Mexico Cooks!

Pozole Estilo Jalisco, in Memory of Doña María Medina

Traditionally, pozole starts with the head of a pig.  The head is always smiling as it hangs on your butcher's hook, waiting to go in the pot.  If you can't get a pig head from your butcher, use pork shoulder, pork butt, really meaty pork neck bones, or a combination of all three.

In 1981, I tasted pozole for the first time.  My dear friend, doña María Medina, who owned a five-stool working-man's food counter restaurant in Tijuana, invited me to her home to dine.  Doña María was originally from Jalisco and was shocked that I'd been in Mexico for all of three or four months and had never eaten the thick, rich, pork, chile and corn soup that I soon learned was pozole.  I was such a neophyte that until she asked me if I'd eaten it, I'd actually never heard of pozole, but I couldn't let Doña María know that.  Because I knew Doña María, I knew I was in for a treat, even though I had no idea what it was going to be.

The day arrived.  Doña María escorted me into her kitchen and sat me down at the table.  Large pottery bowls were at our places, ready for the dishing-up.  Meat, already sliced, lay on the counter next to a huge aluminum pot.  Next to the pot she had laid out bowls of thinly sliced radishes, onion diced small, shredded cabbage, whole dried Mexican orégano, and powdered chile de árbol.  She put several slices of meat into each of our bowls, ladled what seemed to me a bathtub of rich-smelling, steaming soup on top, and garnished each bowlful with the condiments.  Smiling proudly, she put the bowls on the table.  I thought she was going to sit down, but no.

Instead, she looked at my bowl.  "Te falta carne."  (You don't have enough meat.)  She put my bowl on the counter again and picked up an extra-long two-tined fork.  Down into the soup pot it went, and up it came again.  To my horror, impaled on the fork was a huge pig head.  My eyes were the size of big white Mexican onions.  She sliced meat from the cheek and piled it into my bowl.  "Ahora sí, provecho!"  (Now then, good eating!)  She sat down and we dug in.

It's nearly thirty years and a lot of pozole later, but I still can't get the image of that first pig head out of my mind. 

Readers who are familiar with the southwestern United States might be confused by the Spanish word pozole.  In New Mexico and other parts of the southwest, the word is spelled posole and is the word used for the corn prepared for the soup.  Here in Mexico, the words for the corn are the Nahuatl words cacahuatzintle and/or nixtamal, while the soup itself is called pozole (with a 'z').

My good friend Rolly Brook has once again given me permission to use some of his excellent photos to illustrate the preparation of pozole.  He photographed his friend Doña Martha as she prepared this marvelous soup.  You can see his entire photo essay about pozole here.

Rolly and Doña Martha live in Lerdo, in the northern Mexican state of Durango.  Her pozole is slightly different from the pozole from that of the central state of Jalisco, above all in its condiments, but the basic recipes are sisters.

Doña Martha puts the cleaned pig head into the pot with the spices and flavorings.  The prepared cacahuatzintle  and the chiles go into the pot last.            

Traditional Pozole from Jalisco State

Ingredients

1 cleaned pig head.  Leave the teeth and eyes in the head.  Ask the butcher to clean it for you.  At home, wash the pig head well in cold water.

3 kilos (about 7.5 lbs) espinazo (pork backbone), shoulder, or butt or a combination of the three meats.

1 kilo (about 2.2 lbs) nixtamal-ized cacahuatzintle (dried field corn, preferably red), or an equal amount of corn for pozole, already prepared and preferably red.  You'll find prepared corn in the refrigerator section of many Latin grocers.  In a pinch you can use canned hominy, but it's not the same.  It's much too soft and bland.

about 10-12 chiles guajillo
about 6 chiles ancho
one large whole white onion, peeled
an entire large head of garlic, peeled
cumin seeds
bay leaves
sprigs of orégano
sprigs of thyme
a clove or two
a little vinegar
sea salt to taste

Garnishes
finely shredded cabbage
thinly sliced radishes
minced white onion
limón criollo (key lime) to squeeze into the pozole
salsa roja muy picante
Mexican orégano to crumble into the pozole
sea salt to taste

Serve with tostadas.

Preparation

Two days ahead of serving, begin to prepare the dried corn for the pozole.  This process results in nixtamal. 

Soak the dried corn in cold water overnight, with a tablespoon or two of builder's lime added to the water.  Drain and rinse well, removing any stray corn husk pieces or other field rubble from the soaked corn. 

Put the corn into a large pot and bring to a simmer.  Allow to cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool in its liquid.

When the corn is cool enough to touch, rinse it well and rub it in a heavy towel (or in your bare hands) to remove the skin from the kernels.    Rinse it more than once, if you need to do that.  The cleaned kernels should be white.

Use your thumb nails or a small sharp knife to remove the hard pedicel (the little piece of the corn kernel that holds the kernel to the cob) from the narrow end of each kernel.  This step is hideously time-consuming, but removing the pedicel allows the kernels to "flower", or open up.  Many cooks in Mexico have stopped doing this part, but you might want to try it at least once.  I did, in spite of the fact that Georgina, my maid, laughed at me the whole time I struggled at the job.

Put the cleaned kernels back in the pot and cover with water to about 3" above the kernels.  Cook over medium heat until the kernels flower, about three hours.  Do not stir the corn while it cooks, but you might want to skim the top of the water from time to time. 

Once the corn kernels are tender, add salt to taste.  Many cooks don't add salt until the kernels are soft, saying that they will toughen.

Reserve the now-nixtamal-ized cacahuatzintle for later use in the pozole.

Grind all the spices except the chiles, the garlic, and the onion until they are fine powder.  Put the pig head into a large pot and add water to cover.  Add the fresh garlic, the ground spices and the whole onion.  Reserve the chiles and the corn for pozole for later use.

Trim the espinazo and pork butt or shoulder into large pieces.  Add this meat to the pot along with the whole onion.  Simmer the meats for approximately an hour and a half. 

Prepare the dried chiles by slitting them open and removing the stems and the seeds.

Simmer the chiles while the pork meats cook.  The chiles need to cook for an hour or slightly more.  When the chiles are soft, put them in a blender and purée them with some of their cooking liquid until they are very, very smooth.

Doña Martha eases the nixtamal into the pot.

When the meats are tender, remove the head, the espinazo, and the other meats from the pot and reserve.  Add the prepared corn kernels and the puréed chiles to the pot and continue to simmer over low heat for another hour.

While the pot simmers, slice the meat off the head and slice the rest of the meats into serving-size pieces.  Reserve the eyeballs for your guest of honor.

The finished product!  Serve with a pile of tostadas on the side.

Just before serving, put a big ladle-full or more of corn kernels and broth into individual large pozole bowls.  Add several slices of meat to each bowl, on top of the corn kernels.  At table, each eater adds his or her own condiments according to taste.  I like mine with crumbled orégano, a soup spoon of minced onion, a big squeeze of limón, a fistful of sliced radishes, some sea salt, a lot of shredded cabbage, and a spoonful or two of salsa roja--in other words, a little of everything!

Espérate, te falta carne!  Ahora sí, provecho!  (Wait, you need more meat!  Okay, now, enjoy!)

Mexico Cooks! in Mexico City!

Como México, no hay dos...there's no other place like Mexico!

That old saying, 'Como México, no hay dos', is so true.  It's used with enormous pride, it's used ironically, it's used with colors-flying patriotic fervor.  In the photo above, for example, the signs at these Mexico City outdoor fondas (food booths) read (left to right):  Soft Drinks, Beer, and Fruit Drinks.  Chicken Soup.  We Repair Baby Jesuses.  Only in Mexico can you find such wonderfully surrealistic juxtapositions.  Como México, no hay dos.

This handy key chain with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe comes complete with a bottle opener.  Judy shook her head and rolled her eyes, but ended up buying this memento of the Basílica for her son.

Mexico Cooks! tacked four days in Mexico City onto the end of our February trip to Chiapas.  We'd been invited to stay at the home of our dear friend Ruth Alegría (Alegria in Mexico) and didn't want to pass up the chance to comadrear tantito (to gossip a little bit) about the Distrito Federal food world.  Our time with Ruth was a fast-forward speed combination of eating, yakking, and running around the city.  Boy, did we have fun!

Frida Kahlo's bedroom with her death mask.

Among our muchos recorridos (lots of running around), we visited the Museo Frida Kahlo (La Casa Azul) and the central plaza of Colonia Coyoacán.

The coyote fountain in the plaza principal of Colonia Coyoacán.

One of the best times was a pozole outing with Ruth and another couple, Jim Johnston and Nick Gilman.  Jim is the author of Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler; Nick wrote Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Food Stalls, Fondas, and Fine Dining.  (Look over on the left-hand side of this page for Amazon links to those two books--they're both well worth buying!  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't shill for them...umm...well, or maybe we would!)

Who would know the best pozolería in Mexico City better than a passel of foodies?  Ruth drove; she's intrepid behind the wheel, even in this city of nearly 30,000,000 souls.  We voyaged north from our digs in south central Colonia Condesa, heading for Colonia Santa María La Ribera, near Alameda Norte.  Mexico Cooks! has spent a lot of time in the Distrito Federal, but this was our first time in Colonia Santa María La Ribera.  Nick assured us that we would love the pozolería.

The back of our waiter's shirt at La Casa de Toño!

Nick was right.  La Casa de Toño is sheer heaven, from the salsas to the postres.  The restaurant has been a Mexico City stronghold forever.  It's open every day of the year, including Christmas.  You can pay a virtual visit to La Casa de Toño here.  We had a blast eating our way through a goodly part of the menu.  We know we'll go back again next time we're in the city.

A night view of one of the patios at La Casa de Toño.  The restaurant is housed in a converted mansion.

Of course we ordered pozole, the specialty of the house, but we also tried a quesadilla or two, a tostada de tinga, and some flautas.  Four of us ordered pozole con maciza de puerco, the white meat of the pig.   Jim ordered the pozole vegetariano, made with squash blossoms, mushrooms, and corn.  I'm a confirmed meat-eater, but Jim's vegetarian pozole was just as delicious as the meat-filled bowl I ate. 

Pozole con tostadas, the traditional combo.

Condiments for pozole: minced onion, thinly sliced radishes, shredded lettuce, and a variety of salsas.  We also crumbled dried orégano into the bowl, along with powdered chile and sea salt.

We're waiting for our cena (supper): Judy, Jim, Nick, and Ruth.

The kitchen at La Casa de Toño is a hive of buzzing cooks, waiters, and busboys.

Next week: Let's Make Pozole.

 

 

 

Master of the Art of Metalwork: Guadalupe Hermosillo Escobar

María Esther Flores Najera and her husband, Guadalupe Hermosillo Escobar, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, February 2008.

It's no small thing to have been named one of the "grandes maestros del arte popular en México" by Fomento Cultural Banamex.  In the eponymous book, originally published in 1999, Banamex designated Guadalupe Hermosillo Escobar and nearly 100 other fine Mexican popular artists as grand masters of their crafts.  The artists come from many Mexican states and work in media ranging from textiles and clay to wood, paper, leather, and metal.  Guadalupe Hermosillo Escobar, his wife María Esther Flores Najera, and his children Gerardo, Cristóbal, and Paola have worked exclusively in hand-wrought iron for over 20 years.

Banamex reissued the huge and important book in 2006.

Born in Tapachula, Chiapas on December 12, 1962, Sr. Hermosillo moved to San Cristóbal de las Casas and learned the art of wrought iron.  During the many years he has dedicated to his craft, he experimented with fire's intensity to give the metal different shades of color, from intense blue to silvery white, with natural finish flashes of red, green, and gold mixed into a single piece.

Assortment of traditional crosses with the symbols of Christ's passion.

Around 1548, metal smiths in San Cristóbal began making house crosses, padlocks, latches, and door knockers.  These earliest examples are either in museums or have disappeared over the course of more than 450 years.  Sr. Hermosillo continues the tradition of fine metal work in his own art, following the early designs.  His most-requested designs are la cruz de la pasión de Cristo (the cross of Christ's passion), el árbol de la vida (the tree of life), and hardware for the home.

Cruz de la pasión de Cristo (cross of Christ's passion), San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas 2008.

The cruz de la pasión de Cristo is made entirely of symbols of the Crucifixion.  In the photo above (click on it to enlarge it), you can see:

•     the dove at the top of the cross, which represents peace and the Holy Spirit
•     pliers, used to remove the nails from Christ's hands and feet after his death
•     the moon, representing the darkness that fell as Christ died
•     the sun, representing the passage of the day and its events
•     the rooster, which crowed after Peter denied Christ for the third time
•     the crown, representing divine light
•     the ladder, used to lower Christ's body from the cross
•     the butterfly, representing both Eve and the hope of the Resurrection
•     the snake, symbol of evil and seduction
•     the heart, symbol of Christ's love, pity, and virtue
•     the spear used to pierce Christ's body
•     palm fronds, remembering Palm Sunday
•     the scales of justice, representing the Last Judgment

In 2002, Sr. Hermosillo won the prize "Fray Bartolomé de las Casas", the highest artistic award given by the State of Chiapas.  During the years he has worked making fine metal art, he has won nearly every honor given in his field, has taught classes in traditional metalwork, and labors tirelessly to promote the art of traditional wrought iron work.

Sr. Hermosillo made this traditional door latch in the form of human hands.

Detail of hand-hammered iron work in one of the crosses.

If you go to San Cristóbal, a visit to Guadalupe Hermosillo is a must.  His museum and workshop are located at:

    Avenida de la Jardinera #12
    Colonia Jardines del Valle
    San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

You'll find Sr. Hermosillo there from Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM.  He might also be there on Sundays from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM.

Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas

Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas

Two or three days after our trip to Zinacantán, we wound our way through the streets of San Cristóbal de las Casas and took the highway south toward Comitán de Domínguez, bound for Amatenango del Valle, a town of 6,000 inhabitants.   Amatenango's language is Tzeltal, although the name of the town is Nauhatl for "fortified place of the fig trees".  Its women wear the town's traditional red and yellow huipil (blouse).  The town square, dominated by the peak-roofed 18th Century Templo de San Francisco de Asís, is surrounded by steep 6600-foot hillsides. 

The artesanía in Amatenango is pottery, created by women.  As we approached the town, we saw roadside stands filled with clay pots, clay animals, and clay doves lining both sides of the highway.  Women dressed in Amatenango's ropa típica painted fresh clay vessels while they waited for customers.

Las palomas (doves) are the most common Amatenango clay figure.  The birds are finished in a technique called bruñido (burnishing).

Clay for making the pots comes from hillside locations several hours on foot from the center of town.  Hard oak firewood for firing the pots comes from the high hills, brought down in a wild go-cart ride to the potters' homes.  Most women of the town dedicate themselves to creating pots, and most begin their clay work in early childhood.  Many Amatenango women have no memory of their lives before they began to make pots. 

The women of Amatenango fire their clay goods in pre-Hispanic bonfire kilns, one of the world's oldest firing methods. Pots are fired in the open air with firewood stacked all around and over the clay. 

Painted gallinas de barro (clay hens) are nearly as numerous as las palomas.

The hens are distinctive and differ from artist to artist.

Juana Gómez learned pottery-making by observing her relatives working with clay.  Arguably the most gifted potter in today's Amatenango, her work ranges from intricately designed small jugs to her current work, monumental jaguar sculptures.

Juana Gómez Ramírez with one of her nearly complete, monumental jaguares de barro (clay jaguars).

Juana showed me around her small property and the firing lot just beyond her one-room cement block studio.  On the bare ground of the firing lot, she had constructed a wrought iron stand for balancing the life-size jaguar figures. "Their legs and bodies are hollow," Juana said, "so they are very fragile.  You can see the holes in their legs and in their stomachs, where the fire goes through them.  Firing them inside and out makes them very dry and sturdy, although they're clay and can't take a lot of abuse.  My uncle used to make jaguares this size, but the legs of his were solid, not hollow like mine, and they didn't fire all the way through.  A lot of his jaguares broke in the kiln.  Mine don't."

The second of Juana's latest pair of jaguares.  She has just started painting the spots of the big cat.

Like the other Amatenango potters, Juana fires her pots and jaguares in the open air.  "First the jaguar has to dry.  Then I pile the wood under and over and around the figure and then burn the whole pile.  It takes hours to burn, and the oak burns so hot.  But I have to be careful that the fire is hot enough to bake the jaguar, but not too hot to burn it."

We ordered two pots from Juana Gómez Ramírez and reluctantly left her workshop.  Once again we turned the car to the south, toward Aguacatenango, where we hoped to meet a rug weaver.  As we came down from the hills into view of the town, our traveling companion gave us a bit of information about Aguacatenango.  A Tzotzil-speaking village well-known for its cottage industry textiles, Aguacatenango politically casts its lot with EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), the Zapatista revolutionaries whose front-man is known as Sub-Comandante Marcos.  In Aguacatenango, no photos are permitted due to politics rather than, as is the case in San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán, religion.

Máscara de barro (clay mask) of a Mayan god, Juana Gómez Ramírez, 2008.

The rug weaver wasn't at home and we left Aguacatenango to return to San Cristóbal de las Casas. 

 
 
 

The Sacred and the Profane: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Part Two

Fancy trimmings and even fancier names grace many truck tops in San Cristóbal.

Hammocks hang from this store's ceiling like graceful butterflies.

Naptime at the mercado de artesanía.

Piñatas for sale in the market, including orange and pink rose blossoms.

Niño Dios with basket of flowers, Templo Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal.

February peach blossoms, San Cristóbal.

Lunch.

The Sacred and the Profane: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Part One

The Maya used the cross as a religious symbol before the arrival of the Spanish Dominican priests. The Mayan interpretation is different from the Christian interpretation.  Mayans believe that the four points of the cross symbolize the sun, the earth, the moon and the people. The crosses usually appear in sets of three, symbolizing the three holy mountains of this area. Maya consider mountains to be gateways into Heaven.

The Maya believe that the First Father propped up the sky with huge ceiba (kapok) trees at its four corners (north, south, east and west) as well as in the center of the world. The crosses are normally green and are the symbol of the ceiba tree, the Mayan “World Tree”. They are decorated with carvings of bromeliads and pine boughs and are sometimes adorned with real flowers and pine boughs.  Crosses like the one above are also found inside churches.  The indoor crosses are often dressed in velvet casings.

Sunshine and shadow, San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Wrought iron roof crosses are traditional in San Cristóbal.  This cross includes two angels, two pitchers, and other elements.  More often, the crosses include the symbols of Christ's passion: a ladder, a rooster, a lance, a pair of dice, the crown of thorns, and others.

Juegos pirotécnicos (fireworks) for sale at the market.  The tall ones are small cohetes, like bottle rockets.

Anti-US graffito spray-stenciled on a wall in San Cristóbal de las Casas.  Click on the photo to enlarge it.  Can you read it?

Beaded key chains from the Santo Domingo artisans' market.  We brought back several for little gifts, and we've already given them all away!

Al Mercado Indígena (At the Indian Market): Photos, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Part Two

Artisans from San Cristóbal de las Casas hand roll these glorious candles, available in the market.  The flowers as well as the candles themselves are made of wax.  They're almost impossible to transport.  The last time Mexico Cooks! tried to bring some home to Michoacán, all of the flowers broke in transit despite their packing materials.

When I saw this tray of pastries in the market, I stopped dead in my tracks. Could they be cream puffs, here at the indigenous market?  Indeed they were.   Called mocas, these delicacies are prepared exactly as cream puffs are and are filled with a custard similar to creme patissiere.  The little cups with pink spoons contain just the custard, with a raisin on top.

Called xuti, shuti, or zoque, these large (2-3" long) freshwater snails come to market in San Cristóbal de las Casas during the first few weeks of Lent.  They're purged and prepared as caldo de xuti (snail soup), seasoned during cooking with tomato, onion, garlic, and hoja santa.

The red spiky blossoms on the left are flores de colorín (flowers from the coral tree).  They're prepared in pipián and seasoned with epazote.

Flores de Colorín en Pipián

Ingredients:

1/2 pound pumpkin seeds
3 chiles anchos
1/2 pound flores de colorín
Sea salt to taste
1 stem epazote

Preparation:

Over a low fire, toast the pumpkin seeds hull and all.  Remove the seeds and grind with the chiles until the mixture is like a paste.

Remove any seeds from the colorín flowers and bring them to a boil in enough water to cover.  Allow them to boil until the flowers are cooked.  Take them off the heat.

Heat the water again with a pinch of sea salt and add the flowers.  Incorporate the pumpkin seed/chile mixture until it is the consistency of a soup.  Allow the soup to rest for a bit so the flavors can marry.  Add sea salt to taste and flavor with the epazote.

Prepared blue and yellow corn masa.

Chicken heads!

Al Mercado Indígena (At the Indian Market): Photos, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Part One

The brilliant jade green and cream squash skin contrasts beautifully with the pale yellow interior.  These calabaza amarilla (yellow squash) are about five to seven inches in diameter.  When I asked the proprietor of the booth how he prepares them, he shrugged and said, "Se pelan y se ponen a cocer en agua.  Después se guisan, con cebolla, chile y jitomate." ('Peel them, boil them, and just cook them, with onion, chile, and tomato.')

Trenzas (braids) of recently harvested garlic.

I loved this market puesto (booth) for its colorful symmetry.  On the left are fresh strawberries.  At the middle on the bottom are containers of ground pumpkin seeds for pipián.  Fiery hot dried chiles de árbol are in the bowls in the upper right hand corner.  The tiny green balls are miltomate, small tomate verde  grown in the milpas (corn fields) and known in English as tomatillos.  On the right are bowls of zarzamora (fresh blackberries).  The yellow objects in the bottom right corner are chiles manzano.  To the right of the zarzamora are bowls of small chiles blanco.

A young woman's booth offered small (5 pesos) and large (10 pesos) packets of soft, freshly made achiote.  The achiote is a tropical shrub or small tree (the word comes from the Nauhatl for bush). The inedible fruits are heart-shaped, brown or reddish brown at maturity, and are covered with short stiff hairs. When fully mature the fruits split open, exposing the numerous seeds. Although the fruit is inedible, the achiote is widely grown for the orange-red pulp that covers the seeds.  The pulp is prepared as a fresh or dried paste which is used as a coloring and flavoring condiment in southern Mexico and other parts of the Americas.

Black beans are a staple on the table all over southern Mexico.  Mexico Cooks! ate sopa de frijol negro (black bean soup) prepared with the following ingredients:

Sopa de Frijol Negro Estilo San Cristóbal de las Casas

Ingredients
Cooked black beans
Chicken broth
Garlic cloves
Fresh tomatoes
Onion
Oregano
Salt

Preparation:
Sauté the garlic, tomato, and onion together until the tomato gives up its juices.  Blend  until well puréed and strain.  Add oregano and salt to taste.

Heat the soup.  Serve in flat soup plates garnished with a swirl of crema mexicana or creme fraiche.

The person who gave me the recipe was unable to give the proportions of ingredients, but the soup is simple to prepare.

Guajes (Leucaena leucocephala) for sale in bunches.  Guaje pods contain tiny bean-like legumes which are prepared as tortitas (little fritters).

Crafts, Food, and Mayan Culture in Zinacantán, Chiapas: Part Three

If you have not yet read Parts One and Two of Mexico Cooks! visit to San Lorenzo Zinacantán, Chiapas, please see the articles dated March 1 and March 8, 2008.

Restaurant J'Totik Lol, San Lorenzo Zinacantán, Chiapas

As we walked through the Templo San Lorenzo atrium to the main streets of Zinacantán, our stomachs grumbling for food, we noticed that the first three cocinas económicas (cheap-eats restaurants) were closed.  At three o'clock in the afternoon--time for the main meal of the day--we couldn't understand what was (or better said, what wasn't) cooking.  Then light dawned: it was a Lenten Friday.  In Mexico, many restaurants serving primarily meat or chicken close on Fridays in Lent.  It appeared that none of the restaurants around the plaza chose to offer a menú cuaresmeño (meat-free Lenten menu).  Even though we were considerably past ready for lunch, we weren't ready to leave Zinacantán and head back to San Cristóbal de las Casas to find food.  What to do!

"Look!"  My partner pointed to a sign: Centro de Artesanía y Restaurantes.  An arrow directed us to a short flight of steps carved into the hillside.  We crossed our fingers and started up.  At the top of the steps was Restaurant J'Totik Lol, jam-packed with San Cristóbal secundaria (middle school) kids on a field trip.  We felt sure that unless the ravening teenage hordes had eaten all that there was to be had, we would soon have lunch. 

The school group filled every table inside the restaurant and overflowed into the yard.  We settled ourselves outside at the single remaining table and gratefully received menus from the wait staff.  Would it be the menú del día or something a la carta?  Our choice is usually the menú, and today was no exception.  The menú at a home-style restaurant in Mexico is nearly always a treat.  It normally includes a choice of two or three sopas aguadas (soups), choice of sopa seca (rice or pasta), choice of several guisados (main dishes), frijoles, tortillas, and dessert.  Judy picked asado de puerco estilo chiapaneco as her main course and, at the waitress's recommendation, I asked for the menú con carne asada.   

Restaurant J'Totik Lol interior with clay and brick oven.

The asado de puerco estilo chiapaneco was definitely the pick of the day.  Fork-tender chunks of pork covered with a deep-brown sauce redolent of chiles filled Judy's plate, the thick sauce running gently into her rice.  She tasted it and I knew from the ecstatic look on her face that I wasn't going to finagle more than a nibble.  Yes, my carne asada was delicious.  But after I snagged a shred of her pork and a bit of sauce, it was obvious that she had bet on the winner. 

Both of us ate fresh tortilla after fresh tortilla as we enjoyed our meal.  We were joined at table by a middle-size dog which had apparently recently delivered a litter of pups.  Her beguilingly silent pleas for a snack resulted in a bone or two from Judy's asado and the crusty ends of my carne asada.

We all ate well.  You will, too.

Asado de Puerco Estilo Chiapaneco

Ingredients
1/2 kilo (1 pound) fresh pork                    1 onion, quartered
1 kilo (2.2 pounds) small pork ribs             1 corn tortilla
2 cloves garlic                                          Thyme to taste
2 chiles cascabel                                      Oregano to taste
2 chiles pasilla                                         Salt and pepper to taste
1 large or two small tomatillos                  Oil

Procedure
Cut the meat into 2" cubes.  Cut the ribs into 2" sections.  Salt and pepper well.  Using a frying pan, sauté in hot oil until well-browned, adding the quartered onion to the meat.  Reserve the meat and onion in the frying pan.

In another pan, carefully toast the garlic, the chiles cascabel and pasilla.  Don't let them become too dark or they will be bitter.  Reserve the mix in a separate bowl.  In the same frying pan, sauté the corn tortilla.  When all the ingredients are well-toasted, put them in the blender, add a bit of water, and blend until the ingredients are well blended.  Add the blended mixture to the meat in its frying pan.  Add the thyme and oregano to taste. 

Allow to cook over a very low flame for about an hour, adding water little by little as needed so that the meat and sauce do not dry out.

Serves 4-6, accompanied by arroz a la mexicana (Mexican-style rice), frijolitos negros (black beans), and plenty of freshly made hot tortillas.

Provecho!

             

Crafts, Food and Mayan Culture in Zinacantán, Chiapas: Part Two

If you have not yet read Part One of Mexico Cooks! visit to San Lorenzo Zinacantán, please see the article dated March 1, 2008.

One of several Centros de Artesanía (craft stores) in the town of San Lorenzo Zinacantán, Chiapas.

As we drove into Zinacantán, we noticed many large invernaderos (greenhouses) here and there on the mountain slopes.  In addition to the work of artesanía, there is a large flower-growing industry in the town.  Roses, daisies, chrysanthemums and other flowers grow profusely in greenhouses that dot the hillsides around this tiny town in a valley.  The flowers are produced for use in the town as well as for export.

When Mexico Cooks! arrived in the town center, the parish church bells were ringing over and over again--Clang! Ca-CLANG! Clang! Clang!  Ca-clang!--in a pattern that was neither the usual call to Mass nor the clamor (the mournful ring that indicates a parishioner has died). Although the Centros de Artesanía (crafts centers) beckoned and we had really come to shop, we decided to answer the call of the bells and visit the church first.  Many villagers crowded the entryway, watching one of the most beautiful processions I've seen in Mexico.  No photographs are permitted in either the church atrium or the church itself, and I wished so deeply that I had the talent to draw what we were watching.

Young men wearing white cotton shorts embroidered along the hems, thickly furry woven wool cotones, beribboned pañuelos and straw hats processed from a shadowy side chapel carrying huge wicker baskets filled to overflowing with every color rose petal.  The procession came slowly, these young zinacantecos scattering thousands and thousands of petals throughout the candlelit main part of the church.  The wooden floor disappeared under a pink, yellow, red, and white carpet.  Other men wearing ritual black or white woolen cotones followed, stepping reverently on the rose petals, releasing their scent into the air along with the scent of copal burning in the clay incensarios (incense burners) they waved high above their heads. 

Then followed twelve highly honored town elders dressed in even more elaborate ritual clothing bearing three life-size statues on their shoulders.  The statues, each dressed in the finest ropa típica zinacanteca, represented the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and San Lorenzo, the patron of Zinacantán.  The tremendous statues processed, crowned with gold and surrounded by candles and artfully arranged flowers of every description.  The three saints gently tipped this way and that on the shoulders of their bearers as they moved through the nave of the church. 

The first young men of the procession rained thousands more rose petals on the statues as they wended their way slowly through the small church and back into the half-light of the side chapel, where the saints were situated in places of honor in front of the communion rail and altar.

This image, taken inside Templo Santo Domingo in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, shows candles similar to those lit before the saints in Templo San Lorenzo, Zinacantán.

Beneath swooping banners, strings of brightly colored metal ornaments, and tired-out balloons from prior fiestas, church elders lit hundreds of candles to honor the three saints.   Men clad in garments resembling ribbon-festooned woolly black or white sheep hurried back and forth placing candles in large stands, stopping to kneel and pray aloud in Tzotzil.  Meantime, women elders clad in brilliant blue and teal embroidered chales (shawls) crouched on the church floor.  Ritual white cotton rebozos covered their heads and faces, leaving only their black eyes visible, watching the men.  The men lit candles and more candles.  Young boys left greenery around the statues.  In the dimness, a solemn father pinched his laughing son's ear to remind him to respect the ceremony and the saints.

When we could tell that the ceremony was drawing to a close, I asked one of the elders to tell me its significance.  "This is the first Friday of Lent," he replied.  "We'll have this procession the first Friday of every month from now until All Saints Day in November."  He smiled, bowed briefly, and moved away from me.  My partner and I walked slowly out of the church and back into the brilliant Zinacantán afternoon light.  We felt that we had been centuries and huge distances away from this millennium.  And of course, after that much mystical time and space travel, we were starving.  Lunch!  Where would we have lunch?

View of Zinacantán from the floor of the valley, 8500 feet above sea level.

Next week, read Part Three as Mexico Cooks! continues its visit to San Lorenzo Zinacantán, Chiapas.