Mexico Cooks!

Música Purhépecha::Purhépecha Music with Orquesta Janintserakua

Poster advertising the P'urhepecha New Year celebrations in the city of Chilchota, Michoacán.  Orquesta Janintserakua played at the festival.

Since the days before written history and since long before the 16th Century Spanish conquest of what is now Mexico, the Purhépecha indigenous people of Michoacán have had a profound impact on all things cultural in the region.  Traditional Purhépecha textiles, clay work, metalwork, wood carving, dance, and music continue to be part of Michoacán's daily 21st Century life. 

Orquesta Janintserakua of Morelia, Michoacán, onstage at the Auditorio del Centro Cultural Universitario.

The Orquesta Janintserakua, founded in 2003 by Juan Carlos Guerrero Jerónimo, is active in promoting the traditional pirékuas, sones abajeños and sones Purhépecha abajeños native to the Purhépecha of Michoacán.  The orchestra takes pride in its strong musical presence both in the city of Morelia and in outlying towns across the state.

Old friends share gossip and a laugh at the Mercado Municipal in Pátzcuaro.

Music among the Purhépecha is an integral part of community life, both secular and religious.   Pirékuas are most often highly romantic love songs, written and sung to woo a girl or to celebrate a couple's love.  Sones, whether sones Purhépechas or sones Purhépecha abajeños, are generally lively dance tunes.  Sones Purhépechas come from or are written about Michoacán's Zona Lacustre (lake zone) near beautiful Lago de Pátzcuaro (Lake Pátzcuaro), or from the Meseta Purhépecha (the Purhépecha tablelands), in the foothills of nearby mountains.  Sones Purhépecha abajeños originate in Michoacán's lowlands--the Tierra Caliente (Hot Lands).

Oswaldo Rivas Sánchez, cellist, Danilo Gallardo Riveros on bass, Cristián Yaird Ponce Villanova and Victor Alfonso Zaragoza Rosales, both playing second violin.  Hidden in the photo are other members of the Orquesta Janintserakua María Cristina Soria Pérez (saxophone), Juan Carlos Zamudio Anastasio (trumpet), and Carlos Campos Ramírez (trombone).

This iconic mask of the Purhépecha Danza de los Viejitos (Dance of the Little Old Men) is for sale in the Pátzcuaro market.

Some composers, especially Maestro Nicolás Bartolo Juárez, have also written sones purhépechas as anthems to the glories of nature.  For example, Maestro Bartolo composed a son purhépecha for each one of the six islands of  Lago de Pátzcuaro (Lake Pátzcuaro): Janitzio, La Pacanda, Jarácuaro, Yunuén, Tecuena, and Urandén.

Among the most noted composers in the region are José María Ponce Martínez, Salvador Próspero Román, Francisco Salmerón Equihua, Eusebio González Tomás, Primitivo Alcántar Alejandre, José Alfredo Barrera Próspero, and Francisco Mercado Zacarías.  All were or are prolific in various genres: vals, pirkékua, polkas, and sones.

Sara Patricia Ballesteros Lugo and José Luis Patlán Montero, first violins.

Juan Carlos Guerrero Jerónimo, the young director of Orquesta Janintserakua, spent his childhood and adolescence in his parents' Michoacán home town, Cherán.  Beginning at age 11, he studied voice and violin with Maestro Francisco Mercado Zacarías in the Brigada de Desarrollo Indigena No. 15.  At 15, he entered Morelia's Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, completing a Licenciatura en Música (similar to a bachelor's degree) with a specialty in composition. 

In addition to composition, he has also studied directing techniques, clarinet, and saxophone.  Only 37 years old, he has formed and played in several important musical groups.  In 2003, he founded the Orquesta Janintserakua for the express purpose of preserving the musical works of Purhépecha composers.

P'urhepecha orchestra in ropa típica (native dress) in Zacán, Michoacán.

The Orquesta Janintserakua is an important force in preserving the cultural heritage of more than a century of regional composers.  Traditional regional music could easily be muscled out in present-day Michoacán by modern ranchera, banda, and grupero music. 

José Luis Patlán, first violin: Monserrat Viridiana Magaña Arriaga, first clarinet; and Maestro Juan Carlos Guerrero Jerónimo, second clarinet and director of the Orquesta Janintserakua.

In 2008, the Centro de Investigación de la Cultura Purhépecha de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo produced and published Volumes 9 and 10 of the Antología de la Música Purhépecha (Anthology of Purhépecha Music), featuring Orquesta Janintserakua and Orquesta Tiamu Uricha.  On the double-volume CD, both orchestras play the sones Purhépechas and the sones abajeños composed by Maestro Salvador Ramírez Várgas from the village of San Felipe de los Herreros, Michoacán.  In the near future, Volumes 14 and 15 of the Antología de la Música Purhépecha will again feature music by Maestro Ramírez.

This elderly Purhépecha woman sells dried corn husks and alcatraces (calla lilies) on the street.

Maestro Ramírez was born in 1920 in Uruapan, where his family lived due to exigencies created by the Mexican Revolution of 1910.  The family returned to San Felipe in 1930.  Just a few years later, young Salvador joined his brother and other musicians in forming Orquesta Los Ramírez, which soon became sought after as one of the best of the region.  Today, the Orquesta Los Ramírez is known as Orquesta Tiamu Uricha.

During his more than 70-year career as a composter and musician, Maestro Ramírez composed literally hundreds of sones and sones abajeños Purhépecha.  Mexico Cooks! was privileged to be present at the  concert in Morelia's Teatro Ocampo, where Maestro Ramírez received copies of Volume 9 and 10 of the recording of his music, produced by the university.  Soon after that concert in his honor, Maestro Ramírez passed away and was buried in San Felipe los Herreros.

Carlos Antonio Campos Araiza, oboe; Monserrat Magaña, clarinet; Sofía Ivette Campos Araiza, transverse flute.

Traditional Purhépecha pottery from Tzintzuntzan.

Orquesta Janintserakua's members are primarily young musicians from Morelia's Escuela de Bellas Artes, although several members are also members of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán, which has its seat in Morelia.  The orchestra takes Michoacán's regional Purhépecha music wherever it's requested: to regional town fiestas, to the state capital, and to outlying districts.  Its main goal is to spread the knowledge and enjoyment of this highly idiosyncratic musical form.

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Boulevard de Tortas Ahogadas: Morelia's Homage to A Guadalajara Sandwich

A waiter at Morelia's Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara restaurant, on the run with a tray full of delicious tortas and tacos ahogados for hungry customers.

Mexico Cooks! lives in a beautiful and primarily residential neighborhood of Morelia, Michoacán.  However, just down our street and around a couple of corners is a wide street lined on both sides with small businesses.  On Wednesdays, our weekly tianguis (street market) sets up in a plaza on the west side of that street.  A wonderful La Michoacana ice cream store is next to the market, along with an upholsterer, a small discount pharmacy, a stained glass maker, an upscale kitchen design center, a shoe store or two, and several take-out food shops.

The torta ahogada from Tortas Ahogadas "El Chile".

Best of all, this street is home to at least three--or four, or maybe more--open-air restaurants that specialize in tortas ahogadas, the signature 'drowned' sandwich from Guadalajara.  The torta ahogada is a like a French dip sandwich gone crazy.  The restaurant-lined boulevard is affectionately known as el boulevard de la torta (Sandwich Row).  Every restaurant is popular and every diner has his or her favorite torta: this bread is more 'authentic', that sauce has more chispa (spark), the outside edges of this pork filling are crisper.  It's the kind of debate that creates conversation and friendly argument for years, not unlike the debate over thin versus thick crust pizza, Coke versus Pepsi, and soft-serve versus scooped ice cream.

Tortas Ahogadas "El Chile" opened about six months ago.  The afternoon we were there, our table and two others had a total of six customers, although the restaurant seats about 50.  It's hard to be the new kid on the block. 

Mexico Cooks! decided to take on the down-and-dirty job of taste-testing three of these tortas ahogadas joints.  As Judy pointed out, "It's in the name of research, you know.  It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it."  To keep the taste-test fair, Judy got to order whatever she wanted, but I ordered the same style torta at each of the three restaurants.  We dined at each place at about three o'clock in the afternoon, prime time for the main meal of the day in Mexico.

Long lines, day after day after day, are the hallmark of Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara.  This Morelia restaurant has been serving tortas ahogadas and little else for 17 years.  The restaurant seats about 150 people and has an equally busy second location just a few blocks away.

The formula for a torta ahogada is simple: split open a crusty, densely crumbed birrote salado (sugarless white flour sandwich roll), fill it with lean chopped pork, thoroughly drench the sandwich with a tomato-y salsa picante (hot sauce), and top with thinly sliced pickled onions.  It's that easy, and it's that complex.  For starters, where does the restaurant get its bread?  It's almost impossible to find a real birrote salado outside Guadalajara.  Is the pork overcooked and mushy, is it tender with those crispy, caramelized edges, is it fatty?  Does the salsa have just the right amount of vinegar, just the right amount of chile de árbol, just the right amount of tomato?  Are the pickled onions white onions or red onions?  Restaurant rivalries are born from these differences, as are friendly debates over the merits of various tortas.

The torta ahogada at Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara.

Originally from Guadalajara and still served at carts, stands, and restaurants everywhere in that city, the quintessential torta ahogada is best eaten at Estadio Jalisco during a game of fútbol (soccer) while the sauce runs down your hands and arms.  Tapatíos (nickname for a Guadalajara resident) or not, people now snarf down tortas ahogadas all over Mexico.

The sign at Ahogadas Jalisco reads, "Here and now and for many years, we are Ahogadas Jalisco, giving you, your family and your friends something different."  Ahogadas Jalisco seats about 80 people and has been in business for seven years.  It was jammed with customers the day Mexico Cooks! ate there.

Anywhere you eat a torta ahogada, you ask for it brought to you at just the level of picante you like: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, or muerta.  One-quarter means that the sauce for 'drowning' your sandwich is mostly very thin tomato sauce mixed with a quick hit of chile.  One-half means the sauce will be twice as hot as the 1/4.  Three-quarters...well, you get it.  Muerta means that your sauce will be 100% chile, no tomato.  Muerta means DEAD, and you might well be if you eat this and aren't accustomed to its substantially more than intense level of mouth heat.  For research purposes, I ordered mine media (half) and added more chile as required.

The torta ahogada at Ahogadas Jalisco.

Here's a recipe:

Torta Ahogada Estilo Guadalajara (Guadalajara Style 'Drowned' Sandwich)

600 grams fresh ripe tomatoes
50 grams chile de árbol
pinch of pepper
pinch of salt
1 clove of garlic
1 bay leaf
Water
2 whole cloves
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp oregano, preferably Mexican
1 medium white onion, minced
600 grams thinly sliced freshly made carnitas
12 birrote salado or other small loaves of crusty, dense bread

Thinly sliced pickled onions for garnish.

Cook the tomatoes, minced onion, and garlic in water, until soft. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.  In a blender, blend until as smooth as possible.  Use cooking liquid to thin as necessary; the salsa should be quite thin.  Strain.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Reserve.

Cook the chiles.  Add vinegar, oregano, cloves, and salt to taste.  In a blender, blend until very smooth.  Strain.  Reserve.

Split open the birrotes, leaving the top and bottom halves hinged together.  Put each one on its serving plate (a shallow soup plate is the best).  Pack 100 grams of sliced carnitas into each birrote. 

Ask each of your comensales (diners) how much picante he or she wants on the torta and custom-mix the chile you prepared with the reserved tomato sauce.  Douse the torta very liberally inside and out with the sauces your guests requested.  The sandwich should be soaked and swimming in sauce.  Garnish with pickled onions, and serve.

Serve bowls of chile and bowls of thin tomato sauce on the side so your guests can add more of either.

Serves six.

These young Morelia beauties ordered tacos ahogados and shared a papa rellena (stuffed potato) at Ahogados Jalisco.  For an order of three tacos, the restaurant covers crisp-fried tacos de carnitas with tomato and chile sauce to your taste, then tops it all with shredded cabbage and pickled onions.

All three restaurants are bargains.  A torta ahogada costs about 15 pesos, an order of three tacos ahogados costs about 18 pesos.  All of the restaurants offer soft drinks, beer, and aguas frescas at reasonable prices.  Some of the restaurants have specialties other than standard tortas.  For example, El Chile has tortas y tacos ahogados de camarón (shrimp) on the menu and Ahogadas Jalisco sells addictive papas rellenas (baked potatoes stuffed with thin-sliced fried ham, melted cheese, and mustardy cream sauce and garnished with a chile toreado).

The outstanding papa rellena (stuffed potato) at Ahogadas Jalisco.

Just for you, Mexico Cooks! sacrificed herself on the altar of culinary research and ate tortas ahogadas for days, to the point that Judy laughingly said the next stop was Peptobismolandia.  Which tortas were the best? 

We loved the tortas at Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara for several reasons: the delicious, crisp-along-the-edges meat, the marvelous flavors of the sauce, the ambiance (including the recorded music), at the jumping restaurant, the attentive service.  The bread at Ahogadas Jalisco was the best, the tacos ahogados were great, and we swooned over the papa rellena.  The owner at Tortas Ahogadas El Chile was completely accommodating and trying his best to succeed, but his restaurant has a hard act to follow: it's right across the street from Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara, the major player on el boulevard de la torta.  You'll have to visit Morelia and try them all yourselves!

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Simposio de Quelites en la UNAM :: Symposium on Wild and Cultivated Mexican Greens at the UNAM

Mexico Cooks! attended the July 1, 2009, Simposio de Los Quelites (Symposium of Wild and Cultivated Mexican Greens) at the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Garden) of the UNAM (National Autonomous University) in Mexico City.  The day-long symposium featured talks by scientists, chefs, nutritionists, and other members of Mexico City's culinary community.

Quelites are the edible, tender, newly grown parts of wild (and in some instances, cultivated) plants.  Those tender parts include buds and flowers, shoots, and new leaves.  The name quelite comes from the Nahua word quili-tl.  Quelites that are commonly eaten today are verdolagas, guías de frijol, puntas de calabaza, papaloquelite, flor de pitahaya, guaje, pata de gallo, huihuila, quelite cenizo, and hoja santa.  Some quelites are eaten as vegetables and some are used like herbs, for flavor in a prepared dish.  Many are common, both in fields and markets, and some are quite rare.

Dr. Javier Caballero, director of the Jardín Botánico, gave opening remarks about the history of research at the 50-year-old garden.  He celebrated not only the ongoing work at the research center, but also the part the center has played in the preservation and rescue of ancient Mexican greens.

In the pre-Hispanic era in Mesoamerica, maíz (corn) was the king of plant food.  Corn's companions in the kitchen were chile and wild herbs, in addition to occasional wild game.  In his Codice Florentino, Fray Bernadino Sahagún documented this same diet that prevailed after the Spanish conquest and which, in many instances, continues to be the predominate diet.  Almost five hundred years post-conquest, maíz is still king in Mexico.

The stage display at the symposium featured both native Mexican quelites and vegetables that came to Mexico during and after the Spanish conquest.

Many of the speakers referred to the Spanish Franciscan Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and his exhaustive Codice Florentino, a compendium of 16th Century 12-volume Nahua, Spanish, and Latin writings accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations.  In the Codice, Sahagún described thousands upon thousands of details about indigenous life in Nueva España, including an entire volume about everyday and ritual foods.

Maestra Edelmira Linares and Dr. Robert Bye were both organizers and presenters at the symposium.  Their well-received talk covered the discussion of quelites in the Codice Florentino.  Dr. Bye and Maestra Linares stressed that Mexico eats all of its weeds; of the nearly 2000 species of quelites known to Fray Bernadino Sahagún, 500 are still used in Mexico's kitchens.

Dra. Karen Dakin (left), noted UNAM linguist, and prominent chef and writer Diana Kennedy animatedly discussed Dra. Dakin's fascinating talk about the etymology of Nahua naming of various quelites.  In the afternoon session, Sra. Kennedy gave a delightfully informal talk about the quelites consumed in rural parts of Mexico.  Sra. Kennedy drew a laugh from the audience when she said, "Some of these dishes may be treasures in the pueblos where they're made, but not all of them are to my liking."

Dra. Dakin stressed that the 'why' of words--how they are formed, what their roots are--is as important as their definitions.  This slide from her fascinating talk shows that the Nahua word ayoh-yaca-quili-tl (guía de calabaza [squash vine tendrils]) comes from ayoh (calabaza=squash), yaca (point, or nariz=nose--the part that goes out in front), and quili-tl (green vegetable).  A later speaker pointed out that right up to the present day, children running ahead of of a group of adults--like a squash vine's tendrils running out in front of the main vines--are sometimes called narices (noses).  Another speaker, Maestra Jiapsy Arias, pointed out that the Codice Florentino contains nearly triple the amount of information in Nahua as it does in Spanish.

Berros con elotes y crema (watercress cooked and served with corn kernels and cream).

Mid-afternoon at the symposium was devoted to what was touted to be a muestra de gastronomía y degustación: a food demonstration and tasting.  Mexico Cooks! and the rest of the assembled assumed that the degustación would include small tastes of a variety of edible plants.  Some people (names deleted to protect the guilty) actually thought we'd best plan to have our comida (the main meal of the day) elsewhere: these weeds would never sustain us through the rest of the day!  We were so wrong.

Rollitos de pechuga de pato con quelites (little rolls of duck breast with quelites).  These tidbits were simply fantastic: the flavors of the delicate breast of duck, the deep green quelites, and the pepitas combined to be more than the sum of their parts.

The group of chefs in charge of the degustación prepared so many beautiful and delicious dishes that it seemed we were in the presence of a latter-day loaves and fishes miracle.  Nearly 150 people ate until we were all but comatose. 

Tamalitos de quelites con queso (little tamales with quelites and cheese), from Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's magnificent on-campus Restaurante Azul y Oro at the UNAM.

Rollos capeados de huauzontle con queso de cabra (Rolls of huauzontle and goat cheese).

The flavors of every dish were superb.  Mexico Cooks! is hard-pressed to say which of the many dishes were her favorites.  The rollitos de pechuga de pato were a revelation, as were the tamalitos de quelites from Restaurante Azul y Oro, as were the berros con elote y crema.

Jericalla de quelites con hojas de quelite, estrella de anís, y tres mieles (custard of quelites with cheese, star anise, and three kinds of honey).  These tiny custards, no more than an inch in diameter, were marvelous as prepared by Chef María Elena Lugo Zermeño of Mexico City and Querétaro.

If pushed to the wall, however, I think I would have to choose--for sheer surprise and perfection--the jericalla de quelites (photo above).  The unexpected silky sweetness of the custard, the speck of crystalized leaf, the crackle of the star anise, and the drizzle of three honeys made this finale to our comida simply breathtaking.

The symposium was an enormous WOW! from start to finish.  The organization, execution, and thoughtful details were absolutely tops.  It doesn't get much better than this.

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A Fresh Look at Mexico's Tianguis (Street Markets)

Fresh from the fields, these gorgeous pimientos morrón rojo y amarillo (red and yellow sweet peppers) sell for about 60 pesos the kilo ($2.25 USD the pound) at the tianguis where Mexico Cooks! shops.

Nearly two 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 50 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 Nauhatl 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 reaches Iturriaga's ideal.  Often the produce can be second-rate, the meats and seafood far less than fresh, and the market's hygeine 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 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 Morelia.  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), all of our fruits and vegetables, cheeses and cream, grains, and flowers for the house.  We don't eat much beef and prefer to buy raw chicken at a supermarket.

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 400 pesos (about $30 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. 

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 big mangoes
6 red-ripe tomatoes
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 big avocado
2 large bananas
1 large papaya
1.5 lb fresh green beans
8 hot-out-of-the-oven bolillos
Total cost: 150 pesos--the equivalent of about $11.00 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 Wednesday and see what you think.

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