Mexico Cooks!

Cuaresma (Lent) Has Begun! Help! I Need an Easy and Delicious Meatless Meal!

Cuaresma (Lent) started on Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  Many people all over the world are searching for something delicious to serve on Lenten Fridays, when abstinence from meat is still required in some religious faiths.  The ingredients for home-style chilaquiles with egg are very simple.  This easy-to-prepare, traditionally Mexican dish makes a perfect breakfast, lunch, or supper for a Lenten Friday, or for any day.

Many years ago, long before the Internet burst onto the world scene and long before writing Mexico Cooks! was even a glimmer in my eye, a close friend from Michoacán taught me to prepare several platillos caseros mexicanos (home-style Mexican dishes).  I've written about my dear friend Sister Celia Gutiérrez Cortés before; more than 30 years ago, she introduced me to many of Mexico's joys that continue to reward me today. 

Sister Celia Gutiérrez Cortés in 1982

Chilaquiles are one of Mexico's most comforting of comfort foods.  A mere mention of the word in casual conversation with Mexican friends will bring forth memories, stories, and recipes for their favorite ways of preparing them.  They can be como mi mamá los hacía (like my Mom used to make them),  estilo el restaurante en donde almorzábamos en aquel entonces (the way the restaurant where we had brunch in the old days prepared them), or--like these--como me los enseñó mi querida amiga (like my dear friend taught me).  Enjoy!

Chilaquiles Caseros con Huevo
(Home-Style Chilaquiles with Egg)

Ingredients
10 to 12 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Sea salt to taste
Bottled red salsa to taste (the salsa in the photo is Chapala brand, but you can use salsa Cholula, Valentina, or something similar)   
2 fresh chiles serrano (use just one, if you prefer your food less picante (spicy)
1 medium white onion
16-20 stale tortillas, the staler the better.
Vegetable oil

Utensils
12" non-stick skillet
Mixing bowl
Wire whisk
Spatula

Procedure

Break eggs into your mixing bowl.  Add milk, sea salt, and bottled salsa.  (I give the bottle 6-8 thumps on the bottom.)  Whisk thoroughly until all ingredients are completely mixed together.

Finely mince the chiles.  Cut the onion into 1/2 inch dice. 

In your skillet, heat oil until it shimmers.  Add the diced onion and minced chiles and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, but not browned.

While the vegetables are cooking, cut or rip the tortillas into 1.5" squares, into triangles, or into 2" X 3/4" rectangles.  The shape doesn't matter and each tortilla piece does not have to be exactly the same as the other.

Once the vegetables are soft, add the tortilla pieces to the skillet and sauté until they are browned and moderately crunchy.  The onions will caramelize during this step.

When the tortillas are moderately crunchy--and they don't need to be as hard as packaged chips, just nicely crisped--add the beaten egg mixture to the skillet. 

Cook over medium heat until the eggs are well-set but not hard.  You will notice that, as the eggs begin to cook, the surfaces of the tortillas will appear to be slick and shiny.  That's the egg mixture.  The tortillas will lose that shine; when it's gone, you'll know that they are done.

If you're preparing this recipe for a day other than a Lenten Friday and there is half a chicken breast left over from a previous meal, you can cut it into strips or shred it and toss it into the chilaquiles.

Divide the chilaquiles onto four plates.  Drizzle with Mexican crema para la mesa (table cream--not sour cream, it's more like crême fraiche), if you can find it.  Serve with refried beans, sliced ripe avocado, and a refreshing cold beverage.

Makes four generous servings.  Provecho!

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

Mexico's Niño Dios (Baby Jesus), Honored and Loved on February 2nd, the Feast of La Candelaria

I know we're a few days late to celebrate February 2nd, the Feast of La Candelaria, but it's important: in Mexico, this date is the end of the Christmas season!  The Niño Dios (Baby Jesus) is taken from the manger, dressed in new finery, and--well, read the rest of the story right here!

Niños Dios: one Christ Child, many colors: ideal for Mexico's range of skin tones. Mercado Medellín, Colonia Roma, Mexico City, December 2013. 

For about a month prior to Christmas each year, the Niño Dios (baby Jesus) is for sale everywhere in Mexico.  Mexico Cooks! took this photograph in 2013 at the annual tianguis navideño (Christmas market) in front of the Mercado Medellín, Colonia Roma, Mexico City.  These Niños Dios range in size from just a few inches long to nearly the size of a two-year-old child.  They're sold wrapped in only a diaper that's molded into their bodies.

When does the Christmas season end in your family?  When I was a child, my parents packed the Christmas decorations away on January 1, New Year's Day.  Today, I like to enjoy the nacimientos (manger scenes), the Christmas lights, and the tree until the seventh or eighth of January, right after the Día de los Reyes Magos (the Feast of the Three Kings).  Some people think that date is scandalously late.  Other people, particularly my many Mexican friends, think that date is scandalously early.  Christmas in Mexico isn't over until February 2, el Día de la Candelaria  (Candlemas Day), also known as the Feast of the Presentation.

The Holy Family, a shepherd and some of his goats, Our Lady of Guadalupe, an angel, a little French santon cat from Provence, and some indigenous people form a small portion of Mexico Cooks!' nacimiento.  Click on the photo to get a better look.  Note that the Virgin Mary is breast feeding the infant Jesus while St. Joseph watches over them.

Although Mexico's 21st century Christmas celebration often includes Santa Claus and a Christmas tree, the main focus of a home-style Christmas continues to be the nacimiento and the Christmas story.  A family's nacimiento may well contain hundreds--even thousands--of figures, but all nacimientos have as their heart and soul the Holy Family (the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the baby Jesus).  This centerpiece of the nacimiento is known as el Misterio (the Mystery).  The nacimiento is set up early--in 2020, mine was out at the end of November--but the Niño Dios does not make his appearance until the night of December 24, when he is sung to, rocked to sleep, and placed in the manger.

Niños Dios at Mexico City's Mercado de la Merced.  The figures are dressed as hundreds of different saints and representations of holy people and ideas.  The figures are for sale, but most people are only shopping for new clothes for their baby Jesus.  All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! except as noted.

Between December 24, when he is tenderly rocked to sleep and laid in the manger, and February 2, the Niño Dios rests happily in the bosom of his family.  As living members of his family, we are charged with his care.  As February approaches, a certain excitement begins to bubble to the surface.  The Niño Dios needs new clothing!  How shall we dress him this year?

The oldest tradition is to dress the Niño Dios in hand-crocheted garments.  Photo courtesy Manos Mexicanos. 

According to Christian teaching, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph took the baby Jesus to the synagogue 40 days after his birth to introduce him in the temple--hence February 2 is also known as the Feast of the Presentation. What happy, proud mother would wrap her newborn in just any old thing to take him to church for the first time?  I suspect that this brand new holy child was dressed as much to the nines as his parents could afford.  

The Niño Dios dressed as San Juan Diego, the indigenous man who brought Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Roman Catholic Church in what is now Mexico.

Every February 2, churches are packed with men, women, and families carrying their Niños Dios to church in his new clothes, ready to be blessed, lulled to sleep with a sweet lullaby, and tucked gently away till next year--or perched on a little throne just his size and settled in a place of honor in the family home.

The Niño Dios as el Santo Niño Doctor de los Enfermos (the Holy Child, doctor of the sick).  He has his stethoscope, his uniform, and his doctor's bag.  This traditionally dressed baby Jesus has origins in mid-20th century in the city of Puebla.

Every year new and different clothing for the Niño Dios comes to market.  In 2011, the latest fashions were those of the Archangels--in this case, the Archangel Gabriel.

The Niño Dios dressed as Peruvian San Martín de Porres, the patron saint of racially mixed people and all those seeking interracial harmony.  He is always portrayed holding a broom and a basket of food to distribute among the poor.

Niño Dios de la Eucaristía (Holy Child of the Eucharist).

Niño Dios dressed as San Benito, the founder of the Benedictine Order.

Niño Dios dressed as a Chinelo (costumed dancer from the state of Morelos).

Niño Dios de la Abundancia (Holy Child of Abundance).

The ceremony of removing the baby Jesus from the nacimiento is called the levantamiento (lifting up).  In a family ceremony, the baby is raised from his manger, gently dusted off, and dressed in his new finery.  Some families sing:

QUIERES QUE TE QUITE MI BIEN DE LAS PAJAS, (Do you want me to brush off all the straw, my beloved)
QUIERES QUE TE ADOREN TODOS LOS PASTORES, (Do you want all the shepherds to adore you?)
QUIERES QUE TE COJA EN MIS BRAZOS Y CANTE (Do you want me to hold you in my arms and sing)
GLORIA A DIOS EN LAS ALTURAS.  (Glory to God on high).

One of the most popular 'looks' for the Niño Dios in Mexico City is that of San Judas Tadeo, the patron saint of impossible causes.  He is always dressed in green, white, and gold and has a flame coming from his head.


Several years ago on the way from Oaxaca city to the city of Tehuantepec in southern Oaxaca state, my travel companion and I saw this Niño Dios, dressed in a full PEMEX uniform, in an alcove at a PEMEX gasoline station.  I think this is my all-time favorite.


Mexico Cooks!' very own Niño Dios.  He measures just 7" from the top of his head to his wee toes.  His new finery is very elegant.

 
This lovely video from Carapan, Michoacán shows both the gravity and the joy (and the confetti!) with which various families' Niños Dios are carried to the parish church.

Carefully, carefully carry the Niño Dios to the parish church, where the priest will bless him and his new clothing, along with you and your family.  After Mass, take the baby Jesus home and put him safely to rest till next year's Christmas season.  Sweet dreams of his next outfit will fill your own head as you sleep that night.

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

Mexico's New Year's Customs Explained :: New Underwear, Old Suitcases, and MORE

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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ponche Navideño :: Hot Christmas Punch, Excellent All Winter Long

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

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

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

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

6 quarts of water or more

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Lady of Guadalupe tattoo.

Read the full story of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe here.

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

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

Art casket, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Basílica.

 
Primitive folk art depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe.


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

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

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

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

Tamales for Christmas in Mexico :: It's Never Too Early to Start Dreaming of Them!

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

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

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

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


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

 
The 'official' voice of the ubiquitous Mexico City tamales oaxaqueños vendors. One of these carts visits our street every night at about ten o'clock.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doña Martha Prepares Tamales for Christmas 

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

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

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

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

 
Corn husks spread with masa, ready to be filled.

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

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

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


One small plateful of the finished tamales!

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

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

Recalentados (Reheated Tamales)

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

Provecho!  (Good eating!)

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

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

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


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

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


Sugar skulls mounted in a special Día de Muertos display.

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

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

These life-size fruits are made entirely of sugar.

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

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


Sweets to the sweet: "For My Sweetheart".

Sugar fish!


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


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

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Remember Me As You Pass By :: Noche de Muertos, Michoacán, 2013

Mexico Cooks!' full body bone scan, 2009.

Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
                   ...from a tombstone

What is death?  We know its first symptoms: the heart stops pumping, breath and brain activity stop. We know death's look and feel: a still, cold body from which the spirit has fled.  The orphan and widow know death's sorrow, the priest knows the liturgy of the departed and the prayers to assuage the pain of those left to mourn. But in most English-speaking countries, death and the living are not friends.  We the living look away from our mortality, we talk of the terminally ill in terms of 'if anything happens', not 'when she dies'.  We hang the crepe, we cover the mirrors, we say the beads, and some of us fling ourselves sobbing upon the carefully disguised casket as it is lowered into the Astroturf-lined grave.

Octavio Paz, Mexico City's Nobel Laureate poet and essayist who died in 1998, is famously quoted as saying, "In New York, Paris, and London, the word death is never mentioned, because it burns the lips."


Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery), Mexico Cooks! photo.  These fellows were singing to la Descarnada (the fleshless woman) on November 2, 2009.

In Mexico, on the contrary, every day is a dance with death.  Death is a woman who has a numerous affectionate and humorous nicknames: la Huesuda (the bony woman), la Seria (the serious woman), la Novia Fiel (the faithful bride), la Igualadora (the equalizer), la Dientona (the toothy woman), la Pelona (the bald woman), la Patrona (the boss lady), and a hundred more.  She's always here, just around the next corner or right over there, behind that pillar.  She waits with patience, until later today or until twelve o'clock next Thursday, or sometime next year--but when it's time, she's right there to dance away with you at her side.


November 2013 altar to La Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Sta. Ana Chapirito (near Pátzcuaro), Michoacán. Devotees of this deathly apparition say that her cult has existed since before the Spanish arrived in Mexico.

In Mexico, death is also in the midst of life.  We see our dead, alive as you and me, each November, when we wait at our cemeteries for those who have gone before to come home, if only for a night. That, in a nutshell, is Noche de Muertos: the Night of the Dead.


In the lower center portion of this photograph, you can see the panteón municipal (town cemetery) in Quiroga, Michoacán.  Late in the afternoon of November 1, 2013, most townspeople had not yet gone to the cemetery with candles and flowers for their loved ones' graves. Click on any photograph for a larger view.

Over the course of the last 30-plus years, Mexico Cooks! has been to countless Noche de Muertos events, but none as mystical, as spiritual, or as profoundly magical as in 2013.  Invited to accompany a very small group on a private tour in Michoacán, I looked forward to spending three days enjoying the company of old and new friends. I did all that, plus I came away with an extraordinarily privileged view of life and death.


A magnificent Purépecha ofrenda (in this case, a home altar) in the village of Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán. This detailed and lovely ofrenda was created to the memory of the family's maiden aunt, who died at 74. Because she had never married, even at her advanced age she was considered to be an angelito (little angel)--like an innocent child--and her spirit was called back home to the family on November 1, the day of the angelitos.  Be sure to click on the photo to see the details of the altar. Fruits, breads, incense, salt, flowers, colors, and candles have particular symbolism and are necessary parts of the ofrenda.


Detail of the ofrenda casera (home altar) shown above. Several local people told Mexico Cooks! that the fruit piled on the altar tasted different from fruit from the same source that had not been used for the ofrenda. "Compramos por ejemplo plátanos y pusimos unos en el altar y otros en la cocina para comer. Ya para el día siguiente, los del altar pierden su sabor, no saben a nada," they said.  ('We bought bananas, for example, and we put some on the altar and the rest in the kitchen to eat.  The next day, the ones in the kitchen were fine, but the ones from the altar had no taste at all.')


Preparing a family member's ofrenda (altar) in the camposanto in the village of Arócutin, Michoacán. The camposanto--literally, holy ground--is a cemetery contained within the walls of a churchyard.  The candles used in this area of Michoacán are hand made in Ihuatzio and Santa Fé de la Laguna.

Come with me along the unlit road that skirts the Lago de Pátzcuaro: Lake Pátzcuaro.  It's chilly and the roadside weeds are damp with earlier rain, but for the moment the sky has cleared and filled with stars.  Up the hill on the right and down the slope leading left toward the lake are tiny villages, dark but for the glow of tall candles lit one by one in the cemeteries.  Tonight is November 1, the night silent souls wend their way home from Mictlán, the land beyond life.

At the grave: candlelight to illuminate the soul's way, cempazúchitl (deeply orange marigolds) for their distinctive fragrance required to open the path back home, smoldering copal (frankincense) to cleanse the earth and air of any remnants of evil, covered baskets of the deceased's favorite foods.  And a low painted chair, where the living can rest through the night. This tumba (grave) refused to be photographed head-on. From an oblique angle, the tumba allowed its likeness to be made.


Waiting through the night.  

"Oh grave, where is thy victory?  Oh death, where is thy sting?"

Noche de Muertos is not a costume party, although you may see it portrayed as such in the press.  It is not a drunken brawl, although certain towns appear to welcome that sort of blast-of-banda-music reventón (big blow-out).  It is not a tourist event, though strangers are certainly welcomed to these cemeteries. Noche de Muertos is a celebration of the spirit's life over the body's death, a festival of remembrance, a solemn passover.  Many years ago, in an interview published in the New York Times, Mexico Cooks! said, "Noche de Muertos is about mutual nostalgia.  The living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home."


One by one, grave by grave, golden cempazúchitles give shape to rock-bound tombs and long candles give light to what was a dark and lonely place, transforming the cemetery into a glowing garden.  How could a soul resist this setting in its honor?  


"Our hearts remember..." we promise the dead.  Church bells toll slowly throughout the night, calling souls home with their distinctive clamor (death knell).  Come...come home.  Come...come home.


Watching.  Prayers.  No me olvido de ti, mi viejo amado. (I haven't forgotten you, my dear old man.)

Next year, come with me.

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Pan de Muerto :: Bread of the Dead. Now In Season at a Bakery Near You

Pan de muerto!  This seasonal bread starts making an appearance in Mexico bakeries as early as the end of August, but the majority is made and sold between mid-October and the first week of November, just in time for one to enjoy for breakfast (with a cup of hot chocolate, or an atole, or an herbal tea--or for supper (with a cup of ditto that list), or just because you want one and you want it now!  At the end of the article, I've added a photo of my all-time favorite pan de muerto, produced here in Morelia, Michoacán, where I have been living for the last several years.  

Pan de muerto (a special bread for Day of the Dead), almost ready for the oven at Panadería Maque, Calle Ozululama 4, at the corner of Calle Citlatépetl, Colonia La Condesa.

Late in October, a bread baker I know suggested that in honor of Mexico's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), we go poking around in bakeries.  Pan de muerto is one of the traditional treats set out on altars to entice the spirits of the dead back for a visit with the living, and every bakery has its own recipe.   As it happened, neither of us had a lot of time on the appointed day, so we made a list of eight spots to visit in Colonia La Condesa.  We set off on foot with high hopes of finding sublime breads.

The family-size pan de muerto at Panadería Maque, wrapped in cellophane and ready to go home with you.  We calculated that it would serve eight or more people, with a good-sized slice or more for each person. A few years ago, this size cost just under 400 pesos.

Our first stop--we arranged our bakeries in a big oval starting with the one closest to Mexico Cooks!' home and ending as near as possible to the same spot--was at Panadería Maque.  Maque is a several-bakery/coffee shop chain open from 8AM breakfast to 10PM, when it serves a light supper.  We were impressed by the big crowd at the outdoor and indoor tables, the long line waiting to be seated, and the bustling wait staff whizzing by with coffee, great-looking sandwiches, and lots of pan de muerto.  We took some photos and made a note to return for breakfast another morning when we both had more time.


Not on our list but in our path, at the corner of Calle Ozululama and Av. Amsterdam: Louis Robledo's Tout Chocolat, where the pan de muerto was made with chocolate.  Jane bought one hot out of the oven to take home.  She also bought each of us a delicious macarrón.  They were very nearly as good as the ones I tried last spring in Paris.

Next on our list was Panadería La Artesa, at Alfonso Reyes 203, corner Calle Saltillo.  Mexico Cooks! often stops at La Artesa for baguettes and pan de agua, both of which are good but not spectacularly so.  The owner noticed that both my companion and I had cameras with us; he started berating us loudly with, "No photos!  No photos!  Put the cameras away!"  We opted to leave without an interview and obviously without photos.


As we strolled along, we noticed this sign: MANDUCA.  Recently opened at Calle Nuevo León 125-B, this terrific bakery was also not on our list--but what a find!  Trendy but not precious, all its bread is baked on the premises.

Real bread!  Manduca's delightful manager, Alejandra Miranda Medina, told us that the baker is German. 


We couldn't leave; hunger suddenly overcame our need to step lively.  My friend ordered a pan de muerto and coffee; I asked for one of the pretzel bread individual loaves and butter.  The pretzel bread was marvelous, the heavily anise-flavored pan de muerto a little less so.  The outside seating (there are also tables inside) was comfortable and pleasant.

Manduca's pan de muerto enticed us to stay, but each of us prefers this bread with more orange flavor and a lighter touch of anise.

We continued to meander down Calle Nuevo León, looking for Panadería La Victoria, our next destination.

La Victoria, at Calle Nuevo León 50 (almost at the corner of Calle Laredo), bills its style as Rioplatense (from the River Plate area that lies between Argentina and Uruguay) rotisserie and bakery.  The chef is from Uruguay.  These little sweet breads, called vigilantes (watchmen), are filled with a sweetened creamy cheese and topped with ate de membrillo (sweet quince paste).  In Uruguay, these are said to be the favorite sweet bread of policemen--hence vigilantes.


Pan de muerto available at La Victoria.  These mini-breads (compare them with the ordinary size of the tongs at the right of the photo) are just the right size for two or three bites.

We spent a few minutes looking for Panadería Hackl (Calle Atlixco 100, between Calles Campeche and Michoacán, but realized distance and our rapidly disappearing time meant that we would have to come back another day. 

We walked through Fresco by Diego (Fernando Montes de Oca 23, near the corner of Calle Tamaulipas), which offers some breads but is primarily a restaurant.


Our last stop was Pastelería Suiza, at Parque España 7 (between Calles Oaxaca and Sonora).  It's a 70-year-old Mexico City institution with several sucursales (branches); this location is the original.  Mention this bakery to almost anyone in the city who loves pan dulce (sweet bread) in and the response will be a sigh of blissful longing.


On November 2, the only bread for sale at Pastelería Suiza was pan de muerto, and the only pan de muerto left, in several sizes, was split horizontally and stuffed with a huge schmear of nata (thick sweet cream).  It looked like the Holy Grail of pan de muerto.  I could not resist buying two individual-size panes de muerto to take home.

You choose your bread, take it to the wrapping station, pick up your ticket, pay at the cashier, and then go back for your bread.  The wrapping staff put the pan on a tray, then surrounded it with a cardboard collar.

Wrapped up in paper and string, the package has a come-hither look equal to the bread itself.

We could hardly wait--the Pastelería Suiza pan de muerto and a cup of hot tea would be our cena (supper) that night. 

The verdict?  The thick mound of nata was quite honestly an overkill of creamy sweetness.  And the bread itself?  The texture was wrong, more like a dry, crumbly, unpleasant muffin than like traditional pan de muerto.  The bread had no flavor--not a drop of orange, not a drop of anise, nothing.  It was a tremendous disappointment.  Big sigh...but not blissful in the least.

So, you might ask: you walked all over Colonia La Condesa, you sniffed breads, you tasted breads, and nothing really satisfied Your Pickiness.  What now?

A few days prior to Mexico's Día de los Muertos, another companion and I stopped at what is essentially a corner bakery, located at the corner of Av. Insurgentes and Av. Baja California, hard by the Metro station a couple of blocks from my apartment.  Panificadora La Espiga (the Spike of Wheat breadmaker) is large but ordinary, with not much to recommend it other than its proximity to the house.  A seasonal craving for pan de muerto had us by the innards, though, and we bought two small ones.  They looked generic, with the traditional sprinkle of sugar: no nata, no chocolate, nothing special at all. 

Pan de muerto, La Espiga.

When I tasted the pan de muerto, I was surprised.  My exclamation was, "A poco!" (Are you kidding me?  I don't believe it!) The texture was dense, slightly layered, and moist.  The not-too-sweet flavor leaned toward the orange, with just a hint of anise.  Who could have guessed!  It was perfect.  My friend and I had wandered far afield, spent time and money in all those uppity Condesa bakeries, and even before our pan de muerto crawl, I had already tried the best bread of the bunch.  

Now for the 2021 update, direct to you from Morelia, Michoacán!  A week or so ago, we went to visit our wonderful friend Beto at Beto Chef Michoacano--and lo and behold, he and Lalo had at least two trays of pan de muerto, just about ready to take out of his wood-fired beehive oven.  We sat down to wait for a minute and he set a plate of two hot-from-the-oven chocolate conchas (a sweet bread crowned with a sweet chocolate topping) in front of us--just to keep us happy until the pan de muerto finished baking.  We split one, eating two would have been truly sinful.  The concha was excellent, the crown made from chocolate de metate (local stone-ground chocolate) and the bread itself outstanding.  And then...and then...pan de muerto, hot from the oven, to take home!  We were too full from the concha to eat the pan de muertos right then and there, but we ate one for breakfast the next morning and I am here to tell you, it was PERFECT.  The flavor was just the right delectable combination of orange and anise and yeast, the bread was just the right texture and consistency.  There's a saying in Mexico: como Dios manda--it means "the way God intends--and this was 100% IT for pan de muerto.  If you're in or near Morelia, head on over to see Beto and buy pan de muerto for you and your family and friends.  Beto charges $15 pesos for one of the panes in the photo below; that's about the US dollar equivalent of 75 cents apiece.  Buy a dozen, buy two dozen!  Give some to your pals!  Freeze some!  And please give Beto a hug from Mexico Cooks!.



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Long Live Independence in Mexico :: Qué Viva La Independencia Mexicana!

Padre Miguel Hidalgo, whose 1810 cry for freedom from Spain set in motion the fight for what is now Mexico's independence.  His original estandarte (banner) bearing a likeness of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) is part of Mexico's historic patrimony.

Mexico's struggle for freedom from Spanish colonization began in earnest sometime between midnight and dawn on September 16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo stood up with the estandarte to shout out the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores--"Dolores" being the name of the town known today as Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato.  The grito precedes the parades of school children and military battalions, politicians proclaiming speeches, and general festivity.  In normal times--prior to COVID-19--Mexico has always celebrated its Fiestas Patrias (Patriotic Holidays) on September 16, with enormous energy.  Last year (2020) and this year will be much more subdued.

Flag sellers' carts blossom all over Mexico for a month or so prior to Independence Day.  I usually go take a look at what the latest souvenir is, and if I need to replace the little Mexican flag on my desk, this is the time to do that.


The little Mexican flag on my desk.  I think it will last another year, if the cats don't try to chew on it!  This wee flag measures about six inches long and three inches high.

Hundreds of books have been written about Mexico's break from Spain, millions of words have been dedicated to exploring the lives of the daring men and women who knew, a bare 200 years ago, that the time had come for freedom.  You can read some of the history on the Internet.  Another excellent source for Mexican history is The Life and Times of Mexico, by Earl Shorris.  You'll find that highly readable book available on the left-hand side of this page.  Just click on the book cover to order it from Amazon. 

This bandera monumental (monumentally-sized Mexican national flag) waves over one of the highest points in the city of Morelia.  In 1999, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León initiated the program of oversize flags made to fly over some of Mexico's historic cities.  These enormous flags generally measure more than 14 meters high by 25 meters long and fly from 50-meter-high flagpoles.

The balcony of Mexico City's Palacio del Gobierno (government office building).  On the night of September 15, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will stand on the balcony to give the annual grito (shout) that is said to replicate Padre Hidalgo's rallying cry for independence.  In every Mexican town, no matter its size, the elected official will also give the grito during that night.


The Palacio de Gobierno in Morelia, Michoacán, all dressed up on September 15, 2020, ready for the Grito.  In the center of the facade is the balcony from which the Grito is proclaimed by the governor.


Mexico City's metropolitan cathedral and the zócalo (main square) with its bandera monumental, perfect for Independence Day festivities.  The 2021 verbena patria (patriotic festivity) in the nation's capital promises to be low key, in keeping with protection from COVID-19.

In Morelia, considered to be the cradle of independence--it was in this city, then called Vallodolid, that the pro-independence conspiracy was developed in 1809--the budget is supposed to be 28.5 million pesos (a bit over two million United States dollars).  Many Michoacanos are thrilled with the Fiestas Patrias party plans, while many others are outraged at this huge expenditure that comes at a time when Mexico is suffering not only an economic but a political and psychological crisis.

A tiny kiosko (bandstand) in a small-town plaza in the state of Jalisco, decorated for its Fiestas Patrias.

Today, Mexico is as it has always been: a country of profound contrasts.  Life parties with death in 2021 just as much as it did in 1810.  The road behind us and before us is littered with confetti and spent shell casings.  Our continuing task is to find la ruta a la independencia (the path to independence).

José Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913), La Calavería. I suspect these esqueletitos (little skeletons) are celebrating their independence!

Viva México!  Qué viva!

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