EatMx: Real Mexican food, at home and on the road

A Tale of Two Sikil Pacs

Never heard of sikil pac? Then you've probably not been to Yucatán, where this nutty squash seed dip is a favorite snack.

The photo at the top shows how it's served at Cenote Xocempich, where tourists can stop for lunch after exploring the ruins at Chichén Itzá. This is a private ranch, but a visit can be arranged through Catherwood Travels, which specializes in tours of the Mayan world and colonial Yucatán.

My group went for dinner, served outdoors under an enormous ficus tree.

The first course was sikil pac, spooned into colorful bell pepper cups (above). Then we ate cochinita pibil, which is pork cooked in a pit in the ground, along with rice, beans, guacamole and tortillas that local women patted out and cooked over hot coals. A Malbec was a good match for this menu, and we finished with coconut ice cream.

Although daylight lasted for part of our visit, we were soon eating in the dark, because there were no lights. That's why I couldn't photograph the rest of the meal.

The creamy sikil pac was so pleasing that I asked for the recipe. It never arrived, but I did get one from just as authentic a source, the restaurant Chichén Itzá in Los Angeles. That version is in the photo above.  

The recipe is in the book "Sabores Yucatecos: A Culinary Tour of the Yucatán" by restaurant owner and chef Gilberto Cetina (right), his son Gilberto Cetina Jr. and Katharine A. Diaz.

This is the first cookbook in English by a chef who is a native of Yucatán. You can buy it at the restaurant, which is in the Mercado La Paloma in downtown Los Angeles, or through Amazon.com. The price is $27.95.

The recipes have been handed down in Cetina's family, and they are traditional, not altered to please gringo tastes or reworked with supermarket ingredients. There's no need for that because almost everything required is available here, at least that's the case in Los Angeles.

Cetina says he served sikil pac at the reception following his daughter's wedding in Mérida, Yucatán. It's perfect party food, especially if there are vegetarians in the group. 

SIKIL PAC
From "Sabores Yucatecos"

3/4 cup ground toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
3/4 cup chiltomate (see below)
1 habanero chile, roasted and chopped (optional)
1/4 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped, or green onions
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

In a bowl, combine the ground seeds, chiltomate, the habanero chile, if using, cilantro and chives. Adjust salt to taste.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Chiltomate
Roasted Tomato Sauce

10 medium plum (roma) tomatoes, roasted
1 habanero chile, roasted (optional) 
3 to 4 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt

Roast the tomatoes and the chile, if using, on a griddle or in a skillet until charred on the outside and soft to the touch. Let cool.

Place the tomatoes and chile in a food processor and pulse into small chunks.

Turn into a bowl, add the cilantro and salt and toss to mix.

Makes about 2 cups. 

Chichén Itzá Restaurant, 3655 S. Grand Ave. (in the Mercado La Paloma), Los Angeles, CA 90007. Tel: (213) 741-1075.

 

Colón and Its Heavenly Sweets

What a coincidence. I turned on "Mexico--One Plate at a Time" the other night, and there was Rick Bayless showing two of the sweets that I adored when I was in Yucatán.

In a segment at the Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, which has been serving sorbetes (ice creams) for more than 100 years, he showed the same illuminated ice cream menu that I photographed and tucked into more varieties than I had a chance to try.

While I had a double of guanabana and zapote (above), Rick ordered mamey, pitahaya, guanabana, tamarind and others, assembling an icy feast.

The offerings are seasonal. Pitahaya (dragon fruit) wasn't on the menu at the right when I was there. Neither was mamey.

The ice creams are lifesavers when you're melting from Yucatán's notoriously hot weather. It's lovely to sit at one of the sidewalk tables in the evening, cooling off as you watch people out for a stroll.  

You come to Colón as you walk along historic Paseo Montejo, a street of gorgeous mansions from the past, many of them now housing businesses. 

"Dulcería" means it's a sweet shop too. You'll fall in love with the typical Yucatecan sweets you'll find there (above), especially the famous meringues, which are crisp on the outside but remain magically soft, moist and fluffy inside. They're the little white balls at upper left. 

In her book "Cocina Yucateca Tradicional" ("Traditional Yucatecan Cooking"), published in Mexico in 1994, Silvia Luz Carrillo Lara comments that Colón's meringues have never been equalled or surpassed by anybody. 

I could have eaten the TV screen as Rick showed how they are made. A syrup cooked with a fresh lime is poured into snowy egg whites and beaten first with an electric beater, then with a molinillo.

The procedure, demonstrated by a woman in the city of Maní, made it clear this was not something I could do at home. Especially because I don't have a portable brazier loaded with hot coals that I can set over the meringues to brown them.

But there is an option--a return to Mérida, where such sweets are commonplace. The meringues appeared again, as luscious as ever (above), at a dinner for my Aromas y Sabores tour group in the city hall.

You can find plenty of these delectable goodies in the municipal market, where guys walk around with trays of pastries and candies on their heads, at bakeries and, of course, at the Colón. 

Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, 500 Calle 62, Merida, Yucatán, Mexico. Tel: 52 (999) 928-1497. 

From Ruins to a Recipe at Palenque

What a great guide at Palenque--José Luis Zúñiga

Sure, he knew all about the Mayas who built the extraordinary structures there. And he made certain I saw them by steering me up and down the rough, steep steps.

He wasn't too modest to show how an ancient outdoor toilet worked (above). No walls, no shelter, just a hole in the rocks where you did what you had to in full view. And this facility was for royalty, not commoners.

The ruins were misty and mysterious after a night of rain. Gorgeous, but the real highlight was getting a recipe on the way down.

It was a long hike, plenty of time for José to tell me how to cook fish Chiapas style.

It couldn't have been easier, fish layered with vegetables between anise-scented hoja santa leaves. You enclose this in foil and then grill it for 15 minutes on each side. The photo above shows how it is assembled.

Clouds of fragrant steam pour out as you open the foil, and the fish is wonderfully moist and light. The photo above shows it after cooking.

The wrapper is responsible for the name, pescado empapelado, which means fish wrapped in paper--in this case, foil.  

José used a word that I hadn't heard before for hoja santa--momo. The only other name I know is acuyo. Momo grows wild at Palenque, and José led me through a patch of soggy grass and dripping trees to see it. 

There he is, showing how large the leaves are, ample enough to wrap the fish. 

Momo grows in my yard too, so I made his dish as soon as I got home. If you can get a plant, be careful. It will pop up everwhere. Mine invaded my neighbor's basement, so now I keep it in a pot.

You can make the fish even if you can't get momo. You could wrap it in chard or some other large leaf and add another herb, such as fresh basil.

But for the true taste of Chiapas, you have to use momo.

PESCADO EMPAPELADO
Chiapas Style Grilled Fish 

4 large leaves momo (hoja santa)
1 pound any mild white fish fillets
1/2 pound tomatoes, sliced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1 small green bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped 
Salt

Heat a barbecue or stove-top grill.

Lay out 2 long sheets of foil.  Place a momo leaf on each sheet.

Place 1/4 of the sliced vegetables and garlic on each leaf. Sprinkle with salt.

Top the vegetables on each sheet with half the fish, then with another 1/4 of the vegetables and garlic and season with salt.

Cover the vegetables with a second momo leaf.

Now wrap each stack of fish and vegetables securely in the foil.

Place the 2 packets on the hot grill and cook 15 minutes. Turn and cook 15 minutes longer.

Place the packets on a platter and unwrap. Divide the fish and vegetables in each packet in half and place on serving plates. Discard the momo leaves, which are for flavoring, not for eating. 

Makes 4 servings.

If you like, you can make larger individual servings by using 1 1/2 pounds of fish divided into 4 servings. You will then need to increase the amount of vegetables by half.

For each packet you will need 2 momo leaves, or a total of 8. However, if the leaves are large, you could use 1 leaf, divided in half, for each packet.  

 

Wine of the Week: Mariatinto 2009

You may never have tasted this wine, because it's from Baja's Guadalupe Valley.  And wines made there are in very limited distribution, if they come here at all.

Mariatinto arrived under special circumstances--a tasting staged as a preview of the Food & Wine Festival March 22-24 in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

Presented by Food & Wine magazine and the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo Convention and Visitors Bureau, the festival will include cooking demos by top chefs from both sides of the border and a tasting of more Baja wines than you might ever be able to find in one place.

A mini-tasting (at top) took place at the preview, which was held at Vinotéque in West Hollywood. 

Accompanying Mariatinto was one of the partners in the company that produces it, Guillermo González Beristaín (above). Chef and creator of the Grupo Pangea, which has six restaurants in Monterrey in northern Mexico, he'll give one of the demos at the festival.

Tinto indicates a red wine, and Mariatinto is made from Tempranillo, Grenache and Syrah grapes, with other varietals added to complete the blend, which changes every year.

It's an easy, food-friendly wine, perfect to accompany anything from the pork belly tacos and ceviche tostadas served at the preview to the Asian cuisines popular in California.

The other wines tasted were from Baja's Santo Tomás, including a Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Xalac, which is 100% Tempranillo.

Wine personality and author Mark Oldham, who led the tasting and will conduct wine and spirits seminars at the festival, said, "Even wine snobs don't know about Mexican wines," adding "I think a lot of them can compete with the world's good wines."

The spirits poured at the preview were Partida añejo tequila, with a sangrita chaser, and Zacbé mezcal.

Other chefs from Mexico who will appear at the festival are Patricia Quintana, Alfredo Oropeza, Federico López and José Ramón Castillo. U.S. chefs to be featured are Beard award winners Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelsson.

The three-day event will include a chocolate tasting, visits to local restaurant kitchens, an architectural tour, a tasting on the beach under the stars and a catamaran cruise along the coast.

For the program schedule and ticket information, go to the festival website, which will tempt you with photos of what took place last year and the gorgeous food that the chefs prepared. 

Pomuch's Heavenly Pan Dulce

I'm almost out of pan dulce, and it's a shame that El Pan de Pomuch is so far away. 

This panadería in Pomuch, Campeche, produces such good breads that people drive all the way from Mérida in neighboring Yucatán to buy them.

The bakery is more than 100 years old and so has had plenty of time to perfect its breads. They're baked in a wood-fired oven--you can see the flame in the photo above--which is allowed in Mexico, but not where I live.  And this makes a big difference.

Taste them hot and steaming, right out of the oven, and they're even more heavenly. 

El Pan de Pomuch has a shop facing the main plaza and a bakery down another street. Ordinarily, you wouldn't be able to stumble around Mexican bakers as they work, especially when they're putting breads into the oven and pulling them out with long handled paddles that could jab you. Or that you could bump into and clumsily knock off the breads. 

I was able to get inside, along with other journalists and photographers, thanks to chef Patricia Quintana (above), who included this stop on her Aromas y Sabores tour.

As a pan dulce fanatic, you would not have been able to keep me out, actually. 

Sweating from the intense heat of the oven, I took photos of a pan de camelia--what a pretty name for the sweet bread known elsewhere as a concha (above).

And of a rolladito, which means little roll (above), an irresistibly light and tender, sugar-sprinkled coiled bun.

And of a curved platanito (above), a bread that pretends to be a banana. 

The breads are formed and set to rise in an adjacent room. When the weather is cold--and we had some surprisingly cold weather during our days in the Yucatán peninsula--the bakers start to work very early to give the breads extra time to rise. 

They're made with a doubly refined high protein flour for pan dulce that is produced in Campeche. One of the bakers wore an apron with its logo, Bola Roja. Flavorings include orange flower water, cinnamon, vanilla and ground aniseed. 

Rafael Pérez Norelo of El Pan de Pomuch (above) speaks of his breads with the intensity of an artist. Proud of his work, he stood outside on the sidewalk to wave us off as our bus pulled away. 

My one regret is that I left empty-handed, when there were still so many breads to try.  However, delicate sweet buns just out of the oven don't take to being crowded in a bag jammed into an overhead rack.

On the other hand, I could have devoured them all on the way to the next stop. It would have been a happy ending.  

El Pan de Pomuch, Calle 12, Colonia Centro, Pomuch, Campeche, Mexico. A branch has opened recently in the town of Calkiní in northern Campeche. 

 

El Charro--Real Mexican Flavor

Although it's a fast food place, El Charro goes beyond burritos and 99-cent tacos to offer dishes that could have come from a Mexican home kitchen. 

The daily specials are listed on a blackboard in the front window. The other day, they included costillas charras (charro-style beef ribs) and Oaxacan black mole.

Both are on the regular menu, but you get a price break when they are specials.  

Then they come with beans and rice, hot tortillas and an empty styrofoam container that you fill with any soda from the dispenser by the order counter. All that for $5.50.

Only three months old, El Charro is in a Latino barrio at 6th and Union, near downtown Los Angeles. Because it caters to the neighborhood, the flavors are more genuine. 

A real home-style guisado (stew), the cut-up costillas (above) were cooked in a red chile sauce with strips of fresh cactus. The heat level was higher than you would find in restaurants trying to please non-Latinos.  

The usual combination plates are available, along with fish tacos, shrimp quesadillas and other seafood dishes and, for breakfast, chilaquiles and Mexican style eggs. 

The meat choices for burritos include cabeza (head meat) and lengua (beef tongue) as well as carne asada, carnitas and chicken.

A family from Jalisco opened El Charro, which replaces a Salvadoran restaurant. The owners are Heriberto and Doris Benavides. Their son, José, takes the orders.

José picked out the two sombreros and straw hat that sit on a low wall. A sombrero from Jalisco hangs above a doorway.

An antique photo on one wall shows a young man in his finest suit, sitting in a carved chair, a hat carefully displayed. He is earnest and proper. And quite handsome.

This is Jose's great grandfather, photographed in Degollado, Jalisco, in 1901.  Another photo shows his grandparents.

And so El Charro traces its heritage back more than 100 years, not what you usually find in a fast food place.

El Charro Restaurant, 1621 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Tel: (213) 483-0669.