Wining & Dining in Mexico

Long gone are the days when “Mexican food” conjured up only images of salsa and chips, tacos, enchiladas and tamales. These are all well and good and consumed by the pound in Mexico, but thanks largely to a widespread trend in the last few decades towards greater acceptance of foods from all regions, Mexican cuisine has finally earned its rightful place among the world’s oldest and most sophisticated culinary traditions.

Among the earliest important cultivated crops in Mexico (sometime around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago) was a small variety of corn with ears about an inch long. From such an unpromising start, corn became the nation’s modus vivendi. In the 1970s, economist Edmundo Flores wrote, “corn is the single most important item in Mexico’s diet, cuisines, mythology and politics. It is a basic need, a dietary obsession and a nightmare for the minister of agriculture.” Corn and Mexico are still so intertwined that when writers here wax poetic, they say that corn signifies life, sustenance and hope. The Mayans had a legend that man was formed from corn, and an Aztec poem stated “corn is our flesh, our bones, our being, our life.”

Little is known about how the early civilizations actually prepared their food, but Spanish chroniclers, sent to Mexico to report back to the Spanish king after the Conquest in 1519, wrote in great detail about Aztec cooking. They were so in awe of the huge market in the capital city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) that they left us remarkable glimpses into what the Aztecs ate.  

Of special interest to them was the wealth of dishes presented daily to Moctezuma and his nobles. While Cortes and his men were used to a basic bland diet of bread, dried meat, lentils and a few vegetables, the Aztec hierarchy feasted on up to 30 fancy dishes every day, and the court chefs were said to have a repertoire of 300 dishes, including those prepared with the domesticated turkey, duck and dog.

Frothy chocolate made from cocoa beans and water, sweetened with honey and flavored with either vanilla or chili, was drunk at court, as was pulque, or octli, a ceremonial potion made from the fermented sap of the heart of the maguey. (Readers with more interest in the subject can consult, among others, Bernal Diaz del Castillo and Bernardino de Sahagun.)

The Spaniards introduced foods and spices totally unknown in the New World: animal fats, olive oil, pork, beef, lamb, milk and dairy products, onion, and garlic, just to name a few. They also introduced wheat to Mexico. The two cuisines fused into a successful mixture or mestizaje; academics refer to it as dietary syncretism.

Modern Mexico

Breakfast in the big cities is often on the run, with office workers stopping at stands to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice or malteadas, delicious shakes made with milk and fruit. (Visitors to Mexico unfortunately have to exercise caution when considering eating at stands (puestos), even though the food beckons with its enticing smells.)

For those not in a rush, a Mexican breakfast is a great way to enjoy so many of the good things of Mexican cooking and at a reasonable price. Try the wide assortment of egg and tortilla dishes served with refried beans. Or go further afield and order appetizing chilaquiles (tortilla chips cooked in a spicy green or red sauce, served with grated cheese and cream). Each region of the country has its breakfast specials, which are great to try. Since you will have to wait until at least 1 p.m., and more usually 2 or 3, for lunch, it’s a good idea to tuck into a full breakfast (sometimes called almuerzo). Weekend brunch is a growing trend and many of the larger hotels have spectacular ones.

Lunch is the big meal of the day, one that few people skip even when pressured for time or pinching pennies. If they are really in a crisis, they partake of a torta, like a hero sandwich but packed with refried beans, avocado and chili, or have a fast taco fix either at a street stand or a taqueria. Otherwise, it’s generally a full three- to four-course meal. For the budget minded there are fondas, cantinas and taquerias, all offering a la carte or comida corrida, which is the full menu of the day and very often a great bargain.

Two foods that have become quite “in” of late are delicate squash blossoms (flor de calabaza) and huitlacoche, or corn truffle, a tasty black fungus that grows on young corn during the rainy season. Both are traditionally used in quesadillas and soups, but are also now seen in crepes and pasta dishes. Intrepid eaters might want to try maguey worms (gusanos de maguey) and ant eggs (escamoles). Good tortillas and guacamole make the adventure easier.  

Dozens of varieties of chili peppers are used — some fresh, some dried, and ranging from mild to hot. You will find them mostly in fragrant sauces and in tangy salsas served on the side. Even if you aren’t used to spicy food, you might want to give it a try to see just how good it can be.     

Coffee, either cafe americano, espresso or cappuccino, is almost a must. At Mexican restaurants, cafe de olla, sweetened with molasses-like piloncillo and flavored with cinnamon, is also an option. Many people also have a liqueur after a good long lunch or dinner. Try Agavero, a smooth tequila liqueur, for a novel way to end your meal.

Dinner is usually late as many people work long hours and it is quite normal to see people starting to dine at nine or ten o’clock. And since lunch is generally not over until mid-afternoon, dinner for most Mexicans is less of an event, often involving just coffee or hot chocolate and sweet rolls. But it can also mean tamales, which are either a morning or night food and are rarely eaten at midday. Tamales come with many different fillings, wrapped in either banana leaves or cornhusks. You will find very good ones at some of the traditional Mexican restaurants.

In the decade or so since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, there has been a veritable explosion of new, excellent restaurants in the major cities. Foreign ingredients that were once prohibitively expensive or unavailable are now incorporated into creative Mexican cooking, known as nueva cocina mexicana, by master chefs from all over the world.

Waiters are trained not to hover over tables expecting clients to leave as soon as a meal is finished and they will graciously wait to give you a check until you signal for it. This you do by raising one arm in the air and making a scribbling sign with your hand to indicate the writing of a check or by calling out “joven!” young man, or “señorita!” if you have a waitress.

Prices vary depending on whether you eat at places noted in a guidebook or stray from the tourist route. It would be hard to spend what you might in a first-class restaurant in New York, Paris or London, but gone are the days when Mexico was really a bargain, unless you stick to the more Mexican way of eating out. A very satisfying comida corrida in a fonda, cantina or taqueria can cost you from 30-45 pesos and an a la carte meal about 80 to 100 pesos. You can easily spend between 300 and 500 pesos (or more) for lunch or dinner at a top restaurant, especially if you’re looking for that wonderful fusion cooking. Buen provecho (bon appetit), as we say in Mexico.

This article was written by Vicky Cowal, who has her own catering business and gives cooking classes in her home near Malinalco in the State of Mexico.

Tequila

The popularity of tequila, Mexico’s national drink, is at an all-time high. Not only are better-quality brands being produced, but at a time when Americans have been generally cutting back on distilled liquor, tequila sales in the United States have continued to grow dramatically. The same is true of mezcal, a spirit made of agave grown in Oaxaca.

Mexicans customarily savor tequila straight, at room temperature or chilled, and served in a clear, tall shot glass called a caballito or, at more pretentious establishments, in a miniature cognac snifter. A chili-spiced, tomato-and-orange juice concoction called “sangrita” is usually served as a chaser, offsetting the tequila’s herbaceous, peppery taste with its sweet-and-sour tanginess.

White tequila, as opposed to aged, doesn’t get the same treatment, being primarily used as a cocktail mix in margaritas, tequila sunrises, or “palomitas” (tequila with lime soda, usually Fresca, and a pinch of salt). The way Mexicans drink finer tequila, however, is by far the best way to enjoy its unique qualities.
A growing appreciation of tequila’s singular flavor has spurred producers to make more top-of-the-line brands that often come in the kind of elegant packaging more commonly associated with cognac — a stately bottle, perhaps with the words “limited production” printed across the label.

Just as cognac gets its name from its place of origin, tequila gets its name from the Tequila region of Jalisco state, where the blue agave flourishes. When the plant matures, at 6 to 12 years of age, the leaves are removed, revealing a pineapple-shaped heart (called a piña) that can weigh anywhere up to 300 pounds. The heart is harvested by hand, but from here on the process is largely industrialized, with the piñas roasted to turn the starches into sugars, then mashed, fermented, and distilled twice to obtain the silvery spirit. Some tequila is then aged in oak barrels and takes on a golden hue. Tequila labeled “reposado” has been aged a minimum of two months, “añejo,” a minimum of 12 months.

Mexican Wines

Mexican wines are today competing in international competitions — and winning. It is only in the past 30 years or so that Mexican vintners, namely those in Baja’s Guadalupe Valley, where the climate is remarkably similar to that of the Napa-Sonoma valleys of California, have applied the resources to produce notable wines. Since wine consumption in Mexico is low — at about two glasses per capita, compared with nearly 10 bottles in the United States, and more than 60 bottles in France and Italy — and is mostly concentrated in the big cities, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, production is similarly limited.

The most extensive area for producing quality wine grapes in Mexico is in Baja California, from the US border to Santo Tomas and San Vicente, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Ensenada. However, vineyards are scattered throughout central and northern Mexico, around Parras (Coahuila), La Laguna (near Torreon), Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Dolores Hidalgo and San Juan del Rio.

The oldest winery in the Western Hemisphere was founded in 1597 in a desert oasis near the town of Parras, located about two hours west of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Surprisingly, it survived the turmoil of the years preceding and following the War of Independence and the revolution, discreetly making wines and brandies, and still exists today as Casa Madero. A wine harvesting festival is held each August in Parras. In central Mexico, the resort town of Tequisquiapan, Queretaro, hosts a cheese and wine festival each May. All of the Baja wineries welcome visitors, and each August Ensenada hosts the Festival de la Vendimia, or Grape Harvesting Festival.