Café de Olla

Despite the sweltering heat, coffee is very popular in Veracruz, and while there are a few cafés, you certainly won't find coffee makers in most homes. In any market, tianguis or baratero, you can get fresh ground local coffee, which is then boiled in an earthenware pot (an olla) with piloncillo and cinnamon to become Mexico's unique brand of coffee, café de olla.

In my experience, the beverage is just skimmed from the top of the pot (or made from Nescafé - also very popular in Mexico), but just to be sure that you don't get a mouthful of some very bitter coffee grounds, strain, STRAIN, STRAIN!

Ingredients
1 liter water
1 cinnamon stick
100g piloncillo (or brown sugar, but it's not the same)
50 g ground coffee (or Nescafé it)

Directions

1 - Put the water, coffee, cinnamon stick and piloncillo into a pot.

2 - Bring to a simmer, and stir to dissolve the piloncillo.

3 - Allow the coffee to steep for about 5 to 10 minutes.

4 - Take out the cinnamon stick, and strain the coffee through a fine mesh strainer (twice).

5 - I probably don't need to mention it, but serve hot.

Molcajete

This Christmas, I received a wonderful Mexican food gift - a molcajete and tejolote, which is like the Mexican equivalent of what in English is called a mortar (molcajete) and pestle (tejolote). The molcajete is used to grind herbs, but is most commonly used to crush garlic and chiles for salsa recipes. (Surprising, right?) Proper molcajetes and tejolotes are made out of lava rock, and a fair amount at market are painted with little pig heads near the top rim (I'm not entirely sure why).

If you are lucky enough to receive such a gift, make sure that you listen to the guy at the market (or this post) and season it before use. To season the lava rock, put 2 tablespoons of dry, raw rice into the molcajete and grind it nice and good (about 10 minutes), wash it, let it dry, and repeat. This makes the porous rock scratchy and irregular, which helps to crush and smash the bigger type ingredients usually put in here.

And now you can make some really rustic salsa in your molcajete (which everyone down here agrees tastes better than salsa in a blender - it's the taste of effort, I guess).

Día de la Candelaria

What started on January 6th with the sharing of the rosca de reyes ends today, February 2nd, with the Día de la Candelaria (which is evidently called Candlemas in English) and the sharing of tamales. When I asked one of my students what the celebration was about after one of his co-workers peeked his head in with the announcement of tamales, his response was simple: I know today is the Candelaria and we eat tamales. And, really, what else do you need to know?

As far as religion goes, the Candelaria celebrates the day that Jesus was presented at the temple, but the culinary tradition here in Mexico obviously overshadows the religious meaning behind it. The Mexican tradition begins on January 6th, when the rosca de reyes is split amongst family and friends. Whoever finds the doll in their piece of the rosca is supposed to cater the party on February 2nd (although others usually chip in and help). Tamales are eaten any day of the year, but are generally enjoyed on special occasions and are definitely required for the Candelaria celebration. 

 
Whatever type of tamale is served (they're all good), atole is served as the accompanying beverage for this authentic Mexican Día de la Candelaria.