We've looked at L.A. style Mexican food. Now let's see the real thing--in Mexico.
This top 10 comes from northern Mexican states that were on the itinerary of Aromas y Sabores, a tour that brought together chefs, food people and writers from Mexico, Spain, Portugal, South America and the United States. The tour was organized by Patricia Quintana, Mexico City celebrity chef and cookbook author.
We roamed the country by bus, dropped into small towns, chatted with local cooks, ate their food at stalls set up for receptions and lunches, dined in a dizzyingly high mountain grotto, in historic buildings and in restaurants old and recently opened.
Everything was good enough to stand out, so this limited list, which is divided into three parts, is only a small sample of what we liked.
1. Believe it or not, purple tamales do exist. Those at the top are from El Mesón de Los Laureanos in El Quelite, a town not far from Mazatlán in the state of Sinaloa. The husks get their color from water boiled with palo de brasil (Brazil wood), which gives off a deep and startling pink.
Made with beef fat rather than the usual pork lard, these tamales had no filling. Oddly, they tasted rather like hardboiled eggs, which is appropriate given their Easter egg coloring.
El Mesón de Los Laureanos, Callejón Dr. Fco. Bernal No.1, El Quelite, Sinaloa. (669) 965-4143.
2. And then there were the extraordinary tamales de requesón at Restaurante QuinMart in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Requesón, a cheese similar to fine ricotta, was blended with the masa rather than spooned in like a filling. After steaming, the tamales were bathed with a creamy poblano chile sauce, topped with Chihuahua cheese and broiled to melt the cheese. They were heavenly.
Restaurante QuinMart, Riva Palacio 450 NTE, between Hidalgo and A. Flores, Culiacán, Sinaloa. (667) 713-8142.
3. I've eaten all kinds of paletas (popsicles) in Mexico, some little more than fresh fruit frozen onto a stick. But I've never seen biznaga paletas, made from the barrel cactus. These were brought to an outdoor reception at the town of Salinas de Hidalgo in San Luis Potosí on a day so hot and dry that offering them was an act of mercy. As you can see, the heat was so overwhelming that I couldn't wait for the photograph to take a bite.
4. The flaky breads called campechanas take great skill to make. Too often they are tough and chewy in the center rather than flaky all the way through. The best I have ever eaten came from the kitchens of Casa Madero, Mexico's oldest winery, which is near Parras in the state of Coahuila. They were small, divinely crisp, crunchy with sugar and stole the show from everything else at breakfast there.
Casa Madero, Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila. 01(800) 623-3702. In Parras, 52 (84) 2422-0055.
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