More of Mexico Cooks! Pre-Pandemia Wanderings :: All Over Mexico, Part 2

I'm sure you remember that old saying, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first."  Mexico Cooks! is a firm proponent of that--at least for beginning today's report. This sweet, delicious offering is on the menu at La Conspiración de 1809, just at the back of Morelia's cathedral.  In the photo, you see a pavlova, a crisp meringue filled with pastry cream and frutos rojos (red fruits)--in this case, Michoacán's locally grown strawberries, blackberries, and red raspberries.  Driscoll's also grows blueberries here in Michoacán.  The company leases fields from local owners and trains local workers to cultivate, harvest, and pack the berries.  Next time you're in your supermarket, take a close look at the Driscoll's label.  Many of the berries that you purchase, no matter where in the world you live, are grown just a few kilometers from Mexico Cooks!' home. Click on any photo for a larger view. 


A doorway to a private home in the community Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán.


Elotes tatemados (roasted young corn, still in its husk) for sale in a large Mexico City market.  


These are also elotes (young corn), boiled rather than roasted, for sale at the same market stand.  It's hard to choose which to buy, roasted or boiled, both are so delicious!  


Chambarete entomatado (beef shank cooked in a sauce of tomate verde (tomatillos), onions, chile, and other spices) until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender.  Available daily at Fonda Marceva in Morelia's centro historico.  It's one of my favorite things on their menu--come to tour Michoacán with me, and we'll definitely eat at Marceva.  Photo courtesy my friend chef Eddie Álvarez.


Preparing fresh chicharrón (fried pork skins) at a market booth in Mexico City.  Book a market tour with me and we'll visit this booth--and we'll have a taste of hot-from-the-vat chicharrón.  Everybody loves its crisp, greaseless texture and taste.  


Escobetillas (stiff brushes made from plant root material bound together with thin wire), used for scrubbing dirty dishes.  Seen in a Oaxaca market.  Each one measures approximately 5"-6" in length. 


My longtime friend don Rafael, a copper worker in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, for 62 of his 70 years.  Yes, he started hand-hammering copper vessels when he was eight years old.  Today, he is a prize-winning grand master of the art.  In the photo, he's demonstrating a hammering technique to one of my tour groups.  Each beautiful copper item in this workshop is entirely made by hand.  Let's go! 


Souls burning in Hell, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.  Wood carving.  


Longaniza (the long sausage without links) and Oaxaca-style chorizo, with small round links, displayed on a market stand, Oaxaca City.


Two little devils at once, 2019 Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales, Oaxaca.  Wait, what, two?  Yes, in the background is a hand dolly, known here in Mexico as a diablito, a little devil.


Puerco estilo cubano (Cuban-style roast pork).  The men on the right-hand side of the photo sit on benches and turn, turn, turn the spits until the pork is tender, juicy, and ready to serve.  I've eaten big plates of this meat every year for the last three years.  It's truly something to look forward to at the Encuentro de Cocineras Tradicionales, Oaxaca.


The Unión de Palmeadoras (tortilla makers' union) from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca had a wonderful booth set up, selling hand-made Tlaxiaco-style tortillas.  Those are fiery chiles pequín, in the dish.


The fiestas patronales in San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro, Michoacán, featured Moorish dancers.  These two young men posed for me.


San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro is widely known for one of its several artesanías (handcrafts): these are velas escamadas (elaborate, hand-made beeswax candles).  These particular candles were placed at one side of the main altar in the church in San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro; other banks of candles were placed throughout the church.  Beautiful but ephemeral, the candles are meant to be burned.


Golden cempasúchil (a type of giant marigold) and wine-red pata de león (cockscomb) are Mexico's most typical flowers for Día de los Muertos.  These are for sale at the wholesale flower market in Mexico City.  


Right now and until approximately March of next year, Mexico's fresh guasanas (garbanzo beans) are in season.  Not dried, these are harvested fresh and steamed lightly in salt water.  Each pod contains two individual green, fresh garbanzos; we eat them like edamame, squeezing the garbanzos out of the pods directly into our mouths.  Some people like to douse a bagful with liquid chile (what you see in the bottle), but I prefer the clean, green taste of the guasana.


One of my favorite places to go, whether with old friends or with tourists new to Mexico City, continues to be Azul Histórico.  The food is exquisite, the restaurant itself is marvelously beautiful, and the service is always attentive.  Here, the "hostess" is a catrina, all gussied up Oaxaca-style for Day of the Dead.

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Comments

[Bruce Taylor]

Love the photos. Regrettably, I'll probably never get back to Mexico but I have fond memories.
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Bruce, I am so glad to see you here. I've been worried about you and did not have your email address to write to you--hope all is well. A very happy Thanksgiving to you and your wife.

Cristina

[Hank]

Driscoll strawberries are terrible! I prefer the more traditional Mexican berries from the Irapuato area.
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Hank, thanks for your comment. Given that a majority of Mexico Cooks!' readers live in places other than Mexico, it was important to me to mention the prevalence of the Driscoll/Mexico connection. And I think you might be surprised at the enormous number of Irapuato strawberries that are grown and packed both for national use as well as for export.