Category: Travel

The When, What, and MORE About Mexico’s Mealtimes :: Desayuno Is Breakfast

Back by popular demand! So many Mexico Cooks! fans ask questions about what we eat at mealtimes–and when exactly DO we eat? This week and for the next two weeks, we'll take a close look at what's to be found on the Mexican table, and at what time of day.

A classic quick breakfast in the USA, circa 1950s: cold unsweetened cereal, a banana (sliced), milk, and sugar.

Several times a month, Mexico Cooks! receives queries from folks in other parts of the world about mealtimes and what's eaten at which meal in Mexico. It can be challenging to plan a trip to any country, including Mexico, where mealtimes are different from what you might think of as 'normal'. This week and for the next two weeks here at Mexico Cooks!, you'll learn more about meals and mealtimes.

In Mexico, a huge variety of pan dulce (sweet bread) is available for breakfast. These are conchas (shells), so-called because of the design impressed into their sugared tops. Have your pan dulce with either hot chocolate, coffee, or a steaming cup of atole (a corn-based hot beverage).

It can be even more challenging for anyone raised in one frame of reference to understand that breakfast isn't always about what you have always thought of as your earliest meal of the day. Many years ago, when I was first living in Mexico, the light bulb came on for me: breakfast food is whatever you happen to eat for breakfast. You know how leftover pizza straight from the refrigerator is a guilty breakfast for a lot of people in the States? A slice is really a perfectly adequate breakfast. Lots of Mexican breakfasts are just like that: whatever food is available at the moment.

The corunda is a regional tamal from Michoacán. This corunda, filled with cream cheese and topped with Mexican table cream and a sauce made of roasted tomate verde (known in the USA as tomatillo), chile perón (a Michoacán-grown chile), makes a great desayuno when accompanied by a cup of hot locally-grown blackberry or guayaba (guava) atole.

People in Mexico frequently eat two morning meals. The first is desayuno, which comes from the root word ayunar, to fast. Desayuno literally means "I un-fast" and is ordinarily eaten first thing in the morning, maybe before work while you are standing in the pre-dawn kitchen thinking about the coming day on the job or gobbled while you are hurrying the kids into their school uniforms. This breakfast consists of something quick and simple or a smear of yesterday's frijolitos refritos on a leftover tortilla, washed down with a glass of fresh orange juice; a pan dulce still hot from the corner bakery, accompanied by a cup of té de manzanillo (Mexico's ubiquitous chamomile tea). It's just enough to help your brain kick into gear.

This Mexico Cooks! desayuno includes home-made calabaza en tacha bathed in hot milk plus a slice of pan relleno con chilacayote (bread filled with sweetened chilacayote squash paste), served with fresh juice or coffee.

At home, Mexico Cooks! occasionally prepares molletes, an old-time family favorite. I butter and grill a bolillo (a dense-textured and crusty white bread roll), add a thick smear of chile-spiced refried beans, and top them with huevos volteados (over-easy eggs) and salsa cruda (raw salsa). With a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and a big mug of coffee, this almuerzo is really stick-to-your-ribs.

Around 10.30 or eleven o'clock in the morning, when the stomach starts to require something more substantial to keep the body going, many people take a break for almuerzo. There really is no adequate word in English for this meal. It's not breakfast and it's not a snack. Almuerzo is typically a larger meal than desayuno. Workers on a construction job, for example, often stop work, build a little fire, and heat up yesterday's leftover main meal of the day that they've brought along in a 'tupper'–the generic word for a covered plastic container. Warmed-up leftovers, a stack of tortillas, and a fresh-made pot of coffee keep the girders going up.

Another really hearty almuerzo: a plateful of enchiladas verdes con pollo deshebrado (enchiladas with shredded chicken in green sauce) topped with finely grated white cheese and minced onion, accompanied by a guarnición (side) of refried beans.

Here's another typical almuerzo in Mexico: chilaquiles verdes (fried tortilla strips simmered in green sauce), topped with grated white cheese and thinly sliced white onions, then crowned with huevos a gusto (eggs however you like them). Add a side of frijolitos refritos, a plate of ripe papaya, a warm-from-the-oven bolillo, either salsa or butter for the bread, and a great cappuchino, all served on a sunny terrace. Heaven…

Next week, next meal! We'll save your place at the table.

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

8 de January de 2022
Mexico’s New Year’s Customs Explained :: New Underwear, Old Suitcases, and MORE

In Mexico and some other Latin American countries, women wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve to bring good luck and wealth in the year to come. Red underwear (this vendor has a lot, in every style, for sale on her tables) indicates a New Year's wish for an exciting love interest! Just remember that the underwear has to be NEW.

Superstition or not, many people here in Mexico continue to keep the customs of ritos del Año Nuevo (New Year's rituals). Some rituals include foods, others prescribe certain clothing, and still others warrant attention for religious interest.

As the clock strikes midnight, it's common to eat twelve grapes–one at each ding, one at each dong of the bell. While eating the grapes, you make a personal wish for each grape you consume, welcoming the new year that's beginning. Mexico Cooks! finds that it's helpful to write down the twelve wishes so as not to forget one or choke in the rush to swallow the grapes before the clock finishes striking the New Year's earliest hour! Even the most elegant restaurants promise that along with your multi-course late-night New Year's Eve meal, they will provide the grapes and champagne.

Eating a tablespoonful of cooked lentils on New Year's Eve is said to bring prosperity and fortune. You can also give raw lentils–just a handful, with the same wish for abundance, to family and friends.

Mexico Cooks! has often received a New Year's detallito (a little gift) of a tiny bottle like this, about 3" tall, filled with layers of different kinds of seeds and grains. This gift represents the giver's wish for your New Year: abundance.

Sweep all the rooms of your house, your front steps, and the street in front of your house to remove all traces of the old year. Some people put 12 golden coins outside–to be swept into the house after the house is swept clean. The coins are to invite money and other abundance to come into the home. Photo courtesy Jeff Trotter.

Give someone a wee woolly toy sheep as a New Year's gift–it too is a symbol of abundance! Why? In Mexico, a slang word for "money" is lana–wool, in English. And what's a sheep covered with? Lana–for an abundance of money in the New Year. Photo courtesy Etsy.

On a small piece of paper, write down the undesirable habits and customs you'd like to let go of in the New Year that's just starting. Burn the paper, then follow through with the changes!

Choose three stones that symbolize health, love, and money. Put them in a place where you will see them every day.

Light candles: blue for peace, yellow for abundance, red for love, green for health, white for spirituality, and orange for intelligence.

Spill clean water on the sidewalk in front of your house as the clock rings in the New Year. Your house will be purified and all tears will be washed away.

To have money for your needs all year, have some bills in your hand or in your pocket to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Some people fold up the money and put it in their shoes!

Take your suitcase for a walk. Legend is that the farther you walk with your suitcase, the farther you'll travel during the new year. Several New Year's Eves ago, Mexico Cooks! and a few friends celebrated by walking our suitcases around the block. We all traveled far and wide during the new year that followed.

Mexico Cooks! wishes all of you a muy Próspero Año Nuevo–and especially wishes that your red underwear brings you (or keeps you) the love of family, friends, and that special someone.

We'll see you right here in 2022! May your New Year be infinitely better than old 2021!

1 de January de 2022
Ponche Navideño :: Hot Christmas Punch, Excellent All Winter Long

Mexico's fragrant, delicious ponche navideño–Christmas punch, served hot. Loaded with seasonal fruits and sweet spices, it's a do-not-miss at our Christmas festivities and is often served throughout the winter season, which is downright chilly in the Mexican highlands. The recipe is simple and the rewards are many; you, your family, and your holiday guests will love it as much as all of us do. Photo courtesy México Desconocido.

At nearly every winter party in Mexico, you'll find a big vat of steaming hot, homemade ponche navideño. Served with or without a piquete (a shot of rum, tequila, or other alcohol), this marvelous drink will warm you from the inside out. Really, it wouldn't be Christmas (or a posada, or New Year's Eve) without it. Here's the recipe I've used for years.

Ponche Navideño Mexicano**
**You should be able to buy everything on this list at your local Latin market

2 pounds sugar cane, peeled and cut into 3” sticks
1 pound apples, cored and cut into thin slices or chunks
1 pound pears, cored and cut into thin slices or chunks–Bosc are excellent for this
10 ripe guavas, cut in quarters and seeded
Peel of one orange
1 pound tejocotes, cut in quarters and seeded
1/2 pound tamarind fruit removed from the pods and deveined
1/2 pound prunes with or without seeds
2 ounces dried jamaica flowers
2 cloves
1 star anise pod (optional)
1 kilo piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar)
1/2 cup white sugar (optional)
2 long sticks Mexican cinnamon, broken in thirds or quarters

6 quarts of water or more

Special Equipment
A 12-to-14 quart lidded pot
__________________________________________________________________

Before you start cutting up fruit, put 6 quarts of water in a pot, cover it, and over high heat, heat it until it boils.

Add all the cut fruit to the pot and bring the pot back to a boil. Then lower to simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. If you think the pot needs more water, bring it to a boil separately and add it little by little.

Add the tamarind, the prunes, the jamaica, the cloves, the piloncillo, the white sugar, the cinnamon, and continue to simmer until all of the fruit is soft and tender.

We usually ask our adult guests if they'd like their ponche con piquete (with alcohol–rum, tequila, etc). Add a shot to each cup as requested, prior to adding the ponche.

Serves 12 to 15. If you have some left over, save it (fruit and all) till the next day and re-heat. Ponche navideño is even better the second day!
_____________________________________________________________

Sugar cane is in season right now! On the left, you see it in the already-peeled cut-to-size "sticks" you want for your ponche. On the right, you see the unpeeled sections that you want for your piñata! Thanks to Verónica Hernández at Mexico City's Mercado Medellín (corner of Calle Campeche and Av. Medellín, Colonia Roma) for letting me take this photo; if you're in the city, look for her and her employer, Mario Bautista, at Booth 138–tell her you saw her caña (sugar cane) on Mexico Cooks!.

The fragrant perfume of ripe guayabas (guavas) permeates our markets right now–they're in season and ready to buy for ponche.

Seasonal tejocotes–Mexican hawthorn, similar to the crabapple. Each of these fruits measures approximately 1 1/4" in diameter. The fruit is very high in pectin, which slightly thickens a pot of ponche. If you simply cannot find tejocotes, substitute another pound of apples.

Tamarind pods with their shells on. Be sure to peel off the shells before cooking! If you're unable to find the pods, use about 1/4 pound tamarind paste.

These are prunes with seeds. You can use these or you can used seedless prunes.

These are the dehydrated jamaica flowers you need to make ponche. They add deep red color and slight tartness to the drink.

Star anise for your ponche. You will find this in the store where you usually buy spices, at a Latin market, or at an Asian market.

Look at this huge display of piloncillo (molded raw brown sugar) at the Mercado de Jamaica, Mexico City! One kilo will be enough for this recipe's ponche. Click on any photo to enlarge.

This is what's known as canela–Mexican "true cinnamon". The truth is, it's grown in Sri Lanka and imported to Mexico. Notice how many, many layers of very thin bark are folded in on one another. This cinnamon is quite soft, breaks and flakes easily, and is what you want to look for to use in ponche and any other Mexican recipe calling for cinnamon. Do not be misled into buying cassia, a much more readily found, much harder in consistency, and much less flavorful "fake" cinnamon usually found packaged in the United States. Look for canela at your Latin market; the sticks are usually quite long. These measure nearly a half-meter! To the right side are Mexican raisins, which, if you like, you can also add to the ponche.

Old-fashioned Mexican peltre (enamel over metal) cups filled with ponche navideño. Be sure to put a lot of all of the varieties of fruit into each cup. Those are caña (sugar cane) sticks (colored pink by the jamaica flowers)–an edible decoration and a tool for pushing fruit from the cup into your mouth! Photo courtesy Kiwilimon.

Provecho! (Mexico's way of saying bon appetit!)

May your Christmas be filled with the love of family and friends, and with the delicious flavors of Mexico!

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

25 de December de 2021
If You’ll Be in Mexico City Over the Holidays :: Pozole Moctezuma, the Best in Town

The block-long portion of Calle Moctezuma in Colonia Guerrero where the restaurant sits is just off Av. Reforma. It's right there in plain sight, but where? Mexico Cooks!' taxi driver missed it twice before he pulled up in front, and even then he couldn't believe we were anyplace we really wanted to be. There's no sign and no indication that the restaurant is anywhere on the block. Other restaurants, yes–but not the one you are looking for! The word 'pozole' next to the buzzer at Number 12 is your only clue that you are indeed in the right place.

Do the clandestine days of Prohibition appeal to you–those long-ago days when, if you wanted a snootful of booze runner's gin, you had to know somebody who knew somebody who knew where the gin joint was? "Joe sent me," was the joke of the era–knock three times, the little window in the door slid open, and if you were in the right place, knew the right people, and had the right look, you got in for a drink or two or three.

Something of those days continues to exist in Mexico City: not a gin joint, but a 75-year-old hidden and semi-secret restaurant very near the Centro Histórico. One of your capitalino friends will have been there; finding the address is still by word of mouth. Once you're pretty sure you're in the right place, buzz the doorbell marked 'pozole', and the door creaks open. Aha! Pozole estilo Guerrero–state of Guerrero style pozole–will soon be your comida (main meal of the day). But shhhh, this place is our secret, okay?

All of the best pozole starts with cabeza de puerco (a pig's head). Nothing else gives pozole its rich flavor and consistency.

If you've been following Mexico Cooks! for quite a while, you'll probably remember our 2008 article about my beloved friend doña María Medina's pozole estilo Jalisco. Jalisco-style pozole is almost always red, colored and flavored by chile guajillo and is usually prepared with nixtamalized native cacahuatzintle corn. Until a few weeks ago, Jalisco-style pozole was the only kind Mexico Cooks! had eaten. Not any more! We have now partaken of several other pozole pleasures.

The caldo (soupy part) of Guerrero-style pozole is green, more often than not, and prepared in part with pepitas (squash seeds). The dried, nixtamalize-d (simmered with builder's lime and water) corn is white, not red. The flavor is much milder than that of Jalisco-style pozole, and the accompaniments can be decidedly different.

Our group of comensales (diners)–in this instance, happy fellow pozole-slurpers and good friends. From left in the photo: Judith McKnight, photographers Sergio Mendoza Alarcón and Bertha Herrera, journalist Rubén Hernández, and journalist Nadia Luna. The empty chair is mine, and we were later joined by the delightful gastronomer Silvia Kurczyn.

If you are interested in preparing a delicious meal for your friends and family–especially good on a cool fall day, a chilly winter day, or on one of Mexico City's cool, rainy summer afternoons–pozole estilo Guerrero is just the ticket. There are many recipes available on the Internet, both in Spanish and English–not necessarily the exact family recipe used at Pozole Moctezuma, but delicious nonetheless.

Our group indulged in several appetizers: an entire plateful of very fine rolled tacos de chorizo (chorizo is a spicy pork sausage, in this case house-made) and laden with finely chopped onion and fresh cilantro–plus a squeeze of fresh limón), disappeared before I could snap its picture. I pulled the second appetizer plate over to me as soon as it arrived at table; this plate is filled with tostadas de frijoles refritos con chorizo y jitomate (crispy tortillas with refried beans, the same chorizo used in the tacos, and thinly sliced tomatoes). I could have eaten all six tostadas, they were that delicious. The yellow plate in the background holds freshly made chicharrón (fried pork skin) to eat by itself, spread liberally with crema de mesa (table cream) or to break up a little and add to the pozole.

Each of us ordered the medium-size pozole, more than enough for medium-size appetites or for folks who had already eaten several appetizers. Compare the size of the bowl with the good-size avocado behind it. Our bowlsful, replete with rich pork meat, nixtamal-ized corn, and Guerrero-green broth, arrived at table just as you see this one. Behind the bowl at left are a plate of chicharrón (rear), a plate of plain tostadas, and, to the right, the avocado.

My bowl of pozole after adding condiments. I know the green in the center looks like broccoli, but in reality it is pieces of avocado just spooned out of the skin. Also in the bowl are a sprinkle of oregano, a sprinkle of chile piquín, a spoonful each of minced onion and chile serrano, and a bit of chopped cilantro. On the back edge of the bowl (at twelve o'clock) is a piece of chicharrón gordo, with a creamy square of deep-fried pork meat still attached. Next to the chicharrón is a tostada smeared with thick crema de mesa, (Mexican table cream), sprinkled with just a bit of the same chile piquín. In the bowl itself, just in front of the green avocado, is a slice of sardine. Its slightly fishy saltiness added the perfect je-ne-sais-quoi to the pozole. According to my compañeros de mesa (dining companions), pozole estilo Guerrero is often served with a sardine accompaniment. The various elements of the pozole represent all of the elements of the state, including the high plains, the jungle, and the coast.

This restaurant, with more 75 years of history behind it, has been witness to countless events important to Mexico City and the country as a whole. Here, history has been made and history has been changed, young men propose to their girlfriends and politicians plan their campaigns. During one crucial comida, the guns of opposing political factions had to be checked at the door. Jerónimo Álvarez Garduño, the gallant great-grandson of the founder, is executive chef of the restaurant that got its start long before he was born. Its beginnings, in the kitchen and living room of his great-grandmother's upstairs apartment (Number 6), were hidden from public view for the security of the restaurant's clients. Álvarez Garduño works together with his parents, Yolanda Garduño and Guillermo Álvarez López, to ensure that the great Guerrero tradition of "jueves pozolero" (pozole Thursday) continues in Mexico City.

Things are not always what they seem: arroz con huevo estrellado (rice with sunny-side up fried egg) is a typically Mexican dish–served in an atypical form at Pozole Moctezuma. Here, it's dessert: arroz con leche topped with a syrupy peach half.

After comida, ask for café de olla–normally, a special Mexican coffee sweetened in the pot with piloncillo (raw brown sugar) and cinnamon. At Pozole Moctezuma, you will be served instead with a glass of anise liqueur, a few roasted coffee beans floating on top. The restaurant has never had a liquor license, but some alcoholic beverages by other names are available: a refrescada (mezcal with grapefruit soda) to start your meal, beer to go with your pozole, and this lovely café de olla to finish your meal. Soft drinks are also served.

Pozole Moctezuma is a true, rich taste of Mexico City's yesteryear. By all means, if you are visiting the city, go. You'll be so glad you did.

Pozole Moctezuma
Moctezuma #12 (Ring the bell to be admitted)
Colonia Guerrero
Distrito Federal
Monday through Saturday 2PM – 7PM
Pozole verde on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
Reservations: 5526-7448

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18 de December de 2021
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12 :: El Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, 12 de diciembre

The actual tilma (cape-like garment made of woven maguey cactus fiber) worn by San Juan Diego when he first saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, in December 1531. The framed tilma hangs over the main altar at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Mexico City.

The annual feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) falls on December 12. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is Mexico's patron saint, and her image adorns churches and altars, house facades and interiors, taxis, private cars, and buses, bull rings and gambling dens, restaurants and houses of ill repute. The national shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, la Basílica, is a place of extraordinary vitality and celebration. On major festival days such as the anniversary of the apparition on December 12th, the atmosphere of devotion created by the many hundreds of thousands of pilgrims is truly electrifying.

Statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe for sale at one of the many, many souvenir booths outside the Basílica.

The enormous Basílica of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most visited pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere. Its location, on the hill of Tepeyac, was a place of great sanctity long before the arrival of Christianity in the New World. In pre-Hispanic times, Tepeyac was crowned with a temple dedicated to an earth and fertility goddess called Tonantzin, the Mother of the Gods and our mother. Tonantzin was a virgin goddess associated with the moon, as is Our Lady of Guadalupe who usurped Tonantzin's shrine.

Our Lady of Guadalupe tattoo.

Read the full story of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe with flashing lights, surrounded by fresh roasted peanuts. Cañafest, Morelia, Michoacán. November 2009.

Plastic holy water bottles in her image and in a rainbow of colors, for sale at the booths just outside the Basílica.

Art casket, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Basílica.

Primitive folk art depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Statue in resin of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint John Paul II, who was devoted to her. This image is reproduced as calendars, statues of all sizes, and pictures to hang on the wall. In Mexico, it's still one of the most popular images of 'the real Pope–Mexico's pope'.

Portrait of Monseñor Diego Monroy, former rector of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and a native of the state of Michoacán. The painting is part of Monseñor Monroy's private collection; it was my privilege to visit him in his home and take this photo–he was standing just behind me!

In 1810, Padre Miguel Hidalgo carried this banner to lead the struggle for Mexico's independence from Spain.

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11 de December de 2021
Tamales for Christmas in Mexico :: It’s Never Too Early to Start Dreaming of Them!

Tamales Oaxaca style, wrapped in banana leaves. These tamales, prepared in the kitchen at Restaurante Las 15 Letras in Oaxaca, were filled with armadillo meat. They were absolutely delicious.

When I was a child, my mother would sometimes buy a glass jar (I have conveniently forgotten the brand name) packed with what we called "hot tamales". Wrapped individually in parchment paper, covered in a thin, brackish, tomato-y fluid, these slippery travesties were all I knew of tamales until I moved to Mexico.

The first Christmas season I that I lived in this country, over 40 years ago, my neighbor from across the street came to my door to deliver a dozen of her finest home-made tamales, fresh from the tamalera (tamales steamer). I knew enough of Mexico's politeness to understand that to refuse them would be an irreparable insult, but I also was guilty of what I now know as contempt prior to investigation. I did not want tamales. The memory of those childhood tamales was disgusting. I smiled and thanked her as graciously as I could.

"Pruébalos ya!" she prodded. "Taste them now!" With some hesitation I reached for a plate from the shelf, a fork from the drawer (delay, delay) and unwrapped the steaming corn husk wrapper from a plump tamal she said was filled with pork meat and red chile. One bite and I was an instant convert. My delighted grin told her everything she wanted to know. She went home satisfied, wiping her hands on her apron. I downed two more tamales as soon as she was out of sight. More than 40 years later, I haven't stopped loving them.

A three-compartment tamalera: bottom left, Oaxaca-style tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Right, central Mexico-style tamales, wrapped in corn husks.

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUWjZTAWMQU&w=350&h=315]
The 'official' voice of the ubiquitous Mexico City tamales oaxaqueños vendors. One of these carts visits our street every night at about ten o'clock.

Christmas in Mexico is a time for special festive foods. More tamales than any other food come from our Christmas kitchen. Tamales of pork, beef or chicken with spicy red chile or semi-tart green chile, tamales of rajas con queso (strips of roasted poblano chiles with cheese), and sweet pineapple ones, each with a single raisin pressed into the masa (dough), pour in a steady, steaming torrent from kitchen after kitchen.

I asked my next door neighbor what she's making for Christmas Eve dinner. "Pues, tamales,que más," she answered. "Well, tamales, what else!"

I asked the woman who cleans my house. "Pues, tamales, que más!"

I asked the woman who cuts my hair. "Pues, tamales, que más!"

And my handyman. "What's your wife making to eat for Christmas Eve, Felipe?"

I bet by now you know what he replied. "Pues,tamales, que más?"

Obviously there are other things eaten on Christmas Eve in Mexico. Some folks feast on bacalao a la vizcaína (dried salt codfish stewed with tomatoes, capers, olives, and potatoes). Some women proudly carry huge cazuelas (rustic clay casserole dishes) of mole poblano con guajolote (turkey in a complex, rich sauce of chiles, multiple toasted spices, and a little chocolate de metate (stone ground chocolate), thickened with ground tortillas) to their festive table. Some brew enormous ollas (pots) of menudo (tripe and cow's foot soup) or pozole (a hearty soup of nixtamaliz-ed cacahuatzintle, a native white corn, chiles, pork meat, and condiments) for their special Christmas Eve meal, traditionally served late on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), after the Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass).

As an exceptional treat, we're sharing part of a photo essay by my good friend Rolly Brook, may he rest in peace. The photo essay is all about tamales, their ingredients and preparation. Rolly's friend doña Martha cooks a whole pig head for her tamales; many cooks prefer to use maciza—the solid meat from the leg. Either way, the end result is a marvelous Christmas treat.

Doña Martha Prepares Tamales for Christmas

Doña Martha, now with Rolly in heaven, begins to take the meat off the cooked pig head.

Doña Martha mixes the shredded meat from the pig head into the pot of chile colorado (red chile sauce that she prepared earlier in the day).

Doña Martha needs a strong arm to beat freshly rendered lard into the prepared corn for the masa. The lard and ground corn must be beaten together until the mixture is as fluffy as possible.

Doña Martha's daughter spreads masa (corn dough) on the prepared hojas de maíz (corn husks).

Corn husks spread with masa, ready to be filled.

Doña Martha fills each masa-spread corn husk with meat and chile colorado.

Folding the hojas de maíz is an assembly-line process involving the whole family.

Tamales in the tamalera, ready to be steamed. Steaming takes an hour or so.

One small plateful of the finished tamales!

The photos only show part of the process of making tamales. You can access Rolly's entire photo essay on his website. A few years prior to his death, Rolly graciously allowed Mexico Cooks! the use of his wonderful pictures. Although Rolly is now having his Christmas tamales in heaven, his website is permanently on line for the benefit of anyone who needs almost any information about life in Mexico.

Can we finish all these tamales at one sitting? My friends and neighbors prepare hundreds of them with leftovers in mind. Here's how to reheat tamales so they're even better than when they first came out of the steamer.

Recalentados (Reheated Tamales)

Over a medium flame, pre-heat an ungreased clay or cast iron comal (griddle) or in a preheated heavy skillet. Put the tamales to reheat in a single layer, still in their corn husk wrappers. Let them toast, turning them over and over until the corn husks are dark golden brown, nearly black. Just when you think they're going to burn, take them off the heat and peel the husks away. The tamales will be slightly golden, a little crunchy on the edges, and absolutely out of this world delicious.

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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4 de December de 2021
Longaniza con Papas, Easy and Delicious!

Here's a young butcher making longaniza in a market in Mexico City. Longaniza is chorizo's first cousin, and you can use either of those sausages in this recipe. I prepare this dish with whichever of the two I have on hand. You might wonder which is which: here's a little trick I made up a long time ago so I wouldn't forget. Chorizo is made as short links, and longaniza isn't made in links, so the sausage is long–the way you see it in the photo.

One of the simplest and most popular dishes in a Mexican household is longaniza or chorizo con papas–Mexican spicy sausage with potatoes, onions, and often a small amount of chile serrano to kick up the spice factor. I decided to prepare this earlier in the week, as I had some longaniza in the refrigerator that needed to be used.

These three ingredients plus the longaniza and a little salt are all you need to prepare longaniza con papas!

Minced chile serrano and diced onions.

Here's the longaniza, still in its casing. Slide a sharp knife between the casing and the meat; remove and discard the casing.

The raw potatoes, diced. The only potato we have in my part of Mexico is called papa Alfa, and there's really no other choice of variety. The potato grower's union here is super-strong and won't normally allow other kinds of potatoes to come into the country. Alfa is king. You, however, might be able to find russets or Yukon Golds where you are, and you might like to try those instead of Alfas.

Longaniza con Papas
Spicy Sausage with Potatoes

Utensils
2-quart deep pot with lid
2-quart heavy skillet
Colander
Big spoon

Ingredients
Half a kilo (approximately one pound) of longaniza or chorizo**
Between half a kilo and a kilo of potatoes–the recipe is very flexible.
One chile serrano, minced (optional)
One medium white onion, cut into small dice (about 1/4" square)
A splash of vegetable oil
Salt to taste

**In your supermarket or Latin market, you may see a sausage labeled chorizo español. This chorizo is much firmer than Mexican chorizo and is best for grilling, not for preparing this dish.

Procedure
Add water to the pot to about 2/3 level. Salt the water, cover the pot and bring the it to a boil. While the pot is coming to a boil, peel and dice the potatoes. Add them to the boiling water and set your timer for 20 minutes. I checked at 15 minutes, but the potatoes weren't yet tender. Fork-tender is what you're looking for. When the potatoes are tender, turn them into the colander and allow to drain well. Set aside.

You want your longaniza to fry to this color. It's still tender and moist. Compare the color in this photo with the color in the photo above, before you cook it.

If you haven't done so already, peel the casing from the longaniza and break the sausage into short sections. Add a splash of vegetable oil–a tablespoon or so–to your skillet and let it heat to a shimmer. Add the longaniza to the skillet and, stirring regularly, use your big spoon to break it into smaller and smaller pieces. As it fries, it will become a darker color than it was when raw. When it's a uniformly darker color, scoop it out into a small bowl and reserve it. Be sure to leave the longaniza grease in the skillet–it will add a lot of flavor to the potatoes.

Add the potatoes to the skillet and fry until they take on the slightly red color of the grease.

In the same grease, sauté the diced onions and minced chile serrano until they are soft but not browned.

Last, add the reserved longaniza and any remaining grease in the bowl where they it was reserved.

Taste for salt and correct, and it's ready to eat. Longaniza con papa is a super-quick and delicious supper, and 100% traditionally Mexican.

Serve with tortillas for making tacos and an agua fresca. Buen provecho! (Good appetite!)

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27 de November de 2021
Deliciously Spicy Picadillo, Ideal for Your Winter Table

Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz (1915-2003), a proper British woman married to Mexican diplomat César Ortiz Tinoco, learned Mexican cuisine in Mexico City, her husband's home town. She published her wonderful The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking in 1967, which introduced the English-speaking world to some of the regional cuisines of Mexico. I've cooked from this ever more raggedy, taped-together, yellowing, food-stained, still-magical paperback edition since the middle 1970s, starting years before I moved to Mexico. The first truly Mexican recipe I ever prepared was picadillo, from Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz's book. It's Mexico's traditional home-style hash.

The ingredients for picadillo are available in almost any supermarket. Starting with the bowl of ground beef and pork at lower left in the photograph and moving clockwise, you see the raw meat, Mexican cinnamon sticks, bright orange carrots all but hidden in the dish, chiles serrano, Roma tomatoes, white potatoes, a Red Delicious apple, raisins and dried cranberries, freshly dried hoja de laurel (bay leaves), a whole white onion, and, in the little dish in the right-center foreground, freshly dried Mexican oregano. I dried the bay leaves and the oregano myself, but you can make substitutions: use ground cinnamon rather than the cinnamon sticks, store-bought bay leaves, and the oregano you normally use instead of the Mexican type; the rest of the ingredients are commonplace.

Minced chile serrano and diced white onion.

Hash of all kinds is one of the most comfortable of comfort foods, and the hash called picadillo (the word means 'a little something chopped-up') is simply Mexico's slightly more rambunctious cousin. This picadillo recipe is always forgiving, always flexible. Prepare it with ground beef, ground pork, or a combination of the two meats. Use more potatoes, fewer carrots, an extra tomato (or two, if the ones you have are quite small). Don't care for olives? Leave them out. But by all means do try picadillo: it's a far cry from your mother's canned corned beef hash.

More ready-to-cook raw ingredients, left to right: diced tomatoes; peeled, diced apple; peeled, diced carrots. For size comparison's sake, the knife blade is 10.5" long.

Ingredients
1 kilo (2.2 lbs) ground pork, ground beef, or a combination of the two
3 large, ripe Roma tomatoes, diced
3 fresh chiles serrano, minced (Use less chile if your tolerance for picante (spiciness) is low.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium-large white onion, peeled and diced
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 or 2 large Red Delicious apples OR 1 or 2 large, ripe Bartlett pears OR one of each, peeled and diced
4 medium white potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup large green olives, with or without pimento, sliced
3/4 cup raisins, I like to use sultanas, but dark raisins are equally delicious
1 tsp dried oregano, Mexican if you have it
3 large bay leaves
2" piece of Mexican cinnamon stick OR big pinch of ground cinnamon
1 dried clove, pulverized
Freshly rendered pork lard OR vegetable oil, as needed
Sea salt to taste
Beef, chicken, or pork stock, or water, as needed

Sliced large green pimento-stuffed olives. Each of these olives measures a bit more than one inch long prior to slicing. Slice them in thirds or quarters.

Equipment
A large pot with a cover. I use a 4-quart enameled casserole.
Cutting board
Sharp knife
Large wooden spoon

Preparation
Heat 3 Tbsp lard or vegetable oil in your cooking pot until it shimmers. Add the onion and chile and sauté over medium fire until the onion is translucent. Add the ground meat and continue to sauté over medium fire until the meat is no longer pink. Break the meat into bite-size chunks as it sautés. Add the rest of the ingredients.

After sautéeing the onion, chile, and meat, add the rest of the solid ingredients to the pot and stir to incorporate them all. Then add stock or water; the liquid should come to about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the pot. Enlarge any photo for a bigger view; you'll be able to see that I used a combination of raisins and dried cranberries. I had about a quarter cup of dried cranberries on hand; a neighbor loaned me the raisins to make up the difference in measurement. The section at the bottom of the photo is blurred due to rising steam.

Cover the pot, leaving the cover just slightly ajar. Lower the heat to its lowest. Set your kitchen timer for 30 minutes and go do something else! When the timer rings, check the pot for liquid. If the picadillo has absorbed most of the original liquid, add the same amount again. With the cover ajar, continue to cook over a very low flame for another 30 minutes and correct for salt. Voilá! It's picadillo, ready to serve!

Picadillo, ready to serve after an hour's cooking. This amount of picadillo will serve 6 to 8 hungry people when served over steamed white rice or Mexican red rice. I like to prepare the picadillo recipe, serve it as a main meal, and save the rest to re-heat and serve the next day. If anything, it is even better after a night's rest–but then, aren't we all? After the second day, whatever picadillo is left freezes beautifully.

Delicious, spicy picadillo, served over rice. You and your family will love this traditional Mexican meal. By all means let me know how it goes over at your house. A huge thank you to Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz.

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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20 de November de 2021
Carne de Cerdo en Salsa Verde (Pork in Green Sauce) :: Wonderful For Cold Weather

This recipe, initially published in 2008–13 years ago–by Mexico Cooks!, continues to be the most popular of all our articles. Any time of year, but especially in the winter months in frigid climates, you and your family and guests will relish the warmth of this delicious dish. Enjoy!

Tomatillos with their husks and fresh chiles serrano.

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

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

Although there are other ways to prepare the dish (griddle-roasting rather than boiling the vegetables for the sauce or leaving out the steps of flouring and browning the meat, for example), this is my favorite method.

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

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

Fresh cilantro.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Golden brown pork cubes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Provecho!

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13 de November de 2021
Sugar Skulls, Sugar Angels, Sugar Cats, Sugar Fish, and More: Day of the Dead Traditions in Michoacán, Mexico

Sugar hens, each one ready to be placed on an ofrenda (altar) to a deceased relative or friend, or to give to a special person as a token of friendship on the Day and Night of the Dead in November.

There's always a new wrinkle in hand-made sugar mementos made for each November's Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). All of these photos are regional specialty items made in and around Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. The sugar bottles (left to right) are Cazadores tequila, Bacardí rum, and Pedro Domecq brandy. The nearly life-size bottles are decorated with icing, down to the last detail of the labels.

She's stirring sugar, which is melting in the cazo (copper pot). The molds (in her hand and on the floor) are made of clay. Making sugar figures in Michoacán for Noche de Muertos is a seasonal project realized by the family of Santa Fe de la Laguna alfarero (clay artist) Nicolás Fabián. Photo courtesy Nicolás Fabián.

Today's sugar skulls, angels, and other sugar figures were, in bygone years, made of wood and clay. Because wood and clay were so expensive and difficult to work with, artisans searched for materials that not only cost less but were easier to handle. Sugar and some simple stabilizing ingredients proved to be ideal. The sugar mixture is pressed into clay molds and allowed to dry before being unmolded and decorated.

Sugar skulls mounted in a special Día de Muertos display.

A large sugar skull, two angels (approximately 6" tall), and a pink-spotted pig wait side by side on an artisan's shelf for this year's customers.

Once the sugar figures are formed and allowed to harden in molds, they are hand-decorated with stiff confectioner's icing. The artisan uses a small plastic bag to hold the icing, squeezing tiny lines of decor onto the figures from a hole cut in the corner of the bag.

These life-size fruits are made entirely of sugar.

Artisans report that the preparation and organization for sugar figure sales during the Día de Muertos festivities begins in January, nearly an entire year before the holiday. Due to the scarcity of molds for the sugar and the need to allow the sugar to dry to the necessary hardened consistency for decorating, making the figures is the work of many months.

These figures represent the Purépecha indigenous population of the Lake Pátzcuaro region. The woman wears her typical skirt, blouse, and rebozo (a type of shawl) and holds a plate of lake white fish, a regional culinary specialty in years gone by. The man beside her wears a large sombrero and some very fanciful clothing.

Sweets to the sweet: "For My Sweetheart".

Sugar fish!

Rest in peace. These are funeral wreaths, made of colorful sugar.

The most traditional sugar skulls have a friend or relative's name across the forehead. Some of these, just a bit over an inch high, have the name on a gold-colored tape above the eyes. When you're ready to make a purchase, if you don't see a skull with the name you want, ask the artisan to write it on the skull with sugar icing–no extra charge!

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6 de November de 2021