Mexico Cooks!

Carne de Cerdo en Salsa Verde (Pork in Green Sauce): Mexico Cooks! Favorite Main Dish for Parties

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 a year or so ago comes immediately to mind; it took me several days to recover just from the 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 completely satisfies both requirements.  It's my never-fail dish for many company dinners.

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 in 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.  Test the 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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Jello Shots, Mexican Style

Mexico Cooks! originally published this article in June 2007, in a slightly different form.

Sra. Abundis, a Guadalajara friend, prepared this clear gelatina (gelatin).  It's approximately 15" in diameter and stuffed with fresh red and green grapes, canned pineapple, and duraznos en almíbar (peaches canned in syrup). 

Whether you're having a midday meal at a traditional Mexican restaurant anywhere in the República or celebrating at a private party at the home of Mexican friends, you can be almost 100% sure that a prominent item on the dessert menu will be gelatin. As you browse the produce at any town's tianguis (street market) or elbow your way through the crowds at a fiesta patronal (patron saint's celebration), you'll see vendors selling plastic cups and glasses of jewel-colored gelatin desserts. Gelatina is a shimmering sweet fact of life in Mexico, popular with young and old alike.

What is this Mexican obsession with a food that smacks of 1950s Middle America? Delight in gelatin desserts has been prevalent in Mexico for years; marketing experts here report that it's eaten daily in nearly 90% of Mexican homes. Mexicans consume more gelatin desserts than nearly any other country in the world—three times the quantity of gelatin consumed in the United States alone. In restaurants, the dessert tray will almost always include a variety of gelatin desserts. When Señora Fulana (Mrs. So-and-So) is invited to a party at the home of her best friend, it's very traditional for her to take along a gelatin dessert, all fancied-up and ready for the admiration of the rest of the attendees.  At a birthday party, the dessert of preference is rarely cake and ice cream. It's almost always a plate of cake and a jiggling serving of gelatin, which requires no refrigeration to maintain its shape.

There are far more ways to prepare gelatin desserts in Mexico than your mother's Jell-O mixed with fruit cocktail or shredded celery and carrots. Some of the desserts are prepared with water, some with milk, and some are prepared as a layered combination of both.  Some are major productions involving hours of labor intensive preparation time.  And trust me when I tell you that housewives closely guard their recipes for gelatin desserts, not sharing among themselves unless the recipient of a recipe swears on her life that she will never take that dessert to a party where the other lady is also invited.

Sra. Abundis and her daughter Cristina prepared and painted this marvelous tiger gelatina for a child's birthday party.

Several months ago it was my task to prepare individual serving cups of gelatin for a two-year-old neighbor's birthday party—it seemed like I made hundreds. I thought it would be a complicated and difficult project, but it turned out to be quite a lot of fun. After asking another neighbor's advice, I learned that it's possible to buy powdered gelatin at any dulcería (candy store) or grocery store. The variety of available flavors is amazing: in addition to the ordinary strawberry, lime, and orange, I also found pistachio, almond, tamarindo, jerez (sherry), and peach.

While I could have kept my project simple, I decided instead to get fancy. No single-flavor cups of gelatin for this party! I read the directions printed on each bag and learned to prepare this flavor with water, that one with milk. I combined a layer of strawberry (prepared with water) with a layer of pistachio (prepared with milk). Recklessly, I disregarded the instructions to use water to prepare the peach flavor and used milk instead, combining an opaque peach-flavored, pale layer with a clear, bright orange-flavored layer.

Commercially made in Guadalajara for sale in Mexico's supermarkets, this three-layer single-serving gelatina includes a clear-gelatin fruit layer (complete with a prune and its pit), a milk-based layer, and a clear layer.  The gelatina comes with its own tiny yellow plastic spoon.  These 200 gram gelatins are prepared with preservatives and artificial coloring.  Each one costs about 8 pesos, or 70 cents US.

It's so simple. Of course you can do this at home, even north of the border. Just buy two different flavors of your favorite brand of gelatin dessert powder, some four-ounce plastic glasses, and have at it. Prepare one flavor and fill each glass to the half-way point. Refrigerate and allow that flavor to set. Prepare the second flavor, using either milk or water, pour it on top of the already jelled flavor, and refrigerate until set.  For me, this was fancy--but reader, read on!

The preparation of gelatin desserts has been raised to a fine art in Mexico. Special classes in gelatin preparation fascinate housewives and give rise to thriving cottage industry here. Recipes metamorphose from the relatively simple preparations like mine to the most elaborate of flavor and design combinations. A few years back, the craze for making individual clear gelatin desserts which contain flowers also made of gelatin has hit Mexico like a bombshell.

Flower gelatins like this one, made and copywrited by the Abundis family, are called gelatinas encapsuladas.  The flowers are made by injecting colors of gelatin and flower designs with a syringe into clear or transparent gelatins.  Neither Sra. Abundis nor Cristina took classes in making the flowers, although many handicrafts schools and individuals offer those courses.

This week I was fortunate to spend some time with Sra. Abundis and her daughter, Cristina, who operate a small home-based business in Guadalajara.  The Abundis family invited me to come watch and take pictures as they prepared special gelatinas for a child's birthday party.   Mother and daughter have worked together for the last two to three years, preparing made-to-order gelatins for birthdays, baptisms, girls' fifteenth birthday parties, baby showers, engagement parties, and weddings.

The gelatina personality of the day was Spiderman.  Cristina explained that the gelatin for the Spiderman mold and many more are milk-based, while other gelatins are water-based.  Milk gives the gelatina a more nutritious aspect than does plain water and also makes Spiderman's features show up better after they're painted.

In the Abundis kitchen, Spiderman is fresh out of the mold.  A selection of milk ingredients is lined up behind him, along with a small plate full of individual-serving Spiderman heads.

Sra. Abundis showed me the basic ingredients for the dessert; once the basics are assembled, they're flavored with vanilla.  Spiderman is prepared with powdered milk.  Other gelatinas are made with sweetened condensed milk or with evaporated milk.  The Abundis family uses pure cane sugar and unflavored gelatin for its desserts.  No preservatives are added.  These home-prepared gelatinas must be consumed within 48 hours of their preparation.

Many fancy gelatinas are painted once they're chilled and set.  Spiderman is no exception.  The paints are special vegetable food coloring gel, manufactured in Guadalajara. 

Sra. Abundis watches closely as Cristina paints Spiderman's red base coat.

While Cristina painted, Sra. Abundis told me that when her relatives moved from Mexico City to Guadalajara in 1940, there was no powdered, flavored gelatina available in the city.  Finally the relatives found a source--one stall at the Mercado Corona in Guadalajara's Centro Histórico sold it.

Cristina starts the initial work with black gel food coloring, outlining Spiderman's eyes.  She holds a licenciatura (bachelor of arts) in graphic design from the University of Guadalajara.

"The gelatina has to be very cold in order to paint it," Cristina commented.  "If it's not as cold and firm as possible, the paint will run."  Spiderman stayed briefly in the freezer between coats of food coloring gel.

Spiderman's intricate thread work is complete.

I asked Sra. Abundis and Cristina which molds are most popular for parties. "Right now, Spiderman is the one all the kids want.  Of course they also like Buzz Lightyear, Sponge Bob, all the Disney princesses, and Barbie.  The old favorites like Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, and Tweetie Bird are always popular."

Josua Isai Abundis Linares, Cristina's now nearly nine year old nephew, participated eagerly in the time I spent with his family.  He and I both anticipated our dessert: one of the individual Spiderman heads.

Cristina added, "For adult parties like weddings and baby showers, people want gelatinas encapsuladas, the ones with the flowers, to accompany their special cakes.  And it's funny, the kids gobble down their gelatinas, but the adults want to save theirs.  The flowers are so beautiful."

Cristina shows off the finished product: Spiderman in person!  Sra. Abundis painted the blue base.  The cost of this fantastic super hero is 130 pesos, approximately $11.50 USD.

"The people who ordered this Spiderman for their child's party will pick it up late this afternoon.  The party is tomorrow."  Cristina was happy that she finished the painting with no smears. 

One traditional recipe is for Mousse de Rompope (eggnog-flavored gelatin dessert). This preparation is appropriate for dessert at any party for adults.  It is so delicious that it bears repeating now.

Rompope (Eggnog) Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
Ten to twelve servings

Ingredients

Mousse
2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups rompope (Mexican eggnog flavored liqueur)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites

Strawberry Sauce
1 pound strawberries, stems removed
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon almond extract, anisette or Frangelica (hazelnut flavored liqueur)

Preparation

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin onto the water and let stand until absorbed, about five minutes. Meanwhile, heat the cream slightly in a small saucepan. (Do not boil.) Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin, mixing well to dissolve. Strain into a bowl; add the rompope and vanilla and mix well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold in the eggnog mixture, and then pour into a lightly greased 1.5 quart ring-mold, bowl or specialty-shape pan. Refrigerate at least four hours, preferably overnight.

Place strawberries, sugar and flavoring in a bowl and let stand for two hours. Purée in a blender, strain and set aside.

Just before serving, remove the mousse from its mold and drizzle with strawberry sauce. Garnish with slightly sweetened whipped cream. If desired, the mousse can be molded with a graham cracker crust.

Provecho!

For dessert after your comida (midday main meal), for a snack or for a light supper, sweet wiggly gelatina satisfies every time. Cooling and slithery, a gelatina is just the ticket when you need a little something, but you don't want too much.  They knew what they were talking about, way back then, when they said, "There's always room for..."

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Dreams, Reality, and the Future (Sueños, Realidades, y el Porvenir): Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia

One of Mexico Cooks!' favorite English-language sayings is, "Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first."  With that in mind, let's start at the finish.  This traditional pastel de elote (corn cake) is deservedly the most popular sweet end-of-a-meal treat at Restaurante San Miguelito.  Photo courtesy San Miguelito.

 Restaurante San Miguelito, open in Morelia since May of 1995, started life as a piano bar in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.  Servando and Erik Canela, the father and son team who started the venture, soon decided that offering an all-in-one restaurant, artisans' gallery and museum to Michoacán's capital city residents and visitors would be a wiser use of their time.  They would incorporate Don Servando's forty years' experience as an art and antiques dealer, his son Erik's experience, and his daughter Cynthia Martínez's extraordinary culinary talents and business acumen into a highly unusual endeavor.  Today, Restaurante San Miguelito continues its evolution as one of the most beautiful, most delicious, most spiritual, and most frequented restaurants in central Mexico.

The charming and multi-talented Cynthia Martínez of Restaurante San Miguelito.  

Walk through the door at San Miguelito and your attention is drawn first by the decor, then by the maitre d' who warmly welcomes you, and then by the artesanía (Mexican arts and crafts) that fills every nook and niche.  Even after a score of visits to the restaurant, I still spend as long exclaiming over the latest Noche de Muertos (Night of the Dead) skeletons, the newest finely hand-woven Michoacán rebozos (long rectangular shawls), and the proudly displayed alebrijes (hand-carved and hand-painted wooden fantasy animals) from Oaxaca as I do studying the wine list and the menu.  What beautifully tempting thing to buy!  What delicious tempting thing to eat!  What a wonderful dilemma!

Salón de las Conspiraciones (the Conspiracies Room), Restaurante San Miguelito.  Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.  Each section of the restaurant has a theme, and almost every item in the restaurant is for sale.  If you like the table and chairs, the glassware, or the plates that you and your guests are using, ask the price: you can treasure them in your own home.  Click on any of the photos for a more detailed look.

Mexico Cooks! recently spent a leisurely evening talking with Cynthia Martínez about her philosophical relationship with food, especially Mexican food.  Her knowledge of the traditional Mexican kitchen comes honestly: her Oaxacan grandmother taught her recipes and culinary legends while she was a young girl helping out at home.  "Growing up in Oaxaca, I milked cows, caught the grasshoppers we seasoned and ate, and nourished a passion for the kitchen.  My grandmother always said that behind every cultural tradition you find gastronomy, and I still believe that.  The motivation to open San Miguelito was my father's desire to put together a fusion of Mexico's artisan and culinary traditions; my grandfather had the initial dream, and my father kept it alive.  He and my brother Erik and I have brought that dream to fruition in Morelia."

El Rincón de las Solteronas (the Old Maid's Corner), Restaurante San Miguelito.  Photo courtesy Alejandro Canela. 

Arguably the best-known of San Miguelito's several dining rooms is el Rincón de las Solteronas.  Dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of old maids single women, the room contains over 500 images of him--every image hanging by its feet.  From the ceiling, from wall niches, from mantelpieces and window frames, these upside-down St. Anthonys exist only to hear the pleas for a mate from women of all ages.  There's a book to write your prayer (including, if you like, all the characteristics you seek in a mate): the longest petition runs to twenty-five pages!

Ensalada Azteca (Aztec Salad), Restaurante San Miguelito.  The salad is a beautifully presented mixture of lettuces, zucchini-type squash, roasted sweet red peppers, tender corn kernels, queso fresco (fresh Mexican cheese), and cilantro vinaigrette.  Photo courtesy San Miguelito.

"Until very recently--within the last three to five years--it was unusual in Mexico to find a chef in a restaurant.  A chef has studied at a culinary school or under a great master of the kitchen, and easily 90% of people working in restaurants here have had no opportunity to study their profession.  We Mexicans have usually known to frequent restaurants offering the best food, but until lately, we have not known 'name' chefs.  Our restaurant cooks have traditionally been las mayoras, women whose school-of-life experience and whose individual sazón (unique taste in preparing dishes) made them natural leaders in the kitchen.  We ate at restaurants where we knew we would have a delicious meal, but we didn't know who was responsible for preparing that meal.  Now we have culinary-school graduate chefs whose names are well-recognized and to whose restaurants we flock simply because they are there.  But you can't learn sazón in school.  Techniques, yes, but sazón?  As the saying goes, 'El buen cantante ya tiene voz' (the good singer already has a voice)."


El Altar de las Conversaciones (the Altar of Conversations), Restaurante San Miguelito.  Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.

"For us at San Miguelito, the challenge today and every day is consistency.  Our clients expect that the meal that they remember eating five days or five years ago, the dish that remains alive on the palate as a fond memory, will look and taste the same now as it did then.  We have guests who dine with us as often as two or three times a week, guests who know immediately if we change the brand of cheese in a dish or if we've changed meat purveyors--because the food tastes just a little different.  Many of our clients know our staff by name, expect to be seated at 'their' table, and know by instinct if anything from table service to the presentation of a dish is slightly different from the last time they dined with us.  Our daily aim is to provide each diner with a delicious meal in beautiful surroundings."

Pescado en Hoja de Plátano (Fish Cooked in Banana Leaf).  Photo courtesy San Miguelito.  Everything served to you at the restaurant, from the marvelous small bolillos (traditional crusty rolls) to the wine you enjoy with your meal, is chosen with strict attention to quality and consistency.

"Because traditional culture and traditional gastronomy are so closely linked, San Miguelito plans a number of events every year that offer opportunities to enjoy and learn more about both.  One of our very popular evenings is a marvelous night that includes the history and uses of Mexico's traditional rebozo (long rectangular shawl).  For that event, we showcase weavers and traditional as well as contemporary styles of wearing the rebozo.

"The next event on our 2011 calendar is an evening with Martha Ortiz Chapa, one of Mexico City's most prominent chefs.  She'll be at San Miguelito on February 19, preparing a seductive and romantic menu in her own inimitable style.  Just in time for el mes de San Valentín (Valentine's month), this evening promises to be extraordinary.  If you haven't made reservations yet, don't wait too long; we expect the house to be filled."

Salón con Mural del Lago de Pátzcuaro (room with mural of Lake Pátzcuaro).  Photo courtesy Guillermo Martínez Acebo.  Tiny lights embedded in the mural create a twinkling illusion of an evening overlooking the lake.

"Aside from the daily challenges of running the restaurant, we also face the challenge of caring for the future of our traditional foods.  The advent in Mexico of genetically altered corn would devastate a milennia-old way of eating; globalization has already brought immense quantities of previously unknown 'convenience' foods to this country, and we're asking ourselves who in the new generations will maintain or rescue the old ways.  Who will take the time to learn and prepare a grandmother's recipes and write them down for the future? 

"Right now, chefs and restaurant owners are in the vanguard of revitalizing the traditional kitchen.  But unless today's young people commit to keeping traditions alive in their own homes, Mexico's culinary glories will exist only in our memories and as restaurant-produced curiosities.  It's time to put our home kitchens to the test and rescue Mexico's food heritage."

Restaurante San Miguelito
Av. Camelinas at Av. Ventura Puente (across from the Convention Center)
Fracc. La Loma
Morelia, Michoacán, México
Tels: 52.443.324.4411 and 52.443.324.2300

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Maestro Juan Torres: Images for the Ages in Michoacán Contemporary Art

The sumptuously rolling countryside near Capula, Michoacán.

Juan Torres, one of Mexico's most prominent working artists, has made his home in Capula, Michoacán for the last quarter century.  Michoacán is fortunate that he chooses to live and work here, and his inspiration and images come most often from the history, landscapes, and people of the region.

The entrance to Torres' home, with its central bronze sculpture by the artist.

Maestro Torres says that he never made a conscious decision to become an artist; from an early age, he simply was an artist.  At the tender age of ten, he went to Morelia's Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts) "just to draw", and one of the teachers suggested that he enroll as a student at the school.  "At that time there were no requirements that a student had to have completed elementary school, or junior high or high school--you just went and signed up.  So I signed up.  Like every other child in the world, I drew.  The difference is, I never stopped drawing.  One day, much to my amazement, I realized that there was a profession that would let me keep doing what I loved.  And so I began my work as an artist."

Maestro Juan Torres regards one of the catrinas de barro (clay skeleton figures) that he designed more than 35 years ago.  Torres' designs for these figures are based on the late-19th Century drawings of José Guadalupe Posadas, a Mexican political cartoonist of the manners and mores of the Porfiriato (presidency of Porfirio Díaz, 1876-1911).  Maestro Torres was the first artist to take Posadas's catrinas from pen-and-ink drawings to three dimensional work in clay.

Alfredo Zalce, "Gente y Paisaje de Michoacán" (Michoacán people and landscape), mural fragment, 1962, Palacio de Gobierno (Government Offices), Morelia, Michoacán.

One of Torres' profoundest influences at the beginning of his career was the legendary Michoacán artist Maestro Alfredo Zalce.  Zalce (1908-2003) took the young Torres under his wing and made him his right arm.  Once Torres finished school, he lived and worked for years at Zalce's studio.  "One way of learning art is, of course, imitating the teacher's work.  It's a way of growing as an artist, and art is a job that requires growth or the artist stagnates."

The chapel on Maestro Torres' property serves as his gallery; unlike the gallery, his studio is connected to the home that Torres shares with his wife, Velia Canals Henríquez.  Today, Sra. Canals is in charge of the taller (workshop) where the Torres-designed catrinas and other clay figures are produced.

Panteón de Capula (Capula Town Cemetery), oil on fabric, 1 meter X 1.5 meters, Juan Torres.  Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.

"Many people think that the artist's life is bohemian--that it's all about sitting around in cafés, waiting for inspiration to strike.  A long time ago, someone gave me the advice that an artist has to work like the rest of the world.  If it's at all possible, the artist needs to work at his art eight hours a day.  How can it be to wait for the muse, then to paint one painting a year, and still expect to evolve?  If that's how he works, then every time the artist picks up a brush, he has to start from zero."

Biombo (screen), side one, Juan Torres.  Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.

Biombo (screen), side two, Juan Torres.

"So I prefer that people know me as someone who works in the arts.  And that's what I do: I work at my job every day.  Recently I've had this Noche de Muertos exhibit at the Secretaría de Turismo, and I'm working toward another exhibit in Morelia, this time about women in the Mexican revolution.  I have about 30 paintings completed in that series, 30 of the 40 that I need to fill the exhibit.  So every day, I work."

Angelito (Little Angel), oil on fabric, 1 meter X 1.5 meters, Juan Torres.  Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.

Angelito, detail.

Ofrenda con Cristo (Alter with Crucifix), oil on fabric, 1 meter X 1.5 meters, Juan Torres.  Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.


Panteón (Cemetery), oil and watercolor, 40cm X 90cm, Juan Torres.  Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.

Juan Torres, Expo Noche de Muertos, Galería Secretaría de Turismo (Gallery of the Secretary of Tourism), Morelia, Michoacán, November 2010.

Portions of this article are translated from a piece which originally appeared in the magazine Estilo México, July 2010. 

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