shattering steam powered whistle. If you listen during the evenings in some of Mexico City's neighborhoods, you'll still hear the sound of that whistle–the camotero's call for you to run out to the street to buy a hot baked camote for your cena (supper). Click on any photograph to enlarge it and see the details.

Detail, camotes y plátanos–with the ubiquitous can of La Lechera (sweetened condensed milk) that is poured generously over your purchase of either a delicious newly baked sweet potato or a freshly baked banana. Little by little, these wonderfully fragrant carts are disappearing from Mexico City's streets. As I chatted with the camotero, I mentioned that quite late most nights–as late as one in the morning–a vendor passes my building and blows his whistle. The camotero on Calle República de Uruguay scoffed and said that the vendor in my neighborhood is probably selling something other than camotes. "Quién va a querer un camote a estas horas?" (Who would want a sweet potato at that hour!)

Gorras (caps) for sale on the street. The embroidered purple cap featuring Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe particularly caught my attention. There is simply nowhere that her image is not.

Interior of a seriously deteriorated vecindad (essentially, a tenement house) on Calle República de Uruguay. Restoration work is underway, as you can see from the heavily braced walls.

Package tied up with string from the famous Pastelería La Ideal, which has a branch located at República de Uruguay #74. It's almost guaranteed that as you stroll along this street, especially in the early morning or in the evening, you will see hordes of people carrying boxes and packages with this design. Everyone wants pan dulce (sweet bread) from La Ideal! The extraordinary pan from the bakery is (pardon me) ideal for breakfast or supper. Pastelería La Ideal, with its three branches, is arguably the most famous bakery in Mexico City.

Almond-topped coffee cake from Pastelería La Ideal. It tastes even better than it looks.

Hanging menu outside Los Tacos, Calle República de Uruguay #117. This partial menu only serves as an enticement to step inside: the full menu is enormous, running from the simplest quesadilla (a tortilla folded over cheese and toasted or fried) to delicious chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles in walnut sauce). It's a dandy place to stop for an energy boost while strolling down this street.

The trompo (vertical spit) for tacos al pastor (shepherd-style roast pork) is just outside the door at Los Tacos. Thinly sliced pork is marinated in an adobo sauce, then stacked onto the spit–with a pineapple at the top. The pineapple juices run steadily into the meat as it cooks. The meat spins around and is roasted to order using the gas grate just behind it. The pastorero (specialized cook for tacos al pastor) receives your order (seis de pastor, por favor–six tacos al pastor, please) from the waiter, then turns and turns the spit until he can shave off slivers of pork for your tacos. The slivers go directly from the freshly grilled meat on the spit into a hot tortilla–you can just see that the pastorero is holding a tortilla in his left hand. The order of tacos on the plate in front of him is almost ready. The coup de grace: the skillful pastorero fills your tortilla with meat and then with a quick flick of the knife, sends a portion of roasted, slightly caramelized sweet pineapple flying from the whole fruit straight into your taco while it's still in his hand. As far as I could see, he never misses. What a guy! And needless to say, what a taco! Top it yourself with finely chopped onion, cilantro, and the salsa of your choice. It's a fiesta of flavors in your mouth.

Mexico Cooks! would be delighted to tour you along Calle República de Uruaguay, as well as along any of the fascinating neighboring streets in our Centro Histórico (Historic Center). Just let us know when you'd like to come visit us in Mexico City.

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24 de March de 2012
Sandra Gutiérrez and The New Southern-Latino Table: Cookbook from Heaven!

Sandra Gutiérrez's cookbook The New Southern-Latino Table landed on Mexico Cooks!' doorstep to a resounding HURRAY!

Mexico Cooks! does not often get excited about fusion of cuisines. As my friend Giorgio d'Angeli (may he rest in peace) always said, "It usually ends up being CON-fusion." However, every once in a while, a chef and a cookbook cross my path that are the exception to the rule, and Sandra Gutiérrez's new cookbook, The New Southern-Latino Table, is that exception. What marvelous and accessible recipes she offers us!

Jalapeño deviled eggs–an old southern favorite raised to new heights with minced chiles jalapeños. Deviled eggs have always been addictive, and these are even more so. Photo courtesy Sandra Gutiérrez.

To create this cookbook, Sandra took on the blending of ingredients, traditions, and culinary techniques from the United States, where she was born, and Guatemala, where she grew up, as well as combinations of other southern and Latin American traditions. Imagine: what could be more traditional in the American south than pimiento cheese, and what could be more Latin than the smoky taste of chile chipotle en adobo and powdered ancho chiles? Put the two traditions together in this simple recipe and the flavors explode in your mouth in the best possible way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzmUm1BNLaw&w=400&h=233]
Sandra Gutiérrez shows you, step by step, the ease of preparing her pimiento cheese with chile chipotle. The adobo (marinating sauce) mentioned in the recipe comes right out of the can of chiles–this recipe could not be simpler or more delicious. You and your guests are going to love it! Video courtesy Cary Magazine.

Sandra assures us that if you live outside the United States, there is no such thing as "Latino". Her 150 original recipes–each developed personally in her test kitchens–are also not Latino, because there is no single "Latino" cuisine. She says, "The term 'Latino' only exists within the context of the United States and is used to define anyone who was either born in Latin America or is of Latin American heritage but lives in the United States. Latin Americans define themselves not as 'Latinos', but rather as Guatemalans, Bolivians, Colombians, Mexicans, etc.

"From a culinary perspective, this becomes very important because not all Latin Americans eat the same foods. Argentinians, for example, don't eat tacos unless they are at a Mexican restaurant; however, they do eat a lot of pasta, because their cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian flavors and ingredients. Each Latin cuisine has been shaped by different cultures and has its own native ingredients and each varies greatly from the other. I cannot stress this enough.

"The new Southern-Latino movement, therefore, does not represent the melding of one culinary tradition with another (as in the case of Southwestern cuisine, where Mexican flavors predominate), but represents the marriage of the culinary foodways of more than two dozen countries with those of the entire Southern region of the United States. For me, it is very, very exciting."

Peruvian classic causas con pulpo (mashed potato with octopus) at Mexico City's marvelous Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Rokkaku, in Colonia Polanco. Mexico Cooks! photo.

Causas (pronounced COW-sahs), Perú's classic potato dish, influenced this seven ingredient vegetarian potato salad casserole from The New Southern-Latino Table. Two hallmarks of Sandra Gutiérrez's recipes are their ease of preparation and the accessibility of their ingredients. Photo courtesy Sandra Gutiérrez.

Bite-size brownies that will bite you back! Sandra Gutiérrez's recipe for rich, moist, and dense brownies meet your mouth with the seductive sweetness of chocolate and sugar. Give them a second, though, and you'll find your palate titillated by the additional flavor of powdered ancho chile. One of these brownies will never be enough! Photo courtesy Sandra Gutiérrez.

Sandra's book includes a glossary of ingredient names, an excellent section on sourcing ingredients that might not be available where you live, and–best of all–a guide to navigating a Latin tienda (store). In the navigation guide, you'll find each section of the tienda explained: dairy, frozen goods, meats, dry goods, bakery, and so forth. It's easy to see that Sandra is a well-known teacher: she has taught literally thousands of people the joy and simplicity of her particular style of cooking. In addition, all of the recipes in The New Southern-Latino Table are superbly organized, beautiful to follow, and offer the home cook exactly what is necessary to achieve great culinary success.

Cajeta (burnt milk–it tastes like a cross between caramel and butterscotch) bread pudding. Buy the book for this recipe alone! Photo courtesy Sandra Gutiérrez.

The New Southern Latino Table has been featured in any number of newpapers and magazines. In the few short months since its publication, it has won several well-deserved awards. Look for the book cover photos to the left on this page: you'll see the book cover second from the top. Click on its thumbnail to be taken directly to the Amazon.com page for The New Southern-Latino Table. Buy it today: I recommend it without hesitation. You're going to love it, and you heard about it first right here on Mexico Cooks!.

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17 de March de 2012
A Brief History of Comida China (Chinese Food) in Mexico–and Restaurante Dalian!

Update to the review of this restaurant: as of August 2013, its ownership has changed and the restaurant has lost all its former quality. What a huge loss to the very small community of worthwhile Chinese restaurants in Mexico City.

Barrio Chino de Noche (Chinatown at Night). Mexico City's tiny Chinatown is on Calle Dolores, between Av. Juárez and Ayuntamiento in the Centro Histórico (Historic Center). Photo courtesy Jesús E. Salgado, Skyscraper City.

Most of the Chinese who came to North America in the 19th and very early 20th centuries came in order to work constructing the railroads between the USA and Mexico, primarily on the USA side of the border. Almost all of the Chinese railroad construction workers were from the province of Canton, and ONLY Chinese men were allowed into either country. Generally, if a Chinese man could cook, he became the gang cook (railroad slang) for his particular railroad construction crew.

Chinese railroad workers in the United States, ca 1890. Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

Due to immigration quotas, none of the Chinese men were allowed to bring their families into the USA. Many wives and children traveled from Canton to the port of Veracruz, on Mexico's east coast, and from there made their way to the Mexico/USA border. Some sneaked across as undocumented aliens, while others were turned back. During Mexico's years of anti-Chinese expulsions (1920s-1930s), many Chinese, including men, women and children were forceably expelled from Mexico and were made to enter the United States illegally.

Chinese women cooking, 19th century. Photo courtesy A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization.

If you're a man or woman with no marketable skill other than your skill in the kitchen, what's the best way to make a living for your family? Of course: prepare and sell food. From those original Chinese immigrants, a great tradition of Chinese restaurants grew up along both sides of the Mexico/USA border. All of them were and continue to be Cantonese. Today, there are thousands of Chinese restaurants–almost entirely Cantonese–everywhere in Mexico.

Update: this article, published on November 24, 2012, offers further insight into the Chinese situation in 20th century Mexico: Chinese-Mexicans celebrate repatriation to Mexico.

Commonly known in Mexico City as cafés de chinos (Chinese coffee houses), restaurants like La Nacional specialize in café con leche (a combination of hot expresso and equally hot milk, similar to latte), pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), and–usually–very bad Chinese food. Photo courtesy Kairos.

Long ago, Mexico Cooks! began professional culinary life as a Chinese chef, specializing in the cuisines of Sichuan and Hunan–two of the spiciest kitchens in China, if not in the world. For years, I have told my Mexican friends that the people from those Chinese provinces eat more chile than the Mexicans. Until fairly recently, most of my friends have looked at me with profound disbelief: unless they had traveled outside Mexico and had eaten in other countries' Chinese restaurants, their experiences of Chinese food were limited to the Cantonese kitchen–and in fact, a highly Mexicanized Cantonese kitchen, light years and many generations removed from the province of Canton.

Now, however, there are two Sichuan restaurants in Mexico City. One, the Ka Won Seng, has steadfastly refused to be publicized no matter how long they have known me and no matter how much I plead. The answer is always the same: 'No pictures. No writing. No.' It's in a decent working class neighborhood, although not near any tourist attraction. My good friend and eating buddy David Lida got there before the publicity prohibition went into effect and wrote about it on his blog. It's hard to find and if you want to go there, you'll have to let David and me take you.

The corner of Calles Artículo 123 and Humboldt, across the street from Restaurante Dalian, one of just two Sichuan restaurants in Mexico City. This is not standard tourist territory. Notice, however, that Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) is here as well as everywhere else in Mexico, watching over her children.

Enter this building at Calle Humboldt #56 and at the very end of its long hallway, you'll find the fabulous Restaurante Dalian. This photo and the rest of the photos that accompany this article are copyright Mexico Cooks!.

Restaurante Dalian is located on a not very far-off-the-beaten-tourist path street, but on a corner that is far from Mexico City's tiny Chinatown and which is exceptionally unsavory. Mexico Cooks! is far from squeamish and even farther from nervous about where I find myself, but this particular neighborhood almost put me off. The first time we visited Restaurante Dalian, we walked past a young man clad only in his underwear and soap bubbles, taking a shower on the street. Although the restaurant is only a few blocks from Mexico City's Centro Histórico (the historic downtown), it's not a place you'd think to go. The corner is a haven for unusually down-and-out street people. We had to get over ourselves, nod briefly to the homeless, and walk just around the corner to find the entrance to the building that houses the restaurant.

Fried squid with salt and Chinese anise at Restaurante Dalian. Tender baby squid are cut into bite-size pieces, coated with batter, and deep fried until crisp, then tossed with spicy hot chiles, chopped sweet red pepper, soft-fried diced onion, scallion greens, and sesame seeds.

Mexico Cooks! recently invited several friends to come along for their first taste of real Sichuan cooking. I admit that it wasn't easy for them to say yes–not because of the new cuisine, but because of the location. Restaurante Dalian is hidden in the back hallway of a Chinese business building. It may actually be the only thing in the building. The building watchman at the front desk just pointed to the end of the hall when we asked about the restaurant. But was it worth it and will we all go back again? Absolutely, the very first chance we get.

MaPo tofu at Restaurante Dalian. Tender tofu combined with ground pork in the typical and correct proportions of spicy, oily, and tongue-numbing sensations made this dish love at first bite.

It can be difficult to arrive for the first time at any restaurant, much less one with menus written in Chinese. Names of dishes translated into Spanish were none too helpful, but we were able to deduce from the full-color menu photos what each one was. Our very kind Mexican waiter, Marcos, is the only staff member at Restaurante Dalian who speaks Spanish. The owner, a lovely woman, made a gracious attempt to communicate with us; we all bowed, smiled, and shook hands a good deal. The rest of the waitstaff speaks only Chinese. No one speaks English. Other than my wife, our friends, and I, the other diners were native-born Mexicans–plus a Russian man eating with his Mexican friend.

Kung Pao chicken. The peanuts were fried correctly, the chicken were tender and juicy, the vegetables were crisp and appetizing, and the sauce was just right. The dish was spiced exactly to my taste: HOT. All of us were over the moon with the mix of textures and flavors.

Deep-fried green beans, chile de árbol, and garlic, served in a doily-lined bowl. The doily absorbed any residual grease. The quantity was enormous. The aromas, flavors and textures of the still-crisp beans are the stuff of dreams. This is one of the most delicious Chinese dishes I have ever eaten anywhere.

Steamed fish with scallion greens and julienned sweet red pepper, served in a heavenly soy and sesame oil sauce.

Marcos, our waiter, told me the name of this dish at least three times and I still did not understand. It's a mix of tender, lightly coated thin-sliced beef, stir-fried onions and chunks of sweet red and green peppers. It comes to the table crackling and hissing, in a red-hot pan lined with aluminum foil. The whole dish is perfectly cooked and delicious, but the caramelized bits at the bottom of the dish are particularly marvelous.

After all but licking our plates, we had to call it quits. Next time we go, we might order salt and pepper shrimp, or a huge bowl of spicy seafood soup, or a different preparation of baby squid. We might try something with beef, or a chicken dish even spicier than the ones we tried our first time out. We will have to have the green beans again, but there is an entire menu of other dishes to try. There is also an inexpensive and ordinary-looking full buffet, but the a la carta menu seems to be the way to order a Sichuan meal.

A typically Chinese dessert: complimentary fresh fruit. I'm ashamed to say that there was originally triple the amount of cantaloupe on the plate, but I remembered only at this point to take a photo.

Jian Deui: glutinous rice flour dough balls filled with sweet red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep fried. These are my all-time favorite Chinese sweets; until dining at Restaurante Dalian, I have never before seen them in Mexico.

The tiny Restaurante Dalian kitchen consists of two (or maybe three) well-used woks on a wok stove. The non-Spanish-speaking cook was a bit nonplussed by my request to see the kitchen, but after a lot of gesturing and a call for Marcos's help, the restaurant owner was gracious enough to allow me a visit to the tiny center of operations.

Restaurante Dalian
Calle Humboldt #56, near the corner of Calle Artículo 123
Centro Histórico, Distrito Federal

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10 de March de 2012
TANIA LIBERTAD: 50 Years of Music, A Singular Voice for Peace

Close to ten years ago, I first heard a live concert by Tania Libertad. She sang as one of the invitados de honor (honored guests) at the Encuentro Internacional de Mariachi (International Mariachi Festival) in Guadalajara. To say she knocked my socks off is an understatement. Unless noted, all photos are copyright Mexico Cooks!.

Less than two years after performing as one of the Mariachi Festival's guests of honor, Tania Libertad returned to Guadalajara for a solo concert in the Plaza de los Fundadores (Founders' Square). My neighbor and I attended that concert and were privileged to meet the artist. Soon thereafter, Tania invited me to her home in Mexico City for a private conversation. That conversation, published here on September 1, 2007, has been quoted repeatedly in articles by others as source material regarding her long and brilliant career.

Fast forward a few years: in February 2012, Tania Libertad celebrated her 50th anniversary as a professional singer. Seeing her ageless beauty and hearing her magnificent voice, it is frankly impossible to believe that she has been performing professionally since age nine, when she first made recordings in her native Perú.

Tania has sung and been celebrated throughout Europe, parts of Africa, and Oceanía. Of course she has given frequent concerts all over the Americas. She has recorded 38 CDs, with sales totalling well into the millions of copies. Today, she is one of the most widely recognized Latin American singers and arguably the most notable singer of what many people call World Music.

Passion and commitment for the values of love of life and the human rights struggle have marked Tania's career from the beginning. In 1997, UNESCO honored her lifelong work by naming her an Artist for Peace. In addition, she has been decorated by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, as well as having been the recipient of numerous awards and decorations from both her native Perú and her adopted Mexico. In 2009, she received a special Grammy award for lifetime musical excellence.

Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace). Photo courtesy Luis Osorio. In February 2012, in celebration of her 50th professional anniversary, Tania sang two successive nights of sold-out three-hour concerts in the auditorium of this magnificent building. Mexico Cooks! was there with a group of friends on the first night, seated second row center.

Tania sang more than 35 songs during the concert we heard, accompanied by her incredibly talented 10-member band of musicians as well as by the Mexico City Orquesta Stravaganza. Among the passionate songs she chose to present was La Paloma (The Dove) by Rafael Alberti. When Nobel laureate José Saramago heard her sing this song for the first time, he wrote, in part, "…cada nota acariciaba una cuerda de mi sensibilidad hasta el desalumbramiento…" ('each note caressed a chord in my feelings until I was completely dazzled…')

One of the evening's surprises (although Tania had whispered that he might sing with her) was an appearance by Armando Manzanero, one of Mexico's most prolific and treasured song writers. He and Tania are old friends and have often sung publicly and recorded together. They brought the house down as they sang three songs during this concert.

During his long career, Manzanero has written more than 400 songs, including many which are considered to be standards in Mexico's romantic genre. His most famous songs include Voy a apagar la luz (I'm Going to Turn Off the Lights), Contigo Aprendí ( With you I Learned… ), Adoro (I Adore), No sé tú (I don't know about you…), Por Debajo de la Mesa (Under the Table), Esta Tarde Vi Llover (This Afternoon I Saw It Rain), Somos Novios (English version "It's Impossible"), Felicidad (Happiness) and Como Han Pasado los Años (How the Years Have Passed By).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBEnYkcwBLk&w=400&h=301]
Listen to Tania Libertad and Armando Manzanero singing a duet of Como Han Pasado los Años, recorded on the DVD titled Manzanero y La Libertad.

The elegantly dressed crowd gathered and we began to settle into our seats. We all watched the famous curtain at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, waiting for it to be raised for the start of the concert.

The early 20th century Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass curtain in the Palacio de Bellas Artes depicts (left) Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman), Mexico's third-highest mountain at 17,126 feet; (center) the valley of Mexico, and (right) Popocatépetl, Mexico's second-largest mountain at 17,802 feet and the country's largest active volcano. The curtain, from designs by Mexican artist Gerardo Murillo (better known as Dr. Atl), is made of nearly one million pieces of stained glass. It weighs 24 tons and is the only one of its kind in the world.

Detail of the poppies at the lower right corner of the Tiffany curtain.

The pre-concert anticipation in the auditorium for the first night, which sold out several weeks in advance of its date, was a whirling buzz of whispers, eddies of perfume, and flourishes of fancy dress and furs. Mexico Cooks! had heard that Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón and his wife, Margarita Zavala, would attend and sure enough, shortly before the curtain went up they helicoptered into the theater atrium and were seated without fanfare in the presidential box. From the next box, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera) leaned over to chat briefly with the president. Carlos Slim, businessman extraordinaire (yes, he's the wealthiest man in the world) was present, too, along with a number of Mexico's notable stars, including Silvia Pinal. Consuelo Sáizar, the president of CONACULTA, the Mexican government's arts council, also attended.

During the concert, Tania sang some of the most important songs she has interpreted. She sings to touch the heart, to touch the mind, and to touch the soul. She sings to advance the fight for human rights, both here at home and around the world. And, after acknowledging the presence of Mexico's president, she sang two of her strongest songs: La Maza (The Mallet), by Cuban trova writer and singer Silvio Rodríguez, which speaks of beauty, hope, song, and the battle for human rights; and D.L.G., by the Argentine artist Fito Páez, which speaks of love, prophecy, change, and apocalypse.

About 40 years ago, Tania began singing Alfonsina y el Mar, which she continues to sing at the close of each of her performances. She closed her anniversary concert with the song, sung a cappella as always in her crystal-clear voice. The audience, raptly attentive and steeped in emotion, barely breathed as she sang.

After the concert, Tania greeted Judy and me backstage. We congratulated her and chatted for a few minutes. Photo courtesy Celia Marín.

Felicidades en tu aniversario, querida amiga Tania–enhorabuena! (Congratulations on your anniversary, dear friend Tania–all best wishes!)

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3 de March de 2012