Category: Travel

Mexico Cooks! Returns to Restaurante Yuban, A Special Taste of Oaxaca in Mexico City

Chef Fernando Martínez Zavala, in charge at Restaurante Yuban. Chef Fernando has headed up the kitchen at Yuban for about two years; he's made changes in both the space and the menu that have brought the restaurant to the forefront in Mexico City's mid-to-high-end places to dine. Photo courtesy Yuban.

It's part of my job description–self-described, this job–to write about restaurants. For the first time in nine-plus years, I'm writing a second review of a place I've wanted to love without reserve but needed to revisit several times to be able say, "Yes, absolutely, this is the place to go." Before you read further today, you might like to take a look at the first article from Mexico Cooks! about Restaurante Yuban, from July of 2015: Restaurante Yuban. You will see that although I loved much about what I ate there, I still had some questions and suggestions.

The first thing I noticed this visit, in April 2016, is Yuban's very recent interior renovation. The remodel is seamless, opening up both dining and bar space without sacrificing the cozy ambience that everyone has loved about the rooms since Yuban first popped up on Mexico City's restaurant radar. This new section at the front of the restaurant is now open to lovely light and air. Click on any photo for a larger view.

The bar, with its full complement of spirits, is now integrated into one side of the front dining room, making a wonderfully open space whether you're at Yuban to have a drink with a friend or to share a full meal with your friends, family, or a group.

I've always loved the floor tiles at Yuban and was so delighted to see that they haven't been changed. Remodel and floor tiles aside, the food! The service! What about them? The menu and the service have been remodeled as well, keeping the best and seriously improving the rest. Restaurante Yuban has graduated to full star status in Mexico City.

Of the various cocktails on the Yuban menu, this one–chagua de la reina–caught my attention initially because it is made with mezcal, a drink endemic to Oaxaca and currently the go-to liquor in Mexico City. Mezcal is also Mexico Cooks!' preferred drink, although I rarely drink alcohol. The chagua (according to chef Fernando, the word refers to someone who produces a lot of super-spicy chile de agua) is made of an infusion of chile de agua, jugo de limón (juice of native limón–you might know the fruit as Key lime), ginger, and mezcal. The drink's flavors explode in one's mouth and made me, at least, crave a second taste and then a second cocktail. I can't think when I've gone bonkers for an adult beverage, but yowzah–the chagua de la reina won my heart. Move over, straight up mezcal.

Oaxaca's chile de agua, the fiery heart and soul of the chagua de la reina.

Lovely bits of tlayuda (a large toasted corn tortilla, an icon of the Oaxaca Central Valley) with avocado and ash accompanied our drinks as a house courtesy.

As we chatted and drank, our server also presented us with frijoles de la olla estilo oaxaqueño (Oaxaca-style pot-cooked beans) seasoned with hoja santa (an anise-flavored leaf), radish, pickled onions, queso fresco (tender fresh cheese), chicharrón (fried pork skin), and cilantro sprouts. Both the tlayuda and the frijoles did what appetizers are meant to do: wake up one's appetite for what's to follow.

My dining companion and I each ordered Yuban's sopa de guías, she for love and I for comparison with the sopa de guías I learned from Celia Florián in Oaxaca. This sopa, served using the restaurant's elegant upscale pour, looked and tasted almost identical to the one I helped prepare in Oaxaca. The chochoyotes (tender corn dumplings with a dimple) were delicious! On a scale of 1 to 10, definitely a ten!

My companion ordered ensalada de siete jitomates criollos con queso fresco y pesto de hoja santa (salad of seven native tomatoes, transparently thin radish slices, fresh cheese, and hoja santa pesto). These tiny native tomato halves, dressed with a just-right anise-y pesto, seemed like no big deal on the plate: pretty as a picture, but with a salad-bored shrug. One taste and I wished I'd ordered my own plateful of pure ripe tomato, wonderful pesto, and all the rest of the flavors that combine to make this small dish a huge hit. I could cheerfully have licked the plate.

A second marvelous and beautiful salad, this time of roasted asparagus, roasted nopales (cactus paddles), pickled onions, and a turnip cream. The smokiness of the roasted vegetables was the perfect complement to the mezcal we drank.

After listening to me wax ecstatic about the marvelous mole verde (green mole) from February's Oaxaca cooking class, my companion was happy to find the dish listed on Yuban's menu. She wasn't disappointed; the carne de cerdo (pork meat) was fork-tender and the mole, served with a generous spoonful of alubias (small white beans) was all but identical to the mole verde our cooking class prepared in Oaxaca.

Tasajo, a Oaxaca-style thinly cut beef topped with quelites cenizo (a kind of greens), tender as served on a pool of black beans, with grilled cebollitas cambray de la sierra (knob onions from the hills) and grilled cheese. House-made tortillas were just right for mopping the plate.

Mole negro con pechuga de guajolote (black mole with turkey breast), served with a small pot of delicious, perfectly cooked rice.

We tried two of Yuban's three desserts. This one is pastel de chocolate oaxaqueño (Oaxacan chocolate cake) with house-made sorbet, blueberries, and a streusel crumble. Marvelous.

A companion ordered cremoso de requesón (creamy sweetened cheese similar to ricotta) with streusel de pinole (slightly sweetened toasted, ground corn), piña rostizada (roast pineapple), and coconut ice cream. I give it two–no, three–thumbs up.

When you're in Mexico City but craving the authentic taste of Oaxaca, Restaurante Yuban is definitely your best option. Don't take my word for it, though: go, and enjoy the best of Oaxaca outside Oaxaca itself. And by all means order a chagua de la reina and raise a glass to me.

Provecho! (Say Bon appetit! in Spanish.)

Restaurante Yuban
Calle Colima 268
Near the corner with Insurgentes
Col. Roma Norte
Hours:
Monday through Wednesday 13:30-23:00PM
Thursday through Saturday 13:30-1:00AM
Sunday 13:30-18:00PM
Tel. 6387 0358
Reservations strongly suggested

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

7 de May de 2016
Mexico Cooks! Winter Tour to Oaxaca, Part V: Cooking with Celia Florián

Our magnificent cooking teacher, Maestra Celia Florián, owner at Restaurante Las 15 Letras, Oaxaca.

Sometime in late 2015, I was chatting with my dear friend Celia Florián, who asked when I would be going again to Oaxaca. "I'll be bringing a group of women in February!" One thing led to another and soon Celia and I had scheduled a cooking class for the group. We planned a menu, an early-morning shopping excursion at the municipal Mercado de la Merced, the group cooking class to follow, and the joy of sharing the finished products as our comida (main meal of the day) later in the afternoon. I could barely contain my excitement at the thought of introducing this California tour group to one of the most generous and joyous traditional cooks in Mexico.

The menu that Celia and I planned for the group included:

–Garnachas del Istmo de Tehuantepec
–Sopa de Guías con Chochoyotes
–Mole Verde con Espinazo y Alubias
–Pastel de Elote estilo Las 15 Letras

Maestra Celia and her husband Fidel Méndez Sosa have been the proprietors of Restaurante Las 15 Letras since 1992; today, the restaurant is a favorite among Oaxaca locals and has also become a destination restaurant for in-the-know visitors, both Mexican and foreign. The photo shows an elegant and delicious dish I ate at Las 15 Letras in February 2015: quesillo (Oaxaca cheese) wrapped in a spiral with chapulines (grasshoppers) and hoja santa (an anise-flavored leaf).

Doña Carmen Florián, Maestra Celia Florián's now-elderly mother, continues to be able to make hand-made tortillas. Maestra Celia says, "What one learns well is never forgotten. My mother has been making tortillas since she was a little girl."

Oaxaca's Mercado de la Merced is a small, friendly market serving its neighborhood. It has become a magnet for Oaxaca cooks and food-oriented tourists, as well. It suited the shopping needs of our group, and Maestra Celia was the perfect guide as we purchased the ingredients for our class and comida.

We purchased a few of Oaxaca's iconic jitomates riñon (kidney-shaped tomatoes) as part of what we needed to prepare the garnachas.

The tray in the foreground contains the ingredients for the garnachas del Istmo de Tehuantepec. Clockwise from the left: jitomates riñon (kidney-shaped tomatoes), queso de Chiapas (cheese from Chiapas), vinagre de frutas (Maestra Celia's home-made fruit vinegar), cabbage, onion, garlic, and a bowl of masa de maíz (corn dough).

To make the garnachas, we first patted out gorditas (thick rounds of masa, each approximately three inches in diameter), and baked them on a metal comal (griddle).

When the gorditas were completely cooked, we allowed them to cool for a few minutes. Then we split them in half through the center and set them aside until ready to fill and serve as an entrada (appetizer).

The garnachas, ready to serve. Each half of a gordita is topped with shredded beef, along with cabbage and sliced carrots lightly pickled in home-made fruit vinegar. Sprinkle with freshly crumbled cheese. Add salsa made with jitomates riñon, if you are able to grow them or find them in a market. Otherwise, use the vine-ripened flavorful in-season tomatoes of your choice.

While the gorditas baked, we boiled lean beef for shredding as a topping for the garnachas. Maestra Celia was careful to note that in preparing a multi-course meal, it's important to begin with the steps that take the longest amount of time, finishing with the preparation that takes less time. That way, all of your menu is ready to serve and eat at approximately the same hour.

Guías de calabaza (squash stems and tendrils) for our sopa de guías. If you grow zucchini or know someone who does, you can use its tenderest young stems, leaves, and tendrils to make sopa de guías.

The recipe for sopa de guías (squash tendril soup) also calls for flor de calabaza (squash flowers). In addition, we used fresh corn, still on the cob and sliced into rounds, and tender young chayote, cut into round slices.

We added the vegetables and herbs we prepared to simmering, lightly salted water and allowed them to boil gently just until the vegetables were tender.

Maestra Celia adds blended water and masa to the soup to thicken it just a bit. It should be not too watery, not too thick, but just right. You'll know. Be sure to stir the mixture constantly until it thickens so that no lumps form. Our group was profoundly moved by the immense love and respect that Maestra Celia imparted to us: for her country, her city, the market vendors, the ingredients, Oaxaca's traditions, and the act of cooking. The food we prepared, prepared with this kind of love, had no chance but to turn out to be delicious.

While the soup continued to cook, we prepared chochoyotes (little masa dumplings) by making one inch spheres of masa, then pressing a fingertip into each one to make the indentation that you see in the photograph. We then added the chochoyotes to the soup pot and allowed them to cook until tender. Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better look.

Sopa de guías, ready for the table. See the chochoyotes, just under the surface of the broth?

This tray includes most of the ingredients for mole verde oaxaqueño. Clockwise from left: herbs including cilantro and several herbs unique to Oaxaca, a bowl of masa, green beans, chile, onions, new potatoes, and chayote. Rather than include a step-by-step for this simple (and simply extraordinary) recipe, I offer you Maestra Celia's recipe:

Oaxaca-Style Green Mole with Pork

Ingredients

3.5 lbs meaty pork neck bones
2.2 lbs meaty pork back bones
1/2 lb small alubias (or white navy beans), cooked until tender
1/4 lb corn masa
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch epazote (fresh, not dried)
4 hoja santa leaves
Salt to taste
1/2 white onion, toasted
1/2 head of garlic, toasted
3 cloves raw garlic, separate use
1 chile serrano
3 cloves
1 white onion, sliced in wheels and 'cooked' in Key lime juice and oregano

Procedure

Boil the two kinds of pork in water, with garlic, onion, and salt. When the meats are tender, drain them and reserve the pork stock.

In the pork stock, blend the masa. Strain and add it to the consomé, stirring little by little so that lumps do not form. Blend the herbs together with the clove, the chile serrano*, and the roasted garlic and onion. Strain the liquid into the pot and allow them to boil. Add the Blend the raw garlic with a little water and add to the pot. Correct the salt and remove the pot from the fire.

*If you want the mole to be fairly spicy, use the entire chile serrano. If you prefer less 'heat', add just half the chile.

For the garnish

2 chayotes, cut into pieces
A good-size handful of green beans, clean and with the stems removed
Quartered medium-size potatoes, or if you use small potatoes as we did, you may leave them whole

Boil these vegetables separately until they are tender. Drain and reserve.

To serve

The mole should be served in a bowl. First add the pork meats and bones. Cover with the green mole. Top with the cooked vegetables. Add a heaping tablespoonful of the cooked alubias to each bowl. Add a few rings of white onion.

Mole verde oaxaqueño!

Because Restaurante Las 15 Letras was in the process of a remodel, our class was held at Maestra Celia's home. Her staff brought our pastel de elote (corn cake) which had been baked at the restaurant; we did not prepare it ourselves, but we certainly ate it with gusto! It was the perfect finish to a marvelous meal al estilo oaxaqueño–Oaxaca style!

Our tour group. Left to right: Judith Eshom, Gayla Pierce, Maestra Celia Florián, Mexico Cooks!, Holli DeLauro, and Robyn Cota Cann. Back row: culinary school interns Cristina Flores (black cap) and Alonso Castillo, who assisted Maestra Celia and our group in the kitchen. Photo courtesy Alonso Castillo.

Our class, the connections we made, and our meal were extraordinary. Each of us felt that we had become very close to Maestra Celia during our time together. There were tears at parting, promises to stay in touch with her, promises to prepare these dishes for our families and friends–and my promise to pass information about this cultural and culinary event along to you.

Ending our tour in Oaxaca with a full moon and full hearts. Thank you, California friends and Oaxaca friends, it was a joy to spend these days with you.

If you'd like to schedule a tour in Oaxaca and would like to experience a cooking class with this most wonderful of teachers, please let me know. I'd be happy to plan an itinerary for your group.

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

30 de April de 2016
Mexico Cooks!’ Winter Tour to Oaxaca, 2016 Part IV: Tlacolula Market and Teotitlán del Valle. Food! Food! Food!

You can get anything you want–including these highly colorful, durable plastic shopping bags–at the exciting Sunday market in Tlacolula, Oaxaca. In Mexico Cooks!' opinion, the Tlacolula Sunday market is the best market in all of Mexico, a do-not-miss whenever visiting the central valley of Oaxaca. Located about 30 kilometers (17 miles) from the city of Oaxaca, it's an easy trip on a Sunday morning. Take a bus or a colectivo (shared) taxi, or hire a driver and make a day of it. Best of all options, let Mexico Cooks! take you on a three-part Sunday outing: Tlacolula, Teotitlán del Valle, and Santa María del Tule.

Metates, Oaxaca-style, carved and painted with colorful flowers. These volcanic rock grinding stones (and their manos [grinding pins]) are always tempting to bring home. They're used to grind everything from nixtamalize-d corn to chocolate and from beans to toasted tomatoes, onions, and chiles. Unfortunately, they are also extremely heavy and impractical to carry if one is traveling by plane. Next time I drive to Oaxaca, though, temptation might get the better of me.

Groups of like objects fascinate me. These are the business ends of molinillos, the wooden hot chocolate frothers used in Oaxaca and most other parts of Mexico. Like everything else pictured, they're for sale in the Tlacolula market.

A market vendor sorts through her goods. She's selling beautiful radishes, verdolagas (purslane) and many kinds of herbs, including epazote (for seasoning dried beans during the cooking process and for adding to quesadillas and other dishes) and hierba buena (one type mint).

Inside this gallina (laying hen) you can see egg yolks of every size, from pin-head to the mature yolk that we see in the eggs we eat (foreground). The majority of people who buy eggs at a store, either by the kilo or by the carton, are astounded by the formation process of an egg. First the yolk grows to its mature size, then the albumin (egg white) collects around the egg, and then, less than a day prior to the egg being expelled by the hen, the shell forms around the yolk and albumin. A few hours later, boom: breakfast! Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better look at the detail.

A pig head, ready to be long-simmered with chiles and other herbs and spices to make pozole.

Flor de calabaza (squash flowers), ready to use in any number of traditional Oaxaca dishes: quesadillas, sopa de guías,or stuffed with requesón (similar to ricotta cheese) and fried. Only the male flowers are cut; the female flowers are left on the squash plant to develop calabacitas (little Mexican squash much like zucchini).

Mamey fruits were everywhere in the Sunday market at Tlacolula. These fruits, which look like small, slightly fuzzy footballs, are deep orange inside and taste quite a bit like baked sweet potato. The flesh is used to make licuados (smoothies) or to eat out of hand; the seeds are used to make tejate, an iconic drink from Oaxaca.

This tejate stand at the Mercado Tlacolula is unusual in that the vendor prepares tejate made of the standard chocolate, but also sells tejate made of coconut (middle back). I tried them both; the coconut is excellent, but I still prefer the chocolate.

We were on a deadline at the market: our appointment for comida in Teotitlán del Valle was waiting. I had talked with Restaurante Tlamanalli's Rufina Mendoza several weeks prior to our anticipated arrival to make certain that the Mendoza sisters would be there to greet the group and make sure that we had a wonderful meal. As we walked from the heat of Oaxaca's mid-February sun into the cool shade
of the restaurant, I saw Abigail, Marcelina, and Rufina at work in the kitchen. It's so wonderful to see good friends after an absence!

Left to right (clockwise) in the photo: Marcelina, Rufina, and Abigail Mendoza Ruíz, the hearts and soul of Restaurante Tlamanalli in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca.

The restaurant's daily menu, hand-written on the Tlamanalli chalkboard. There are just a few offerings for soup and main dishes, but when what's on the menu is as fabulous as the food at Tlamanalli, no one cares. Mexico Cooks! dined on sopa de guías (squash flower soup), segueza de pollo (a delicious pre-Hispanic tomato and corn sauce served with post-Hispanic chicken), rice, and beans.

All of our group enjoyed the house mezcal and guacamole with totopos (in this case, house-made blue corn chips) and pepitas (squash seeds) before and during our meal.

Sopa de guías (squash tendril soup), with pieces of squash, the tender shoots, and squash flowers.

Mole zapoteco (Zapotec-style mole with chicken). This is a relatively simple mole to prepare, but it has a marvelous fresh and complex flavor.

Segueza de pollo, with a roasted tomato afloat in the delicious tomato broth. The broth is thickened with toasted and ground corn and is prepared with hoja santa (an anise-flavored leaf) and other herbs. In pre-Hispanic days, the dish would have been prepared with native turkey or rabbit, as there were no chickens in Mexico until the Spanish brought them from Europe.

I would love to take you to Teotitlán del Valle to introduce you to Abigail Mendoza (photo) and her family, and of course to have a meal at Tlamanalli!

Next week: A cooking class, filled with recipes, nostalgia, and beautiful memories.

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

23 de April de 2016
Mexico Cooks!’ Winter Tour to Oaxaca, 2016 Part III: Barro Negro, Alebrijes, and FOOD

Day Three of Mexico Cooks!' February 2016 Oaxaca tour started with a superb breakfast at the municipal Mercado de la Merced. For starters, we ordered hot chocolate, traditionally made with water rather than milk, and frothed to a fare-thee-well. The bubbles lasted to the last drop in the cup and the flavor and texture were swoon-worthy. Pan de yema (egg yolk bread), iconic to Oaxaca, came with the hot chocolate. When you're in Oaxaca, be sure to have at least one breakfast at Fonda Florecita in the market; it's the only place to be on a Oaxaca morning.

Breakfast's main course: cecina enchilada (semi-dried beef flavored with spicy red sauce and then grilled), accompanied by enfrijoladas (tortillas dipped in anise-y black bean sauce, then topped with queso fresco and slivered onions). The anise-y flavor of the black bean sauce comes not from anise, but from the dried, powdered small leaves of the aguacate criollo (native avocado). All this and a huge glass of freshly squeezed orange juice got our day off to a bang.

After breakfast, our driver took our tour group to San Bartolo Coyotepec, the original home of Oaxaca's unique and famous barro negro (black clay). We spent most of our time in San Bartolo at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (MEAPO), where many of the museum-quality pieces are actually for sale. Enriqueta López García made this huge cántaro de rosas (water jug decorated with roses); the piece measures more than two feet high. Barro negro is actually light grey prior to firing. After the clay is prepared by grinding and kneading, each piece is formed either on a pre-Hispanic wheel or in a mold and then dried in the sun for several days. The piece is then polished with a stone to bring out the color and the shine; after polishing, it is again dried for several more days. Once thoroughly dry, the piece is ready to be fired. During firing, it acquires its glossy metallic black finish. A high-quality piece like the one in the photograph can take a month or more to create.

Our next stop was San Martín Tilcajete, where I had arranged for the group to visit Maestro Jacobo Ángeles and his wife María, makers of world-renowned hand-carved, hand-painted copal wood alebrijes (realistic and fantasy animals). Jacobo and María are arguably the most successful alebrije makers in the village, although others have also had considerable success. They have a large workshop where Jacobo gives fascinating demonstrations of ancient aniline dye-making techniques. Although other alebrije makers have switched to modern acrylic paints, Jacobo Ángeles remains faithful to original aniline dyes. Due to the success of Oaxaca's alebrijes in the world crafts markets, approximately 150 households now make the majority of their annual income in their manufacture. Photo courtesy Chiripa.

The road from San Martín Tilcajete took us back to Oaxaca city, where we enjoyed a marvelous comida (main meal of the day) at La Teca. In the photograph, you see a plate of ikake, a fruit in conserve that was one of our desserts. The cooked consistency of the fruit is similar to that of a cooked plum, and the stone is nearly as large as the fruit itself. Mexico Cooks!' spelling may be incorrect; the name of the fruit does not appear to be Spanish, but is most likely a transliteration of a Zapotec word. If you are familiar with this fruit, please email me! You can read here about all of the delights of La Teca's wonderful food from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It's one of my favorite restaurants in all of Mexico.

Restaurant La Teca
Calle Violetas #200-A
Colonia Reforma
Oaxaca, Oaxaca
01.951.515.0563 (from within Mexico)

Next week: Day Four of Mexico Cooks! 2016 winter tour to Oaxaca, in which we visit the best market in Mexico and are privileged to eat with Abigail Mendoza.

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

16 de April de 2016
Mexico Cooks!’ Winter Tour to Oaxaca, 2016: Part II, Ocotlán de Morelos

The second day of Mexico Cooks!' February 2016 tour to Oaxaca was devoted to visiting Ocotlán de Morelos, less than an hour south of Oaxaca. The small city of Ocotlán is the home of indigenous Zapotec artist Rodolfo Morales (May 8, 1925-January 30, 2001). In addition to working at his art, Rodolfo Morales devoted much of his later life to restoring historic buildings in Ocotlán and to working with the painters Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo to further artistic achievement in Oaxaca. For more than ten years before his death in 2001, Morales was considered to be one of the two greatest living artists from the state. The other, Francisco Toledo, is still living. The painting (oil on linen) above is a portrait of Morales's mother.

Family kitchen, Casa Rodolfo Morales. The Morales home is still open as a museum, and tourists are welcome to visit.

At the Ocotlán Friday outdoor market, our group first tasted tejate, a cold and refreshing chocolate drink iconic to Oaxaca. It's made with several ingredients (cacao, rosita (aka flor de cacao), and the ground seed of the mamey fruit, among others, and mixed with the bare hand until thick foam rises to the top of the liquid. This vendor has covered the top of her huge vessel of tejate with plastic.

Some of the ingredients for tejate: on the flat basket, a goodly amount of rosita. Below the rosita, mamey fruit seeds.

Mamey fruit with the seed already removed, displayed for sale. This creamy, sweet fruit looks like a little brown football and tastes like a baked sweet potato. Delicious!

Our group had heard about the Ocotlán indoor market food stand called "La Cocina de Frida" (Frida's Kitchen). The owner's stock in trade is her strong resemblance to painter Frida Kahlo! Click on the photo to enlarge it; you can see the owner, on the left, standing at the stove. We were intrigued and decided to eat there.

Her resemblance to Frida Kahlo is extraordinary. The food didn't live up to our hopes, but we did have a good time.

Our other main goal in visiting Ocotlán was to meet the Hermanas Águilar: we spent time with gifted sister potters Josefina and Irene and visited Guillermina's home as well. Their talleres (workshops) are in three consecutive houses near the entrance to the town. Our first stop was with Sra. Josefina Águilar, whose work has been collected since the 1975, when Nelson Rockefeller bought some of her pieces for his own notable collection of Latin American folk art.

Sra. Josefina Águilar continues to work clay, here forming the masa (clay 'dough') that will become the charming and original figures that she calls muñecas (dolls). Diabetes has made her blind, but she still makes her muñecas by feel. Doña Josefina is one of four daughters of potters Isaura Alcantara and Jesús Águilar; Guillermina, Josefina, Irene, and Concepción are all master potters.

Typical clay village figures by doña Josefina Águilar. The tallest of these measures approximately 10" high. Photo courtesy Liveauctioneers, 2013.

A relative paints careful detail on a small clay figure in doña Josefina's sunlit patio.

Juan Jesús García Águilar, doña Josefina's grandson, made this 6" high dancer with the fabulous sloe-eyes. The brilliantly talented young man is the fourth generation of potters in the Águilar family. Please click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look at the detail. Mexico Cooks! collection.

A pair of paper maché and bamboo mojigangas (giant dance puppets) created by doña Irene Águilar Alcantara. These are meant to be worn on the shoulders of adult dancers; they stand about fifteen feet high once attached to the dancer! The soft, loose fabric arms twist around and around as the dancer gyrates. Doña Irene also makes clay figures and other artistic work, but she creates these mojigangas by special request.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy53Hr9S8F4&w=560&h=315]
This video will take you right to the heart of Oaxaca City–and make you want to dance along with the mojigangas! We wended our way down the street in Oaxaca along with a wedding calenda (street dance/celebration) and had a marvelous time. Mexico Cooks! can make it happen for your group, too–just ask!

By the end of our long day in Ocotlán de Morelos, we were ready for some down-time at our hotel. After a good night's sleep, we were ready to hit the road again. Next week: Day Three, with more adventures and some delicious food.

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

9 de April de 2016
Mexico Cooks!’ Winter Tour to Oaxaca, 2016, Part I: Spring Comes Early to the Central Valley

Mid-February 2016 in Oaxaca. The sky really is that blue, the sun really is that strong, and the flowers really are that pink. Winter in Oaxaca? The daytime temperatures during our week there were as high as 90ºF. The pink-flowering tree is the amapa (Tabebuia impetiginosa), one of the first blooming signs of spring in Mexico.

These street-corner vendors were selling freshly cut freesias. The sweet, distinctive fragrance of the flowers and their colorful beauty stopped all of us for a few minutes' enjoyment.

One of the surest signs of a Oaxaca spring: kites for sale along our way! Papalotes (kites) take flight when the early spring winds kick up in February and continue into March. Street vendors were hawking them all over the Central Valley.

After a couple of hours walking around the city, looking into shops, and enjoying the sights, we stopped at a sidewalk restaurant on the Zócalo for a cold drink. Pretty soon these marimba players set up shop and serenaded us. The tropical sound of the marimba is always a crowd-pleaser.

It's always fun to see a detail for the first time and then see it in many different guises. I initially noticed this tile with its crowned-pig design near a church, slapped onto the riser of a short staircase; later, I saw similar designs in many places in the city. After asking a lot of people, I found out that it is one symbol of an anarchist political movement in Oaxaca.

After mid-February's hot Oaxaca days, the evenings were warm enough to sip a drink under the moonlight in a beautiful garden. For me, these were the most relaxing moments of our trip.

Next week, visits to several artisans–and what we ate along the way! Join us here.

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

2 de April de 2016
Calabaza en Tacha: Winter Squash Cooked in Piloncillo (Brown Sugar) Syrup

Calabaza de Castilla, the squash Mari brought me, seen here with a charming artisan-made cloth figure of a Purépecha woman with her miniature pottery. The squash was about 8" high and weighed about three pounds.

Mari, the woman who at one time spoiled Mexico Cooks! by doing all of my housework, gave me a squash. She brought two home from her rancho (the family farm) out in the country, one for her and one for me. The squash wasn't very big, as winter squash go, but it was plenty for us. Mari's first question, after I had happily accepted her gift, was whether or not I knew how to cook it. "Con piloncillo y canela, sí?" (With cones of brown sugar and cinnamon, right?)

Even though I knew how to spice the squash and knew how to cut it apart, knowing and doing these things turned out to be worlds apart. Faced with the project, I waffled and hesitated, intimidated by a large vegetable. The squash sat on the counter for several days, daring me to cook it before it molded. Then one of the cats toppled it over and rolled it around the counter, so I moved the squash outside onto the terrace table and gathered my nerve.

On Sunday, I finally decided it was Cook the Squash day. Mari was due to arrive early on Monday morning and it had to be done before she scolded me for letting it sit for so long. I chose pots, knives, and gathered the rest of the simple ingredients for a mise en place.

The squash with the first section cut out.

Cutting the squash in sections was the only difficult part of preparing it. The shell of the squash is hard. Hard. HARD. I was careful to keep the knife pointed toward the wall, not toward my body. With the force I needed to cut the squash open, one slip of the knife could have meant instant and deep penetration of my innards. Later that night, our friend Araceli told us that her mother usually breaks a squash apart by throwing it onto the concrete patio! The next morning, Mari told us that her husband had cut their squash apart with a machete. I felt really tough, knowing that I'd been able to cut it open with just a big knife and a few pointed words.

The squash, cut into sections and ready for the pot. On the counter behind the squash is a 1930's Mexican covered cazuela (casserole), the top in the form of a turkey.

Once I had the (few pointed words) squash cut open, I scooped out the seeds and goop and cut it into sections more or less 4" long by 3" wide. I did not remove the hard shell, nor should you.

Meantime, I had prepared the ingredients for the almíbar (thick syrup) that the squash would cook in. Mexican stick cinnamon, granulated sugar, and piloncillo (cones of brown sugar) went into a pot of water. I added a big pinch of salt, tied anise seed and cloves into a square of cheesecloth and tossed the little bundle into the water. The pot needed to simmer for at least three hours, until the syrup was thick and well-flavored.

Clockwise from left: Mexican stick cinnamon, anise seed, piloncillo, and cloves.

Several hours later (after the syrup thickened well), I added the pieces of squash to the pot. Cooking time for this very hard squash was approximately an hour and a half over a low-medium flame.

As the squash cooks in the syrup, it softens and takes on a very appetizing dark brown color. Calabaza en tacha is one of the most typically homey Mexican dishes for desayuno (breakfast) or cena (supper). Well heated and served in a bowl with hot milk and a little of its own syrup, the squash is both nutritious and filling.

Squash for breakfast! On Monday morning, Mexico Cooks! served up a bowl of squash with hot milk, along with a slice of pan relleno con chilacayote (bread filled with sweetened chilacayote squash paste). Mari thought it was almost–almost–as good as hers.

Calabaza en Tacha estilo Mexico Cooks!

Ingredients
One medium-size hard shell winter squash (about 8" high)
6 cups water
14 cones of dark piloncillo (coarse brown sugar)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 Mexican cinnamon sticks about 2.5" long
1 Tbsp anise seed
1 tsp cloves

Preparation
Heat the water in a large pot. Add the piloncillo, the granulated sugar, and the cinnamon sticks. Tie the anise seed and the cloves into a cheesecloth square and add it to the pot. Cook over a slow flame until the liquid is thick and syrupy, approximately three hours.

While the syrup is cooking, prepare the squash. Cut it into serving-size pieces as described above. If the squash shell is very hard, take adequate precautions so that you do not hurt yourself as you cut it in sections. You can always throw it from your second-floor window onto the patio!

Add the squash pieces to the thickened syrup and simmer until the squash is soft and takes on a deep brown color. Cool for 15 minutes or so before serving. Re-heat for desayuno (breakfast) or cena (supper). Serve with hot milk poured over it.

Makes about 16 servings.

¡Provecho!

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19 de March de 2016
Adobo de Cerdo Huasteco, from Verde Blanco y Rojo by Ricardo Muñoz Zurita

Originally published in October 2011, this illustrated recipe for Adobo de Cerdo Huasteco is a perfect meal for February's chilly weather. Mexico Cooks! celebrates its ninth anniversary of publishing with this delicious meal to warm body and soul. Enjoy!

Roma tomatoes and onion quarters toasting on a comal (in this case, a cast iron griddle). That little tomato on the right looks downright happy to be toasting.

Several months ago, Mexico Cooks! was thrilled to receive a copy of Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's newest recetario (cookbook), titled Verde, Blanco, y Rojo en la Cocina Mexicana. Due to the pressures of moving and settling into a new and somewhat more frenetic life in Mexico City, the very attractive book sat patiently in the kitchen bookshelf with its 150 or so brother and sister cookbooks, waiting to be chosen. 'Choose me, choose me!' it whispered each time I passed by the shelf. And finally I listened.

Serving-size pieces of maciza de cerdo (lean, fresh pork leg) simmering with onion and garlic.

My friends and I are very fond of traditional Mexican cuisine. Like most people, we have our favorite dishes. And like most people, I have a hard time breaking habits and wading into a new cookbook: it means learning a new format, a new organization of ingredients, and a new dish that I had never prepared.

The first task was reading the recipe all the way through to the end to make sure that I had all of the ingredients and utensils on hand prior to starting to cook and that I understood the order of cooking. It's really no fun at all to start the preparations and discover at the time of need that oops, there is no garlic and ouch, that one bowl I really wanted to use is full of last night's stew. You'll want to organize yourself and prepare your mise en place (all ingredients in place, ready to cook) well before you turn on the stove.

Differentiating between dried chiles ancho and chiles mulato can be confusing. If you open a chile ancho and hold it up to the light, it looks from the inside like red stained glass. The mulato, on the other hand, looks brown when held to the light. It's immediately apparent which this is. Always try to buy chiles that are leathery and flexible, not brittle.

Ingredients
2 kg (approximately 4.5 pounds) lean pork meat, cut into serving-size pieces
1 white onion, cut into quarters
1 head of garlic, split in half
4 liters water
6 tsp salt
8 chiles guajillo
5 large chiles ancho
3 large tomatos, roasted
1/2 white onion, quartered and roasted
5 garlic cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry Mexican oregano, crumbled
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves
3 Tbsp pork lard (you can substitute oil if you can't get real, freshly rendered lard)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Utensils
Comal or griddle
Mesh strainer
Several small or medium-size mixing bowls
Mixing spoons
Heavy-bottom pot with lid
Blender

Toasting the chiles ancho on the comal.

Toasting the chiles guajillo on the comal.

Procedure
Put the pork, onion, and head of garlic in a large pot. Cover with water, add 4 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat until the water is down to a simmer and cook until the pork is tender, about an hour. Remove the pork from the water, drain the liquid into a bowl, and reserve both the meat and the cooking liquid for later use.

Remove the stems, seeds, and veins from all of the chiles and discard them. Lightly toast the chiles on the comal, being careful not to burn them. If they turn black, they will be bitter. Soak the toasted chiles in four cups of the reserved cooking liquid from the pork.

Both types of toasted chiles are then soaked for a few minutes in some of the freshly cooked hot pork broth.

Blend the soaked chiles with enough of the cooking liquid to make a smooth, somewhat liquid paste.

Roast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic on the comal, then blend them until they make a very smooth sauce. If necessary for blending, add just a little of the reserved meat cooking liquid. Using the wire mesh strainer, strain into a bowl and reserve.

The mix of various seasonings (foreground), the blended and strained chiles (left rear) and the blended tomato/onion/garlic mixture (right rear).

Grind the cumin, the oregano, the pepper, and the cloves together until they are powdered. Set aside for later use.

Over a high flame, heat the lard or oil in a heavy-bottomed pot until it smokes slightly. Add the ground chiles (splatter alert!) and fry for about 15 minutes or until the mixture is reduced by about one-fourth. Add the blended tomato mixture, the spices, and two tablespoons of salt. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the fire and allow to simmer until the sauce has reduced a little.

The pork now needs to simmer in the adobo for an hour or more, either in the oven or over a very low fire. The fragrance will drive you crazy, it is so tantalizing.  Mexico Cooks! prepared this recipe on top of the stove using the cast iron comal as a heat diffuser.

Add the meat, the vinegar, and three cups of the reserved meat cooking liquid. Correct the seasonings and cook with the lid ajar over low heat (or bake covered in a 350° oven) for about an hour. The finished sauce should be thick enough to cover the meat without sliding off the pieces.

Adobo de cerdo huasteco, ready to eat! Serve the dish with steamed white rice and plenty of hot-off-the-comal corn tortillas.

The finished recipe also freezes very well.  Mexico Cooks! served half the recipe as comida for six and froze the rest for a later meal.

Serves 12.

The wonderful Spanish-language Verde, Blanco, Rojo en La Cocina Mexicana, written by my friend Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita of Restaurante Azul/Condesa.

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12 de March de 2016
Restaurante La Teca–Cuisine from Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Cocina Istmeña Oaxaqueña

A delicious Oaxaca specialty: sopa de guía, a clear soup made with chicken broth, tendrils of squash plant, and squash flowers.

While in Oaxaca with a writers' group, I took a little time away from that group to visit another group: several culinary-world friends who live and work in this southern Mexico city. I played hooky to eat on Friday with Pilar Cabrera at her wonderful restaurant La Olla, and on Saturday with chef Rodolfo Castellanos and his family at La Teca, a restaurant specializing in cooking from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the skinniest part of mainland Mexico, lying between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, it was the most important route for goods working their slow way across the relatively flat lands between the two bodies of water. Partly in Oaxaca, partly in Chiapas, partly in Tabasco and partly in Veracruz, the territory has its own legends, its own history, and its own cuisines.

You may not be aware that you are already familiar with the native dress of the Tehuanas, as the women of the isthmus are known. Above, a Frida Kahlo 1948 self portrait, dressed as a Tehuana. Image courtesy of: http://www.earlywomenmasters.net

Just off the beaten tourist track in Oaxaca, Restaurant La Teca serves outstanding food from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The welcoming owner and cook, Señora Deyanira Aquino, will make sure that you eat your fill of her marvelous regional cuisine.

The cooking of the Isthmus is traditionally corn-based and idiosyncratic. Most ingredients are indigenous to its hot lowlands (for example, armadillo and iguana) and its proximity to the sea: fresh and dried shrimp, fresh fish, and other creatures from the ocean depths.

At La Teca we shared a platter of garnachas, a traditional entrada or botana (appetizer or snack) based on a fried disk of corn dough and topped with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and salsa.

Tamalitos de cambray from Tehuantepec, savory-sweet tamales made of chicken, raisins, olives, almonds, and capers.

These are molotes de plátano macho (small, sweetly ripe plantain croquettes) topped with crema de mesa (table cream) and queso fresco (fresh cheese). The three of us shared an order of four molotes. We kept dividing the last one into smaller and smaller pieces so that one of us did not hog the whole thing–although each of us would have!

Next course at La Teca: a taco filled with a small chile pasilla oaxaqueño relleno (a regional dried chile, reconstituted, stuffed, and fried). It doesn't look like anything special, does it? If you could just enjoy the fragrance, I assure you that you would want to lick your monitor.

Tamales de elote (fresh corn tamales) followed, served with crema de mesa. These reminded me very much of Michoacán uchepos, another kind of fresh corn tamales.

Another traditional dish from the Isthmus, estofado de bodas (wedding stew). It's a delicious long-cooked combination of beef, fruits, chiles, and other spices, typically served at weddings.

Purée de papa, estilo Istmeño (potatoes, coarsely mashed and then baked, Isthmus style).

Asado de puerco con mole (pork roasted with mole, from Tehuantepec).

The owner and chief cook at La Teca is Sra. Deyanira Aquino, born and raised in the Isthmus. Women of the region are called 'tecas'–from Tehuantepec–hence the name of the restaurant.

You are probably well aware of the mythical seven moles of Oaxaca, and although the state is best known for those, there are many other less-well-known but equally wonderful dishes available to visitors. By all means go see Sra. Aquino at La Teca; you will be as thrilled by everything you eat as we were. This is not fancy, high-end designer-plated food. Your palate will be delighted by traditional Tehuantepec home-style cooking. And oh my god, you might exclaim, did the three of you really eat all that? We most assuredly did, every bite, and so will you.

Restaurant La Teca
Calle Violetas #200-A
Colonia Reforma
Oaxaca, Oaxaca
01.951.515.0563 (from within Mexico)

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5 de March de 2016
Abigail Mendoza Ruiz and Restaurante Tlamanalli: Food for the Gods in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

This article, originally published in 2014, promised that Mexico Cooks! would be back in Oaxaca and would return to Tlamanalli. This week, we're there again, this time leading a tour and delighting in all the marvelous culinary and cultural treasures Oaxaca has to offer. Abigail Mendoza sends her best wishes to all who follow Mexico Cooks!.

Emblematic of Oaxaca: chocolate caliente (hot and foamy hand-ground hot chocolate) prepared in water and served in a bowl. Zaachila market, Oaxaca.

There's much more to Oaxaca's magic than simply its capital city, which is of course fantastic in its own right. Driving in any direction from the city, twisting two-lane roads lead to small towns; each town has a weekly market, and each market has beauties of its own.

At the Zaachila Friday market, a vendor sold calabaza en tacha (squash cooked in brown sugar syrup) covered with a leaf to keep insects away and maintain the squash fresh and ready to eat.

Another vendor offered flor de frijolón (the red flowers of a large, black, local bean known elsewhere as ayocote negro).

Tejate, Oaxaca's emblematic cold, foamy, and refreshing chocolate beverage, scooped out of this clay bowl with a red-lacquered jícara into the size cup you prefer: small, medium, or large.

When Mexico Cooks! traveled recently to Oaxaca, joyous anticipation and a letter of introduction were stowed among my baggage. For years I had read about and admired (albeit from afar) Abigail Mendoza Ruiz and her sisters, but we had never met. This trip would fix that: two days after my scheduled arrival, we had an appointment for comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) at the Mendoza sisters' Restaurante Tlamanalli in Teotitlán del Valle. The restaurant's name, a Náhuatl word, means several things: it's the name of the Zapotec kitchen god, it means abundance, and it means offering. For me, newly arrived in Teotitlán del Valle, the word Tlamanalli meant, 'you are about to have the experience of a lifetime'.

Teotitlán del Valle is best known as the principal Oaxaca rug-weavers' town. Among its five to six thousand inhabitants, the majority weaves wool to make lovely rugs and also combines the weaver's tasks with agricultural work, growing both marketable and personal-use corn and other vegetables plus raising poultry for personal use.

Detail of the rustic wooden rueca (spinning wheel) used by the Teotitlán del Valle rugmakers for spinning fine wool yarns.

Shown in this group of Oaxaca-made baskets: a flat double comb for carding wool, a pointed spindle, and various natural coloring agents, along with hanks of wool which demonstrate just a few of the colors used in Oaxacan wool rugs.

Not only are the Mendoza Ruiz sisters extraordinary regional cooks, they and their siblings are also well-known rug weavers. Their parents, Sra. Clara Ruiz and don Emilio Mendoza (QEPD), gave this world a group of supremely gifted artisans, all of whom learned the weavers' traditions at their parents' knees.

Abigail Mendoza started learning kitchen traditions as a five-year-old, as the first daughter of the family, watching her mother grind nixtamal (dried native corn soaked and prepared for masa (dough). In the postcard above, the little girl (who is not Abigail) watches seriously as the woman we imagine to be her mother pats a tortilla into its round shape.

By the time she was six years old, Abigail was in charge of sweeping the kitchen's dirt floor, gathering firewood, and making the kitchen fire. At age seven, she told her mother, "I'm ready to grind corn on the metate," (volcanic rock grinding stone, seen in the center of the photograph above), but she wasn't yet strong enough to use her mother's large stone. She was barely able to lift its metapil (stone rolling pin). She eagerly awaited the purchase of a metate small enough for her use. Doña Clara taught her to grind the home-prepared nixtamal, pat-pat-pat the tortilla dough into perfect thin rounds, and bake them on the comal (wood-fired griddle made of clay).

Abigaíl Mendoza Ruiz, the internationally known and much-traveled Zapoteca cook, best loves preparing meals in her home kitchen and her restaurant kitchen in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. Here, she's pictured in the beautiful open kitchen of Tlamanalli, the restaurant where she and her sisters Rufina and Marcelina (pictured above) create their culinary alchemy.

Abigail Mendoza is at once filled with light and filled with mystery. Luminous as her joy-filled personality, her smile lights up any room she enters. She is a woman of deep faith, a subscriber to the mysteries of dreams, a believer in spirit worlds both before and after life, a strong believer both in human relationships along life's horizontal and the vertical relationship of God with humanity. Formally educated only through primary school, she holds intense wisdom borne of deep meditation on the nature of life, both spiritual and physical.

In her extraordinary book Dishdaa'w, Abigail reveals her life story, her philosophies, and a good part of her soul. The Zapotec title of her biography (transcribed and organized by Concepción Silvia Núñez Miranda) means "the word woven into the infinite meal". And what does that mean? Food itself has a soul, the soul is transmitted in food's preparation and its ingestion. We are all part of the whole, and the whole is part of each of us.

In her restaurant's large kitchen, Abigail is the sun itself. Hair braided with traditional Zapotec ribbons into a royal crown, she's holding a fistful of freshly picked flor de calabaza (squash flowers).

What did we do, Señorita Abigail and I? We talked, we laughed, we discovered who our many friends in common are, we swapped kitchen lore and recipes, we gossiped (just a little, and in the best possible way), and we each felt like we had met yet another sister, a sister of the kitchen.

And then she asked what we would like to eat. After stumbling around in a maze of I-don't-know-what-to-request, I suggested that she simply bring us her personal choices from the day's menu.

Menu for the day, Restaurante Tlamanalli. The dishes are not inexpensive, but ye gods: save up, if you must, and go. You will never regret it.

First came made-on-the-spot creamy guacamole, in tiny turkey-shaped clay dishes and accompanied by a small bottle of local mezcal amd a wee dish of roasted, seasoned pepitas (squash seeds).

Mole zapoteco con pollo (Zapotec-style mole with chicken). Each of our dishes was accompanied by freshly made tortillas, hot from the comal (griddle).

Pre-hispanic segueza de pollo (breast of chicken in tomato and chile sauce with dried corn and hoja santa). If I should ever be in Oaxaca and in a position to choose one last meal, this would be it.

The herb hoja santa is added to the sauce just before serving and gives a delicate anise flavor to the segueza de pollo.

Oaxaca's heirloom jitomate riñón (kidney-shaped tomatoes) is used for creating the intense and deeply tomato-flavored sauce for the segueza.

When we finished our meal, the Mendoza sisters and doña Clara invited Mexico Cooks! to visit their private kitchen altar, devoted to the Preciosa Sangre de Cristo (Precious Blood of Christ), whose feast day is a major holiday in Teotitlán del Valle and for whom the parish church is named. The home altar has offerings of seasonal fruits as well as perpetually-burning candles.

Mexico Cooks! will go back to Oaxaca, back to Teotitlán del Valle, and back to Restaurante Tlamanalli. After all, I want to visit my new sister–she's a constant inspiration and the best Oaxacan cook I know.

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27 de February de 2016