Today’s post marks an occasional series I’m launching on this blog called “Tastemakers.” It’ll be a series of Q&As with people doing inspiring things with Mexican or Latin cuisine, in Mexico, New York and elsewhere. If you want to nominate someone, email me.
Margarita Carrillo Arronte is among the most well-regarded chefs in [...]
Continue Reading →I’m still not an expert at making corn tortillas without a press, but I was in awe of this woman at the Mole Festival in San Pedro Atocpan. Her name is Bertha Reyes Romero and she was the quesadilla-maker at one of the restaurants.
Her hands worked so fast that I asked if I [...]
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Once I decided I was going to make homemade chiles en nogada this year, I became obsessed with peeling my own walnuts.
Skinless, pristine walnuts are a requirement for the nogada, the creamy sauce that covers the Poblano pepper. The sauce must be white to reflect one of the colors of the Mexican [...]
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The 2012 chiles en nogada season officially started last weekend in Puebla. I was lucky enough to visit the city just beforehand and score a chiles en nogada cooking class with Alonso Hernández, chef at Mesón Sacristía, one of the best restaurants in the city.
I’ve explained the chile en nogada [...]
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I’m in Puebla for the next two days, attending the city’s first International Mole Festival.
Several chefs from the U.S. and Mexico — including Rick Bayless, Marcela Valladolid, Patricia Quintana, Monica Patiño and Daniel Ovadía — have been invited to talk about mole, its history and their experience with Mexican [...]
Continue Reading →Chiles en nogada season starts in Mexico City toward the end of July. By two weeks ago, I hadn’t even tasted one in Mexico yet, which I considered a personal flaw. (I’m hard on myself.)
Then I met a new friend at the end of one of my mezcal tours. He’s [...]
Continue Reading →Juanita is a Mexican woman in her 90′s who lives in the Colonia Cuauhtémoc. She still cooks every day, and her food is superb.
Last year I was lucky enough to make chiles rellenos with her in her kitchen. With my friend Lizzie, who was living with Juanita, we charred and seeded [...]
Continue Reading →One of the things I’ve learned in my Mexican History and Gastronomy program is that to understand Mexican cuisine, you really have to know what was happening in the convents during the viceregal period. The viceregal period refers to when Mexico was ruled by the Spanish crown, from 1521 to 1821.
Yesterday Edmundo gave [...]
Continue Reading →Part of me really did think that since I made pineapple atole before in cooking class, I’d be a whiz on it the second time around.
That wasn’t the case. In my own kitchen, without my classmates looking over my shoulder, I didn’t dissolve my masa very well. I ended up [...]
Continue Reading →Last week over lunch at El Cardenal, one of the restaurant’s owners, Marcela Briz, stopped by our table. Dining with me were some fancy guests — Penny, two chefs from the States and Ruth Alegria. So Señora Briz graciously gave us each a little present: a lotería game she researched and [...]
Continue Reading → Who is Mija?
Mija is Lesley Téllez, a food writer and culinary guide in New York City. I spent four years in Mexico's Distrito Federal, which launched my deep love for Mexican food and culture. In 2010 I co-founded the tourism company Eat Mexico.
