This morning I hit the big market de Abastos and when I say big I ain´t kidding. What do they sell in Abastos? What don´t they sell more like. Come to think of it I didn´t see any exercise bikes, but then this is Mexico not Miami...
Bags, baskets, saddles, animals, food, flowers, ballons, chocolate... Turkeys huddled together on the ground. Mountains of different dried chillies, massive sticks of cinnamon, mole pastes and black magic rubbing shoulders with plastic models of Christ... like I say its Mexico.
Yesterday I was given the heads up on some restaurantes to check out so this afternoon I headed to Los Pacos, famous for its Moles. What can I say, what a delight! For anyone who doesn´t know, mole (pronouced molaye) is a famous feature of Mexican cuisine. These are complex sauces made from ingredients ground (milled) to a fine paste then cooked into a sauce. The art of a good mole is to balance the flavours so that not one is dominant. Quite a feat when you have up to 31 ingredients. There are 7 famous Moles de Oaxaca. Today I tried 6 of them. Only 2 contain chocolate. Mole Negro which really is black and mole colorado which is the colour of red earth. In Restaurante Los Pacos they bring you the 6 moles to try with tortilla so you can decide which you want. Great!
I ate with the owners Paco and Lucy, who are just lovely people. They had some friend there too and we all ate together. I will not be privie to the mole recipes as they are handed down in secret, generation to generation, but they sell the made up paste. Think some of thats coming home with me!
Lucy is going to help me get some recetas caseras - recipes that people cook at home. Things less complex than the moles (which are normally the reserve of festivals and weddings) and more suitable for translating outside of Mexico. She´s invited me to go with her to meet some friends tomorrow evening, so I look forward to that...
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Flavours make a civilization
Today breakfast Mexican style. Deseyuno mexicano. Eggs scrambled with tomato, onion and a little chilli served with refried beans, a little Oaxaceña queso - mozerella like cheese. And of course tortilla. Yum.
Today was a day of cultural exploration. The Museo de Santa Domingo has a great collection of Zapotec (the major precolombian civilization of the area) artifacts. All the crazy looking faces on funeral jars and the ancient cooking tools - grinding stones, pots and bowls. I was made up to find a book on prehispanic culinary culture in the book store. A quote from the book "A civilization that ignores its flavours cannot be a complete civilization". Think there might be a lesson for the modern world in that.
I think I am leaning more towards wanting to find the ancient roots of this food culture. Thats where the healthier food resides. Before the spanish brought pork and beef to these lands insects provided much of the protein source.
Inspired by my recent attendance at the longeveity now conference in LA, I can see a revolution in the concept of insects as a source of protein. They are incredibly nutritious and a great source of B vitamins (espcially B12). One of the the deficiencies vegetarians and vegans cannot avoid and have to supplement.
Infact I´m going to coin a phrase right here. Bugarian. Vegetarians who eat bugs...
Anyway speaking of bugs. For dinner I had a salad of Napoles - prickly pear (never tried before), Chapulines - tiny grasshoppers (never tried before) with cheese and herb pesto. To be honest it was not my favourite meal... The chapulines were very salty and the napoles kind of too rich... better luck tomorrow.
Today was a day of cultural exploration. The Museo de Santa Domingo has a great collection of Zapotec (the major precolombian civilization of the area) artifacts. All the crazy looking faces on funeral jars and the ancient cooking tools - grinding stones, pots and bowls. I was made up to find a book on prehispanic culinary culture in the book store. A quote from the book "A civilization that ignores its flavours cannot be a complete civilization". Think there might be a lesson for the modern world in that.
I think I am leaning more towards wanting to find the ancient roots of this food culture. Thats where the healthier food resides. Before the spanish brought pork and beef to these lands insects provided much of the protein source.
Inspired by my recent attendance at the longeveity now conference in LA, I can see a revolution in the concept of insects as a source of protein. They are incredibly nutritious and a great source of B vitamins (espcially B12). One of the the deficiencies vegetarians and vegans cannot avoid and have to supplement.
Infact I´m going to coin a phrase right here. Bugarian. Vegetarians who eat bugs...
Anyway speaking of bugs. For dinner I had a salad of Napoles - prickly pear (never tried before), Chapulines - tiny grasshoppers (never tried before) with cheese and herb pesto. To be honest it was not my favourite meal... The chapulines were very salty and the napoles kind of too rich... better luck tomorrow.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Synchronicity City
Today has been a day of getting to know the city. Taking photos. Looking at book shops. One name that is prevalent on the cuisine shelf is an English lady that lives here called Diane Kennedy...
One restaurant I wandered past made a good photo, but the waiter insisted I come inside as it was very pretty in there too. Well I didn´t walk out of there again till 4 hours later! It turns out that La Fonda de St. Domingo specialises in traditional regional food. Just what I am looking for! The owner Jaime spoke to me for hours. He´s pretty passionate about food. Turns out he´s a close personal friend of Diane Kennedy and happily gave me all her contact details.. mental! She´s in the USA just now at the launch of her latest book on food of the Oaxaca region. Jamie showed me the Spanish version. Man what a fantastic book!
Jaime talked passionately about the concern he has about the erosion of traditional food culture. He is the chairman of an group trying to protect this. Think I might have found one good reason for this mission...
Mole negro - a traditional dark chilli chocolate sauce is made with 31 ingredients, can´t wait to try it. 2 ingredients are the chillies Chichuncle and Chilcoxtle. Apparently these are becoming increasing hard to aquire. Less farmers are growing them and around the festival The Day of the Dead their price can rise as high as 700 pesos a kilo. Thats over $60! Wow. He´s worried that one day these chilli varieties may disappear and with it a whole tradition of Mole Negro....
I ate pretty well over the 4 hours I was there. First Sopa de Chicharon - Grasshopper soup. Very nutritious! Then a salad followed by Chilli relleno - Stuffed chilli. That one puts the brakes on!!!!! What an amazing balance of flavours. I had one of those chocolat moments..... a food orgasm? yeah, something like that.
If you´re in Oaxaca check out this great restaurant!
One restaurant I wandered past made a good photo, but the waiter insisted I come inside as it was very pretty in there too. Well I didn´t walk out of there again till 4 hours later! It turns out that La Fonda de St. Domingo specialises in traditional regional food. Just what I am looking for! The owner Jaime spoke to me for hours. He´s pretty passionate about food. Turns out he´s a close personal friend of Diane Kennedy and happily gave me all her contact details.. mental! She´s in the USA just now at the launch of her latest book on food of the Oaxaca region. Jamie showed me the Spanish version. Man what a fantastic book!
Jaime talked passionately about the concern he has about the erosion of traditional food culture. He is the chairman of an group trying to protect this. Think I might have found one good reason for this mission...
Mole negro - a traditional dark chilli chocolate sauce is made with 31 ingredients, can´t wait to try it. 2 ingredients are the chillies Chichuncle and Chilcoxtle. Apparently these are becoming increasing hard to aquire. Less farmers are growing them and around the festival The Day of the Dead their price can rise as high as 700 pesos a kilo. Thats over $60! Wow. He´s worried that one day these chilli varieties may disappear and with it a whole tradition of Mole Negro....
I ate pretty well over the 4 hours I was there. First Sopa de Chicharon - Grasshopper soup. Very nutritious! Then a salad followed by Chilli relleno - Stuffed chilli. That one puts the brakes on!!!!! What an amazing balance of flavours. I had one of those chocolat moments..... a food orgasm? yeah, something like that.
If you´re in Oaxaca check out this great restaurant!
Mescal Bug Salt and Chocolate Tamales
Oaxaca (pronounced Gw-haka) is the culinary capital of Mexico and I´m here!! Yippee!
Last night in my half asleep state I stumbled out of the lovely Posada del Centro Hotel to check out the city. In the central square I settle on one of the tourist spots - Bar Cafeteria Terranova. Being a mole virgin I decided that I had to get right in there and have something with the famous chocolate chilli sauce. So Tamales de Mole it was. A maize parcel stuffed with chilli chocolate sauce and chicken wraped and cooked in a banana leaf. Yum yum yum. So good and suprising light on the digestion.
Maybe the Mescal helped. Mescal (very similar to Tequila) is delicious but it´s what came with it that was the best part of the meal! You know how we take tequila shots with lemon and salt? You want to know how its really done? The mescal comes served with a side plate of orange eighths and pieces of lime and a little mound of sal de gusano. This brick dust powder is what you dip the orange or lime in and suck on after taking a sip of Mescal. Soooo dam tasty!!! You want to know what is in the Sal de gusano? Thats right. The bug that you get in the bottom of some tequilas. Thats the gusano. They come from the root of the plant. They are dried, ground and mixed with ground chilli and salt. My god you have to try it!! Whats more is its very nutritious!! Loads of vitamin B12 in that!
Last night in my half asleep state I stumbled out of the lovely Posada del Centro Hotel to check out the city. In the central square I settle on one of the tourist spots - Bar Cafeteria Terranova. Being a mole virgin I decided that I had to get right in there and have something with the famous chocolate chilli sauce. So Tamales de Mole it was. A maize parcel stuffed with chilli chocolate sauce and chicken wraped and cooked in a banana leaf. Yum yum yum. So good and suprising light on the digestion.
Maybe the Mescal helped. Mescal (very similar to Tequila) is delicious but it´s what came with it that was the best part of the meal! You know how we take tequila shots with lemon and salt? You want to know how its really done? The mescal comes served with a side plate of orange eighths and pieces of lime and a little mound of sal de gusano. This brick dust powder is what you dip the orange or lime in and suck on after taking a sip of Mescal. Soooo dam tasty!!! You want to know what is in the Sal de gusano? Thats right. The bug that you get in the bottom of some tequilas. Thats the gusano. They come from the root of the plant. They are dried, ground and mixed with ground chilli and salt. My god you have to try it!! Whats more is its very nutritious!! Loads of vitamin B12 in that!
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