Cooking lessons with Nora Valencia in Oaxaca, Mexico
Alvin Starkman MA, LL.B.
If you absorb only a small fraction of what Nora's grandmother taught her Oaxacan cuisine in the course of four decades, we will not only a source of course, knowledge about ingredients and techniques, but also a deep knowledge of history and geographical distribution of everything Oaxacan cuisine today … and completely satisfied by the end of the gourmet meal.
Nora Valencia Oaxaca robs students with informative stories and humorous anecdotes peppered throughout her class about her grandmother's knowledge in food preparation and ingredient combinations. But he also confesses, while walking in the market, that hers was a long trip to get a rise "in the classroom" environment for ten years: "What my grandmother and my mother taught me that was not enough. My coming of age as an instructor requires much research and travel, the nature of sociological research and anthropological, some chemistry and physics, and even botany. And I always tried to get my hands on all the old books as possible about the food Latin America, and wherever possible on the plants in Mexico and Oaxaca and herbs and Hispanic recipes. There is a particular book, I have yet called "Conquest and Food" … perhaps you will find that the local book fare and let me know. "
Lesson the day begins at 9:30, with students to meet and talk briefly with them and Nora, in a relaxed, informal setting in your B & B, La Casa de Mis Recuerdos. At about 10, taxis arrive to take all of Mercado La Merced, one of if not the most popular daily market the center of Oaxaca … for Oaxaca. About an hour spent on the market, walking from stall to stall, where you learn, as the case of indigenous origins and history and current uses of dried and fresh chiles, nuts, tomatoes, cheese, bread, lots of herbs, and more. To leave with an appreciation of how Oaxacan cuisine has arrived in the 21st century as a result of a merger of the use of pre-Hispanic produce and meats, with imports first brought from Spain during the time of the conquest.
Nora gives an understanding of the difference between the products found in permanent market stalls (at usually acquired by the producers or sellers of wholesale transactions are large size), and sells primarily women sitting on the ground who have grown fruits, vegetables and herbs in their own towns and villages: "We now use the term organic, for what is traditionally known as Creole, which is what these Women sell. However, some posts are also great criollo produce, so beware of him. "
Nora shows here and several times later in the configuration of the kitchen, ingredients, more easily accessed back home, can be replaced by what is purchase in the market, such as local varieties of tomato red and green, specific herbs, chiles, and even mass: "If you can only buy the brand packages Maseca corn flour in Oregon, and is making tamales, then add a little corn flour to give the right texture. Feel the difference between the two body types we find here in the market, one of the tortillas and the other for tamales. And you know, is widely used a hoja santa in our recipes, and available only in some states, like Florida, so if you can not find it, try to use …. "
Instead of buying everything in this visit the market, Nora has already purchased most the day before, and what you buy during this brief tour that leaves at each position and take when we are ready to go. "Now I am returning to some of the posts to collect what we buy, so let's meet in front of 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, you can go buy some rarer dried peppers to take home, that spicy paste that I told you I like to have in my purse when visiting the U.S., and even some worms worm we will use to make a sauce later. You can buy a chain of 100 and use it as a necklace for customs. "Nora spends valuable tips on the ingredients you should be able to take control of the border, and it freezes well (ie, cheese and crickets and grasshoppers — Oaxaca cheese).
We walked to his house near a picturesque stone path, where the balance of the class will develop. We will spend the rest of the morning and afternoon in the traditional painted tile (Talavera), kitchen with center island, and its restaurants and lounges overlook a courtyard with lush vegetation, trees, vines and shrubs in bloom. A feeling of comfort envelopes, like you're at home, because in a sense, made us feel as welcome as possible. With one assistant, Minerva, I marvel at the intense work done for the previous preparation of some dishes, and more importantly how Nora must be "in" 100% of the time and attentive to each of the ten apprentices, ranging in age from twenty years in the late sixties, more than six hours.
It's effectively all Nora, teaching, directing, reassuring, reminding, and correcting. Especially with the rookies in this class today, make dessert tamales, one of the two recipes complex at the time, is not as easy as just mixing up some dough with pineapple chunks and wrapped in corn husks. Three mixtures are prepared, is placed in the leaves, and then doubled in the most cautious, "Sorry, but this will be another mosaic, so we'll combine two into one, or better yet, what use only one additional shell all together. "There is a dough mixture, the mixture of coconut / milk, pineapple / sugar / fusion cinnamon, raisins, plus boot. "Now I'm not pour boiling water from the pineapple because I can use it again instead of water to make a fruit juice fresh (fresh water).'s already sweet and flavorful. "
When a component has been prepared before our arrival, Nora instructs how has been done, as with chicken and beef stocks. When optional ingredients, Nora not only tells us what we can substitute based on personal preferences, but also explains the regional variations. And while we're preparing yellow mole, which educates about the fallacy of the existence of seven moles: "Some Seven moles think, because sometimes refer to the seven regions of the state. But if you stop to consider, in Puerto Escondido, for example, where shrimp is often used to create actions and as protein in yellow, should not we consider this mole a class or variety in itself? "
As we are preparing our mole yellow, as we are tasting the taste changes subtly, the addition of hoja santa, the spice mixture, the mass, he explained, absorbs and reduces some of the heat. A sauce Fire is almost magically into a complex mole, a creation struggling to find the commercially prepared. "How spicy everyone likes to eat? You know I do not promise anything because peppers are like lottery tickets: you never know. I used to tell my grandma, I measure, but would no, use your eyes, nose and mouth to measure. "Nora continues with the same ingredient is often different in intensity, flavor and the way it absorbs, for example chicken … is not always the same.
While she emphasizes the historical context and the use of regional ingredients, and the variation resulting in recipes, Nora also ensures that proper technique is emphasized in the class. She attracts the participants in practical learning, encouraging each a contribution to the creation of each dish.
Recipe Leaflets distributed, but not until the food has been notified. Nora believes is best for students first turn, listen, participate and ask questions instead of reading and taking notes. As the meal concludes, reviewing the recipes and questions fields in case.
About 2 pm we're ready to try mezcal, then sit back and enjoy our creations:
1) An appetizer of fresh squash blossoms stuffed with a ricotta cheese mixture,
ham, onion and nuts;
2) consumption of hoja santa, with squash flowers, cheese, garlic, etc.;
3) Rice to mind;
4) Mole yellow with chicken and steamed vegetables;
5) A garnish of sliced onion in a vinaigrette of lemon juice;
6) Sauce green tomato maguey worms;
7) Fresh fruit juice of orange, lemon and cucumber;
Dessert tamales with pineapple, coconut and raisins.
Even Nora's grandmother would be hard-pressed to produce a different, tasty and complete food.
Kitchen with Nora is at Aldama 205, Barrio de Jalatlaco in the center of Oaxaca. The maximum size is 10. You can register for classes by calling Nora (951) 515-5645 or email her at: misrecue@hotmail.com .
About the Author
Alvin Starkman received his Masters in Social Anthropology in 1978. After teaching for a few years he attended Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, thereafter embarking upon a career as a litigator until 2004. Alvin now resides in Oaxaca, where he writes, leads small group tours to the villages, markets, ruins and other sites, is a consultant to film production companies, and operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast. ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ) .
gitano de canaan talavera tocando salsa piraña el sonero
