Category: Travel

Michoacán’s Own Soup: The Mystery of Sopa Tarasca

North-central Michoacán is frequently and with much reason called paradise on earth. Autumn's wildflowers, ripening corn, green mountains, and a partly cloudy sky combine to give you the sense that 'paradise on earth' just might be exactly where you are: in this case, near Senguio, Michoacán.

The state of Michoacán is well-known both for its lovely scenery and its even more lovely–and delicious–regional cooking. The indigenous Purépecha kitchen, in particular, is Mexico Cooks!' favorite. If you look back at the Mexico Cooks! archives (found listed on the right-hand side of this page), you'll see many, many articles about this marvelous cuisine, which dates back to pre-Hispanic days.

Misnamed "Tarascos" by unknowing 16th century Spanish invaders, the Purépecha have, just within the last 25 to 30 years, largely reclaimed their actual tribal name. Nonetheless, one of the most popular dishes in the Michoacán culinary repertoire bears the name sopa tarasca (Tarascan Soup).

Not precisely traditional, but certainly not modern, this pot of beans is cooking over a wood fire built in a deep tire rim in an open patio in Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

You might well ask, "Sopa tarasca must be a pre-Hispanic dish, right?" Or maybe, "Sopa tarasca was first made for her family by a long-ago Purépecha housewife, no?" Over the course of years, most people who have eaten and fallen in love with this remarkably delicious and filling soup have asked me these same questions. Much to their surprise, the answer is always, "No…but let me tell you the story I know."

Once upon a time, before Mexico Cooks! was born, the small plaza in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán looked like the above photo. Part of the two-story building with the arches, just to the right of the photo's center, became the home of the Hostería de don Felipe, which had a dining room to serve its guests. Later, the Hostería was renamed Gran Hotel. In the 1960's, Rafael García Correa was a young cook in the Gran Hotel kitchen.

When I met Rafael García Correa in 1982, he was the head of the kitchen at the Gran Hotel. The photo above, taken in 2004 by Luis Jiménez of the New York Times during an interview where I was present, is don Rafa (don is an honorific title given to a revered older man) showing us a bowl of sopa tarasca in the foreground, along with a plate of corundas (a kind of Michoacán tamal).

Don Rafa told me that in the mid-1960s, he himself, along with the hotel's then-owner and the owner's American wife, invented a dish that, once offered to the public, became an almost instant classic: sopa tarasca was born, not created in an indigenous kitchen but for a tourist hotel's dining room. Today, we'd call that cocina de autor: the cook's invention.

Sopa tarasca as served at Lu Cocina Michoacana in Morelia. Read more about the restaurant here.

Sopa tarasca as served at the Hotel de la Soledad, Morelia. Some sopa tarasca is based on beans; some, like don Rafa's, is not.

Was don Rafa the inventor? He swore his story is true. He also gave me a hand-written recipe which he promised is the original. Don Rafa passed away a few years ago, and any possible secrets of sopa tarasca's origins were buried with him.

Don Rafa reported that sopa tarasca was served for the first time as part of a Pátzcuaro wedding banquet, on May 8, 1965. Years later, he opened his own restaurant near Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra (the plaza chica) in Pátzcuaro. If you go to the restaurant, you can still enjoy a bowl of his own sopa tarasca.

Today, sopa tarasca is a Michoacán icon, prepared in almost every restaurant around Lake Pátzcuaro as well as in further-flung establishments. It's one of those you-have-to-try-it local dishes that people who know you've been to Michoacán will ask you about: did you taste it at so-and-so's restaurant? How about at this other place, did you like it there?

Sopa tarasca as served at Pátzcuaro's Mansión Iturbe, a hotel and restaurant.
Click on any picture to see a larger view.

Fortunately, sopa tarasca is a relatively easy soup to prepare at home. The ingredients should be readily available, if not in your nearby supermarket then at a Mexican market not far from you. The recipe I offer you here is don Rafa's, but there are others (notably an excellent one from Diana Kennedy) that are available either in books or on the Internet.

Sopa tarasca as served by chef Alma Cervantes Cota at Restaurante Azul y Oro Ingeniería, UNAM, Mexico City.

Sopa Tarasca Don Rafael García

Ingredients
500 grams tomato purée
2 tortillas
5 corn tortillas, cut into very thin strips and fried until crisp
100 grams chile pasillo, cut into thin strips and fried until just crisp. Be very careful not to burn the chiles, they fry quickly and burn in the blink of an eye.
250 grams Mexican table cream
100 grams Oaxaca cheese, shredded
50 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams unsalted butter
1 clove garlic
1 small white onion
10 cups rich chicken stock
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh marjoram or oregano
2 bay leaves

Preparation
In a heavy pot, prepare a roux with the butter and flour, stirring constantly so that no lumps form. Allow to cook until the roux is a deep caramel color.

In a blender, liquify the two tortillas listed, some of the fried chiles, and the onion. Add this mixture to the roux and continue stirring until it is well incorporated. Next, add the tomato purée, the chicken broth, the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Add half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and taste; if you think more is needed, add bit by bit. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Put equal amounts of the soup into each of 10 bowls. Garnish with fried tortilla strips, fried chile ancho or negro, some Oaxaca cheese, and some cream. You can add some cubed avocado and a few sprigs of cilantro. Take your cues from the photos I've included in this article.

Sopa tarasca, garnished in this serving with fried shredded tortillas and fried shredded chile pasilla.

Serves 10.

Provecho!

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4 de July de 2015
Mexico Cooks!, Touring Off the Beaten Path

A November market tour in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. I'm holding a mamey fruit. The mamey's scientific name is poutería sapote.

One of the great pleasures of my life is the number of tours Mexico Cooks! gives to lots of excited tourists. Small, specialized tours are a joy to organize: the participants generally have common interests, a thirst for knowledge, and a hunger for–well, for Mexico Cooks!' tour specialty: food and its preparation. Touring a food destination (a street market in Michoacán, an enclosed market in Guadalajara, a crawl through some Mexico City street stands, or meals in a series of upscale restaurants) is about far more than a brief look at a fruit, a vegetable, or a basket of freshly made tortillas.

A Pátzcuaro street vendor holds out a partially unwrapped tamal de trigo (wheat tamal). It's sweetened with piloncillo (Mexican raw sugar) and a few plump raisins, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed. Taste? It's all but identical to a bran muffin, and every tour participant enjoyed a pinch of it.

A tour planned to your specifications can lead you to places you didn't know you wanted to go, but that you would not have missed for the world. Here, Donna talks with the man who makes these enormous adobe bricks. He let her try to pick up the laden wheelbarrow. She could barely get its legs off the ground! He laughed, raised the handles, and whizzed away with his load.

Several times in recent years, small groups wanted to tour traditional bakeries in Mexico City. The photo shows one tiny corner of the enormous Pastelería La Ideal in the Centro Histórico. Just looking at the photo brings the sweet fragrances back to mind. And never mind the taste of the delicious pastries!

Ramon and Annabelle Canova wanted an introduction to how ordinary people live and shop in Guadalajara. We spent a highly entertaining morning at the Tianguis del Sol, a three-times-a-week outdoor market in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara. Our first stop was for breakfast, then we shopped for unusual produce, fresh spices, and other goodies that the Canovas don't often see in their home town. Annabelle said she felt right at home because so much of the style and flavor of this market was similar to what she experienced in the markets near her home town in the Phillipines.

We went for comida (main meal of the day) to the original location of Guadalajara's Karne Garibaldi. The restaurant does one thing–carne en su jugo (meat in its juice)–and does it exceptionally well. The food is plentiful, delicious, and affordable. The place is always packed, and usually has a line to get in!

Ramon wanted to try tejuino, a regional specialty in the Guadalajara area. Mixed when you order it, the refreshing, lightly fermented drink is thickened with masa de maíz (corn dough) and served with a pinch of salt and a small scoop of lemon ice.

Pillars of nopal cactus paddles, taller than a man, at Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City. La Merced is the largest retail market in Mexico, if not in all of Latin America. It's the ultimate market experience and just a partial tour takes the best part of a morning. Comfortable walking shoes are a necessity–let's go!

A more intimate, up-close-and-personal Mexico City market tour takes us through the Mercado San Juan. The San Juan is renowned for its gourmet selection of meats, fish and shellfish, cheeses, and wild mushrooms–among a million other things you might not expect to find.

Pepitorias are a sweet specialty of Mexico's capital city. Crunchy and colorful obleas (wafers) enclose sticky syrup and squash seeds. Mexico Cooks!' tour groups usually try these at the Bazar Sábado in San Ángel.

Lovely and fascinating people and events are around almost any Mexican corner. The annual Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia opens every year with several blocks of carpets made of flowers. Residents of Patamban, Michoacán work all night to create the carpets for the festival. This piano is made entirely of plant material. Enlarge any picture for a closer view.

Entire flowers, fuzzy pods, and flower petals are used to create the carpets' ephemeral beauty and design; these carpets last two days at most.

In November 2012, one of Mexico Cooks!' tours was dazzled by a special Morelia concert given by Tania Libertad. With Tania is Rosalba Morales Bartolo, a fabulous traditional cook from San Jerónimo, Michoacán, who presented the artist with various handcrafted items from the state–including the lovely coral necklace and rebozo (shawl) that Tania is wearing.

No matter where we start our tour and no matter what we plan together for your itinerary, a Mexico Cooks! tour always includes a terrific surprise or two, special memories to take home, and the thirst for more of Mexico. Marvey Chapman had a wonderful time! By all means come and enjoy a tour!

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27 de June de 2015
More Travels Around Mexico: Sights You’ll See Along Your Way

Rueda de la fortuna (ferris wheel), Cuanajo, Michoacán. Every small town, every city, has its annual fiestas patronales (patron saint's fiestas). A ferris wheel is never an option–it's always a necessity!

Templo Santo Domingo, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. Every candle represents a prayer, whether of gratitude or petition or simple remembrance.

Mojiganga (10 foot tall papel maché dance figure). On parade, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. This band-following girl partied hearty as she twirled her way down a cobblestone street.

Guajolotes callejeros (turkeys in the street), San José de las Torres, Michoacán.

Chicharrón (fried pork skin) with small squares of meat left attached to the skin. The creamy meat combines perfectly with the crispy skin for a big punch of flavor. Mercado de Jamaica, Mexico City.

Burrita y su dueño cargados (loaded donkey and its owner) with corn stalks, Ajijic, Jalisco. You have to look hard to see this hard-working burrita.

Trajineras (traditional boats), Xochimilco, Mexico City. There are few things more fun than a Sunday outing on the canals of Xochimilco! It's bumper boats all the way, with a mariachi accompaniment.

Casa particular (private home) with bougainvillea, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. The dream of Mexico…

Tourist police at Parque Alameda Central, Centro Histórico, Mexico City. They're from the government, and they're truly here to help you.

Pájaro de la suerte (fortune telling canary), Morelia, Michoacán. For just a few pesos, the little bird will pull your fortune–written on a folded slip of paper–from the box to the left of its cage. But watch out! Do you want to see more of your fortune? You'll have to pay again.

Dog obedience school, held daily, Parque México, Colonia La Condesa, Mexico City. Dogs of every spot and stripe learn to sit, stay, and keep quiet in this canine institute of study.

Guerrero-style pozole blanco, Mexico City. If you love pozole and want to know where to get a spectacular bowlful like this, you'll have to come along with me. The spot has been a well-guarded secret for more than 60 years.

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20 de June de 2015
Your Flaneur in Mexico: Out and About in the Distrito Federal and Beyond

Roof at Casa Luis Barragán, Calle General Francisco Ramírez 12 and 14, Col. Daniel Garza, Distrito Federal. If you are at all interested in modern Mexican architecture, this museum is a must-see. Arquitecto Luis Barragán changed the face of Mexican building, pioneering in the use of forms and space.

Baby bok choy at the Mercado de San Juan de Dios. Each of these little bok choys is about six inches long, perfect for steaming. Most of the most-used fresh Asian vegetables are regularly available at this downtown Mexico City market.

One of my favorite market stall signs: Bacon Shop "La Guadalupana", a Mercado de Jamaica pork butcher puesto (booth) that sells far more than bacon.

Just around the corner from Mexico Cooks!' Mexico City headquarters, this tree wears a multi-colored and textured knit jacket.

A wheelbarrow full of mamey (pouteria sapota), perfectly ripe, beautifully cut, creamy sweetness. Sunday market, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.

Molinillos (carved chocolate beaters), Sunday market, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.

Pink graffiti on a window. The little sign reads, "Fresh paint".

Tomatoes for salsa, roasting directly on the red-hot embers. Private home, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. "Sí, siempre los asamos así. Agarran más sabor." ('Yes, we always roast them this way. They take on more flavor.')

Tortillas freshly toasted on the comal (griddle). These tortillas, prepared in Puebla by traditional cooks from Querétaro, bear a "Q" stamp indicating their place of origin. In long-ago years, tortillas were often stamped with similar carved wooden stamps. The stamps were carved with pictures or letters that identified the owners.

Crystallized fruits, Mercado Medellín, Mexico City. Clockwise from the top: a whole orange, a slice of sweet potato, a slice of squash, a whole green limón, a pale slice of chilacayote squash, another orange, more sweet potato, and several wheels of pineapple. In the center, a whole limón and a fig.

Fresh morel mushrooms, Mercado de San Juan, Mexico City. Morels are available at this market fresh during the rainy season and dried all year long.

A pre-Hispanic waterspout in the shape of a monkey's head. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

Jícaras (hand-carved or painted drinking gourds), Mercado Benito Juárez, Oaxaca.

Misitu, the Purépecha word for cat. Mural detail, Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán.

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13 de June de 2015
Images of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mexico::Imágenes de la Santísima Virgen María en México

Patron of the Americas and Empress of Mexico: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe). There is no apparition of the Virgin Mary that is more highly venerated than this one. She's known by many loving nicknames: La Morenita (the little brown woman), Paloma Blanca (white dove), and La Guadalupana (the woman from Guadalupe) are just a few.

Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows). This apparition of the Virgin Mary is usually seen standing at the foot of the cross where Jesus is crucified. Dressed in black and frequently depicted with arrows piercing her heart, she is the image of pain.

La Virgen en Tránsito (The Virgin in Transition). According to Roman Catholic doctrine, when the Virgin Mary died, she was in fact merely sleeping and, after three days, was taken up to heaven, body and soul. This 17th Century statue, from the Jesuit-founded Templo de la Companía in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, shows the recumbent Virgin after her death but prior to her assumption into heaven.

La Santísima Virgen en Camino a Belén (the Blessed Virgin on the Way to Bethlehem), Cuitzeo, Michoacán. She wears her straw traveling hat as Joseph takes her to Bethlehem, where Jesus will be born.

Nuestra Señora de Zapopan, Basílica de Zapopan, Zapopan, Jalisco. This 16th Century image of the Virgin Mary, made of pasta de caña: cornstalk and orchid-bulb juice paste, molded to the shape of the Virgin, covered with gesso, and polychromed. She measures a mere 14" high. One of her nicknames is 'La Generala' (the general) after helping troops to victory in battle in 1852. She is the santa patrona (patron Virgin) of Guadalajara.

Nuestra Señora de la Salud, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. This tiny 16th Century figure, revered as the patrona of Pátzcuaro, is also made of pasta de caña.

La Inmaculada Concepción (the Immaculate Conception). This statue of the Virgin represents the Roman Catholic doctrine of her conception without the taint of original sin. Mexico Cooks! photographed this modern image in the Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción, Concepción de Buenos Aires, Jalisco.

Do you have a favorite image of the Virgin Mary? Mexico Cooks! would love to hear from you–please leave a comment!

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6 de June de 2015
Fresh As The Morning: Mexico’s Tianguis (Street Markets)

Fresh from Mexico's fields, these gorgeous pimientos morrón rojo y amarillo (red and yellow sweet peppers) sell for about 40 pesos the kilo ($2.50 USD the pound) at the tianguis where Mexico Cooks! shops.

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

A signmaker with a sense of humor stuck this tag on his fresh Roma tomatoes: "Like you saw it on TV". These were offered at 14 pesos the kilo (about 45 cents US the pound).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mexico Cooks! is a regular customer at one of the better tianguis in Mexico City. Our tianguis, set up early Wednesday mornings, is quite near our house. Our normal purchases include tortillas, bread, seafood, excellent pork ranging from maciza (fresh pork leg) to tocino (bacon), marvelously fresh chicken (whole or whichever part you want), all of our fruits and vegetables, cheeses and cream, grains, and flowers for the house. We don't eat much beef, but if we did, we'd buy it at the tianguis.

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

Prices at the Wednesday tianguis in our neighborhood, while not substantially lower than those at the supermarket, are still not higher than we care to pay. We usually budget about 700 pesos (about $50 USD) to buy what we need at the tianguis for a week's meals, including pork and sometimes shrimp. We budget another 400 pesos for purchases at the supermarket.

Mangos stacked high at a tianguis. This large variety is known as either Paraíso or Petacón.

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

6 large fresh white onions
1 huge cantaloupe
4 Petacón mangos
6 red-ripe Roma tomatoes
1/2 lb mushrooms
1/2 large white cabbage
8 Red Delicious apples
1 large avocado
2 large bananas
1 large papaya
1 lb fresh green beans
1 large head of broccoli
8 ounces crema de mesa (table cream, similar to crême fraiche)
1 kilo freshly ground-to-order beef
Total cost: 350 pesos–the equivalent of about $23.00 USD.

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

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

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30 de May de 2015
Restaurante Merotoro, Baja California’s West Coast Cuisine in Mexico City

Restaurante Merotoro, Av. Amsterdam 204, Col. Hipódromo Condesa, Mexico City. Photo courtesy El Modo.

Sometimes we human beings wander far from home, looking for what we later discover to have been just around the corner all the time. In our case, we found superb food and generous, attentive service in an attractive room at Restaurante Merotoro, open since 2010 and literally just around the corner from the place we've called home since 2011. Sometimes it seems that Mexico Cooks! is the last to really *get* a completely open secret. It's only taken us these four years to stroll up the street and plunk ourselves down at a Merotoro table.

Chef Jaír Téllez, above, partnered with Gabriela Cámara and her team (of Contramar fame) to bring Merotoro to Mexico City. The restaurant's name refers to mero (the fish known in English as grouper) and, of course, toro–bull. Together the words make a sort of surf 'n' turf, although the only beef dishes on the menu on the day we learned to love Merotoro were oxtail and beef tongue. Photo courtesy Flickr.

The restaurant's charming surf 'n' turf logo.

The menu at Merotoro changes daily. It's divided into four courses, appetizers through desserts, with numerous choices in each. We were five at table, and we five proceeded to order several dishes from each of the first, third, and fourth courses–often one per person and an extra–and we managed to devour every bit without a single regret. Now that I think of it, perhaps we did have one regret: we did not order from the second course choices.

First came the salads:

Ceviche de pez sierra (swordfish) with avocado, chile poblano, and caramelized onions. One of our group ordered this to overlap as both a salad and a main course.

Ensalada de betabel con hinojo, nueces, y vinagreta de uva pasa (beet salad with dill, nuts, and a raisin vinaigrette.

Ensalada tibia de pulpo a la parrilla con salicornia y morcilla hecha en casa (warm grilled octopus salad with salicornia (a succulent also known as grasswort) and house-made blood sausage). Two of us ordered this salad.

Tostadas de callo y pulpo con vinagreta de pata de res (scallop and octopus tostadas with cow's foot vinaigrette).

Ensalada de naranja sanguínea, colinabo, y aceituna negra (salad of blood oranges, turnip, and black olives). This salad, made with an unusual mix of flavors, was placed in the center of our table to share. It was my favorite.

The light, bright, unpretentious offerings at Merotoro are simple, but with a depth of complex flavors that make you sit up straighter at table, make your palate crave another taste (and then another). If it weren't for your upbringing, you'd almost want to lick the juices from your dish, just before a waiter asks if he can take it away.

The main courses followed:

Lengua de res en su jugo con frijoles, aguacate tatemado, y salsa martajada (beef tongue in its own juices with beans, grilled avocado, and coarsely chopped salsa).

Dorado a la parilla con puré de chícharo y condimento de aceituna negra (grilled dorado with puréed peas and a black olive condiment). Two of us also ordered this main course.

My good friend John Sconzo, serious food lover, writer, and photographer, first ate at Merotoro in 2012 and had this to say about it:

"The culinary ideals of Merotoro reflect chef Jaír Téllez’s own varied background. He grew up on the border and spent much time living and cooking in the United States. The cuisine that he applies to Merotoro is one that, like Contramar, relies extensively on good product, served to highlight the attributes of that product. While his dishes were well designed, original and structured, they showed strong influences from Mexican tradition, from the Mediterranean, from California and even from Japan."

Huachinango rostizado con puré de colinabo, nabos, y acelgas (roasted red snapper with a purée of two kinds of turnips and Swiss chard). Although I tasted just a bite of each of the main courses, this is the one I ordered and this is the one I liked best. The crisp, crystal-crunchy skin of the fish was the perfect complement to its extraordinarily flavorful, sweet flesh.

We finished with desserts, of which there were five choices. We ordered one of each item on the sweets menu, asked for five spoons, and lined the desserts up down the center of the table to share. We did, we truly did, and we ate every morsel.

Brownie de chocolate de la Casa Tropical, crema de almendra y helado de hoja santa (Casa Tropical chocolate brownie, almond cream, and hoja santa ice cream).

Plato de queso artesanal mexicano, compotas, y pan de nuez (plate of Mexican artisan-made cheeses, compotes, and nut bread).

Pastelito de almendra con tapioca, helado, y dulce de plátano (a little almond cake with tapioca, ice cream, and candied banana).

Pannacotta de coco y litchi con granizado de Campari y tomate de árbol (coconut and litchi pannacotta with Campari ice and tree tomato, also known as tamarillo). The flavor combination was superb: creamy, tropical sweetness combined with that knife-edge of bitter Campari to make all of our taste buds sit up and take notice.

Granizado de jamaica con sorbete de naranja, mezcal, y sal de gusano (jamaica crushed ice with orange sherbet, mezcal, and maguey worm salt). Let me just say: I coulda had two. Usually I prefer chocolate or creamy desserts, but this glass of sweet, tart, salty, and spicy crushed ice won my prize for best in show.

Word to the wise: make reservations. Merotoro's staff went overboard to accommodate our group even without a reservation, but we certainly should have called ahead. Would I go back? I would–in fact, I already have a reservation!

Merotoro
Amsterdam 204
Between Iztaccíhautl and Chilpancingo
Colonia Condesa
Mexico City
Tel: 5564-7799

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

16 de May de 2015
Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno (Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene), Atotonilco, Guanajuato

The facade of the mid-18th Century Jesuit church in Atotonilco is simple. The interior of the church is astonishing. Built between 1740 and 1776, the Santuario is still visited and revered by religious pilgrims.

Several weeks ago, while Mexico Cooks! visited San Miguel de Allende, we took advantage of some free time to go to Atotonilco to visit the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno (Sanctuary of Jesus the Nazarene), one of the best-kept secrets of central Mexico. In 1996, the church was added to the World Monuments Fund, and in July of 2008, UNESCO named the Santuario to its list of World Heritage sites.

The main altar in the Calvary Chapel, the largest in the church. Sculptural figures important to Christ's Passion give visual impact to the meditations of the faithful. A relicuary rests on the red cloth.

The Santuario is a mixture of European Baroque and New World Mexican decoration. It consists of a large church, and several smaller chapels, all decorated with oil paintings by Rodríguez Juárez and mural paintings by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre. Inspired by the doctrine of St. Ignacio de Loyola, the founder of the Companía de Jesús (the Company of Jesus, otherwise known as the Jesuits), the glowing paintings and murals in the church served in the evangelization of Nueva España, where the indigenous spoke their own languages but could neither read nor write, and where the Spanish conquistadores knew little if any of the languages they heard in the new land.

St. John the Baptist pours baptismal waters over Jesus as a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirt, hovers above them. In the 18th Century, the Santuario also served as a retreat house for the Jesuits. Pilgrims still make week-long retreats at this church, praying in a chapel reserved just for their needs.

Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus with a kiss. Note the demon monkey on Judas's back. Every inch of the Santuario walls is covered with paintings of the many details, Biblical and apocryphal, of Jesus's life. Nearly all (or perhaps all–stories vary) of the murals were painted by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, a native of the area. He worked for thirty years painting the murals.

St. Cristopher carries the infant Jesus on his shoulder. Captain Ignacio Allende, for whom San Miguel de Allende is named, married María de la Luz Agustina y Fuentes in this church. It was here, on September 16, 1810, that Miguel Hidalgo took up the standard of Our Lady of Guadalupe and bore it into battle at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.

This side chapel, one of several at Atotonilco, is dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary). The mirrors that surround the figure of Our Lady are painted with oils, probably by Rodríguez Juárez.

Detail of the chapel window.

Detail of the Marian litany in the Lady Chapel.

The Santuario has been in the process of restoration since 1997. Scaffolding still fills the church but detracts very little from the amazing paintings.

Off the beaten tourist track, the Santuario de Jesús el Nazareno will fill your eyes and heart with wonder. Let's plan a visit to see it together.

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9 de May de 2015
Violin Shop Querétaro: Laudero (Luthier) Alejandro Díaz Martínez

Irene Adriana Carrasco (Judy's former cello teacher, foreground) and Judy, rehearsing in our Morelia garden, just before the guests arrived for Judy's mini-recital in April 2009. It was a delightful evening spent among friends.

Living with a cello is lovely when its deep-voiced, sweet music pours out of the rehearsal room. Occasionally the tone is so beautiful that tears spring to my eyes. Living with a cello is not so lovely when the cello suddenly changes its tune, as Judy's did about six months ago. After a number of attempts to give the instrument a quick fix, she decided it needed more radical treatment. Her then-cello teacher, Irene Adriana Carrasco, recommended Maestro Alejandro Díaz Martínez of Violin Shop Querétaro, in the state of Querétaro, and offered to take Judy's cello to him for a consultation. A few days later, rather than send the cello with Irene, Judy and I visited Maestro Alejandro in his taller (workshop).

Maestro Alejandro Díaz with Judy's cello. Maestro Alejandro is a Morelia native with deep family roots in the city.

With a twinkle in his eye, Maestro Alejandro recounted a bit of his history. "I liked the idea of studying architecture, of designing a building and watching it come to life. But I also liked studying music, especially the violin. When I was almost finished with my architectural studies, after three years at the Universidad de Michoacán de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, I had to switch. Some people thought I was crazy to quit my architectural studies when I was so close to finishing my degree, but it was something inside me that I could no longer deny: I had to study violin. It was a passion.

Clamps and other tools of the luthier's trade hang at the ready.

"I dropped my architectural courses and went to study violin at the Conservatorio de México in Mexico City. Fortunately my parents, the rest of my family, and my friends supported my idea. Four years of hard work were all worthwhile. I was honored to study with Arón Bitrán, one of the founders of the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. My grades were good and I loved to play, but something new was happening to me. I discovered another path, that of the laudero (luthier): building and repairing stringed instruments. It was risky to take yet another direction, but it was so fascinating! And in some ways, laudería combined my love of architecture with my love of music. It made sense to me, and once again, with the help of some friends, I made a new decision.

One of Maestro Alejandro's several work benches. It may look disorganized, but he knows exactly where to find what he needs.

"In 1985, I was studying violin for six hours a day, then studying for six hours a day at the taller de laudero (luthier's workshop) with Maestro Luthfi Becker, who specializes in baroque instruments. I built my first violin during that same year, and I graduated in 1987 with six others, the first generación de lauderos (luthiers' graduating class) in Mexico City.

A violin in process of repair.

"In 1992, I came to Querétaro, where the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Mexico City founded the Escuela de Laudería in the mid-1950s. In 1993, I started teaching at the school, and I've been giving classes here for 16 years. I have nine students right now. They're studying the full course that leads to licenciatura (similar to a bachelor's degree) in laudería.

Various tools for cutting, piercing, and sanding new parts for stringed instruments.

Maestro Alejandro removed the top of the cello, made and replaced the bass bar, and re-glued the top. He kept the top clamped until the glue was thoroughly dry. Photo courtesy Alejandro Díaz.

"Learning laudería requires tremendous discipline. It's not just about patching up an instrument that needs repair, using any wood you happen to have on hand. The course consists of ten semesters and includes studies in everything from the biology of wood to the history of instrument building. For example, when I looked inside Judy's cello, I could tell the age of the trees used in its construction–by the rings of the wood. I could see the type tree the wood came from, and I can tell you exactly where those trees grow. I could also approximate the age of the wood itself, when it was used to build the cello.

Erick Iván Díaz Garcia polishes Judy's cello. Erick has studied with Maestro Alejandro for two years. The long program of studies for luthiers at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro is unique in Mexico.

"One of the joys of laudería is receiving an instrument, whether an ancient violin or a late-20th Century cello like Judy's, and bringing it to its fullest expression of tone, resonance, and beauty. The instrument that still gives me chills when I think of its restoration is an 18th Century violin that came to me in dire condition. The 'stomach' of the violin was sunken, the bridge feet were dug into the top of the violin. Little by little I used my skills–traditonal skills as well as inventions that I thought up to overcome the obstacles of the violin's condition–and slowly brought the instrument back to life. The violin's owner, Cathy Meng Robinson of the Miami String Quartet, insists that the quality of the instrument since I repaired it is better than a Stradivarius violin that she owns.

Maestro Alejandro explains a fine point of cello repair.

"Lauderos in other parts of the world–in the United States, for example–would like me to go work in their talleres, even take ownership of their workshops. But how could I? Here in Mexico, there are so few of us, maybe 100 fully trained lauderos. I have the responsibility and the joy to teach the lauderos of the future, and to rescue the instruments of the past. Here in Mexico, I have such a full life: my family, my work, my students. Compared to the fullness of my life right now, what could more money, the money people in other countries promise me for my work, give me? My son is 15; he studies violin and will soon study with me to follow in my footsteps. My daughter is only nine; her future is yet to be told. Laudería gives me the chance to know the world, from the United States to Canada to Cremona. And look–I've just begun, and already happiness fills my life."

Contact
Alejandro Díaz Martínez
Violin Shop Querétaro
Calle Ángela Peralta#19
Centro Histórico
Santiago de Querétaro, Guanajuato
Tel. 01.442.243.1488
Cel. 044.442.136.9128

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2 de May de 2015
Restaurante Pujol, Mexico City: Enrique Olvera, Re-thinking Mexican Food

Entrance, Restaurante Pujol, Mexico City.

Enrique Olvera, the founding thinker and chef/owner at Mexico City's Restaurante Pujol, graduated in 1999 from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Pujol opened 16 years ago, and its name has become a household word among followers of Mexican cuisine and its trends. Pujol, in case anyone here has been snoozing under a rock, is presently considered to be the best restaurant in Mexico and the 20th best restaurant in the world, according to San Pellegrino's 2014 "50 Best Restaurants" list.

Chef Enrique Olvera. Photo courtesy Suena México.

Several weeks ago, invited by a lovely friend, Mexico Cooks! made a reservation for three at this temple of gastronomy. Several recent reviews of Pujol's dishes and service have reflected a shadow of decline; chef Enrique has naturally devoted tremendous time and attention of late to the December 2014 opening of Cosme, his New York City restaurant.

I felt excited, on guard, and a touch nervous about dining at Pujol; I deeply wanted it to be fabulous and, in the name of pure contrariness, I deeply wanted to turn up my nose. You're absolutely right: ambivalence was my middle name.

Pujol's menu for our comida (main meal of the day) on March 8, 2015. The extensive tasting menu changes daily; no other menu is offered. Click on any photo for a larger view.

In order of appearance:

Elotitos con mayonesa de hormiga chicatana, café, y chile costeño (tiny ears of corn roasted with ground ants, coffee, and coast-style chile), served still steaming in a bule (a kind of dried gourd).

Bocol huasteco, con relleno de queso y pico de gallo. A tiny infladita (puffed-up tortilla) filled with cheese, topped with a salsa of minced raw tomato, chile, onion, and cilantro.

Crudo: mejillón salvaje con pepino y cilantro (wild mussel with cucumber and cilantro).

Tempura de huauzontle con consomé de cebolla quemada (huauzontle tempura with burned onion consommé).

Each of the entradas (appetizers) was a revelation of flavor. As I study these photographs, my mind's palate is reminded of the "OH!" that inadvertently accompanied the first taste of each dish. That 'oh' was a composite of surprise, recognition, and sheer joy at chef Enrique's inventiveness.

Mole verde (green mole).

Huitlacoche, higado, mollejas (corn smut, liver, and gizzards).

Pesca del día, plátano macho, salsa verde, curry blanco, aceite de cilantro (fish of the day with plantain, green sauce, white curry, and cilantro oil).

Pulpo, tostada de tinta, mayonesa de habanero y orégano (octopus, octopus ink tostada, habanero mayonnaise, and oregano).

Taco de barbacoa, adobo de chile guajillo, hoja de aguacate, puré de aguacate (pit-cooked lamb flavored with chile guajillo, anise-y avocado leaf, and puréed avocado).

Huevo escondido (hidden egg). Photo courtesy Pamela Gordon.

Is this Mexican food? I think the offerings are nothing that a standard-issue Mexican home cook would recognize. On the other hand, she would definitely recognize the components of these dishes, if not their specific uses in the Pujol lexicon.

Tamal de papa, hoja santa, y frijol criollo (potato, hoja santa, and native bean tamal).

Polomo, kumquat y vegetales fermentados (tender and juicy roast pork, served with fermented vegetables).

Among his numerous special gifts, you can expect that Enrique Olvera will be full of culinary surprises. He is an outside-the-box thinker in the kitchen, an innovator par excellence and much imitated. In the photo two paragraphs below, you see his personal take on mole, that icon of central Mexican cuisine. Chef Enrique describes in his own words the dish that he calls mole madre:

"Our mole changes on its own, unpredictably. Some days it’s tired, other days it’s lively and bright. We never treat it the same way. The only thing we know is that the seasons and the mole’s attitude on the day in question are going to determine the preparation. Sometimes we add macadamias, sometimes almonds. Once, because we thought the mole was starting to get bored and needed a little kick in its ass, we threw in a dash of tamarind. Last summer, we incorporated purple bananas for a few days, and one time, we mixed in some great panochera apples. Of course, a traditional mole recipe will call for local and seasonal ingredients, but because people don’t tend to add new mole to their old mole, I guess there isn’t one like ours out there.

"This mole is an example of what most of us strive for: creating something that is personal, but not necessarily new. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, our ability to consciously build upon the knowledge of our ancestors is what gives us an advantage over a lot of the other animals on the planet. It’s part of our nature as humans — and as cooks. This, for me, is what makes progressive cooking so important. Younger cooks will end up being better than we are now, just as we’re better than those that came before us. Well, some of them."
–Enrique Olvera

Mole madre ('mother' mole), 604 days old the afternoon that we were there, with a central disc of 'new' mole. Served without protein, with fresh-from-the-comal (griddle) tortillas.

Five desserts, listed on the menu as simply "Final feliz"–happy ending.

Manzana verde con mezcal (green apple with mezcal), a salty, savory, palate-cleansing dessert with a surprise: sal de gusano (worm salt) sprinkled atop the apple slice.

Crujiente de manzana con crema de canela (crisp apple slices with cinnamon cream). The apple slices look like banana chips–but instead, they are finely cut and perfectly delicious apple crisps.

Helado de lichi con sopa de coco, con un toque de gengibre (litchi ice cream with a coconut 'soup'–heightened by a touch of ginger). The form of both the plate and its contents were a visual echo of the huevo escondido, and yet each was totally different from the other.

Did we love what we ate? We did, we definitely did. Would I go back again? Yes, probably, for the most special of special occasions. At this particular meal, the three of us very carefully chose from the long menu of tasting portions, choosing specifically so that we could each try everything.

And the shadow of decline that I mentioned as I began writing? It was nowhere in evidence. The room, the service, and the food were all top-notch. If I were to grade our experience, I'd give it a '10'–Mexico's highest grade.

My opinion? There's no other restaurant in Mexico City that compares with Pujol.

Pastelito de chocolate negro y plátano (a tiny dark chocolate cake with banana filling).

Churros y chocolate, estilo Pujol (churros and hot chocolate, Pujol style).

After our meal, the waiter did a great job taking la foto de recuerdo (our picture as a memento of the occasion). Left to right, Pamela Gordon, Judith McKnight, and Cristina Potters.

Restaurante Pujol
Calle Francisco Petrarca #254
Miguel Hidalgo, Polanco
Mexico City, Mexico
Telephone: 5545 3507

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25 de April de 2015