Taste by Inside Mexico

We interrupt your tequila to bring you the following message...

margot — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:12:51 +0000

We're huge fans of tequila, mezcal and other libations a la mexicana, but every once in awhile it's nice to mix things up. The British Society and BBVA Bancomer's Preferred Customer Unit (PCU) is holding a whisky tasting, complete with a world-renowed whiskey expert who will expound on the beverage's subtleties.

Date: Thursday September 24th, 2009

Time: 7:30 PM

Place: Parish Hall of Christ Church Parish, 405 Montes Escandinavos, Lomas de Chaputepec, Mexico City

Reserve by clicking http://bancomerpcu.com/

Cheers!

La Teca: One of Oaxaca's top chefs prepares traditional cuisine from the Isthmus region

margot — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:46:48 +0000

If you're a fan of Mexican food, you're probably well-versed in the delicias of Oaxaca: mole, quesillo, tlayudas. Perhaps you've even developed a taste for chapulines (dried and seasoned grasshoppers). But what about garnachas, and other specialties from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec?

From September 23rd through the 27th, Deyanira "La Teca" Aquino, one of Oaxaca's best known chefs and culinary anthropologists, will be in the kitchen at Polanco restaurant Vinomio. She'll cooking a special tasting menu, showcasing the depth and variety of the Istmo cuisine. The menu will be available for both lunch and dinner.

Inside Mexico profiled La Teca in its October 2007 issue, as one of 25 brilliant, visionary and innovative Mexicans. Click here to read the story.

Click here for Vinomio's reservation line.

Chef Ana's ceviche recipe

margot — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:42:12 +0000

Chef Ana Garcia is owner of the Tepotzlan, Morelos-based cooking school La Villa Bonita. She is currently working on a television show about Mexican food and culture called My Mexico.

Today on her blog she writes about a recent trip to Puerto Escondido, where she prepared a fresh ceviche right on the beach from just-caught Sailfish and Mahi Mahi. Ceviche is one of Mexican cuisine's delights, but I daresay most of us would shy away from preparing it ourselves.

Never fear! Chef Ana provides us with a simple ceviche recipe that I'm sure will be debuting at your next dinner party!

Click here to download the recipe PDF.

Mexico's Best Kept Secrets: El Fish Fritanga

margot — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:32:54 +0000

Via Cancun Canuck's blog:

El Fish Fritanga is a hole in the wall in the middle of Cancun's hotel zone, and Cancun Canuck gets our mouths watering with a description of the food:

"Here you'll find a great selection of seafood, from the 10 peso "pescadallas" (deep fried fish tacos) to the special Mayan style "tikin xic" fish (prices vary by season), anyone who loves "mariscos" will find something to suit their tastes. I'm quite fond of their "dedos de pescado" (fish fingers), always fresh and delicious and at around 50 pesos, a bargain. "

She raves about the service, and you just can't beat that name. What more can you ask for? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to jump on the next Interjet flight to make it in time for a late dinner on the playa.

Read her entire postc here and see pics. Thanks to Cancun Canuck for the heads up!

Wine Wise Lesson 4: Texture

catherine — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:04:02 +0000

In our previous lesson, we learned how to examine a wine for salty, sweet, bitter, and acidic flavors. This month, we expand the balance of flavors and sensations that make a wine appealing (or not) to our palates. We'll also learn the vocabulary for what we taste, so you can confidently describe what you perceive in the wine.

Flavors

Dryness/Sweetness

The term “dry” is the absence of sweetness, simply the opposite of what we call “sweet." Sweetness in dry wines comes from alcohol and the natural flavors of mature fruits. The principal flavor in sweet wines is residual sugar (fructose and saccharose) from grape juice that hasn’t fermented into alcohol.

Sweetness is perceived primarily on the tip of the tongue. Sweetness moderates and resists acidity, astringency and bitterness and in turn is moderated by these flavors.

How to describe levels of sweetness: very dry, dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet, very sweet.

Acidity

The most important acids in wine, tartaric and malic acid, come from the grape. Acidity is best perceived on the upper edges of the tongue. A high and disagreeable level of acidity provokes salivation, and creates an astringent sensation (see below).

An agreeably high level of acidity, however, will cause us to salivate appetizingly. Acidity gives character to a wine in the same way it does to fresh fruit (think of the difference in acidity between an orange and a lemon). levels vary depending on the type and origin of the grape. Acidity is especially important in white wines, which don’t have tannins as a counterbalance.

How to describe acidity levels: smooth, fresh, intense, vigorous, acidic, rough, green, very acidic.

Bitterness

Bitterness is like the taste of quinine in tonic water. Sometimes confused with tannins, bitterness is a flavor and tannins are sensation. Bitterness is mainly perceived in the back portion of the tongue, occasionally as far back as the throat, which is why bitterness is usually perceived at the end or in the aftertaste of the wine.

Bitterness can come from many sources, including high alcohol levels, green tannins in immature red grapes, damaged skins and seeds, excessive extraction while pressing red wines and excessive contact with oak in white wines. Bitterness does not play a crucial role in the structure of the wine; it is simply a flavor. The perception and tolerance of bitterness varies widely from one person to another.

How to describe bitterness levels: quinine bitter, lightly bitter, very bitter.

Saltiness

Although wine contains salts, salty flavor in wine is not common. Many wines from Baja California have a subtly salty flavor, which is caused by the composition of the soil in this region of Mexico.Tangible sensations

Alcohol

Alcohol is a complex liquid which posses possess both flavor (sweet and bitter) and texture. Alcohol produces warmth in the mouth, especially when the percentage of alcohol is more than 13%.

Highly alcoholic wines are characterized as “hot” or “ferocious”. Alcohol’s presence in the mouth is something that we feel. Alcohol also carries and scatters the flavors of the wine through the mouth and spreads them in the aftertaste. The very essence of wine, alcohol is also what creates the impact on our brains and bodies.

How to describe alcoholic content or body: thin, watery, slight, medium or full-bodied.

Excessive alcoholic content: heavy, hot, alcoholic.

Astringency

Astringency in wine is mostly produced by tannins and is primarily present in red wines. Astringency is a dry sensation perceived in the mouth that is created when tannins combine with the proteins of saliva.

How to describe a wine’s astringency: fine, smooth, silky, firm, mature, rich, strong, aggressive, astringent.

Tannin

Tannin is a substance that is produced naturally in the skin and other parts of the grape. Tannin levels are much higher in red wines, since these wines are fermented along with the grape’s skin. They influence the texture of a wine, the sensation produced in the mouth, the acidity and the richness of the wine’s flavor. A natural preservative, tannins permit good red wines to age, lending a smoother texture over time.

How to describe tannin levels: slightly, moderately, very or abundantly tannic.

Take advantage of swine flu fallout - eat for less at great restaurants in Mexico!

simon — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:26:27 +0000

Recession. Swine flu. Even earthquakes. Mexico has had its fair share of setbacks this year, and it's hit both consumers and restaurants hard.

During the three weeks of swine flu fever, restaurants across Mexico were forced to close at least some of the time, with restaurants in Mexico City hit worst of all. At the height of the crisis, tens of thousands of service industry workers were left unemployed with restaurants only able to provide delivery service.

Inside Mexico helped its readers through this difficult time by recommending its favourite take-out options, and now to encourage people to eat out once again, we're going to highlight the best swine flu offers out there.

As always it would be great to get your recommendations - let us know about your local 2 for 1 offer or 20% discount in the comments section below.

First in my inbox today was The Restaurant in San Miguel de Allende.

This chilled out venue is one of the best fine dining options in town, located a back street behind the main square (El Jardin). Using locally grown produce, organic whenever possible,The Restaurant not only gives an amazing eating experience but supports local growers and producers.

Normally it's one of the pricier places to eat in San Miguel, but owner and chef Donnie Masterton has a great Mayo Loco offer to bring back the punters.

For the whole of May The Restaurant has a 3 course lunch menu for $150 pesos, or a full 20% off your final cheque for dinner. This includes cocktails and wined from their New World Wine List.

This is incredible value - believe me, as I've eaten there and the food is quite simply delicious. Make sure you take advantage of the swine flu fall out whilst you can!

You'll find The Restaurant at Sollano 16, Centro, San Miguel de Allende. You can call them on MEX 415 154 7862 or US 213 471 2833, www.therestaurantsanmiguel.com

I'll be searching for more offers like this, but please give us your suggestions of great venues with great offers in the comments section below. I'll be back tomorrow with another special offer.

Wine recommendations

sue-ellen — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:13:22 +0000

General Wine Recommendations

Everyday Wines

Penta - Tempranillo, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah y Petit verdot. Bodega Pago del Vicario Castilla, España

Good and inexpensive. The name refers to the five months the wine spends in the cask, the blend of five varietals, and the five senses it's meant to stimulate. The color is a blood red with a pomegranate edge. The red, fruity notes-almost kirsch-tempt the nose. After it breathes, you will find hints of balsam and rosemary. It's for people who like a simple, but expressive wine that goes with a variety of foods. If you try a glass at Entrevinos, you will drink more than one cup.

Special Occasion Wines

Paulinha - Merlot 60%, Barbera 25% and Petit Sirah 15%. Viñas Pijoan Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California

With a good price/quality ratio, these wines are well structured and elegant and make excellent gifts. The price is under $500.00.

An intense coincidence of aromas, very fruity, with notes of red fruit and fresh plums set off by herbs. Full in the mouth, pleasant, fresh, easy to drink, with a medium finish. It's a good Mexican wine, from a small, family vineyard and is well worth trying. You can find it in specialty shops like Delirio in Colonia Roma.

Luxury Wines

Reserva Magna - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Nebbiolo y shiraz. Casa Pedro Domecq Ensenada, Baja California, México .

This wine can be enjoyed now, or kept for a later date. This is a great blend, kept in French oak barrels 18 months and aged in the bottle for a year. It's an intense red with touches of purple. The body is full and velvety, a sign of this wine's unique complexity. If you hold it in your mouth, the French oaks stands out, combining with dried fruit, finishing with a light tang. It's a connoisseur's wine, ideal for all types of red meat. Find it in specialty shops and in department stores.

Japanese grape wine

sue-ellen — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:53:58 +0000

Off island, very little is known about the wine produced in the land of the rising sun. Better known as an avid importer of wines, Japan has produced dry and sweet wines for centuries. In the year 1186, koshu grapes—Japan’s only indigenous wine-making grape, which produces a fruity white wine—were being cultivated in vineyards around Mount Fuji. This region, south of the Kofu Valley and east of Tokyo, is still Japan’s most important wine producing region. There the vines are nourished by rich volcanic soils and the fruit ripens during the long sunny days.

Most of Japan’s wine producing areas are found on the south part of the main island. However, the island Hokkaido in the north has two wine producing regions, and another island, Kyushu, in the south, has one.

After conducting extensive surveys abroad, Japanese vintners brought back popular American hybrids at the end of the 19th century. These are still the country’s most popular varietals: Campbell’s Early (a red grape); Delaware (a delicate but acidic white, good for sparkling wine); and the Muscat Bailey A (a hybrid of the Koshu which produces a good rosé). These wines, along with the Koshu, represent 85% of the viniculture in Japan. The rest is made up of Semillon, Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.

The 1970s was a time of change for Japan’s wine industry. Foreign wine experts arrived from France and Australia and introduced grapes from France and Germany. Three Japanese multinationals, Sanraku, Mann and Suntory, constructed ultramodern vineyards to produce wines for the domestic market.

Japan is best known for its sake (rice wine) but its incipient but stable production of grape wine bodes well for the industry’s future. Even though grape-based wine is not a significant part of the culinary tradition, Japan’s population has the disposable income necessary to cultivate a taste for wine. The forecast for wine consumption in Japan is robust, especially given that it’s at only 5% right now and has far to go to catch up with beer (70%). 33% of wine sales are of Japanese vintages, with the balance of sales being wines from France, Italy, Germany and Spain, as well as New World producers like the US, Chile and Australia.

Although it might take some time for Japanese wines to appear in Mexican wine stores, Asian specialty food stores here will begin stocking them in the near future. In the meantime, however, you can experiment by pairing sushi and other Japanese food with complimentary wines like Riesling. Champagne is a good pair with sushi, and you might also try a Mexican white like Monte Xanic.

Taste of the rising sun

sue-ellen — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:35:16 +0000

“Dozo omeshia gari kudasai.”

Masahiko Muto, Executive Chef of the Japanese restaurant Suntory, explains that before and after eating, Japanese diners say this quick blessing for the food at the table and for those who prepared it. It’s a little different from the Mexican buen provecho, but just as traditional.

Since the restaurant opened in Mexico City´s Del Valle neighborhood in 1970 -- the Japanese whisky maker’s first foray into the restaurant business -- Suntory has enjoyed a revered place in the Mexican culinary landscape, even before Japanese cuisine was commonplace in cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Chef Muto, who spent his 22 years career in Suntory restaurants in Singapore, Vancouver, Sao Paolo and Atlanta before coming to Mexico ten years ago, says the owners of Suntory had personal acquaintances in Mexico, and wanted to bring Japanese cuisine and culture to the country. Suntory's clientele is 90% Mexican, and grill items like tepanyaki and shabu shabu are favorites.

“The base of what we do is classic Japanese cuisine, but we make some adjustments for Mexican tastes, like serving soy sauce with chili and lime,” says Chef Muto.

An exquisite platter of fried pieces of chicken resting on a bed of chiles provides another example. “The fried chicken is a very typical Japanese dish, but here we fry it in oil that has been soaked overnight in chile de árbol, to infuse the chicken with that flavor. Garlic in this platter is another Mexican touch.”

And what about cream cheese, a ubiquitous ingredient in sushi rolls in Mexico?

“Cream cheese in sushi originated in the United States. California rolls and other rolls that use non traditional ingredients like cream cheese and avocado started there, and since the United States and Mexico are closely linked, these rolls eventually found their way down here.”

This being said, the restaurant presents a large menu with all the sushi, sashimi and rolls that diners around the world have come to love, as well as a smaller menu of Japanese specialties like fugu (called pez globo in Spanish, or puffer fish in English), the renowned delicacy which can be fatal if not prepared properly.

The restaurant’s staff, including four trained sushi chefs, is mostly Mexican, which means paying extra attention to language and cultural barriers.

“[With a Japanese staff] I can use few words, everyone understands everything. Here, I have to explain more.” However, Muto’s team has learned many Japanese terms, and even though they don’t go so far as to prepare sushi at home (“Fish is very expensive here,” says Masa) they do cook simpler dishes for their families like Japanese-style fried rice.

North of the border, the synergies between Mexican cooks and Japanese cuisine are exploding. A recent article published in the magazine New York Resident investigates how a shortage of Japan-trained cooks has led to a growing number of Mexican and Latin American susheros helming Japanese restaurants in New York and Chicago. In the sushi chef competition of the 2006 Japanese food festival in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, a Salvadoran and a Mexican won first and third place, respectively.

Suntory has closed its doors in many other countries around the world due to sharply increased competition. According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, there are 20,000 Japanese restaurants worldwide. In the US there are now 9,000, twice as many as there were a decade ago (the only Suntory still open in the US or Canada is in Hawaii). Here in Mexico, however, Suntory is still an institution, synonymous with authentic Japanese cuisine, and is expanding rather than shrinking. In addition to its two branches in Mexico City (Del Valle and Lomas) and one each in Guadalajara and Acapulco, Grupo Suntory owns the Polanco restaurant Sunka (Mexican with Japanese touches), Santa Fe’s Shu (Japanese fusion) and is opening another Shu in Acapulco this year.

With its dark wood paneling, white tablecloths and manicured garden, the flagship Del Valle restaurant feels like a throwback, as if the décor hasn´t changed a whit in almost four decades of business. Recent years have brought younger, hipper Japanese restaurants to the scene, but Suntory is still Mexico´s Japanese godfather.

“This was the first authentic Japanese restaurant in Mexico, says Chef Masa. “Every day, every week, every month, the clients keep coming. For decades it was the parents, and now we see their children here.”

Soy delicious

catherine — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:20:27 +0000

When I was a growing up meat was the center of every meal in our house. Vegetables were arranged around the pork chop or slab of meatloaf, mere sideshows to the main event. My mother’s experimental couscous and legume dishes were met with suspicion and reproachful looks.

Attitudes toward meat-free meals have changed in Canada, but not so much in Mexico. A meal without meat of some kind is still considered incomplete and unsatisfying. This wasn’t exactly a surprise. After nearly twenty years – and twenty countries – as a vegetarian, I have very low culinary expectations.

Finding great fresh vegetables is a cinch in Mexico. What’s hard is finding protein-rich meat alternatives that don’t taste like scrub grass and tree bark. Especially if you’re a lousy, lazy cook like me. At home I came to rely on readily available pre-fabricated soya burgers, hotdogs, sandwich ‘meat’, ground ‘beef’ and, once in a while on a special occasion, a little Tofurkey.

When I moved to Mexico City I expected the obvious: beans, beans and more beans.

Happily, my low expectations haven’t been met. It seems two forces are slowly introducing vegetarianism to the Mexican mainstream: poverty and wealth.

At the ISSSTE, the government-run supermarket, you can buy half a kilo of plain dehydrated soya for 10 pesos. For twenty pesos you can get chicken or beef flavored soya to mix in with the taco meat so that all the cousins go home with a full belly.

For a bit more you can buy ready-to-serve chorizo flavored soya at the Superama or Bodega. But none are really considered food in and of themselves. They are filler, which is why it all tastes like mealy sawdust sprinkled with sulphur.

On the other end, if you look hard enough, it’s possible to find veggie burgers, tofu and tasty Milanesa or Italiano-flavoured dehydrated soya and TVP (textured vegetable protein) in some of the specialty organic and health food stores around town.

And best of all, the delicious veggie versions of Mexican classics made by VegiMarket. For less than four dollars I can take home spicy poblana, carnitas and chorizo verde, among others. I’ve walked a lot of miles out of my way to find these little bagged bonanzas; my freezer is full of them.It’s always a thrill to find a store that sells protein rich vegetarian food. But one of my best days in Mexico City was the day I stumbled across Yug restaurant in the Zona Rosa.

It’s big green “vegetariano” sign was like an oasis in the desert.

Normally ordering in a restaurant means spelling out just what a vegetarian eats. No meat of any kind, including chicken or fish, which for some reason is often considered to fall outside the category of meat. “I’m a vegetarian,” I say, sending back the dish. “Not a vegaquarium.”

Not a problem at Yug. It’s a culinary pioneer in Mexico, having opened in the early sixties, and over the years they’ve perfected vegetarian versions of Mexican dishes. The veggie carnitas are deliciously greasy and crispy. Wrap them in Yug’s fresh hot maiz tortillas with homemade pico de gallo salsa and spicy guacamole and you’d never know it wasn’t meat.

The molcajete always arrives sizzling with a generous portion of tortillas. For something a little lighter, there’s a huge variety of salads, delicious caldo tlalpeño and several kinds of enchiladas, including a rich enchiladas de mole.

If I’m hankering for a little taste of home, I’ll indulge in one of the house specialities: potato latkes, spinach lasagna, or crepes. The mushroom ones are the best, but don’t take my word for it. Go and taste for yourself. See below for options in Mexico City.

Eating in

The Green Corner

Locations: Mazatlan 81, Col. Condesa, Mexico City, Tel: 5286 3939 and Homero 1210, Col. Polanco, Mexico City, Tel: 3093 8290

What they have: Tofu; flavored, dehydrated soya

Super Mercado Mikasa

Location: San Luis Potosi (corner with Monterrey), Col. Roma, Mexico City

What they have: Fresh tofu, fried soy cakes, miso, frozen soy beans in the pod, vegetarian sushi and tempura, brown rice, mixed dried beans and much more.

Yug Libreria Esoterica

Locations: Puebla 326-1, Col. Roma; Gante 6, Pasaje Iturbide, Col. Centro; Heriberto Frias 501, Col.
del Valle; Tres Cruces (near the corner of Presidente Carranza), Col. Coyoacan, all in Mexico City.

Note: they also have stores in Guadalajara and Monterrey.

Web: yug.com.mx

What they have: These New Age stores also sell soy burgers, plain tofu, dehydrated soya, packages
of ready-to-eat veggie poblana, carnitas, chorizo verde, milanesa, pastor de soya and others.

Nutrisa

Locations: Health food chain with outlets throughout the country. Check nutrisa.com.mx for the one nearest to you.

What they have: Soya milk, powered soya, flavored dehydrated soya, and veggie chicharrón.

Eating out

Yug Vegetarian Restaurant

Location: Varsovia 3, Zona Rosa, Mexico City, Mon-Fri: 7 am–9 pm; Weekends: 8:30 am–5:30 pm.

What they serve: Weekday lunch buffet and full a la carte menu. Delicious soya versions of traditional Mexican meals, soy burgers, salads, juice bar. Also sells VegiMarket products.

VegiMarket

Location: Londres 229, Col. Juárez, Mexico City, Mon-Fri: 1 – 5 pm.

What they serve: Comida corrida veggie versions of Mexican favorites.

Los Murales Restaurant

Location: Liverpool 152, Zona Rosa (at the Hotel Century).

What they serve: Fabulous vegetarian buffet every day between 11 am and 5 pm.

El Natural Saks

Location: Insurgentes Sur 1641, Col. San Jose, Mexico City, Mon-Sat: 8 am – midnight; Sun: 8 am – 10 pm

What they serve: Extensive international and Mexican menu. Salad bar, fresh fruit and juices, espresso, cappuccino, bar.

Super Soya

Locations: Tacuba 40, close to Metro Allende; Insurgentes Sur 446, 9 am to 9 pm daily; both in Mexico City.

What they serve: Counter service veggie tortas and tacos, plus veggie products like soy burgers, chicharrón, SoyaPac and soy milk powder.

For more listings go to happycow.net.

Wine Wise Lesson 3: Taste

catherine — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:54:04 +0000

In my previous columns, we have looked at how our enjoyment of a wine is enhanced by its appearance and aroma. Now we have reached the moment of truth: taste. This month we take a look at both the physiological and the aesthetic elements of taste.

The physiological dimension of taste refers to how we perceive what we call flavor: Is the wine sweet or salty? Is it acidic or bitter? Aesthetics imply judgment and pose the question: Is the wine good?

Drinking wine is a sensual pleasure, in large part passive: we enjoy the sensations of the wine without paying them too much attention.

To truly taste a wine, however, is a deliberate and considered act, full of scrutiny, informed by what the wine has to offer and what the taster is looking for. The objective of this higher level of attention is to broaden our enjoyment. In this sense, wine tasting is no different than any other interest, be it literature or sports, painting or gardening.

Going deeper into our pastimes takes us to the point where we know what qualities to look for, and have a context for appreciating their fundamentals and subtleties. We learn to see form and color in painting; our ears pick up melody, harmony and rhythm in music; we anticipate movement and strategy in sports, and evaluate the geometry and structure of the plants in our garden.

And so it is with wine. We notice more characteristics, and take pleasure in the themes and variations of the grape. We share our knowledge with other aficionados and, when we take our next sip and allow the sensations to lap over us, appreciate them much more.

When we finally taste the wine, we hope to corroborate the impressions given by the wine’s appearance and smell, and this is one of the indicators of a wine’s quality. As with aroma, there is any number of possible flavors, but the four fundamentals are sweet, salty, acidic and bitter, the combination of which determines a wine’s soul.

Additionally, we notice the wine’s feel in our mouth, and speak of its corpulence, temperature, astringency, silkiness and length. We experience the interplay between aroma and taste, a connection experts call the “retronasal path”.

Next month, we’ll delve deeper into the flavors and textures and sensations that we call taste. Until then, the wines above will appeal to all of the senses. Salud!

Cooking with chef Andrea Blanco

catherine — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:10:31 +0000

For eight years, Andrea Blanco has been the creative force behind the exceptional cuisine at Cuernavaca-based La Gaia, a charming establishment in a house formerly owned by famed Mexican entertainer Cantiflas. She also developed the menu at its sister restaurant Villa de la Selva, in the Pacific coast resort town Ixtapa.

When Blanco first proposed the idea of offering cooking classes on Mondays at the restaurant—the kitchen’s slowest day—she wasn’t sure what to expect, but they were an immediate hit. The evening classes, from 6 pm to 8 pm, tend to attract professionals, whereas the morning classes, between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm, are attended by well-to-do housewives, a group she calls “The Ladies”. The class was so popular among the ladies, that Blanco soon opened a separate class—at their request—for their housekeepers.

“Many of The Ladies hate cooking,” says Blanco, “but the maids like to cook. Sometimes I have to explain more things [to the maids], but they absorb the knowledge much faster.”

A member of the young generation of Mexican chefs storming the national and international gastronomic scene, Blanco combines classical training (she studied at the Culinary Institute of America, in New York) with a flair for innovation and a roll-up-your-sleeves practicality. In 2001, she won the Concurso Nacional de Joven Chef Méxicano (an Iron Chef-like competition where entrants create entrees on the fly based on ingredients given to them).

When she decided that she wanted to learn traditional Italian cooking, she showed up at one of Rome’s most well-known restaurants in her whites and convinced the owner to let her work elbow-to-elbow with the staff. This year she’ll be the guest chef at the Camelback, Arizona restaurant Elements.

The curriculum for Blanco’s class reflects her practical sensibility. The six-week course teaches cooking basics and gives an overview of different dishes and cuisines, from mole to risotto to stir fry. Each class covers three recipes, which students should then be able to recreate in their own kitchens. “I like simple things,” she says. “I don’t like recipes that take two days.”

She also offers courses to corporate executives and has developed a line of spices, called Spezia. The spices make it simple to add flavor to a variety of meals and are given as a gift in the corporate courses and sold in the Mexico City restaurant, Café Ó. It’s clear that for the multitalented Blanco, the classes have become another way to indulge her fervor for the kitchen.

“I really love teaching,” she says. “I love seeing students pick up ideas. And I learn so much from them as well.”

Cooking class information

Class meets once a week for six weeks.

Cuernavaca: Mondays, 10:30 am -12:30 pm and 6-8 pm

Mexico City: Wed & Thurs, 10:30 am – 12: 30 pm

Cost: $2550 pesos, includes all ingredients.

Email blancoandrea@hotmail.com about enrollment.

Visit gaiarest.com.mx and villadelaselva.com for more information on Blanco’s restaurants.

Wine Wise Lesson 2: Aroma

catherine — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:41:53 +0000

Aroma may be more important to your appreciation of a wine than taste.

Part 1- The Nose: A history

The best wines possess the richest aromas. Those that aren’t as good are aromatically poor, and our sense of smell tells us the difference. A wine’s “nose” as it’s called, reveals much about its identity, origin and quality before you even put it in your mouth.

In fact, smell may be the most important sense for tasting and enjoying wine. A large part of what we call the “taste” is really “aroma.” (You know this because when you have cold you can’t taste your food.) In addition to telling you about the wine, the bouquet can conjure intense memories of people, places, and emotions; it’s an olfactory prelude to the carnal gratification on your palate.

The aromatic information that is processed by our brains, therefore, mingles with previous experiences. For this reason, it’s fundamentally important that a good wine taster, as well as an aficionado, taste wines often so that the aromas lodge in her memory.

Nearly 500 aromatic compounds have been detected in wine and can be organized in the following manner: primary aromas that come from the grape and are the most fresh and fruity; secondary aromas generated during the fermentation process are more intricate than the primary aromas; tertiary aromas are the most mysterious, elegant, and complex. These result from the chemical changes that occur as the wine ages.

This multiplicity of aromatic compounds is a function of the soil, climate, age and type (or types) of grapes, the ripeness of the grapes, as well as the materials and technology used during the winemaking and aging processes.

PART 2- THE NOSE: IN PRACTICE

Many people worry that they’re not going to be able to detect as many aromas as they think they should be able to. Smelling wine is really about practice and concentration. If you pay more attention to aromas around you – plants, spices, the earth, flowers, fruit, vegetables, bread, cooking food – you’ll also improve your nose for wine.

Keep your glass on the table and swirl it so that air mixes with the wine. Then, quickly, lift the glass to your nose. Stick your nose as far into the glass as you can without touching the wine and smell it. Free associate: is the smell fruity, woody, intense, light? Wait a moment and try again. (Your nose gets tired fast, but recovers fast, too.)

Listen to what your friends say and try to find the aromas that they smell. The important thing, after this ritual of swirling and sniffing, is that you discover smells that are pleasurable and interesting… and that you have fun.

Note: Bad aromas exist too. Wine is a natural, agricultural product. When a wine is damaged it’s immediately noticeable in the aroma.

Omnivore's dilemma

catherine — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:06:25 +0000

Let’s dispense with the obvious: the food at Aguila y Sol is, by all measures, excellent -- a Four Forks review from Reforma. Several prestigious Star Diamond awards by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. Acknowledgement by the international luxury and travel press as one of the world’s best restaurants. And, not least of all, multitudes of satisfied customers, who continue to crowd the elegant Polanco dining room five years after its opening.

For the restaurant’s owner and Executive Chef Martha Ortiz, however, the sense of taste is just the staging area for a ritual dedicated to the culture and history of Mexico.

The first thing you notice in Ortiz’s office, located in an understated building next door to the restaurant, are the books, stacked in shelves, piled on her desk. Slender with long dark hair, Ortiz, model glamorous in photos, is earthy and accessible in person. “I’d love to be a literature PhD,” she says, and there is more than a hint of the academy in her bearing and resume; Ortiz began her career studying the Sociology of Food and the History of Gastronomy.

In 2001, after years of writing about food—she has penned eight cookbooks on Mexican regional cuisine—and offering consulting, photography, PR and art direction to others’ culinary projects, she launched Aguila y Sol, with the mission of creating “a total experience of the senses” through Mexican gastronomy.

“Each plate is a little story,” Ortiz says, “a little film that you can eat.” It becomes clear that for Ortiz, food is a multidimensional thing, its qualities extending beyond taste, color and texture to encompass even characteristics such as gender.

“Think about tortillas—there’s a woman caressing and forming the tortilla with her hands,” she says. “Mexican cuisine is profoundly feminine. But strong, the way Mexican women are strong. What these women do, it’s really like magic…. [they] have to invoke the wind, the water, the fire, the earth….from nothing.

"Patricia [Quintana, chef of restaurant Izote] and I were the first to offer authentic Mexican cooking in an upscale setting. Now we’ve been joined by many others.”

Today, Ortiz is a star on the international chef circuit, her name often mentioned in the company of France’s Daniel Boulud, Napa Valley’s Alice Waters and Spain’s Ferran Adria.

Watching Ortiz prepare her dishes is to witness not so much food preparation in the traditional sense as a meticulous production of the plates, a poet writing and editing with colors and textures. The presentation is overwhelmingly appealing to the eye: into a green avocado soup in a tomato red dish, she places a taro chip, inserts two chive quills and paints a tiny “beauty spot” of red chili oil.

Some in the food world question Ortiz’s culinary bona fides, grumbling that her success is the triumph of marketing over skill.

There is no question that the appearance of the food, the atmosphere in which it is presented, even the names of the dishes are of utmost importance to her. The imagination of the girl who dreamed of being a princess at Mitla (the ancient site of the Mixtec empire, in Oaxaca) is evident in names like María va a la florería (a dessert decorated with flowers from Xochimilco) and Rosca de Reina Magas (the traditional Día de los Magos pastry with a feminine twist).

“I’ve developed a culinary utopia, based not just on the act of eating, but in tasting bits and pieces of the history of my country. [Mexican food] gives us identity. For example, chiles en nogada, mole Oaxaqueño and sopa de tortilla, they all carry Mexican pride.”

“I like to expose myself to other disciplines,” Ortiz says, and perhaps it is this hunger for company beyond the world of cooking that causes some to bristle.

She’s currently working on a cookbook called México: tú que a todo me sabes, a delicious play between the words “to taste” and “to know”, with no direct English translation but which might be expressed (less eloquently) as “Mexico you are my taste”. Friends, such as the famed Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta (who built the Camino Real Hotels, among others) have contributed essays to the book, which will be published later this year.

Asked about plans to expand Aguila y Sol, she admits to having an interest in a Madrid outpost (“it’s the ‘conquista del regreso’ she says) and has been invited to open one in Los Angeles.

“I want Mexican culture to travel the world,” she says. “It’s the voyage of the eagle.”

If she succeeds, many more people will learn to taste the rich colors of Mexican earth and sky and history.

Wine Wise Lesson 1: Color

catherine — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:59:00 +0000

This is the first in a series of articles that will help you understand why some wines appeal to you and others don’t. With just a few simple tools, you’ll feel more comfortable comparing, describing and evaluating wine.

Let’s start where you first experience a wine: with your eyes.

A wine’s look means more than you might think. Color gives clues about the wine’s age, as well as the variety and origin of the grape. Sparkling brilliance or clarity virtually guarantees a good fresh wine.

Now, look at your wine, tilt the glass: Is it dark or light? Dull or shiny? Purple or red?

The basic aspects of color are: brilliance, tone and richness. Brilliance ranges from dull to radiant; think of the difference between 20 and 150 watt light bulbs. Tone is color: red as opposed to burgundy, yellow as opposed to green. Richness qualifies the tone, a deep burgundy versus a light burgundy.

Observe and enjoy!

Everyday wines
Great quality/price ratio ($100-$150 pesos)

Calixa: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; Bodegas Monte Xanic, Valle de Guadalupe B.C., Mexico

It’s a young wine with brilliant, dark red and violet highlights, and an aroma of black cherry, raspberry and cassis. Goes with grilled meats, pasta with marinara sauce or mole poblano.

Also try Bodegas Monte Xanic’s Chardonnay and their Granache Rose. These wines are ideal aperitifs or with pastas, rice, or Asian and Mexican food.

Special Occasion Wines
Very good and moderately expensive (average bottle $350 pesos)

Matarromera - Crianza: 100% Tinta del País. D.O.; Ribera del Duero. Bodegas Matarromera, España

The color is clean and brilliant. The nose is intense with a bouquet of vanilla, leather, tobacco and licorice. The taste is round and meaty with mild tannins and a harmonious finish. Available in many supermarkets.

Luxury Wines
Excellent and expensive ($400 pesos and up)

Humberto Canale Gran Reserva: Pinot Noir. Bodega Canale, Rio Negro, Argentina

The color is intense red. The aroma fruity and spicy with notes of vanilla, tobacco and nut, with a long finish. Find it in the newly opened Grand Cru store at 39 Julio Verne Street, Polanco for $420 pesos.

Chocolate: Drink of the gods

catherine — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:05:17 +0000

When the Spaniards came to Mesoamerica they found more than precious stones and gold; indigenous peoples also introduced them to the cacao seed used to brew the bitter drink called xocoatl or chocoatl. Held sacred for its medicinal and ceremonial uses, only soldiers, priests and kings were allowed to take the drink considered fit only for gods.

Cacao (cocoa), the basis of chocolate, derives from the Mayan word “kakaw,” the name given the seed of the cacaoatero (Theobroma cacao) tree. It grows in warm climates and produces a green, orange or reddish brown fruit shaped like a small papaya. Kakaw originated in Mesoamerica and, much like maize, gave shape to the economic and social structures within the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures.

While the indigenous people drank fermented cocoa with honey, chili, fruits, maize, flowers or herbs, the Spanish added milk and sugar and took it back to Europe in 1544.

Medicinal effects

The Incas, Mayas and Aztecs also used cacao to heal. They drank it to energize and restore the soul while increasing the natural heat of the body. Applied to the body in a buttery consistency, cocoa also served as a powerful anti- inflammatory.

Recent clinical research has highlighted the cardioprotective benefits of cocoa. It’s a powerful antioxidant, has anti-inflammatory effects, and increases high density lipoproteins (HDL ), improving blood flow and stabilizing arterial pressure. It also contains the amino acid tryptophan which promotes the creation of serotonin, the hormone that sparks good moods.

Falling in love with chocolate

Falling in love might seem like a matter of the heart, but in reality it’s a complex neurochemical process that begins in the brain. Chemicals released in the hypothalamus accelerate the production of hormones and initiate a chain of physiological events. Substances like dopamine, adrenalin and serotonin are then produced, triggering all the symptoms of being in love: uncontrollable joy, an accelerated heart rate, an increased learning capacity, and a sense of wellbeing.

Phenylethylamine and tryptophan, found in cocoa, create a similar effect. The desire to maintain those euphoric effects, in turn, fuels some people’s intense cravings for chocolate.

Dietary recommendations

So, the more chocolate the better? That depends on what’s in it. Pure cocoa is healthy, but the things that make it delicious too--milk, honey, refined sugars or other types of fats--make a huge difference in caloric count, and on its positive effects within the body. (Dark chocolate, for example, with its higher cocoa content, has been noted for producing healthier physiological effects than white or milk chocolate).

To get the health benefits of chocolate without putting on the pounds, try a daily dose of cocoa with water and honey. One cup (240 ml) is sufficient to make the heart healthy, and to comfort the mind and soul.

Georgina del Ángel Cabrera is a nutritionist and researcher at the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Nutrition in Mexico City. Her specialty is nutrition in the treatment of chronic and degenerative diseases.

The sweet shoppe

catherine — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:22:58 +0000

For the past century-and-a quarter and a bit more, the place to stock up on such classic Mexican candy as prickly pear cheese and calabaza en tacha has been Dulcería Celaya on Cinco de Mayo in the Historic Center of Mexico City.

“Originally, the store was located on Calle Madero back when it was Plateros, the Street of the Silversmiths,” said Jorge Uguenin, current manager of the establishment his family has owned and run for six generations. “We moved to Cinco de Mayo about 1900.”

The shop appears to have changed little since then. Décor is classic fin de siècle, but the fin of another siècle. Pressed tin ornaments the small shop’s ceiling and walls; the walls, in turn, are covered by mirrors.Display counters all but groan under the weight of sweets such as are seldom found anywhere else. Often more than 150 items are available.

“Some candies are seasonal,” Uguenin explained. “It depends on when certain fruits are available. Almost everything –about 90%– of the products we make ourselves in a little factory in Colonia Roma.” The firm also operates its only branch store in Colonia Roma (Orizaba 37).

Traditional Mexican candies are as mestizo as Mexicans themselves, Uguenin continued. “Milk and sugar originally came from Spain, all to be blended with native fruits, nuts and berries. Never forget, Mexico gave the world both vanilla and chocolate.”

Nuns in 16th century convents who first cooked up mole and chiles en nogada also gave Mexico its candies. “The sale of sweets provided an income for the convents,” Uguenin said.

In the more secular 19th century, the Guanajuato city of Celaya became especially well-known, first for its cajeta – a goat’s milk caramel – and then for a variety of other delights It made sense, then, when the Uguenin family opened its shop to name it Dulcería Celaya. Surviving for six generations cannot have been easy. Mass-produced candies now dominate the market to such an extent the Dulcería Celaya has become something of a curiosity shop mentioned in guidebooks.

“Tourists make a point of seeking us out,” Uguenin said. “Mexicans from the provinces and Europeans, especially the Italians. The Italians are fascinated by glazed limes stuffed with coconut. They think it is very exotic.”

Mexicans prefer jamoncillos, which many remember as a childhood treat. Jamoncillo is a milkbased candy cooked until it’s firm enough to be sliced into cubes of different sizes and sold. The Celaya shop has seven or eight varieties. It’s almost the only place you can find camotes outside of Puebla. Camotes are yams mashed into little tubes, glazed and individually wrapped.

Other delights include tepopozte a favorite in Colima, made from hominy, cinnamon, aniseed, brown sugar and sage leaves; nogada, walnut-based chocolate nougat made with sugar, eggs and butter; muéganos, hollow flour balls coated with caramel, then sprinkled with nuts and palanqueta – peanut brittle.

Any of these make a delicious addition to candy dishes you may have set around your home or office. And what could make a sweeter gift than a box of traditional Mexican candy?

Dulcería Celaya, Av. 5 de Mayo No. 39, Centro Histórico, Mexico City.

Diego Oka: Top chef at La Mar

catherine — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:11:43 +0000

Twenty-four year old Diego Oka enters the room. He is slender and fresh-faced. With his stylishly square black-rimmed glasses, grey hoodie sweatshirt and baggy pants he could be an art student, a software entrepreneur, a filmmaker. But it’s high cuisine where he’s making his mark.

Oka’s experience in the kitchen belies his youth, and he manages his 20-strong kitchen staff with equanimity. “Sometimes it’s difficult but I’m always learning something,” he says “The important thing is to be humble, to be sencillo. We’re like a family here.”

It’s no surprise that Oka was called to be a chef. H is grandparents, who immigrated to Peru from Japan, owned a restaurant. His parents both loved to cook. At 17, interests in photography, architecture and fine arts gave way to a focus on food.

He entered the chef school at Lima’s Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, and after his first year, secured an internship at Astrid y Gastón, Gastón Acurio’s first restaurant. During and after college, Oka worked at Acurio’s side, taking on increasingly important roles in his growing organization, until, while working at Lima’s La Mar, he was asked to be the chef in the Mexico City restaurant.

“Peruvian food is almost unknown here in Mexico, but the reaction of the Mexicans has been wonderful. People are finding out about us through word of mouth. They’re coming to eat and telling their friends about it.” Indeed, as midday gives way to the comida hour, the dining room begins to fill up with a business lunch crowd, happy to savor the fruits of Oka’s team’s labors.

Of course, La Mar has already earned a special place in the heart of Mexico City’s Peruvian community. “When you’re away from home, you miss the food from home,” says Oka.

Though Oka admits to a bit of homesickness himself, he’s enjoying the Distrito Federal and cites “the people and the nightlife” as two thingshe likes most about his new life. And qué tal Mexican food? “I like cochinita pibil, sopa de tortilla, chilaquiles, chiles en nogada... I like to try new things.”

And how about the famed Mexican taste for picante? Which of these two great cuisines wins in the battle of the chiles?

A slow smile crosses his face. “Well,” he says, “Peruvians love picante…but I think Mexicans might love it even more.”

La Mar opens in Santa Fe

catherine — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:05:57 +0000

The space is huge, and the staff too: 140 seats, 60 employees. Garbed in androgynous, vaguely Asian uniforms--black Nehru vests over white t-shirts and black pants--a young set-up crew moves with great efficiency, arranging chairs, folding napkins and laying sinuously designed knives and forks on dark wood tables.

With Brazilian trip-hop CD playing in the background and futuristic skyscrapers out the floor-to-ceiling windows you could be in Hong Kong, Los Angeles, any number of sleek, modern centers around the globe. As it is, we're in Mexico City's Santa Fe, ready to embark on a culinary journey for points far to the south.

La Mar Cebicheria, is the new outpost of the Lima, Peru-based restaurant of the same name. And, it's the latest venture of Peruvian cuisine's most ardent promoter, the world class chef-entrepreneur Gastón Acurio.

Acurio's young protégé Diego Oka is the chef at the Santa Fe branch, and like his indefatigable mentor--who currently operates or is opening restaurants in eight Latin American countries and Spain, and has designs on the US --Oka is eager to see Peruvian food take its rightful place alongside cuisines like French, Thai and Mexican as globally recognized gastronomic heavyweights.

There are many similarities between Mexican and Peruvian cuisines. Both are the product of centuries of acculturation; Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, and, of course, Incan flavors characterize Peruvian food. Both rely on chiles.

"If the chiles disappear," says Oka, "the cuisine disappears." The aji amarillo is the most important Peruvian chile, but far from the only one. The aji lima is akin to Mexico's habanero. The aji rocoto is like the chile manzano. Aji panca is a cousin of the guajillo.

But precision is a mantra at La Mar. There are Mexican flourishes on the menu, but La Mar isn't a fusion restaurant; it imports ajis from its factory in Lima. "What we want to do is to present people with the classic Peruvian cuisine,” Oka says.

Ceviche is probably the dish most identified with Peru, and La Mar’s is a delight: the fish is flown fresh daily from Baja California and served raw in a bath of lime juice, garlic and other ingredients. The menu offers several versions: the Peruvian clásico is the most popular, though a la diabla, with its spicy tomato salsa, gives a nod to the traditional Mexican ceviche.

The quintessential Peruvian staples of potatoes and fish come together in causa, a potato-and-aji mash topped by your choice of seafood. Will it be the nikei, with tuna tartare, smoked salmon and avocado? Or the coctel, with shrimp, crab and cocktail sauce? Why choose? Go for the mixta, a sampler of all the causas on the menu. It’s a dish that manages to be both comforting and sophisticated.

The roasted skewered meats known as shish kebab in Turkey, yakitori in Japan, and brochettes in France are called anticuchos in Peru. La Mar’s version of this street food favorite is made with tuna, marlin or octopus. Especially delicious is the Chinese style crocante, whose savory, crunchy fried shrimp and tangy sweet tamarind sauce are a pleasant mix of flavors and textures.

And so on. The menu is large and interesting, and one trip to the restaurant isn’t sufficient to develop a full sense of the scope of Peruvian cuisine, or Oka and Acurio’s ambitions. But without exception everything we tried was ocean fresh, and the different portion sizes mean satisfaction whether you want to sit down for a five course meal, share a whole grilled fish with a friend, or flit like a hummingbird through the appetizers and small plates.

It’s doubtful Mexicans will replace their margaritas with pisco sours (the national drink of Peru, also delicious at La Mar) anytime soon. But if Oka and Acurio can sustain La Mar’s exacting standard for fresh ingredients and intense commitment to this complex and rich cuisine, there is no question that Peruvian food will win a special place in the hearts of its friends to the north.

La Mar, Juan Salvador Agraz 37, Edificio Escape, Santa Fe, Mexico City. Tel: (55) 5292 9776, 5292 9786

Vinos for every holiday

catherine — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:11:44 +0000

The golden rule for wine is to select each wine according to one’s personal taste and pocketbook. Here are several recommendations for the holidays, based on the intrinsic characteristics of each wine as well as quality for the price. Choose according to your preferences, menu and budget for the occasion. Salud!

Everyday wines
Good and inexpensive

These Mexican wines have a great quality-to-price ratio. Buy them and enjoy them now.

XA Domecq
Cabernet Sauvignon
Bodegas Casa Pedro Domecq/ México
This wine’s well-rounded flavor, slowly evolving fullness and tannic structure make for a pleasurable finish.Recommended with red meat, chicken in creamy sauces, pastas, cheese and cold meats.
Average price: $74 pesos

XA Domecq
Blanc de Blancs
Bodegas Casa Pedro Domecq / México
This wine has good acidity, and is fresh and agreeable to the palate, with a well-rounded flavor and pleasing finish. Ideal as an aperitif and paired with fish with light sauces, cheeses and light deserts. It should be served at around 8°C/46° F.
Average price: $66 pesos

Special occasions
Quality and great value

These wines are well structured and elegant, with intense flavors and make excellent gifts. The cost less than $500 pesos, and they are worth the price for occasions like Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve.

Gran Vino Tinto de Chateau Camou 2001
Bodegas Chateau Camou / Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc y Merlot
Baja California, México
This is a wine with a bouquet of red ripe fruits and flowers, cassis, coffee and spices, with a superior balance and elegant velvety tannins. Elegant from start to finish, ready to shine in a spectacular holiday meal.
Average: $400 pesos

Condes de Albarei 2004
ADEGA Condes de Albarei/ Albariño / Rias Baixas, España
A fresh, ample, rounded wine with a persistent bouquet. This is a white wine to consider for a meal based on seafood or fish.
Average price: $200 pesos

Luxury Wines
Go ahead and splurge!
These two wines can be enjoyed now, or kept in store for a later date.

Vino de Piedra 2003
Bodega Casa de Piedra / Tempranillo y Cabernet Sauvignon / Ensenada B.C., México

This is an elegant and intense wine, with the fruity flavor of cherries and blackberries plus toasted and smoked spices, leather, licorice, and oak. Harmonious to the mouth, well balanced with ripe and very persistent tannins. This is a delicate wine to enjoy on very special occasions.
Average price: $800 pesos

Duckhorn 2002
Duckhorn Vineyards / 87% Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc y Petit Verdot
Napa Valley, California
This full-bodied Merlot is a complex and balanced wine. It has fruity notes which combine well with its tannins, making for a long finish. Its flavors are fresh and ripe with raspberry at the beginning balanced by the richness of oak at its finish. Use to impress friends and family!
Average price: $800 pesos

Say salud!
Affordable, and bubbly

Finally, we can’t forget sparkling wines, with their fine bubbles rising in wonderful ribbons for toasting. All these should be served at 6° to 8 °C (46° to 48° F).

Several Spanish wines of great quality are Cordoníu Brut Extra, and René Barbier Mediterranean Brut Reserve. At an average price of $180 pesos and Freixenet Cordon Negro at an average of $250 pesos.

Veuve Clicquot Brut is a good champagne for an average price of $470 pesos.

Reader Tips: What's your favorite take-out restaurant in Mexico City?

aran — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:01:38 +0000

Share your restaurant tips with insidemex.com readers.

Insidemex.com staff will be adding their favorite places over the next few days and new hotspots as we find them.

To recommend a place and post it in the comments below, you must register to be an insidemex.com member. Click here!

When you recommend a restaurant please include the following information: Name, address, telephone and, if they have one, website.

Thank you!

Keeping it local: The Restaurant

sue-ellen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:11:14 +0000

The first thing you notice is the setting. Nestled inside one of the classic colonial buildings in central San Miguel, The Restaurant shares patio space with a contemporary art gallery and a bubbling talavera-tiled fountain. Bougainvillea vines crawl up the walls and candles twinkle on each of the locally-crafted dining tables. “The space dictated the menu. The building is so elegant that we were inspired to create an equally elegant chef-driven menu to match the space,” says executive chef Donnie Masterton.

A veteran of Chefs David Bouley and Patrick Clark’s kitchens, Masterton arrived in San Miguel ready to put down roots: “It was just after September 11, 2001 and I was working at Moomba in Los Angeles and was completely burnt out on the industry.” After traveling to various parts of interior Mexico, San Miguel captured Masterton and his wife Cynthia’s hearts. They arrived with hopes for a slower, more relaxed pace of life in which to raise their two young daughters.

Masterton developed a business plan and scouted locations for a seasonal restaurant with a menu designed around organic, local products. Earlier in his career, the farm-to-table concept wasn’t an interest for him; not until he returned to the West Coast from New York and began sourcing food for his kitchens in San Francisco did he discover the treasures of the local farmer’s markets. “Most of the restaurants I worked in were not focused on organic, local sourcing,” Masterton says. “In San Francisco you could go to the farmers’ market all the time, and you had all these local, small growers with unique offerings and heirloom products. It was a huge learning curve for me.”

Masterton has developed a menu that showcases the products of San Miguel’s exploding community of small farmers and artisan producers, and he’s tapped into a vein of culinary gold. Using quail and quail eggs from one source, artisan dairy and cheese from another, and a rotating assortment of organic meat, lettuce, and vegetables, Masterton follows the farms’ seasonal cycles so he can always serve food that’s fresh and local. The lettuce and arugula are picked daily, the cheese comes straight from a little workshop outside Querétaro, and everything is focused through the lens of sustainability -- tables were designed for use without tablecloths to reduce water usage, and organic kitchen waste is composted.

The idea of incorporating elegant, seasonal fare with sustainable practices and local products is something that Masterton has passionately embraced. Opening a business in Mexico has been a challenge, but he says, “when you start going to the small producers and buying from the little ladies at the markets, you are connecting with Mexico.” When the lettuce withers and the root vegetables begin to arrive, The Restaurant will continue to enjoy its newfound fame as the local patron of sustainability in San Miguel.

The Restaurant, Chef Donnie Masterton. Address: Diez de Sollano 16, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Tel: 415 154 7877. www.therestaurantsanmiguel.com. Seasonally changing menu featuring global comfort food. Reservations strongly recommended.

Lila Shaw Lash is former chef of The Dinner Goddess and former editor for Atencion San Miguel. She currently works for Rick Bayless in Chicago. Her email is lila@dinnergoddess.com.

Fertile ground

sue-ellen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:44:32 +0000

Pedro Méndez paddles a canoe-load of freshly-picked vegetables through the canals of Xochimilco. A taxi delivers the harvest to Luis Jhon’s home by 5:30 am, and Jhon shuttles the produce to Gabriela Cámara’s kitchen at Colonia Roma’s Contramar restaurant.

When you savor camarones y arúgula a la naranja in Contramar's chic dining room, you are eating arugula that traveled across the city from a chinampa, an island of aquatic plants and earth that Nahuatl tribes began farming hundreds of years ago. Southern Mexico City’s agricultural tradition once sustained the citizens of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán: the chinampa-grown produce on your table today represents a worldwide back-to-local trend.

Cámara, a 32-year-old Mexico City empresaria who owns four eateries and bars, recently started buying from Productos de la Chinampa, the collective of Xochimilco farmers that Jhon promotes.

“The difference [in quality] is just very, very obvious,”

Cámara says of Productos de la Chinampa. She’s serving a “superior” flavor while “helping to maintain an extraordinary part of the city.”

Slow Food Values

With 86,000 members in 130 countries, Slow Food's guiding “eco-gastronomic” philosophy emphasizes the connection between what you eat and drink and where it comes from. Slow Food promotes local food that is “good, clean, and fair.” Human health, human rights, the survival of the planet, and the simple chance to really enjoy what you put in your mouth depends on it, argues the movement’s Italian founder, Carlo Petrini.

Slow Food held its international congress in Puebla last November, the first time it had left Europe since its 1989 inception. There, Cámara met Karina Morales, a recent graduate of Slow Food's University of Gastrononmic Sciences in Italy. Morales now consults for Cámara’s restaurants, coaching her and her chefs on the application of Slow Food principles: shortening the distribution chain and promoting small-scale, local producers to preserve cultural traditions and protect biodiversity.

Ruth Alegria, a straight-talking foodie from New York, points to Mexico’s rich gastronomic history and vibrant market customs, then to a modern culture that considers a cup of Ramen noodles a meal.

“People used to eat more green,” she says, serving me a glass of water mixed with minty chlorophyll at her Condesa apartment. “We’ve got to look after ourselves.”

Alegria, who ran Mexican restaurants in New York and New Jersey before moving to Mexico in 2004, keeps a food blog and leads culinary tours. She joined Mexico City’s Coyoacán Slow Food chapter (the country’s first) before teaming with Cámara to start the Condesa/Roma convivium (local chapter), closer to where many expats live. They launched with their first soirée last October.

“A great many people who join just want to go to the social events,” she says. “The leaders have to compel different projects that will benefit producers and consumers …and the earth.”

Living up to Slow Food

The challenges inherent in Slow Food's “local first” mission aren’t lost on the group’s supporters. Luis Jhon says he isn’t about to give up Coca-Cola, and Cámara says, “I’m not against trade and getting truffles from the north of Italy.”

She points out the complicated relationship between socioeconomic status and nutrition, aware that the vast majority of Mexicans can’t afford to eat in her restaurants. implies, making Slow Food choices takes time.

But, says Ruth, Slow Food’s principles are good guides: she hopes to organize a weekly tianguis (market) of local products in the Condesa area, create more links between local producers and restaurants, and sponsor more educational events.

Challenges to growth

Slow Food first took root in Mexico in 1997, when Carlo Petrini asked friend and fellow journalist-turned-gastronome Giorgio De Angeli to introduce the concept here.

De Angeli and his wife, Alicia, have authored numerous Mexican recipe collections and founded El Tajín restaurant in Coyoacán. De Angeli, a Ph.D. in economics, believes that restaurants are the cornerstone of the movement. “Chefs form gastronomic opinion,” he explained over lunch one afternoon at El Tajín. As we savored spoonfuls of lightly sautéed escamoles (ant larvae) from Hidalgo, De Angeli pointed out the biggest barrier to Slow Food’s growth: Unlike multinationals like Nestlé, “small producers are not constant.” When El Tajín’s soft-shell crab supplier in Veracruz doesn’t have any, the kitchen has to change plans on the fly.

Two days after our lunch, De Angeli explained this to a room full of small producers at a meeting of the Grupo Mexicano de Antropología de la Alimentación at UNAM.

A woman who runs a Michoacán trout farm asked how she could improve her business. De Angeli replied that two obstacles for restaurateurs who buy from small producers are dealing with an unsteady supply chain and producers who, not being registered with Hacienda, can’t give a receipt.

Lessons learned

Luis Jhon credits Gustavo Muñoz, a member of Slow Food Coyoacán and one of the owners of Los Danzantes restaurant, for teaching him the key to supplying restaurants: steady, on-time delivery of high quality products.

For Xochimilco farmers, these lessons are opening new distribution and marketing channels. Seven high-profile restaurants, including those belonging to Cámara, send Productos de La Chinampa their grocery lists for squash, tomatoes, tortilla masa, and arugula.

This incipient conversation between local producers and Mexico City chefs will benefit all of us who like to eat.

As Gabriela Cámara says, “Good food is based on good ingredients.

JOIN IN: There are 11 Slow Food conviviums and 1200 members in Mexico. To join the one nearest you, sign up through www.slowfood.com.

Contraste: a wine that blurs boundaries

sue-ellen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:21:55 +0000

Restaurateurs, wine distributors and foodies gathered at Mexico City’s much-adored Jaso restaurant in Polanco for a recent tasting of Contraste, the latest offering from Hugo D’Acosta’s Casa de Piedra winery.

The vintage is not only a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo, but also a mix of two styles of enology: the classic wood and leather aromas of California’s Wente Vineyards and the more fruit-filled productions of Casa de Piedra in Baja California.

Wente shipped its Merlot and half of the Cabernet to Ensenada, where it was fused with Casa de Piedra's Tempranillo and Cabernet. The result is a complex, versatile wine that blends grapes from both the US and Mexico. It is sold at fine wine stores as a Mexican product.

Ahhh...Bacon!

simon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:39:48 +0000

You may tell your friends and family that you miss them more than anything else when living abroad, but, let's admit it, what we really miss is food. Don't get me wrong I love Mexican food but there's something about the staples you grew up with that you just can't seem to leave behind.

For me, being British, life is almost impossible without a jar of Marmite, an emergency tin of Heinz Baked Beans (the only one of the 57 varieties worth a damn), eye-wateringly strong cheddar cheese and a jar of Branstons pickle.

And you'll go to any lengths to get these precious items. Every time anyone goes back to England, the calls are made - orders for Cadbury's Cream Eggs, Jaffa Cakes and orange squash are generally the order of the day amongst my friends. One Brit, who will remain nameless, secretly keeps Cream Eggs in his fridge, their gold and blue foil glistening, tempting you to just snatch one and devour it completely.

But the one thing I miss more than anything is bacon. Not American bacon (sorry chaps) with it's 95% fat content and meagerly thin streak of meat, but the truly British or Danish back bacon that grills to perfection with just a touch of fat for flavour.

The ultimate incarnation of this hallowed meat is the great English Breakfast (it deserves capitals). Two fried eggs, two rashers of bacon, two sausages, mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns and the cheapest white toast available dripping with butter.

The daddy of all breakfasts.

Mezcal hits the big time

margot — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:31:03 +0000

Mexican food is a hit even for those who have never set foot south of the border. Barack and Michelle Obama are among the cuisine's fans, and have said that they head over to Rick Bayless' Chicago restaurant Topolobampo when they want a special night out.

No surprise, then, that mezcal, the Oaxacan beverage distilled from the maguey plant, is moving on up among the chic and hip. The New York Times just published an article about the spirit's newfound fame in New York, and the proliferation of mezcal bars and boutique mezcal brands in the city and beyond. Like vodka, tequila and other alcohols before it, the "new" mezcal is positioned as a high quality beverage, and will cost you a pretty peso. Click here to read the entire article.

But those of us in Mexico have been fans for a long time. Mezcal aficionados frequent La Botica, the mezcaleria on Alfonso Reyes in colonia La Condesa in Mexico City. Click here to read why it's a chilango favorite.

And just how does one make mezcal anyway? Inside México speaks with Mezcalería owner, Cesar González Hermosillo about Mezcal and its origins. Click here to see the video.

On the street: pozole

sue-ellen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:31:26 +0000

Although I know shouldn’t complain, winter in Mexico City can be cold, and nothing takes the chill off better than a hearty bowl of pozole (pronounced “poh-SOH– lay).

The word comes from the Nahuatl potzonti, meaning to boil or bubble, and versions of this festive dish are served all over Mexico. A thick soup made with cacahuazintle (hominy) was mentioned in the chronicles of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, an early Spanish missionary: he reported Moctezuma eating pozole that contained thigh meat from a sacrificed warrior. Today’s version is usually made with pork— a whole pig’s head gives the best flavor— and garnished with shredded lettuce, radishes, onion and oregano.

One of my favorite places in the Centro to eat pozole is at Doña Yoli.

Doña Yoli, San Ildefonso 42 (go up the staircase in back), Centro Histórico, Metro: Zócalo. Open Monday-Saturday, 2- 6 PM.

Formerly a sidewalk stall (until the recent cleanup of street vendors), it is popular with European tourists. The rich, dark, chili-infused broth contains pork, maize, all the trimmings described above, and crisp tostadas served on the side, all for 35 pesos. It’s a convenient stop before or after a visit to the spectacular Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso museum across the street (entrance on Justo Sierra).

Nicholas Gilman is the author of Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Street Food, Fondas, and Fine Dining, available from Amazon.com. His website is www.mexicocityfood.net.

Where there's an OY there's a VEY

catherine — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:23:55 +0000

So they ask a Jewish boy from Manhattan to write about Jewish food in Mexico? What, you think I should be nice? They call those fluffy pillows from Wendy's Kosher Bakery bagels? The corned beef sandwich at Klein's has two measly slices of dry meat in it-two! The pickles are from a jar! And the prices! You could plotz!

Did I go into it with a bad attitude? You bet. But bubbeleh, I ended up learning something. So nu?

It turns out there is indeed a world of "Jewish Cuisine" in the land of pork and tacos, but it's not what you'd expect. Nothing to do with Barney Greengrass or the Carnegie Deli, my old haunts in New York.

Instead, I found "Piny" Tacos Kosher, which offers alambre de hígado, made with chicken liver. I tried schnitzel a la Veracruzana at Restaurante Sinai. And the shwarma in pita out at Shuky's in Tecamachalco is the best in town: think tacos al pastor with an accent.

I asked every Jewish Mexican I could find (and there are many, around 50,000 at last count) what their food memories are, what they think of as Jewish food in Mexico: I got a lot of different answers.

It turns out it all depends on where your abuelos hail from. Mine were from Russia, as were most in the eastern US. They ate gefilte fish, lox, borscht, and blintzes. But in Mexico, the original national identity of immigrant Jews is more diverse. It includes Greece, Turkey, Syria, Morocco, Lebanon, Spain, and Portugal as well as Russia, Poland, and Germany. That diversity shows-or at least used to-in the cooking.

The affable Clara Melameh, librarian at the Centro Cultural México-Israel in the Centro Histórico, is of Russian-Polish extraction like me. She claims to make the best gefilte fish in town. "Only there's no one left to eat it," she laments. "Nobody alive even knows what it is! My son went to live in Israel, and I'm divorced. I'm going to do all that work-for who?" Invite me, Clara!

The Centro Cultural where Clara works occupies a colonial building on Calle Republica del Salvador. A fascinating permanent exhibit chronicles the Diaspora of Jews in Mexico, and there's a whole section devoted to food, mostly about what is eaten at holidays and festivals, which seems to be common to Jews everywhere. Charoses, a sticky mixture of dried fruits, nuts, and spices, is a reminder of the mortar used by Jewish slaves in the construction of buildings and is served from Sana'a to Scarsdale. Chicken soup (or as we used to call it, "Jewish penicillin") is another universal favorite, but it doesn't differ much from anywhere else unless you add chiles.

Few of the early immigrants are left in Mexico, and younger generations have assimilated. Mexican Jews don't marry outside the faith much (only about 10 percent do, apparently one of the lowest rates in the world), most go to Jewish schools, and religion remains a strong force. But popular Mexican culture now rules the kitchen, so many traditional Jewish dishes have disappeared along with the grannies who carefully harbored them. What do remain are a few restaurants and grocery stores catering to people who keep strictly kosher. This means nice clean kosher chickens and beef, a handful of products I would put in the "appetizing" (New York delicatessen) category, and a lot of other stuff I wouldn't feed to a starving schnorrer. In my search for my NY roots I found decent pastrami at Kurson Kosher and bought a jar of pickled herring at Shuky's in Condesa. But forget about the frozen Kosher pizza, the dry kashrut cookies, and the sundry canned products. These are fine for folks who put their money where their mouths are and follow the ancient and respected tradition of keeping kosher. I salute them. But that's not about fine cuisine, it's about religious dietary law.

Dyed-in-the-wool chilanga Mathilde Askenazy's parents were from Spain and Greece. They didn't know from "bagel with a schmeer." She remembers a dish she calls chunt, a sort of layered bean stew. "Everybody ate it when we were growing up," she recalls. "Every family had its own recipe." Her sister Klara fondly recalls an eggplant salad her mother made that she hasn't tasted in years. These dishes, like the delicious chicken with artichoke hearts I ate at the Restaurant Sinai, are typical of the Sephardic Jews and of Jewish cooking in Mexico.

The Sephardim are those Jews who left Spain and settled all over the Mediterranean and North Africa. They spoke Ladino, an antique form of Spanish. I was able to locate one of the few books on the subject printed in Mexico, written in Ladino and Spanish: Lo Mishor de lo Muestro: Un Recorrido por la Gastronomía Tradicional Sefaradí. (Our best: A traditional Sephardic gastronomic tour). Mouth-watering recipes are culled from the Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, and North African lexicon. Here is one, as I've adapted and translated it (see sidebar).

So, dahlings, you'll still have to go to the Big Apple to nosh on a knish or pig out on a humongous corned beef sandwich. But you can get a nice bowl of matzoh ball soup at the Sinai, and even follow it up with a plate of kosher chilaquiles or a shawarma taco. The rest you'll have to do yourself.

Nicholas Gilman is author of Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Food Stalls, Fondas and Fine Dining, available at all online booksellers. Visit his website: mexicocityfood.net.

Nacho's specials

sue-ellen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:45:22 +0000

To find the birthplace of the nacho, you must travel to the border.

The legend of the nacho begins across from Eagle Pass, Texas, in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila. The details of how this tasty treat gained international fame are blurry, but one thing is certain: Thanks to a man named Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya Sr., Tex-Mex food has never been so scrumptious.

The creation of the nacho occurred one night during the World War II era at a Piedras Negras restaurant called the Victory Club, where Anaya worked as head waiter and cook. In the 1940s the Victory Club was a hot spot for upper-class Mexicans, Texans, and US Army pilots who trained at a nearby Eagle Pass airfield, according to a history of the nacho by border historians Michael J. Ritchie, Sr. and David L. Carrillo.

Anaya’s son, Ignacio Anaya Jr., told border newspapers that a woman named Mamie Finan, who was hosting a Victory Club dinner for the wives of military officials, asked Anaya Sr. if he could whip up a unique appetizer before the meal.

Anaya Sr. went into the kitchen, looked in his pantry, and began frying up some corn tortillas. He covered them with yellow cheese and added slices of jalapeños on top. He put the tortillas into the oven to melt the cheese and then served it to the women. Legend has it that Finan began calling the new creation “Nacho’s Specials,” a reference to the chef’s Mexican nickname.

Anaya Sr. later became manager of El Moderno Restaurant, also in Piedras Negras, and took his simple but popular recipe there. He went on to open his own restaurant, which closed its doors seven years after his death in 1975.

The tragedy behind the nacho’s origins is that despite Anaya Sr.’s fame on the border, his idea was never patented and he never received the true credit he deserved.

When a regular customer asked Anaya Sr., a father of nine children, why he wouldn’t patent the idea, he responded, “¿Por qué? It is only an appetizer to keep my customers happy and well-fed,” according to Ritchie and Carrillo.

In 1961, Anaya Jr. spoke to lawyers about the possibility of a patent, but by then the snack had spread across the globe and the original nacho had been transformed with the addition of guacamole, beans, sour cream, chicken, and other ingredients. The Anaya family never profited from the snack beloved by millions.

Border crossing cuisine

sue-ellen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:28:59 +0000

Growing up, there was nothingbetter than waking upon a Sunday morning tothe smell of barbacoa deres, flour tortillas, and all the spicytrimmings. It’s what Sunday morningswere meant for in my hometownon the Texas-Mexico border.

As a kid, I ate northern Mexicanfood in south Texas—a fuzzy foodline considering Texas belonged toMexico until 1836.

Biting into the succulent, tender,and warm barbacoa taco for breakfast,I never thought about howmuch Tex or Mex was in my childhoodcomfort food—until I moved toMexico City. Here chips and salsawere replaced by slices of Frenchbread, corn tortillas stamped outany hint of the familiar flour onesmy mom would make, and Chilangoquesadillas had no cheese.

So why are the cuisines so different,and what exactly is Tex-Mex food?Isn’t it supposed to be a fusion derivedfrom Mexican food? Or is it just American-friendly Mexican food? Nobodyseems to have just one answer.

When food guru and formerMexico City resident Diana Kennedy’sbook The Cuisines of Mexicohit bookstores in 1972, for betteror worse it changed Tex-Mex foodforever. Kennedy dismissed “mixedplates” and for the first time arguedthat Americans were not eating authenticMexican food. The term “Tex-Mex” became an insult, synonymouswith a bastardized version of interiorMexican food.

But other food experts, like RobbWalsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook:A History in Recipes and Photos,write that Tex-Mex food shouldnot be thought of as Mexican food orTexan food, but instead as “America’soldest regional cuisine.”

Walsh explains why in a HoustonPress article, “Brave Nuevo World.”First, he states that the stapleTex-Mex ingredients like groundbeef, yellow cheese, and flour areall American. “And second, becauseMexicans insist that it has nothingto do with their cuisine.”

Before Kennedy’s book, peopleused the term “Tex-Mex” to refer tothe Texas-Mexican Railway charteredin 1875. The railroad linkedthe port of Corpus Christi, Texas, toNuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Newspapersabbreviated railroad nameswhen printing schedules and soonthe train became known as the Tex.Mex. The word was later hyphenatedin the 1920s and also used to describenative Texans of Mexican descent.

During the mid-1800s, railroadschanged cooking in Texas. Mexicancooks, hired on Texas ranches to feedhungry cowboys, began using the newlyavailable American ingredients likelard, bacon, and flour to create a newtwist on familiar foods. Tex-Mex fooddepends heavily on beef because ofTexas’ cattle culture. The traditionalgoat and lamb barbacoas of the Mexicaninterior were cooked in the samestyle in Texas, but with the familiarand readily available beef. To satisfyAmerican tastes, salsas looked morelike tomato sauce, and chili gravy wastopped on enchiladas.

It was the early blandness of Tex-Mex food that Kennedy attacked.As a result, Tex-Mex food has undergonemassive evolutions, changingas the American palate becomesmore willing to take culinary risks.Today Tex-Mex has become moredaring, with dishes like spinach andartichoke enchiladas, lobster tacos,and veggie chorizo.

A love for all things Tex-Mex hasbegun popping up in eateries everywherefrom Bangkok to Budapest.The unique cuisine reached internationalpopularity with dishes likenachos, fajitas, and breakfast tacosbecause they were seen as adventurousand exotic.

It was only after Tex-Mex food’ssuccess abroad that some Texasrestaurateurs began reclaiming theterm Tex-Mex and advertising theirfood that way.

In 1992, Texas native Joe Drakerbought a well-known Austin homestylerestaurant called Maudie’s Café.He decided to change the menuto Tex-Mex food and advertise itas such. Their website slogan says,“Welcome to Tex-Mex Heaven.”

Draker understands that restaurantsserving nouveau Tex-Mexwant to distance themselves fromthe label, but says he is proud ofMaudie’s product because “it’s whatwe grew up on.”

“Tex-Mex is old school,” Drakersaid in a phone interview. “And it’sthe beginning of all fusions. Familieshave traditions in Texas to goout to eat together at their favoriteTex-Mex place and those traditionsdie hard.”

Though the Tex-Mex craze hasbeen felt around the globe, it stillhasn’t been embraced in MexicoCity. Few Tex-Mex options are availablein the DF outside of chains likeCarlos 'n' Charlie’s and Chili's.Even though in Mexico City youcan find every Mexican cuisine fromYucatecan to Oaxacan, sometimesthis border girl still craves the flavorsof homemade flour tortillas and Sundaymorning beef barbacoa.

Nancy Flores wrote about the potentialof rainwater collection in the May2008 issue of Inside México. She can bereached at nancyflores15@yahoo.com.

A taste of Wahaca (Oaxaca) in London town

sue-ellen — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:10:51 +0000

Unlike our American cousins across the pond, we Brits have not traditionally been well-versed in Mexican cuisine. Give us a good old Indian curry or a kebab any day. And up until recently, despite the vast array of international tucker on offer in London, Mexican restaurants—genuine or otherwise—have been few and far between.

The new kid on the gourmet block, Wahaca, and chef Thomasina Miers, are setting out to change all that. Wahaca -- named for the Mexican city Oaxaca but spelt phonetically to avoid linguistic confusion -- is a cantina-style Mexican restaurant specialising in “street food”, ranging from tacos and quesadillas to cochinita pibil and sopa de tortilla. It opened its doors in the heart of London just over a year ago, and since then the British public have literally been lining up around the block to sample the salsa, mole, and enchiladas.

Thomasina, or Tommi as she likes to be known, only recently considered turning her passion for food into a full-blown career. “I have always loved cooking since I was tiny and always cooked frenetically in every spare moment. But I never thought I would open a restaurant,” she tells me in a quiet moment before the lunchtime rush at Wahaca.

“I tried lots of careers and none of them really stuck… Now I’m working in the restaurant business, cooking like mad, writing about food… and really I couldn’t write a better job description for myself if I tried,” says the vivacious 32-year-old.

A “gap year” trip, between school and university, sparked a love affair with Mexico and Mexican food. “The food was just unbelievable. So I literally just ate and ate and ate everywhere we went and kept on experiencing new flavours,” she says. “And then when I returned to Britain I realised that nothing like that existed here and I think that kind of awoke a fascination for me.”

Although it was not until some years later, via cooking school in Ireland, a stint working at a bar in Mexico City, and then winning MasterChef (a televised cooking competition in the UK), that she found herself confronted with the opportunity to open her own restaurant with business partner Mark Selby. Cookbooks, newspaper columns, and TV shows have followed, a path to celebrity-chefdom belied by her down-to-earth manner.

“We are trying to capture that excitement of fresh food, of market eating. It’s street food in any culture that is the first kind of food I look at for its influences,” she explains. “And if anything we totally underestimated how much people would lap up the new flavours. The only thing that is frustrating is the common perception that all Mexican food is really hot and of course it’s not. It’s not all about the fire!”

All ingredients are sourced locally and bought directly from the producers where possible. This often requires imagination when typical Mexican ingredients may not be readily available. Tommi sources chiles grown in Devon in the south of England, and is “talking to our butcher at the moment about developing a marinade so that we can make our own chorizo.”

Beyond local ingredients, she is also passionate about the egalitarian potential of food. “I really think the food in this country is not democratic enough, and food should be democratic as it is in Mexico. In Britain we have this bad misconception that good food is restaurant food and it’s really expensive,” she says. “It’s just not true, but basically we’ve forgotten how to cook. For me it was really important that the food could be affordable.”

Indeed the restaurant features in Time Out’s Cheap Eats guide and doesn’t take reservations, so it’s first come, first served. “I am just trying to plan my next trip to Mexico now and decide where to go to learn more because I find it so fascinating,” Tommi says. “What’s exciting in terms of the menu is that I feel we have just begun with it really, so there is still so much to put on there.” One thing that’s missing from the menu? A good mezcal. “That is definitely something we are working on!”

Tara Fitzgerald wrote for the Health section, and about the Morelia Film Festival in the September issue of Inside México.

To your health

sue-ellen — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:45:27 +0000

In 1991, the French scientist Dr. Serge Renaud presented the results of a study that’s become known as “The French Paradox”: The French, despite a diet rich in saturated fats and high levels of smoking, have a significantly lower incidence of heart disease than Americans. Though some of this can be attributed to the good fats (such as olive oil) that form part of French and other Mediterranean diets, much of the credit is given to the regular consumption of red wine.

The Ancient Greeks believed that good health depended on the balance between the body’s four humors or fluids (blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile) and that the judicious intake of wine could stimulate the flow of the humors, and replenish them if absent. 2,500 years later, the theory of the humors has fallen by the wayside, but many doctors continue to recommend wine for its medicinal qualities.

The current evidence shows that wine’s beneficial effects come from polyphenols, a plant chemical and powerful antioxidant, present in high levels in red wine. Research suggests that polyphenols strengthen blood vessels, reduce the chance of blood clots, and protect our cells from the free radicals which contribute to chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Drinking a small amount of red wine each day seems to reduce blood pressure and stimulate circulation. International research studies have shown that moderate drinkers have an overall mortality rate that is up to 18% lower than abstainers. They have as much as a 40% lower risk of dying from heart attack or stroke. Because cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in industrialized countries as well as in developing countries like Mexico—where the diet is starting to look a lot like that of its neighbor to the north—wine could be an important tool in our kit for preventative medicine.

The quest to bottle the grape’s health benefits— so to speak—doesn’t stop with decanting a delicious vintage Chateau Margeaux. These days, cosmetics companies are betting that grape seed extract and topically applied polyphenols will work magic from the outside in and are including the ingredients in a wide variety of skin creams and preparations.

The healthiest way to consume wine is moderately and regularly with food, no more than two glasses a day. People who drink more lose the advantage, and those who consume four or more glasses run the risk of hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver, elevated triglycerides and other illnesses caused by a high alcohol intake.

Binge drinking—drinking large quantities of alcohol to get drunk---is an epidemic among young people in many countries. This dangerous behavior increases the risk of mortality from violence and accidents, and is often linked with beer or alcoholic spirits, whereas wine is still most associated with slower drinking during meals with friends and family. Scientific evidence of wine’s health benefits is relatively recent, but people have known for centuries that moderate wine consumption can be part of a healthy and delicious lifestyle. Is it any surprise that the most common toast over a tasty red is “To your health”? Salud!

The Good Grape: Wine’s Health Benefi ts

• Wine is rich in minerals. Magnesium reduces stress; zinc boosts the immune system; lithium aids nervous system function; calcium and potassium keep the fl uids of the body in balance.

• Polyphenols (powerful antioxidants present in grape skin and seeds) may prevent cancer by inhibiting free radicals from damaging cells.

• In moderation, drinking red wine may contribute to higher HDL (good) cholesterol levels, and lower levels of harmful LDL cholesterol.

• Wine is thought to contribute to the health of blood vessels, and reduce blood pressure.

• Reservatrol, red wine’s primary polyphenol, is an anti-infl ammatory which may help to treat arthritis.

Incredible edible insects

sue-ellen — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:50:46 +0000

If you’ve seen my TV show on Unicable, “GEM– Gringo En Mexico,” you know that I climb uprocks, rappel back down them, and ride cablesover wide canyons. But I also dosomething a little more wild thanthat: I eat insects for a living!

Now, don’t turn the page! Almost80 percent of the world’spopulation is entomophagous.That’s the adjective. An entomophage(the noun) is an organismthat feeds on insects.The UN Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) estimatesthat about 1,400 species of insectsand worms are eaten in almostninety countries in Africa, LatinAmerica, and Asia. Insects are also a good sourceof proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Did you knowthat one hundred grams of beef contains 54 to 57percent protein, while one hundred grams of cricketscontains between 62 and 75 percent protein?

A couple of months ago, I filmed an episodeof GEM at the Pre-Hispanic Gastronomic Fairat Santiago de Anaya, Hidalgo, where I ate fourkinds of insects. There were stewed stinkbugs,fried crickets, maguey “worms” (gusanos, actuallya type of caterpillar) and ant “eggs” (escamoles).

Let’s talk about gusanos and escamoles;they’re my favorites. If you’ve spent any time inMexico, you’ve probably seen the maguey cactus:it’s practically the national plant. You can harvestthe maguey “worms” from the beginning ofthe rainy season in the spring until late autumn.Their taste is a mixture of bacon and peanutbutter—how’s that for a combo!

The preparation of these delicious “worms”is fast and simple. Give them a good wash anddry. Then, fry them in hot oil, add salt, supplywarm tortillas, salsa, and get out of the way!Your Mexican friends will make them disappearwhile you’re politely getting in line for a turn.

Escamoles are the larvae of ants of the Liometopumgenus, and are gathered from betweenthe underground roots of various Mexican cacti.These “eggs” are about the size of beans and arereferred to locally as caviar. They are rich in fatsand taste something like nutty cottage cheese.

I prepare these “eggs” by, again, washingand drying them thoroughly, and then sautéingminced onion in butter and throwing in all I canafford just before service: escamoles cost aboutthe same as Beluga. Offering them to your guestsin a clay casserole with warm tortillas and salsawill make them appear all themore tempting.

I think most of us have beenexposed to chocolate covered antsat sometime during our childhood,but have you ever eaten ascorpion? It’s easy to do. Cut offthe stinger and deadly poisongland at the end of the tail, dipthe bug in your favorite spicedegg wash, and fry until crispy.You should end up with somethinglike a battered shrimp.

Now, don’t throw down InsideMéxico and your morning coffee and starteating bugs from the kitchen floor! Urban insectscan be contaminated with animal waste,parasites, and insecticides. However, with over1,400 insect species eaten by humans (entomophages)worldwide, the insect world offers commercialand nutritional advantages to the first,second, and third world.

Most edible insects are, in fact, harvestedfrom forests and agricultural fields. They accountfor the greatest biodiversity in the animalkingdom and are the least studied of all fauna.You can find maguey “worms” and ant “eggs”at markets in rural areas. You might also findthem prepared at upper end Mexican restaurantsin your neighborhood.

Tune in to GEM on Unicable, Sundays at 12:30pm.

Burritos in Toronto

catherine — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:13:21 +0000

A chalkboard menu at Ian Jarvie's Toronto food stall and catering company, Saguaro, spells out the specials: whole wheat burritos stuffed with egg, chorizo, potatoes, and pico de gallo; corn and zucchini with arugula and raspberry chipotle sauce; beans, corn, and squash garnished with a maple and chipotle puree.

Scratch the "Tex," and label it "Can-Mex"? Whatever you call it, Ian Jarvie is adjusting Mexican recipes to suit the produce available at farmers' markets in his native Ontario.

"It's not easy to sell high-end Mexican cuisine in this city," says Jarvie, who lived in Mexico from 1994 to 2005, working toward an MBA, at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and translating for a construction company along the way. He can name only one restaurant-Milagro-that could be called Mexican gourmet in Toronto, a city of over five million people.

Though Jarvie's mother is from Guanajuato, he attributes his interest in Mexican cooking to travels through Tlaxcala, Oaxaca, and up to northern Mexico and the US Southwest.

When he returned to Canada three years ago, he chose food as "a way to market an aspect of Mexican heritage." However, "we've had to water down our interest in authentic Mexican and cater to what our clientele thinks they want," Jarvie explains.

Setting up shop in a succession of farmers' markets, including the Artscape Wychwood Barns and Evergreen Brick Works, has meant low overhead, and also places Jarvie and business partner Michael Blecher on site at the "epicenter of the local food movement." Jarvie sources ingredients directly from neighboring farmers.

The fact that Canada's growing season ends in November is an inherent challenge in bringing dishes north from southern climes. While Jarvie was inspired by the international Slow Food movement's emphasis on locally cultivated ingredients, he admits that winter forces him to shop for ingredients at major grocery stores.

Chiles are easy to find, thanks to Canada's Italian community. The importer ChocoSol Traders supplies Saguaro with cacao for their café de olla (a wintertime hit). And in Southwestern Ontario, Mexican migrant farm workers grow their own patches of chile poblano, chile merito, and the herb epazote.

Says Jarvie: "You've got to be really resourceful."

Recipe: Jalapeno-Guava-Mint Salsa

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:18:42 +0000

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 kilo of jalapeño chiles, seeds and veins removed, and finely chopped
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
1/4 cup of water
150 grams of ripe guavas, seeded and finely chopped
15 mint leaves, cut julienne style
Salt to taste

Preparation

Heat the oil over low heat and add chiles. Add the vinegar and water, then stir in guavas. Boil over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the sauce from the stove, add the mint and salt.

Recipe courtesy of El Bajio restaurant

Recipe: Serrano chile and avocado leaf salsa

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:02:47 +0000

Ingredients

1 avocado leaf, lightly roasted

3 serrano chiles, with seeds and veins removed

1 small, peeled garlic clove

10 tomatillos (small green tomatoes)

Corn oil as required

1/4 cup of finely chopped onion

Salt to taste

Preparation

Blend the avocado leaf with the chilis, garlic and tomatoes in a blender. Fry the mixture for 5 minutes in a pan with preheated oil. Remove the salsa from the stove, add the onion and salt. Cool and serve.

Recipe courtesy of El Bajio restaurant

Recipe: Jalapeño Chile and Cilantro Salsa

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:29:47 +0000

Ingredients

5 jalapeño chiles

1 bunch of cilantro

3 garlic cloves

1 small onion

3/4 cup of water

1/3 cup of olive oil

Thyme, oregano and bay leaf to taste

Salt to taste

Preparation

Chop the chiles, onion and garlic in a food processor or molcajete (stone mortar) and add water. Put the mixture in a salsa dish, add salt and the chopped cilantro. Transfer the mixture to a glass jar. Season with thyme, bay leaf, salt and fresh oregano. Stir slowly and gently pour in the olive oil.

Recipe courtesy of El Bajío restaurant

Recipe: Red Salsa

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:25:02 +0000

Red Salsa

(15 servings)

Ingredients

1/2 kilo of tomatoes

3 jalapeño chilies

2 garlic cloves

1 small onion

Salt to taste

Preparation

Roast the jalapeño chilis and tomatoes on a comal (a clay griddle) or stove top. Blend them together with the onion and garlic in a blender. Season with salt to taste. For a different version you may use smoked árbol chilies instead of the jalapeños.

Recipe courtesy of El Bajío Restaurant

Que rica si pica! Mexican salsa recipes

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:19:37 +0000

"Salsas are a fundamental part not only of gastronomy, but also of religion, a part which was lost over the course of time," explains Gerardo Chapa, author of the book One Hundred Salsas. "They were so important that the calzontzin, chiefs of the purépecha [an indigenous group from Michoacán], always had a female servant called ayamati, whose sole duty was to serve salsas to her master bare-breasted - a blend of eroticism and culinary refinement."

When passing through Cholula on the way to Tenochtitlan in the 16th century, Bernal Diazdel Castillo claimed to have escaped having his own flesh cooked and doused with salsa. The locals, he wrote, "wanted to kill us and eat our meat" and "they already had the pots boiling with salt and garlic and tomatoes." Despite the threat, he kept his cool and described a salsa called chimole that was made of chili peppers, tomato and salt - the same basic ingredients found in contemporary Mexican salsa.

All over the country

Salsas are particular to the regional cuisines of Mexico. In northern Mexico, they add a bit of melted cheese; in the middle of the country they prepare salsa with pasilla - a dark green chili that turns black when it's dried - accompanied by quesocotija - a hard, Parmesan-like cheese. Hidalgo's xoconostle salsa is made with the morita chili and goes perfectly with barbacoa. In the south, you'll often find salsas seasoned with pepper and achiote, orannatto, seeds that create a yellow hue.

Ingenious new twists pop up all the time. Salsa innovators use guava with mint, red chinicuile worms and jumiles - a grasshopper-like insect, mango with apple, and habanero chili with pineapple and basil.

When you sit down to eat, remember that there's no such thing as a good taco or quesadilla without a spicy salsa.

Alejandro Heredia and Mexican cuisine's great adventure

margot — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:12:22 +0000

"I don't really believe in these titles like 'Best Mexican Chef of the 20th Century'. There are chefs out there much more talented than I am. Working here puts me in a unique and privileged position, but the job has its demands and comes with great responsibility. Here at Hacienda de Los Morales, the standard is high; there's room for tremendous creativity, but I also have to be very precise in the work I do."

An unexpected vocation

As is the case with many famous chefs, Alejandro Heredia, executive Chef of Mexico City's La Hacienda de Los Morales, came to the profession by accident, and though he fondly recalls his mother's delicious cooking, he says this was never an influence in his culinary development.

"I wanted to be an architect, but one of my neighbors told my parents that I'd never make a living at it. I enrolled in a trade school, but it turned out I was a terrible student.

I was in a crisis, when another neighbor, a chef, told my parents that one of his relatives just turned down a job offer at the Hotel Presidente. So they decided that I should take advantage of the situation," remembers Heredia.

"It was 1963," he adds, "and I didn't have the least interest, but I imagined myself working as a bellboy or office boy or something that ended in boy. What a surprise when the next day they took me to a kitchen and ordered me to wash the greasy pans. I was annoyed and disillusioned, and the first thing I told my parents was that I was never going back. But they were determined: they didn't want put themselves into a difficult situation with the neighbor."

"For me, the chef, Joaquin Guzman, was a horrible person, completely flawed. Now I can see that he was a great boss. Slowly I discovered the magic of earning money. I focused on work and put in overtime until one day I had the best salary in the whole group.

"I was hungry to make money, and colleagues were jealous of me, but no one worked like I did," he says.

"In 1965," Heredia continues, "I went to the Continental Hilton and discovered a fantastic world. I was still very ambitious, but at the Hilton, coming into contact with talented foreign chefs, with their ice sculptures and chocolate and butter, opened a window to a different universe.

I was working in the Belvedere, a luxurious cabaret with great bands, an elegant crowd, champagne anda comida that was the pinnacle of glamour. The Hilton changed my life, I even learned about hamburgers, which until then I'd never seen."

During this time, Heredia met people like Chef Jacques Bergerault, with whom he'd work at the Camino Real, and who became his great friend. "He was a top chef, an impressive man," he says of Bergerault.

"When I first went to work at the Hilton, Bergerault came to the street to greet me. He didn't know me, but he was so down to earth-no posturing, no attitude, no superiority. With him, as with other chefs, I learned many wonderful things. By now, work was more than just a way of making money; I was absorbed in learning new dishes, and would lose all track of time. I felt like I could eat the entire world! One time I worked three consecutive days, non-stop.

"It's a shame...we are not used to working. Then we start complaining about the hours and want more money, but we don't think about working more. I think that one should have aspirations, and even more, to be willing to pursue them."

In sync with the times, Heredia got involved with French, Italian and other European cuisines. Mexican cooking was just a footnote in his repertoire. In 1968, he joined a project at the Camino Real to create a dynamic Mexican cuisine, the impact of which is still being felt today. By 1982 Heredia had risen through the ranks to the position of Executive Chef; along the way, his perception of Mexican cuisine had evolved.

"It was at the Camino Real where the revolution in Mexican cuisine finally started to take shape. Along with Chef Philippe Seguin, we started to immerse ourselves in new techniques, and to change the sense of salsa, the size of the portions and to use gentler chiles. It was then that [Mexican chef] Alicia de Angeli started to incorporate products like nopales and huanzontles, and also to work with what you might call fusion cuisine.

"Now young people are more prepared, and have greater ambitions for success in the restaurant business. Just look at the growing number of Mexican chefs who are working in countries like the United States.

"Personally, it's been a privilege to participate in the training of young people who are now chefs and have branched off into their own businesses. I think it's very important to leave a legacy. Our time here is short, but one way to transcend that is to support and nurture future generations. I'm very proud to be a part of this process, it doesn't matter if they end up thinking you're a disgrace or the best in the world.

"The only thing keeping us from realizing our dreams is the fear of setting off on the adventure. We work for money and for stability, but I think that it's also important that we don't limit ourselves in what we think we can achieve."

Mezcal: Good for what ails you

catherine — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:58:35 +0000

Rows of shiny little bottles flood the shelves behind the bar, appearing like medicine flasks from the 1940s. Instead, each contains mezcal, the beverage La Botica serves like nobody's business.

On Alfonso Reyes 120, Colonia Condesa, I met with the laid-back, borderline hippy-and might I add handsome-creator of La Botica, Cesar Gonzalez Hermosillo. Three years ago, Cesar envisioned a chill, anti-posh environment, a place where friends could gather while enjoying sips of their personalized medicine: mezcal. No joke! A botica, back in the time of los abuelitos, was the name given to the local pharmacy. There, the botiquero would mix a remedy for any aches and pains. And as the old saying goes:

"Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien, tambien (For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, likewise)."

It's no surprise that La Botica is the perfect name for the joint, where a backdrop of shelves holds thirty different flavors of mezcales in an array of shades, a place where your own botiquero will serve you the perfect recipe for your woes (or joys).

Since La Botica opened on May 5, 2005, artisanal mezcal has been available to chilangos. The Mezcalería's (as it's informally known) popularity has spread like wildfire; it's the only place with a selection beyond the limited offerings at the liquor store. There are five Mezcalerías scattered about Mexico City, as well as two in Guanajuato and one in Playa del Carmen. All hold true to the essence of the original on Campeche 396.

Mezcal is more than just a shot of booze: it's something truly Mexican. "I believe it is important to share this treasure," Cesar says proudly. What about its rival, Tequila? Tequila is just better known due to what he calls "bad movies of drunk, womanizing charros." The proper term for tequila is "Mezcal de Tequila": the biggest difference is that it is produced specifically in Tequila, Jalisco. True mezcal can only be produced in Guerrero, Durango, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, or Guanajuato, just as the name "Champagne" can only be applied to sparkling wine from Champagne, France. These states are the "nominación de origen".

La Botica is a true Mezcalería, so don't try and order your "single-malt whiskey on the rocks, please"; mezcal is the only liquor served, along with your chela of choice to chase it down. Because staff need to know their mezcales inside out, twice a month they gather to talk business: your waiter will always be prepared to tell you the difference between Papalote and Borrego.

The relaxed atmosphere Cesar had hoped for would be nothing without a juke-box (that works!), maroon curtains, checkered floors, mint-green walls, and trinkets displayed in the glass counter, little figurines from Darth Vader to the Pink Panther. The tables are small and intimate, to the point where you're rubbing elbows with your neighbors at the next table; but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. As far as food goes, La Botica serves the freshest Oaxaca cheese, sliced oranges, tamales, and bowls of spicy habas to accompany your prescribed caballito of mezcal. And if you feel adventurous, ask for dried chapulines (grasshoppers)!

For Cesar, one of the most important aspects of La Botica is the bridge it creates between the campo and the ciudad. The Mezcalería's offerings are made by small-scale producers, usually as a family business. Cesar finds it hard to ignore the reality of how pequeños productores live in the campo of Mexico. He developed a system that offered them the opportunity to expand their market and sell their mezcal directly to your drinking-cuates at La Botica. Everybody wins.

La Mezcalería has already become a name perhaps too familiar to local Condecci´s. What is it that gives La Botica that little twinkle in its eyes? "It doesn't pretend to be something that it's not...any business that's good, attractive, and cheap, will be successful," says Cesar. La Botica has managed to turn this underdog drink into a well-appreciated craft, giving Mexico one more thing to be proud of.

For La Botica locations, visit labotica.com.mx.

Chef Close-Up with Sonia El-Nawal : Fig Endive Salad

Shauna — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:00:50 +0000

Taste Insight, "Pasties in Pachuca"

Shauna — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:35:28 +0000

The Inside Mix, "Mezcal"

Shauna — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:30:51 +0000

Taste Insight, "Tacos al Pastor" with Nicholas Gilman

Shauna — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:06:48 +0000

Recipe: Chilaquiles Light

margot — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:07:08 +0000

Ingredients

Tortillas de maíz
1 kg red tomatoes
1 medium-sized white onion
Epazote (washed)
Green or cascabel chile (optional, to taste)
100 g queso panela
Shredded chicken

The day before they are to be served:

Cut tortillas into small triangles, cover with a paper napkin, and leave out overnight

Preparation:

Warm a Teflon pan on low heat. When hot, add a handful of the day-old tortilla pieces. Stirring occasionally, heat until they are crunchy like a tostada. Remove from heat and spread on a plate.

Salsa:

Mix the tomatoes, onion and chile in a pan on medium heat. When the vegetables are browned, drop them into a blender. Add a teaspoon of salt, 500 ml of water and blend. Put mixture in a pot, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and bring to a boil. Add a branch of epazote, cover and let boil for about 20 minutes.

To serve:

Cover the pieces of tortilla with queso panela and pour the hot salsa over top. Garnish with shredded chicken, onion slices and a little finely diced epazote.

The Cava: Exquisite Taste

margot — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:51:37 +0000

In my previous columns, I've looked at how enjoyment of a wine is enhanced by its appearance and aroma. Now we have reached the moment of truth: taste. This month we take a look at both the physiological and the aesthetic elements of taste.

The physiological aspect of taste refers to how we perceive what we call flavor: Is the wine sweet or salty? Is it acidic or bitter? Aesthetics imply judgment and pose the question: Is the wine good?

Drinking wine is a sensual pleasure, in large part passive: we enjoy the sensations of the wine without paying them too much attention. To truly taste a wine, however, is a deliberate and considered act, full of scrutiny, informed by what the wine has to offer and what the taster is looking for. The objective of this higher level of attention is to broaden our enjoyment. In this sense, wine tasting is no different than any other interest, be it literature or sports, painting or gardening.

When we finally taste the wine, we hope to corroborate the impressions given by the wine's appearance and smell, and this is one of the indicators of a wine's quality. As with aroma, there is any number of possible flavors, but the four fundamentals are sweet, salty, acidic and bitter, the combination of which determines a wine's soul.

Additionally, we notice the wine's feel in our mouth, and speak of its corpulence, temperature, astringency, silkiness and length. We experience the interplay between aroma and taste, a connection experts call the "retronasal path".

Next month, we'll delve deeper into the flavors and textures and sensations that we call taste. Until then, the wines above will appeal to all of the senses. Salud!

Chinese food: in search of the real thing

margot — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:52:55 +0000

When asked what we miss about the US, we usually answer "Family, friends and good Chinese food." Although thousands of Chinese workers came to Mexico in the 19th century to build the railroads, leaving their heritage of cafés chinos (equivalent to American coffee shops, nowadays serving mostly Mexican fare), it's hard to find authentic Chinese food in Mexico City. Anyone who has slogged through a meal in the DF's so-called "Chinatown" (Calle Dolores in the Centro Histórico); eaten "chao mein" that tasted like mole in roma; or paid through the nose for pseudo-Szechwan in Polanco will be happy to know that there is at least one "real" Chinese restaurant in Mexico City, with Chinese people in the kitchen and dining room.

Chilango explorer and author David Lida led us to Ka Won Seng, which he learned about from a taxi driver with a Chinese sister-in-law. The hand-scrawled note by the front door raised our hopes: "No hay comida Mexicana, café, ni pan dulce," and small signs with Chinese lettering (daily specials?) confirmed them. There is little décor beyond two large television sets-the attraction here is the food.

Dry-roasted peanuts and pickled vegetables (cucumber, jicama, and carrots) were served along with Chinese tea as we sat down. The menu is extensive, containing many dishes not found elsewhere in Mexico. To start, get the dim sum (not on the menu, and not always available), steamed or fried dumplings filled with pork or shrimp. Cold beef flavored with star anise is an aromatic and refreshing appetizer, as is gallina fina (cold steamed chicken served with dipping sauces). The soup selection includes an unusual hot-and-sour seafood version. Main courses include the usual meat (lots of viscera for the adventurous) and a superb pato rostizado estilo Guangdong (duck braised in a gingery brown sauce, showered with scallions). Pollo con nuez de la India-diced chicken, celery, jicama, and baby corn-was a mild dish where individual flavors stood out. Whole steamed fish with ginger and scallions is a specialty, fresh and perfectly done. A bubbling cazuela of berenjena con jarabe de pescado sounded odd, butwas a perfect combination of sweet eggplant strips and mild seafood sauce. Salt and pepper shrimp deep-fried in their edible shells were crispy, salty, sweet, and juicy. Vegetarian choices include tofu frío bathed in chili sauce and smothered with sesame seeds and scallions. Verdura china (bok choy) appears in many guises (perfect with chorizo chino), as do mustard greens and other seasonal vegetables like estropajo (loofa)-best to ask what's fresh. Try agua de sandia (water- melon) or a refreshingly tart limonada if you don't want beer or tea with your meal.

We recommend going with a group and sharing the ample dishes-round tables accommodate 8 to 10 people.

Nicholas Gilman is author of Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Food Stalls, Fondas and Fine Dining. His website is www.mexicocityfood.net

Jim Johnston is author of Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler. His blog is www.mexicocitydf.blogspot.com The authors live in Mexico City.

Their books are available at all major online booksellers.