Traditional Yucatan Cooking Workshop

[rancho_gordo]

Just got back from Mexico. A few days in Hidalgo included a workshop with two incredible Mayan cooks at my friends' hacienda in Hidalgo. A lot of chefs came up from Mexico City and it was really interesting to watch them learn from these two women. It's somewhat exotic to them as well.

 

The gas-less kitchen in the hacienda. You light a fire and then you cook!

 

 

 

 

 

[rancho_gordo]

 

 

 

 

 

[rancho_gordo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Merlin]

Thanks! That looks fabulous.

[tsquare]

I'm such a tourist. This looks like a once in a lifetime opportunity - except you'll probably continue to have these amazing adventures. Thanks for the report.

[rancho_gordo]

We're actually thinking of putting a group together for a trip like this. The problem is that the hacienda is pretty rough, almost like camping. there's a new hotel nearby, basic and clean but once you add up all the hours of work it would take, it will end up being an expensive trip. But maybe worth it? I don't know. We went back and forth about it. We thought we'd focus on local Hidalgo food and then have two chefs from near by regions and focus on country cooking. The Yucatan is glorious but I think if it were a North American group, we'd rather go deeper into the basics than specialize in another cuisine. But it's all in the daydream phase at this point.

 

This was a pretty once in a lifetime event for me, too. I'm lucky that I get to go a lot but this was pretty wild.

[Sneakeater]

If I may say: WOW.

[Jaymes]

Steve - that looks just positively magical. I sorta teared up.

 

Was the something in red sauce a cochinita pibil or similar? That is one of the most famous dishes of the Yucatan, and the achiote is red...

 

What a grand life you are leading these days, my dear friend.

 

And you deserve it.

[Merlin]

Ok...I'll admit my ignorance. What is it that looks black on the chicken and the ball on the cook's hand? A realy dark mole? Also, on the plate there is something that looks almost like a piece of lasagna? I've been to the Yucatan but stuck on the coast with non-food tourists. Please share more details.

[Orik]

Ok...I'll admit my ignorance. What is it that looks black on the chicken and the ball on the cook's hand? A realy dark mole? Also, on the plate there is something that looks almost like a piece of lasagna? I've been to the Yucatan but stuck on the coast with non-food tourists. Please share more details.

 

That's relleno negro - turkey (I assume) with burnt chili peppers and other spices (available premixed for hard working moms as recado negro). I don't know what the lasagna is but the roll next to it looks almost like a papadzul.

 

eta: Merida excepted, where do you eat in the Yucatan that's not on the coast?

[foodie52]

Coffee table book material, Steve. What gorgeous photos.

[bigbear]

Great stuff. Thanks.

[Sneakeater]

eta: Merida excepted, where do you eat in the Yucatan that's not on the coast?

 

It now has branches in Mexico City, Merida, Cancun, and God knows where else, but the definitive Yucatan restaurant, Los Almendros, has its original (and as far as I'm concerned most fun) location in what can charitably called the middle of nowhere, in Ticul.

 

I had a wonderful relleno negro there once for Thanksgiving. (But not nearly as wonderful as RG's looks.)

[Orik]

Ha, I thought the one in Merida was the original, Ticul really is the middle of nowhere.

[rancho_gordo]

I had my SLR Canon but I have to admit, all the photos from everyone's camera were great. that light and the subject were gorgeous.

I am NO expert on this food but my notes tell me that some of you are!

yes. the red marinade was for cochinta pibil and it was buried in a pit for cooking. The finished dish was almost nothing like what I think of. The recado got absorbed into the dish and it was juicy but there wasn't the thick red sauce we see in the restaurants. It was more like mildly flavored pulled pork, with the plantain leaves providing just as much flavor as the achiote recado. I loved it but I like the saucier kind as well, even if it apparently isn't as authentic.

And yes, Ori is wearing his smartee pants. The turkey was rubbed with a black recado and then grilled and then added to the soup pot, as were those gigantic meatballs. This was really an excellent dish. Maybe the best thing? Her cooking of this was very loving and specific.

The lasagna thing was a tamal like thing baked in the coals of the oven (no pic) overnight. Chicken and chile sauce were embeded in the masa. I think it was called mucbipollo. I think with a green salad it would have been perfect. It kind of got lost in all this indulgence.

The queso relleno sat on a bed of "kol" which wasn't cabbage but a bland porridge, then topped with the tomato sauce. It was the finest thing ever but I'm sure my system couldn't handle it daily, although I'd like to try. It was incredibly rich.

We also had a Sopa de Lima, much less acidic than normal. Also the dip sikilpak, which we tried to make here during a fun era when we were cooking with DK for a bit. Hers was similar but the texture of the pepitas was really nice and she said there was no way to re[plicate it at home.

Yes to the papadzul. My first. Nice but I was pretty full by that time to appreciate it fully.

 

One mildly interesting thing is that I've always pronounced achiote "ah-cho-tay" and it seems that's how folks from central Mexico pronounce it. But in the Yucatan it's a definate "ah-chee-oh-tay". Just a note.

 

We also had a Hidalgo barbacoa and cooked an entire cow's head in a pit and I hope to have those photos organized soon, but we're pretty swamped at work.