Ponche

Imagine warm fruit salad suspended in twice sweetened liquid with the typical holiday aromatics. That's ponche, a very popular holiday drink in Mexico. Ponche is enjoyed particularly during the posadas (the nine days before Christmas, starting on the 16th), Christmas Eve, Christmas itself and all the way up through New Year's Eve. It is usually made in one or two very large quantities so that it can last throughout all of these celebrations.

Ponche can be made with a variety of fruits, but tejecote, a specifically Mexican fruit, is the key ingredient. And, even though most Mexicans will leave this small bland fruit uneaten in the bottom of their glass, everyone agrees that without it, it would just not be ponche.

Ingredients
2 gallons water
2 1/2 pounds piloncillo
10 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 pound tejecote
1 pineapple
3 whole oranges
8 guavas
2 pounds sugar cane
3 pears

Directions

1 - Prepare the tejecotes. In a medium saucepan, boil the tejecotes in water for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow them to cool, and then peel.

2 - Peel all of the remaining  fruit. Cut the pineapple into small chunks. Cut the sugar cane into 3-inch sticks. Cut the guavas in half. Cut the pears into small chunks. Divide the oranges into quarters.

3 - In a very large pot (we use a tamale pot), put water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks and cloves, and bring to a boil over high heat.

4 - Add the tejecotes, pineapple, oranges, guavas, sugar cane and pears. Cover the pot with a lid, and return to a boil.

5 - Lower the heat, and simmer until the fruit is soft, about 2 hours.

6 - Serve warm with equal parts of liquid and fruit, and a spoon. (Do not eat the sugar cane! You just suck on it and then throw it out, or else be prepared to be really embarrassed in front of your Mexican friends.)

Taco Night

Traditionally stateside, taco night comes from opening a pre-fab kit made by Old El Paso,  but, like most things, the authentic taco night is so much more delicious, and in this case, it's just as easy and still really fun.





There are a few simple guidelines you have to follow to make your tacos authentic Mexican tacos:

1 - You must use soft corn tortillas. If you can find tortillas taqueras (specifically for tacos), even better. You can recognize these because they are about an inch or two smaller in diameter than the average tortilla.

2 - Dip your tortillas in manteca (lard) before heating them up on the comal or griddle.

3 - Build your taco on top of 2 tortillas stacked together. Every taco always has 2 tortillas here; it helps support all of the juices of the meat, salsa and lime and is more filling.

4 - Shredded chicken is used for a lot of things down here, but, despite the leftover Thanksgiving turkey tacos in the photos, poultry is never found at the taco stands. Try steak, chorizo, or any imaginable part of pig for the real deal.

5 - Serve with raw onion and cilantro on top and lemon wedges, salsa and salt on the side for each person to add to taste.

6 - Garnish the plate with charred cebollin (like a giant scallion) or, failing that, roasted or sauteed onion wedges. These should be eaten beside the taco, not on top (but that is one custom that I like to ignore).

7 - To accompany your authentic taco dinner, orange drink (like Tang, not soda) is very popular down here and my personal favorite, but tepache, jamaica and Pepsi (and probably Corona, too, for any drinkers) will also complete the meal nicely.

Mexican Thanksgiving Leftovers

Although Thanksgiving is not an official holiday down here, an awful lot of turkeys appeared in the supermarkets over the past two weeks, so I was able to celebrate in a grand traditional Thanksgiving way. For any who celebrated in a similar fashion, surely your refrigerator is stuffed with delicious leftovers, just waiting to be re-purposed. (Not ours unfortunately, we made light work of that 2 1/2 pound turkey breast.) And while Thanksgiving is all American, who says the leftovers need to be? Here are some Mexican-inspired ideas....



Shred some turkey breast, and do any number of things that are traditionally done with chicken. Turkey tostadas (2/7) are on the top of my list, but enchiladas (2/14) and chiles rellenos (3/16) would be good options, too.






Take some remaining turkey pieces and simmer them in some mole sauce (2/24) to enjoy over rice. Guajolote, a turkey-like bird, is actually one of the most common and traditional pairings with mole sauce.

Any corn can be remade elote street style with mayo, cheese and chili powder (8/29) or incorporate it into another dish, like Poblano rice.








Wrap small spoonfuls of mashed potatoes in corn tortillas, fry them up and have taquitos (5/25).

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, my fellow gringos, and Enjoy!

Tortas, the Ultimate Mexican Sandwich

One of the Torta stands outside of the Division del Norte
Metro  Station

As a graduate of Rutgers College in New Jersey, I thought that I knew the ultimate sandwich experience. The "Grease Trucks" on the end of the main stretch that is College Ave. served up their "fat" sandwiches to broke and busy college students all day. For five bucks, I'd get french fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken strips and cheese steak (and well-earned indigestion) conveniently served up on a hoagie roll. Pretty ultimate, right?

The "Cubano"

And then I came to Mexico, where I was expecting the ultimate taco experience (which I did receive and continue to on a regular basis), but I was also pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the torta, the Mexican sandwich. And, I'm sad to say, some of these tortas put the "fat" sandwiches of my college days to shame - they're cheaper, they're thicker and they have a larger selection of meats and cheeses - and they are just as popular as tacos as Mexico's favorite street food. A torta is a toasted bollilo (puffy and football-shaped) o telera (flat and round) roll with mayonnaise, chiles en vinagre, tomatoes, avocado and any combination of meat and cheese.

The Argentino

I am fortunate enough to have a torta truck about 10 feet from my front door that's open about 22 hours a day and crowded for at least half that. When I go (in the downtime), I like to get the Milanesa (breaded steak and melty quesillo cheese) for less than $3 or the Argentino (the Milanesa plus chorizo) for exactly $3, but the most popular by far is their so-called "cubano", which does not meet the traditional cubano standards but includes jamon (ham), huevo (egg), salchicha (sausage), pierna (pork leg?), american cheese (that's obvious), panela (white cheese), milanesa (breaded steak) and queso de puerco (which is the weird parts of the pig - like cheeks and ears - pressed and chilled into a mold and then sliced) - plus, mayo, chiles, tomoatos and avocado, of course, all for $5. That's ultimate.

Sweetened Pumpkin

Fall is in full swing, and that means more holidays (and more days off), colorful falling foliage and just a couple of months when sweet pumpkin treats are quite popular. These are all true on both sides of the Rio Grande. While pumpkin pie can be found in the more gringa-influenced stores (like Costco), the real deal here is dulce de calabaza (sweetened pumpkin, I guess, would be the translation), which is popular from the end of October through Christmas.

This sweet pumpkin treat is very cheap and simple with very few ingredients (and no rolling out dough). Besides the pumpkin, the recipe calls for little more than the typical holiday aromatics of fresh cinnamon and cloves. While the process is time-consuming, you can spend most of the time watching football (or futbol) on the couch. A cinnamon-spiced house, football games and pumpkins finding their 15 minutes of fame - now, isn't that what the autumn holidays are all about?

Ingredients

1 kg. Castillian pumpkin (although I think other pumpkins may work as well; this is what we have here)

2 fresh cinnamon sticks

3 cloves

2 cones of piloncillo (or 2 discs of panela....or 2 cups of brown sugar, if you're in a pinch)

water

Directions

1 - Cut the pumpkin into 2 inch pieces, and put them into a pot - everything goes in, including seeds and fibers.

2 - Break the piloncillo into 2 inch pieces, and put them into a pot.

3 - Add the cinnamon and cloves to the pot.

4 - Add just enough water to cover it all (the actual amount will depend on your pot).

5 - Allow the mixture to simmer over low heat for at least an hour, until the pumpkin becomes soft and the water and piloncillo become a thick syrup.

6 - Enjoy! (For a unique serving a la Jonatan, sprinkle some powdered milk on top.) And, of course, also munch on the candied pumpkin seeds!

(PS - You can do something similar with papaya and regular sugar and have a very popular Venezuelan Christmas treat.)

Man Vs. Food - Sopes

Living in Mexico has really cut into my TV traditions (which is probably a good thing), and while I can still enjoy Seinfeld because it's only subtitled in Spanish, Simpsons and Futurama only appear dubbed in Spanish...and you lose a lot of jokes when you lose the original language. As such, I have turned to Fox Life (who just subs most of its shows) and have rediscovered the wonderful Man Vs. Food to fill up my TV time. This is the only explanation to why I've been wanting to make all of my food much bigger recently.


Man Vs. Food sees a lot of ridiculous-sized Mexican food, but it always seems to be burritos. They've been done, so I've decided on a Man Vs. Sope challenge. Jonatan and I could only eat 1 giant sope each, but we're not professional eaters. When we open our hypothetical Mexican food truck, the sope challenge will be 5 giant sopes and weigh more than 5 pounds (and the salsa is pretty hot, too, to add to the challenge).


To make your own giant sope challenge, you will need:
1.25 kg of masa (250 g each sope)
2 1/2 cups (500g) of salsa (1/2 cup each one)
125g of raw onion, chopped
125g of queso fresco, crumbled
375g of shredded cabbage

I think that the next over-sized Mexican food challenge will be a Oaxacan tamale, based on a giant plantain leaf that I saw on a tree outside of my suegra's house...I have too much free time.

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos (November 2) is celebrated by going to a cemetery to share a meal with a deceased loved one. However, in case hanging out in the cemetery is not your thing or you don't have a loved one buried in Mexico, there are other  things going on in Mexico City and other places to go (although, I would like to make my position clear that these, while enjoyable, do not quite make up for the lack of Halloween down here). 


As with any big holiday, the place to be in Mexico City is the zocalo (the town square). During the week of Dia de los Muertos, you can find pan de muerto bread baking demonstrations, lots of ofrendas and this bizarre tree statue.

The zocalo may not be for everyone; it's usually very crowded and you may be more about food than ofrendas. For such people, I recommend Coyoacan's much smaller Pan de Muerto and Chocolate festival, where you can find some music, some ofrendas and lots of Mexican hot chocolate, pan de muerto and other culinary specialties.

Or, you can be a total loner (no judgement here), head out to any supermarket or bakery, pick up your own mini pan de muerto (for about 75 cents) and enjoy the soft, sugary orange bread in the comfort of your own home.