One person I would really like to meet is El Cuate.
People call him this because he is a twin, and that is what "cuate" means.
If there were two of him, it would be all the better, because he makes the most delicious cookies you can imagine. His golden, oval gorditas de horno (at top) are rich with the flavors of corn masa and piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar). Lard makes them tender.
El Cuate lives in El Coacoyul, about 15 minutes from Zihuatanejo in Mexico. People who want really good gorditas de horno order them from him.
I came across them at the recent Food & Wine Festival in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo. They were brought to a tasting by María del Carmen Ramírez de González of Carmelitas restaurant in Zihuatanejo, who knows where to find the area's best products. Even she doesn't know El Cuate's real name.
The cookies are also known as tecoyotas, she said. In northern Mexico they are called coricos.
Once discovered at the festival, the gorditas were eaten with great eagerness. That's why they look a little sparse and crumbled in the photo.
You can find similar gorditas in the Zihuatanejo market, and I took some of these home. Although good enough, let's say serviceable, they're not as refined and smooth as El Cuate's. He's truly the master.
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