Mexico Cooks!

Delicias de Noche en Pátzcuaro: Enchiladas Placeras (Night Pleasures in Pátzcuaro: Plaza-Style Enchiladas)

Over the course of nearly 30 years, Mexico Cooks! has visited Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, one of the most beautiful small colonial cities of Mexico, more times than we can count.  Every visit is memorable for 16th and 17th Century architecture, fantastic decorative arts, and food.  Food!  The regional Michoacán kitchen is incomparably rich and delicious.

Super Pollo Emilio has been famous for 36 years for enchiladas placeras: plaza-style enchiladas, the only item on the menu.  The cooks prepare approximately 400 orders of enchiladas every night.

Great quantities of enormous pechugas (chicken breast halves, each large enough to satisfy two people) and piernas (leg/thigh quarters) are simmered early in the day until they're  just done.  A bit later, preparation continues with vats of tender potatoes and fresh carrots.


The cook fans four tortillas at a time between his fingers and dips them into this enormous pot of house- made salsa para enchiladas (enchilada sauce).  The recipe?  Mexico Cooks! has wheedled and whined, but Super Pollo Emilio won't give it up.

The cook spreads the salsa-doused tortillas evenly into the sizzling grease in the industrial-strength comal (griddle), flipping them rapidly from one side to the other.  The tortillas need to be hot and soft, but not crisp.

He gives each tortilla a dollop of freshly mashed potato.  The tortillas are then folded in half: voilá, enchiladas ready for your platter.  Each order contains eight enchiladas as well as--well, we'll see in a minute.

While we waited for our supper, we were treated to a serenata (serenade) sung by strolling local musicians.  We were quite taken with the multi-colored strings of this big bass fiddle.

Our order.  The platter, which looks fairly small in the photo, measures approximately 16 inches from side to side.  The two forks are ordinary-size table forks.  Each platter contains:

• eight potato-filled enchiladas
• freshly sautéed potatoes and carrots, enough for two or more people
• the amount and kind of chicken you prefer--we ordered a breast portion, which was more than enough for the two of us
• a sprinkle of thinly sliced onion
• large shreds of queso Oaxaca (Oaxacan cheese)
• shredded fresh cabbage
• crumbled queso fresco (fresh farmer-style cheese)
• fresh salsa roja (red sauce, different from the enchilada sauce)
• a base of fresh romaine lettuce
• chile perón en escabeche (locally grown and pickled yellow chile: HOT), as much as you want

Mexico Cooks! has never seen one person finish an entire platter of enchiladas placeras as prepared by Super Pollo Emilio.  We were hard pressed, but in the interest of pure research we managed to eat most of this order.  We accompanied the order with a glass of agua fresca de jamaica and a bottle of LIFT, an apple soda.  Our total bill was 95 pesos.

Super Pollo Emilio sets up every evening just around dusk on Pátzcuaro's Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra (the plaza chica).  It's the booth closest to the portal (covered walkway) on the market side of the square.  The booth is open till the food runs out.

If you're still hungry after your platter of enchiladas is gone, there are buñuelos for dessert.  You can order a buñuelo broken and softened in a bowl of syrup or still-crispy and dusted with sugar.

Our waiter Jesús and his sweet daughter Paola, who was helping take soft drink orders.  Jesús has been a fixture at Super Pollo Emilio since long before his daughter was born.  

When you're visiting Pátzcuaro, don't miss the enchiladas placeras at Super Pollo Emilio.  If nothing else about this marvelous city brings you back again and again, you'll be pulled in by these addictive enchiladas, eaten on a chilly night under the stars, just by the market-side portales.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico?  Click here:
http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

Colores y Sabores 100% Mexicanos: Colors and Flavors, 100% Mexican

Banderitas mexicanas (Mexican flags) that are really sugar cookies!

Lucecitas navideñas (Christmas lights) in the form of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

Nobility.

At the Mercado de Abastos (regional wholesale produce market) in Guadalajara.

Capirotada (bread pudding for Lent).

Finery for a parade in Uruapan, Michoacán.

Naturaleza muerta a la mexicana (Mexican still life).

Breakfast at the Red Star Café, Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, México

The red-geranium-filled patio at the charming Red Star Café.

From start (Espresso Rosa Luxemburg, one shot) to finish (Flan Casero Comunero), the menu at the Red Star Café lets you know that the collective owners aren't run of the mill.  But how in the world did the Colectivo Las Rosas find its way to way-way-way off the beaten path Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, and why in the world did it open a restaurant?

Carlos Dews, the self-described red diaper baby, green revolutionary communist, anti-capitalist barista (gourmet coffee concocter), and spokesperson for the Red Star Café.

In Carlos' own words:

"I came up with the idea of the Red Star Café. I thought it was a catchy name and the decorating of the place became easy seeing as how I already had a cool Trotsky poster bought at the Trotsky Museum in Mexico City, a dog-eared copy of the Communist Manifesto in Spanish, seven unpainted tables and twenty-something humpbacked chairs that just cried out for a coat or two of mandarin red.  Add a CD of music from the Mexican Revolution, a gaggle of red clay pots in which to plant red-bloomed geraniums, and I knew where I could get some print-outs of ancient photos of Marx and Mao and Prince Kropotkin and a square kilometer of bright red tablecloths. It seemed a good fit.

Salsa roja (red sauce) at the Red Star Café.

"I am not a romantic or a utopian. I know that what I am doing here at the Red Star Café is not communism or anything like it. As Trotsky said, "Communism cannot exist in isolation." He figured out that one country raising the red flag and proclaiming itself communist did not make it so, and, as a matter of fact, would probably lead to the dreary and deadly bureaucratism that invaded the Soviet Union under Old Joe Stalin. I hope that, at least, I can avoid that trap.

Red lilies against a sun-baked añil (cobalt blue) wall at the restaurant.

"But Trotsky was right. A worldwide revolution lead by the working class is the solution to our problems today. An old gringo living in a dream world, however cushy and cool, is not going to change anything much." 

You can read the rest of the story at http://erongaredstarcafe.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html.

A while back,Mexico Cooks! drove over to the Red Star Café for almuerzo (late breakfast).  A day or so later, Carlos emailed to ask if everything had truly truly truly been up to snuff.   We hemmed and hawed, but eventually said a couple of things could have been a bit better.  We accepted the restaurant's invitation to come back at the end of June and give the staff a few tips about food preparation and service, and what a good time we all had!  Mexico Cooks! spent four hours with Carlos, Juan, Susy, and Elizabeth, working out some trouble spots and cooking up some new additions to the restaurant menu.

Juan, head chef at the Red Star Café.

In Carlos' words:

"About half of the time was spent in just talking and asking and answering questions. Chef Cristina gave us some great new ideas about how, for example, to set up the tables for our guests, as well as how to best attend to their needs and make them absolutely comfortable while they are in "our home".

"She also helped us design a better way to arrange the kitchen, which had been getting to be more and more a source of irritation since our business is expanding every day and we were quite actually bumping behinds and stumbling all over each other in our tiny space. So we set up two mise en place, which are, in more common parlance, work stations. We now have two set up in the kitchen, one for Juan and one for Susy.

St. Pascual Baylón, the patron saint of the kitchen, watches over the Red Star Café.

"Chef Cristina taught us how to make a French-style omelet using a number of different ingredients--your choice. I made one for myself yesterday that had melted cheddar cheese and artichoke hearts in it. I cooked the eggs in my own special, very spicy chile oil, and they came out golden and delicious.

"La Chef also taught us her personal version of pan francés (French toast).  It's a strict secret, but involves a little vanilla and a touch of cinnamon. She prepared pan francés for us during the cooking hours of the class and had to make up a second batch to fill the needs of the comuneros. Deeelicious!

Susy (left) and Elizabeth giggle over sandwiches of telera (a flattish bread) and frijolitos estilo Celia (refried beans the way Mexico Cooks! prepares them).

"Chef Cristina is a believer in using manteca (lard) in refried beans. We have resisted this for health reasons, but after tasting her version of frijoles peruanos with a hint of chile serrano sautéed in that magical fatty substance, we are going to have to offer both versions to our clientele. If you are against eating lard, you can just tell us, and we will make your frijoles the new-fashioned way, in olive oil. I can just hear Chef Cristina snickering."

Read the rest of the story at: http://erongaredstarcafe.blogspot.com/2008/07/chefa-cristina-potters-to-our-rescue.html

As we say in Mexico, 'Cada quien a su gusto'...to each his own taste.  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't choose olive oil for preparing refried beans, but we can almost understand that some people might choose health over flavor.

Here's the recipe:

Frijolitos Refritos Estilo Celia (Refried Beans Celia's Way)

Ingredients
Dried peruano beans, cooked in plain water until very soft (about 2 1/2 hours)
1 or 2 chiles serrano, depending on your tolerance for picante (heat)
2 Tbsp lard
Bean-cooking liquid
Sea salt to taste
Queso cotija (aged Mexican sharp white cheese), crumbled

Method
Over high flame, melt lard in a medium-size heavy skillet.  While the lard melts, split the chiles in half from the tip almost to the stem end.  Add the chiles to the melted lard and fry until the chile skins are dark brown, nearly black.  Allow the lard to cool slightly.

Add the amount of cooked beans that you'll need.  For three servings, Mexico Cooks! uses about two cups of beans.  Add enough bean-cooking liquid to allow you to mash the beans easily.  When the beans are heated through, begin to mash them with a heavy potato masher or a wooden bean masher.  Mash the beans, the lard, AND the chiles into a fairly smooth and slightly liquid paste.  Add more bean-cooking liquid as necessary.  We usually leave a few semi-mashed beans for a little texture.  Add sea salt to taste.

Plate the frijolitos refritos and sprinkle heavily with queso cotija.  Serves three as a side dish for breakfast.

Another delicious (and don't knock it till you've tried it) snack to prepare with frijolitos refritos is a sandwich similar to the ones Susy and Elizabeth are eating in the photo.  Buy half a dozen bolillos (Mexican bread for tortas) and slice in half lengthwise.  Take out some of the crumb so that a hollow is left in each half of the bolillo.  Fill the hollows with plenty of frijolitos refritos, add queso cotija, garnish with sliced pickled jalapeños (this is optional), make the halves of the bolillos into sandwiches, and eat.  These are marvelous for picnics, as they require no refrigeration and absolutely thrill your mouth.

Juan's son Fernando David is the real boss at the Red Star Café.

Buen provecho!  (Good appetite!)

Red Star Café
Portal Hidalgo #3
Erongarícuaro, Michoacán
Hours: Breakfast Only

Mexico Cooks! and "El Mural" at Birriería El Chololo

South of the Guadalajara airport, near the exit for El Salto, you'll see the green tile domes of Birriería Chololo on the west side of the highway.  Be sure to stop!

Over 80 years ago, Birriería Chololo started life as a street stand.  Its founder, Don Isidro Torres, made a huge success of the family business.  Today, there are three Birrierías Chololo run by Don Isidro's eight children, and the Chololo campestre (countryside), managed by Fidel Torres Ruiz, is the busiest of the batch.  The restaurant, which seats 1000 people and turns the tables four times every Sunday, is closed only on Lenten Fridays and Christmas Day.  Every other day of the year, it's a goat feast.

Birria and frijolitos refritos con queso, for two people.  A bowl of consomé is in the background.

The offerings at Birriería Chololo (a nickname for Isidro) are pure simplicity.  Birria de chivo (goat), consomé (the rich goat broth), frijolitos con queso (refried beans with melted cheese), salsa de molcajete (house-made salsa served in heavy volcanic stone mortars), a quesadilla here and there, and a couple of desserts are the entire bill of fare.  The birria, cooked 12 to 14 hours in a clay oven, is prepared to your order, according to the number in your party.  You can ask for maciza (just chunks of meat) or surtido (an assortment of meats, including the goat's tongue, lips, and tripitas (intestines).

Each order of birria is prepared at the time it's requested.  The goat meat is chopped, weighed, mopped with sauce and glazed under the salamander, then brought piping hot to the table.

Birriería Chololo raises its own animals from birth to slaughter.  That way, says Don Fidel, quality control is absolute.  The restaurant butchers approximately 700 100-pound animals per week to feed the hungry multitudes.

Salsa de molcajete estilo Chololo: addictive as sin and hotter than Hades.

The full bar at El Chololo serves its liquor in a way you might not have seen at your local watering hole.  A bottle of your favorite tipple is set down on your table.  A black mark on the open bottle's label indicates where your consumption starts, and at the end of your meal, you're charged for alcohol by the measure.

Consomé, birria, salsa de molcajete, and frijoles refritos con queso.

Some birrierías serve meat and consomé in one plate, but not El Chololo.   Consomé, the heady pot likker rendered from the goats' overnight baking, is served in its own bowl.  Before you dip your spoon into the soup, add some fresh minced onions, a pinch of sea salt, a squeeze of limón, and a squirt of the other house-made salsa on the table, the one in the squeeze bottle.  Ask for refills of consomé--they're on the house.  Just don't ask for the recipe.  It's a closely guarded family secret.

One of the two huge clay ovens for baking birria at El Chololo.

On Sundays and other festive days, roving mariachis brighten up the restaurant's ambiance.  Birthday parties, First Communion parties, wedding anniversaries, and other family fiestas are all celebrated at El Chololo, and nothing makes a party better than a song or two.   You'll hear Las Mañanitas (the traditional congratulatory song for every occasion) ten times on any given Sunday! 

From the front door to the back garden, everything about Birriería Chololo is puro folklor mexicano and wonderfully picturesque.

Mexico Cooks! and "El Mural" at Taco Fish La Paz in Guadalajara

Taco Fish La Paz is just a couple of carts on the street in Guadalajara, with the kitchen across the way.  Mexico Cooks! and El Mural arrived early and beat the crowds.  Lines can be up to 30 people long!  This famous street stand offers parking and parking assistance, necessary because of the hordes of  tapatíos (Guadalajarans) who show up hungry.

This delighted tourist had just flown in from Acapulco.  Taco Fish La Paz was her first stop in Guadalajara.  Her drink is agua fresca de jamaica, a cold hibiscus tea.

A plate of freshly made tacos de pescado (fish tacos).  These are garnished with house-made cabbage and carrot slaw and cucumber slices.  Taco Fish La Paz also prepares tacos de camarón (shrimp), de marlín ahumado (smoked marlin), and de jaiba (crab).

Choose your condiments and sides from the cart.  You'll find chiles toreados con cebollas, pickled onions, sliced cucumbers, a different slaw, and house-made salsas.

Our photographer from El Mural was starving! 

Next, the bottled salsa bar, including every table salsa you can imagine, plus freshly-squeezed jugo de limón (Mexican lime juice), mayonesa (mayonnaise), salsa inglesa (Worcestershire sauce), salt, and crema (like creme fraiche), with or without chile.

Freshly fried fish and shrimp at Taco Fish La Paz.  Each taco de pescado (fish taco) includes a huge piece of fish.  Each taco de camarón (shrimp taco--Mexico Cooks!' favorite) includes three very large fried shrimp.  The taco in the tongs is a taco dorado de jaiba--fried crab taco!

It takes hours to peel and de-vein the vast quantities of shrimp eaten at Taco Fish La Paz.

The fish and shrimp are dipped in batter and fried, then carried across the street in tubs to the taco stand.

Last time we were there, the youngest customer at Taco Fish La Paz was only a month old.  What a cutie pie!

Mexico Cooks! and "El Mural" Love El Ostión Feliz (The Happy Oyster)

Denisse Hernández, reporter from Guadalajara's newspaper El Mural, interviews Rosario Reyes Estrada about the coctel de camarón (shrimp cocktail) that Mexico Cooks! proclaims to be the best in Mexico.  Behind the two women is another tianguis (street market) booth that sells balls and toys.

Last February, while Mexico Cooks! was deep in the heart of Chiapas, an email requesting a tour arrived saying that El Mural, the prominent Guadalajara newspaper, wanted Mexico Cooks! to guide a writer and photographer on an eating tour of...Guadalajara!  The initial email from the editor said Mexico Cooks! was the best blog in the blogosphere, they were dying to meet us, and that the article would be featured in an upcoming Buena Mesa, El Mural's Friday food section.  Flattery will get you everywhere, so of course we said a delighted YES.

Sra. Reyes, her family, and a small staff operate El Ostión Feliz.

Mexico Cooks! met reporter Denisse Hernández and a staff photographer in Guadalajara and off we went on our eating outing.  Our first stop was Guadalajara's enormous Tianguis del Sol, an outdoor market specializing in everything from replacement parts for your blender to incredible food and produce purveyors. 

When I was first living in Guadalajara, a dear friend introduced me to Rosario Reyes Estrada at her booth El Ostión Feliz (the Happy Oyster).  Sra. Reyes is at the Tianguis del Sol every day it's open, serving concoctions of fresh fish and seafood.  Her tiny booth, where about ten hungry diners at a time sit on plastic stools at a long, oilcloth-covered table, is definitely where the desayuno (breakfast) and almuerzo (brunch) action is.  We've been eating her coctel de camarón (shrimp cocktail) for years, and as far as Mexico Cooks! is concerned, it's the best in Mexico.  We don't know what magic ingredient she incorporates into the coctel (she swears her only secret is the use of the absolutely freshest ingredients), but from the first bite years ago, we were instantly addicted.

Look at the size of the shrimp in that soup spoon!  Each of Doña Rosario's cocteles de camarón includes a dozen shrimp like that.

A Mexican coctel de camarón resembles a shrimp cocktail from the United States or Canada only in that both are made with shrimp.  When asked for her recipe, Sra. Reyes, originally from the state of Veracruz, just smiles.  This approximation of her coctel will have to satisfy you till you get to Guadalajara.

Coctel de Camarón Estilo Mexicano for Four

Ingredients for Poaching the Shrimp                               
48 fresh large (U25) shrimp, shell on.                                
1 clove garlic                                                                 
1 stick celery, with leaves if possible                                
1 carrot, washed but not peeled                                      
1 medium white onion, peeled                                         
1 Roma tomato                                                               
1 chile serrano, split from tip almost to stem                      
A few stems of cilantro

Ingredients for composing the coctel
Caldo (broth) reserved from cooking shrimp
Sea salt to taste
1 1/2 cups tomato catsup (not a typo)
1 Tbsp minced white onion per serving
1 Tbsp minced Roma tomato per serving
1 Tbsp minced cucumber per serving
1/2 tsp minced chile serrano
Roughly chopped cilantro to taste
Ripe avocado
Mexican limes, halved and seeded
Salsa de mesa (table salsa) such as
     Cholula, Valentina, Búfalo, etc.
     DO NOT USE TABASCO!

What You Might Not Have On Hand
Ice cream soda glasses--optional, but authentic for serving 

Procedure
In simmering water, poach the shrimp, along with the garlic, celery, carrot, onion, tomato, chile serrano, and cilantro until the shrimp are just done, firm and pink but still tender.  Discard the vegetables from the poaching.  Reserve and chill the caldo de camarón (poaching liquid) for later use.  Be careful: a friend of mine poached his shrimp and drained it, inadvertently pouring all the liquid down the drain!  Be sure to use a container under your strainer.

Shell the shrimp and chill.

At serving time, mix the catsup, the reserved, chilled caldo de camarón (shrimp broth), and sea salt to taste.   Add a squeeze of fresh Mexican lime juice. 

In each ice cream soda glass or other large glass, put the indicated quantities of minced onion, tomato, cucumber, chile serrano, and chopped cilantro.  Add 12 shrimp to each glass.  Pour the catsup/caldo de camarón mixture to cover all ingredients. 

Serve with diced avocado.  At the table, offer Mexican lime halves for those who prefer a limier flavor, a small dish of sea salt, a dish of minced chile serrano and another of chopped cilantro for those who prefer more, and a salsa de mesa or two for those who like more picante (HEAT!).

A coctel de camarón is traditionally served with saltine crackers and tostadas, those crunchy fried or dehydrated salty tortillas.  Tostadas are usually rubbed with the cut side of a squeezed lime for added flavor.  Buen provecho!

The lovely Sra. Josefina Naranjo of Guadalajara has eaten at El Ostión Feliz for years, coming every Friday to enjoy Doña Rosario's fish and seafood.

The assortment of Doña Rosario's salsas includes Valentina (in the bottle), a house-made salsa of cucumber, onion, and chile habanero (in the bowl), a green avocado/cilantro salsa, and my favorite, the little jar of salsa de ajonjolí (sesame seed) and chile de árbol.  This one is so popular that Doña Rosario sells it to take home.  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't be without a jar of this salsa muy picante in the refrigerator.

Next week with Mexico Cooks! and "El Mural": Taco Fish La Paz. 

Sin Maíz, No Hay País: Without Corn, There is No Country

Yumil Kaxob, the Mayan corn god.

Mexico is corn, corn is Mexico.   From prehistoric times, Mexico has produced corn to feed its people. Archaeological remains of early corn ears found in the Oaxaca Valley date as far back as 3450 B.C.  Ears found in a cave in Puebla date to 2750 B.C.

Diego Rivera, Festival de Maíz, 1923-24.

Around 1500 B.C. the first evidence of large-scale land clearing for milpas appears. Indian farmers still grow corn in a milpa, (corn field), planting a dozen crops together, including corn, melon, tomatoes, sweet potato, and varieties of squash and beans. Some of these plants lack nutrients which others have in abundance, resulting in a powerful, self-sustaining symbiosis between all plants grown in the milpa. The milpa is therefore seen by some as one of the most successful human inventions – alongside corn.¹

Listen as this group from Burgos, Tamaulipas, sings Las Cuatro Milpas, a song from the early 20th Century: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se4OcLbFuFg. 

The song's sad verses recount the loss of a family's home and its milpas.

         "Only four cornfields remain
          Of the little ranch that was mine,
          And that little house, so white and beautiful
          Look how sad it is!

          Loan me your eyes, my brown woman,
          I'll carry them in my soul,
          And what do they see over there?
         The wreckage of that little house,
         So white and beautiful--
         It's so sad!

       The stables no longer shelter cattle,
        Everything is finished!  Oh, Oh!
        Now there are no pigeons, no fragrant herbs,
        Everything is finished!

      Four cornfields that I loved so much,                 
      My mother took care of them, Oh!
      If you could just see how lonely it is,
      Now there are no poppies and no herbs!"

The family-owned milpa is quickly disappearing from Mexico's flatlands and hillsides, giving way to agro-business corn farming.  Today, Mexico's corn industry produces more than 24 million tons of white corn a year.  Nearly half again that amount is imported from other countries. The imports are primarily yellow corn used to feed animals.

Woman blowing on corn as she puts it in the fire-- so that the corn will not be afraid of the heat.  Florentine Codex, Fray Bernardino Sahagún, third quarter 16th Century.

According to the Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation story, humans were created from corn.  Do you know the story? 

At first, there were only the sky and the sea.  There was not one bird, not one animal.  There was not one mountain.  The sky and the sea were alone with the Maker.  There was no one to praise the Maker's names, there was no one to praise the Maker's glory.

Traditional milpa (cornfield) in the mountains of central Mexico.

The Maker said the word, "Earth," and the earth rose, like a mist from the sea.  The Maker only thought of it, and there it was.

The Maker thought of mountains, and great mountains came.  The Maker thought of trees, and trees grew on the land.

The Maker made the animals, the birds, and all the many creatures of the Earth. 

Masa tricolor (three-color corn dough) ground by hand using the metate y mano.

The Maker wanted a being in his likeness.  First the Maker used dirt to create a Human, but
made of mud and earth.  It didn't look very good.  Dry, it crumbled and wet, it softened.  It looked lopsided and twisted. It only spoke nonsense.  It could not multiply.  So the Maker tried again.

Our Grandfather and Our Grandmother, the wise deities of the Sun and Moon, were summoned.  "Determine if we should carve people from wood," commanded the Maker. 

They answered, "It is good to make your people with wood.  They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply."

"So be it," replied the Maker.  And as the words were spoken, it was done.  The doll-people were made with faces carved from wood.  They had children.  But they had no blood, no sweat.  They had nothing in their minds.  They had no respect for the Maker or the creations of the Maker.  They just walked about, accomplishing nothing.

"This is not what I had in mind," said the Maker, and destroyed the wooden people.

In Michoacán, unfilled tamales called corundas are eaten with churipo, a richly delicious beef and cabbage soup.

The Maker sat and contemplated the ears of corn, the kernels of the ears.  The Maker thought, "What comes from this nourishing life will be my people," and the Maker ground the corn, ground the corn and formed Man and Woman.  On the first day, when Man and Woman, formed from corn, awakened, they rose up praising the Maker's name and giving thanks for their lives.  They bore children, they praised the Maker as they planted corn and tended the crop.  They were made in the Maker's image, born from corn.  The Maker and his people rejoiced in one another."

Stone image of Yumil Kaxob.  Photo courtesy of Michael Martin.²

Imagine an entire people formed from corn, formed to honor the seed, the earth, the plant, the crop!  Corn cannot grow without human intervention; ancient Mesoamerican humanity could not have existed without corn.  Spiritual planting rituals continue to be celebrated in the milpas every chosen planting day. 

Corn is still the staple food of Mexico.  Nixtamal (dried dent corn soaked in water and cal, builder's lime) is corn's basic currency.  Nixtamal is the starting point for the tortilla, the tamal, the corunda, the sope, the cup of atole, and a myriad of other masa-based preparations.

This poster advertises a conference about "Nuestro Maíz" (Our Corn) held on June 3, 2008 at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico.

As Mexico changes, corn production also changes.  NAFTA and globalization have affected Mexico's corn industry, as has genetic modification of corn itself.  Is corn food, or is corn fuel for vehicles?  Argument rages about the future of Mexico's corn.  There is, however, no doubt: sin maíz, no hay país.  Without corn, there is no country.

1.  http://www.philipcoppens.com/maize.html
2.  http://www.pbase.com/pinemikey/image/85632845

Looking for Smut on the Internet?

Not that kind!  What in the world are you thinking!

Ustilago maydis, called corn smut, or cuitlacoche.

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plating:
Serves two generously.

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

We all but licked our plates. 

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

Provecho! 

What Do You Collect?

Many collectors hunt for fine Mexican textiles.  These are hand-embroidered Purhépecha huipiles (blouses).

Mexico Cooks! reads a lot of blogs, some about Mexico, some specifically about Mexican culinary affairs, some about photography, and some of general interest.  Once in a while, a particular blog post jogs some deep connection and keeps us pondering the subject for days.  When I read the April 6, 2008, post on Billie Mercer's Billieblog (written from San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato), I was stopped in my tracks.

Billie had read and linked to this article about the psychology of collecting.  I'm not so sure I buy the various theories that the article discusses, but the topic really pushed my buttons.

When I was a very small child, my family lived next door to the Fords.  The Ford family included Mr. and Mrs. Ford, their my-age son, and Mrs. Ford's mother, who seemed from my six-year-old perspective to be very, very old.   She was tiny, her face creased with age, and her white hair was wound into a bun high on her head. 

Once a week, Mrs. Ford washed her mother's hair.  I often sat chatting with her mother while Mrs. Ford brushed and brushed the long white hair until it was dry. While we chatted, Mrs. Ford's mother let me hold a little doll that she had owned since her own long-ago childhood.  Unlike my own hard plastic Madame Alexander dolls or my nearly-real Baby Newborn, the old doll was made of what I learned to call bisque.  She had real hair and  open/shut eyes made of glass!  She had four teeny-tiny china teeth!  Her wee blue shoes and white socks were also bisque, part of the mold that made her legs.  Her hand-sewn clothing (including an apron) was from another time, not from the 1950s.  Mrs. Ford's mother knew that the little bisque doll was from Germany and that she had received it as a birthday present when she turned seven--the very same age that I was about to be!  That small doll fascinated me.  It seemed to hold clues to a life not my own and a time I did not understand.

Dolls like these intrigued me throughout my childhood.

When the week of my birthday arrived, Mrs. Ford and her mother presented me with a small ribbon-tied box.  The doll!  They gave me the doll!  She sat in a place of honor on my bookshelf, her tiny white teeth gleaming, and she went with me every time I visited Mrs. Ford's mother.  When my family moved away, my hardest loss was those weekly visits to another childhood far removed from my own.

That little doll, so special to me, started my collection.  My parents and my grandparents began giving me other antique dolls on big-gift occasions: birthdays and Christmas often brought a new addition to my doll family.  Soon my father's antique glass-doored bookcase moved into my bedroom to house my own books along with these antique children.

I loved my 1920s Grace Storey Putnam bisque Bye-Lo Baby, originally modeled in clay, from the head of a sleeping three-day-old infant.

For me, the fascination of collecting antique dolls was in large part about the mystery: whose dolls had they been originally, where had they traveled, what happened to the little girl who first treasured them?  The mystery also included the information treasure hunt: who made the doll, and when, and where?  How much did it cost when it was first made, and what was its value today, and why?

As a young adult, I lost interest in my dolls and eventually sold the collection.  During the following years, I occasionally experienced what I think of as 'collector's lust', the hunger for a roomful of this or that.  In my case, I lusted for one-of-a-kind early American folk art.  The idiosyncratic, the outsider, the slightly off-kilter intrigued and beckoned to me.  Beloved pieces still decorate my house in Mexico.

A handmade mid-19th century black walnut fretless banjo, a country Hepplewhite table, and a home-made Mexican shooting gallery dog target are among the items that decorate my Morelia entry hall.

Later, I learned about late 19th and early 20th century Mexican arte popular (folk art) and began to accumulate a few examples.  A friend of mine says, "Two of anything is just a pair, but three is a collection."  My collection, then, is primarily of old Mexican folk art.  Newly made pieces do occasionally creep into the house, but I prefer to find little treasures that verge on the antique.

In my office, a new papel maché (paper maché) Judás reclines next to an early 20th century Balbino Lucano-style jarra (pitcher) from Tonalá, Jalisco.

The blue-and-yellow Mexican fantasía plate dates to the 1920s.  The painted Lake Pátzcuaro box was also made in the early 20th century and has its original key.  My partner and I commissioned the calabaza de barro (clay squash) from the artist.

Why do I collect?  It's all about Mrs. Ford's mother, that German bisque doll and the fascination that hooked me at age seven.  Why do certain things grab my attention and others leave me cold?  The jury is still out on that one.

So I wonder: what do you collect?  And why do you collect it?   Please leave your comments, I'm collecting those, too!

Torito de Petate: Morelia's Festival of Dancing Bulls

Mexico Cooks! is turning back the clock this week, but only a little: let's imagine that it's February 2, 2008, just before Lent begins, and we're in Morelia, Michoacán for the afternoon festival of the Torito de Petate.

El diablo (the devil) is an annual participant in Morelia's torito de petate competition.

The idea of this celebration is that everyone, young and old alike, have a great time celebrating and learning the significance of this age-old tradition.  Year after year, the creativity that characterizes the making of these so-called 'little bulls' surprises us with huge and exceptionally colorful figures.

A huge owl decorates this torito de petate.

The figure is made of a bamboo frame, covered with colorful tissue paper.  Near the bottom of the torito, the head of a bull peeks out, adorned with banderillas.  The upper part of the torito shows off huge cut-paper shapes: swans, lyres, stars, mermaids, and every other fantasy that can be created in cut tissue paper.

A monumental serenita (mermaid) is the top of this torito.  Compare the serenita figure with the adult women standing to its left and right to get a good idea of its size.

The torito de petate honoring Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, built by Eduardo Hernández and his crew.

Mexico Cooks! talked with Gregorio Hernández, head of the torito team representing El Clavelito in Morelia's Colonia Eduardo Ruíz.  Sr. Hernández gave us some history.  "Before the Spanish conquest, the Purhépecha (local indigenous people) danced with the head of a bull, a real bull, to welcome the spring planting season and to insure a good crop.  It's said that the little bull is the symbol of fertility. 

"After the Spanish came and the indigenous people were converted to Catholicism, Tata Vasco (Don Vasco de Quiroga, the first Roman Catholic bishop in Michoacán) encouraged the people to include the bull dance in pre-Lenten celebrations.  At first the same bull head was used, and then the people added a sombrero de listones (a beribboned hat) to make a bigger show.  After that, the torito just got bigger and bigger and became what it is today: a joyful dance and artistic competition."

The young man standing next to this fantasy-figure torito is about 1.60 meters (5'6") tall.  Just below the yin-yang symbol you can see the horned black bull head in its red cap.  Be sure to click on all of the pictures on Mexico Cooks! to enlarge them for a better view.

One of the toritos dancing on stage at Morelia's Plaza Valladolid.  Photo courtesy of La Jornada de Michoacán.

In another version of the story of the torito de petate, it's said that the dance had its beginning in the 1830s, when hacienda owners allowed their slaves to celebrate planting or a good harvest with the Dance of the Bull.  The dance troupe was made up of la maringuía (a female figure said to represent the Virgin Mary), the caporal (soldier, representing St. Joseph), a caballito (little horse), representing the Niño Jesús (Child Jesus), and the bull, representing worldly activities.  At the end of the 20th Century dancers added another figure, known as el apache, a fearsome creature whose sole role is to strike fear into the hearts of children in the audience! 

She's choosing small toritos de petate to take home as souvenirs.  Mexico Cooks! liked so many of them that we ended up not buying one.  We simply couldn't decide.

Cascarones (dyed eggshells filled with confetti), ready to break on the heads of your best pals or your girlfriend.  You can always tell who's the grade school heartthrob of the moment by the amount of confetti in his or her hair.

Time to take the torito de petate back to the colonia (neighborhood) where it was made.

We stayed at the festival till the last dance was done.  What fun we had watching the dancers fill Morelia's Plaza Valladolid with color, music, and joy.  Maybe we'll see you there next year.

Remember to look at Mexico Cooks!, May 17, 2008, for exciting information on our tours.