Travel in Mexico – Page 4 – Experiments in my New World Kitchen and Garden

Noche Mexicana: More Images and Fun

Bean farmer Roberto demonstrates one way of making a nice crunchy tostada without deep frying.

Lupe offers a platter of taquitos. The salsas she served with them were out of this world.

My favorite Huastecan band, Trio Renovacion. These guys are incredible and they're the foundation of the collective that sends us their Oregano Indio. They swing hard and at moments it's not unlike Western Swing or Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. All three had great voices and they played for us through dinner, through our bonfire and even after. I'm working on getting their CD for sale via our website.

Such good food, drink and friends!

After dinner, a bonfire and El Grito for Mexican Independence. You can see the Trio Renovacion in the background playing away.

What says, "Viva Mexico" quite like a platter of chles en nogada? That's a rather rich walnut sauce over the stuffed chiles. The red dots are pomegranite seeds. They all add up to be the most perfect of dishes.

The guest left and Gabino, the group's leader asked, "Are you too tired for some more music?" How can you say no? They stayed and played until 4 in the morning. I lasted until untl 2 a.m. but the trip, the mezcal and the hour really got to me.

That's my pal Antonio on the right, looking pretty borracho to me!

Noche Mexicana Tour: Making Tamales

I don't think you can take too many classes on tamal making. Each teacher has a slightly different trick or technique and it's always fun to get together and make them.

After a very full day, the guests on the tour made their way to the tamal workshop.

It's always odd that so many of us think nothing of making fresh pasta, or pad thai and yet these key Mexican techniques are so foreign to us and we share a border. I aim to fix that. A good tamal is thing of beauty and worthy of your attention!

Tamal is singular. Tamales are plural. In Spanish, there is no word tamale. I think it's accepted English now, however, and there are much bigger battles to be fought.

Another key reason to take a class is get to know the dough and how wet it should be and what texture. It's really a place where cookbooks can only be so much help.

When it came time to mix the fat in with the masa, Chabela insists it's better by hand and she would never use a mixer. Time for the big guns and Gabriel came in and impressed all with his mixing skills.

Once all the tamales were made and taken to the kitchen for steaming, we all enjoyed a well-deserved bowl of Mole de Olla, a local vegetable and beef stew with the addition of the sour prickly pears, xoconostle. It was pretty grand, proving once again the basis for a good soup or stew is often an incredible broth. It's something you just can't replicate with a store-bought product.

Noche Mexicana Tour: Morning of Corn, Corn and More Corn

I always chant that the foundation of Mexican cuisine is chiles, beans and corn. Restaurants that don't specialize in these things may have some nice dishes or a hip bar, but they're missing the essence of Mexican cooking. There are shortcuts and there are the traditional methods that are simply superior.

As part of the tour of the hacienda grounds, we made our way to a neighbor's cornfield (milpa) and then Gabirel and Antonio had everyone harvesting ears of field corn.

Believe me, the not so subtle irony of gringos being supervised in an agriculture setting by Mexicans was not lost on me!

Back at the hacienda, a fire was started and water heated, anticpating the corn.

Shucking corn is apparently back breaking work and requires a break with a platter of sopes from the kitchen. Gracias, Antonio.

Lily, who is from Colombia but lives in Guadalajara, apparently likes hers.

While the corn cooked, matriarch Chabela held a seminar on nixtamal, the product of soaking corn in cal and then heating it and then letting it set. This is later ground into the dough, masa, that's used for tortillas and tamales.

Lupe, the other matriarch of the hacienda, found this incredible brass strainer in Santa Clara del Cobre in Michoacan. I want it!

Next, the nixtamal and the group made their way to the smoke kitchen where bean farmer Roberto's mother demonstrated how she uses the metate to grind the cooked corn into masa. The idea was to let all the guests have a go at it but she was very protective of her metate and no one else would be using it!

She also demonstrated hand patting tortillas. We were all a mess at this.

Meanwhile, Gabriel and Roberto cut the corn and cooked it further with salt and epazote and served it in corn husk "boats" and "spoons", bringing the morning's harvest full circle. I have to say, there was a lot of killer food on the trip but this fresh corn snack was one of my favorites.

Noche Mexicana in Hidalgo

I just spent an amazing few days with some of my wonderful Rancho Gordo customers from the US in Hidalgo. It was a pipe dream a few months ago but we pulled it off. We were hosted by my business partners from Xoxoc and psent most of the time in their ex-hacienda. The food and drink were incredible but the chance to meet some of our bean growers, their families and see how much they love what they do and their appreciation for our support was pretty moving.

I'm so tired I'm almost goofy but I'm filled with recent memories and a little overwhelmed. It was a weird, rare wonderful meeting and it seems everybody learned a little something from each other.

Scenes From the Hacienda

Our trip to Mexico, Noche Mexicana, is really happening. It's sold out but I think we may have to do it again one day. In the meantime, here are some shots of the ex-hacienda Sam Jose el Marquez.

Living Large, Veracruz Style

On Saturday, I had a big, boozy fiesta at the Fonda del Recuerdo in Mexico City. The food and ambience are from Veracruz and both are great.

After a huge plate of appetizers, we had a lot of music and some pretty lethal drinks. I was feeling no pain and helping the musicians express themselves. I'm glad there is no recorded proof.

Yes, these musicians are mariachis, more appropriate to Jalisco than Veracruz, but there was something like a Battle of the Bands and on the opposite side of the room was the more typical Jarocho music. I love it all.

At some point I had a delicious lamb mixiote, although it has a different name in Veracruz. I don't have a photo but meat and a sauce are steamed in a packet of maguey leaf paper, parchment paper or foil. The maguey leaves are rare and apparently endangered but there's a legal source if you hunt.

We made friends with the little boy at the next table. He was fasicnated and so were we!

I love eating in Mexico, in case you haven't noticed. Especially with good friends, in a large group. There's always a lot of lauughing and there's no concept of "turning ther table". You're here until you are done and you are welcome. It takes a long time and it can be loud and boozy but don't we work too hard and isn't breaking bread with loved ones the point of the whole thing? It is for me. I think the challenge is translating the experience to the American table.

I hope you have a big boozy fiesta soon!