Mexican candy-making in East LA

My tribute to El Día de los Muertos...

I want some of these candies now. I wonder if they ship internationally.

The Artisan: La Zamorana, making candy the old-fashioned way (LA Times, 28 Oct 2010)

Enjoy!

Wishing I was here...

Could there be anything as desirable as spending a morning at the Santa Monica Farmers Market?
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-sm-farmers-market-pg,0,4438445.photogallery

OK, maybe the Mountain View Farmers Market? :-)



Also, el Día de los Muertos is coming up, so check out this special from the LA Times on yummy things to cook at this time of year. Bring on the pan de muertos!

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-halloween-recipes-pictures,0,7983260.photogallery

Photo from the LA Times by Ricardo DeAratanha

Sicilian Chocolate from Mexico?

Now I know it’s the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere, but it’s a dismal, grey, rain-drenched day in London and I felt like indulging in a hot chocolate in August – just because I can – and because I have such a fine selection of chocolates from which to choose.

During my visit to Sicily in December 2006, I was surprised to discover that Sicilians preserve the Mexican way of making hot chocolate, a process that was brought over to Sicily by the Spanish when they controlled southern Italy in the 1700s. The town of Modica (a World Heritage site) has grasped hold of this tradition and made it theirs, effectively using it to market their town to tourists. The main street, Corso Umberto, is lined with chocolate shops and pasticcierie (pastry shops, which in this case specialize in Sicilian delicacies).

The cocoa is combined with cane sugar crystals, often mixed with spices and made into a bar. You can then either eat it as is or, better still, melt it in a cup of warm milk on the stove and have a delightful hot chocolate that is just sweet enough, but not too much. It works to use 1 tablet of a chocolate bar per cup of milk, depending on size and how rich you want it. I let the milk warm up a bit first over a gentle flame and then add the bar, which should melt quickly. Stir it with a wooden spoon to break it apart. When it’s all melted, it’s ready to drink.



Dolceria Bonajuto has been around since 1880 and is the oldest chocolate shop in Sicily. Walking into the shop is like walking back in time, or into the movie Chocolat. Its glass cabinets are filled with exotic chocolate treats and the team is in the back, in white coats and caps, busily at work making more. I’ve just been drinking their chocolate with nutmeg in it.

CioMod is a more modern affair with a classy shop on Corso Umberto. Not only do they sell traditional cioccolata modicana, but liquors and beauty products as well. I’ve held onto a chocolate bar with ginger in it. On their website they advertise pure chocolate bars with cinnamon, vanilla, hot pepper, black tea, and coffee flavors, plus pure, plain chocolate and milk chocolate. I must say I like their packaging.

I picked up several bars in a café called Bar del Viale, which is part of the Modica Chocolate Consortium. I’ve already consumed the orange-flavored one, which was delicious, but I still have the peperoncino (hot, red pepper flavor).

Finally, we also picked up some chocolate and other pastry treats in Casa Don Puglisi, which employs women who have escaped abusive relationships. It helps get them back on their feet. I’ve still got a bar of their anise-flavored chocolate, which I can’t wait to try (after all this time).

When I was home in California last December, my mom and I happened upon a Latin American grocery store in San Rafael. I came out with a container of Chocolate Ibarra, Mexico’s most famous chocolate, which comes in round tablets and is flavored with cinnamon. It’s made just like the chocolate from Modica, but they add a bit of emulsifier. I also bought a 400 gram tablet of Chocolate Guerrero, which seems like pretty much the same thing, but it has a bit of milk and it’s from Guatemala. I have yet to try it, but it smells delightful.

If you live in the States, especially in an area with lots of Latin Americans, you should be able to find this stuff with no problem at all. So how do you find it in the UK? I might try Coolchile.com, they seem to stock Mexican drinking chocolate and they’ve also got a stall at Borough Market. The street market in Brixton (Electric Avenue, next to the tube) has some Latin American shops as well and you might get lucky.

At any rate, it beats Cadbury’s and any sort of industrial hot chocolate mix hands down because it’s just chocolate, sugar and a bit of spice – no funny stuff!



P.S. I just discovered recently that Seeds of Change (a cool organization that seeks to promote biodiversity, based in New Mexico USA) sells chocolate bars in the UK. The one I bought at Tesco was with orange and fig – one of the best chocolate bars I’ve had in a long time.

An enchilada amidst the beefeaters

Okay. This is a defining moment in Pig Me Up history. There is a Mexican restaurant in London that actually makes a blog-worthy attempt at authentic Mexican food considering the dearth of Mexican cuisine this side of the Atlantic. Now I’ve never been to Mexico, but I did grow up in California eating lots of the stuff in taquerias filled with Mexican workers, so I think I know approximately what’s authentic. At home, I’m a self-confessed Mexican food junkie. Mestizo does a good job. It still needs some work, but let’s talk about the food.

Décor/Staff: Cool. High ceilings, white leather, dark walls, a huge wall of back-lit tequila at the bar, lounge downstairs. Sort of bizarre Aztec art and awful tourism video loop promoting Michoacan. Nice staff all Latin American and happy to speak Spanish and treat you really well if you make the effort. Nice, quick service and no annoying water refilling or interrupting conversation to ask if the meal is okay.

Drinks: We had absolutely FABULOUS Mojitos (£5.90). If they hadn’t been so delectable, I would have been upset by the price. But oh, it tingles on my tongue still. Nice strong fresh mint and lime.

Starters: The corn chips that came with the table were fine, but the salsa was sad. Give me spice!! Or at least an original flavour. Tomatillo salsa, anyone? They have a menu of “antojitos” and tacos. It’s nothing extraordinary and I’m a bit upset they have nachos on this menu because that’s the little tex-mex cop-out I don’t like to see in a Mexican restaurant. We ordered flautas (deep-fried “flutes” of tortilla filled with shredded chicken, covered in some lettuce, white crumbly Mexican cheese and tomatillo salsa (£5.60). Too expensive for what they are, but spot-on tasty. We also got a couple of tamales (steamed corn husks filled with corn masa and some meat). I had ordered pork-filled ones with salsa verde, but we were given chicken-filled with mole. Still good, but tiny compared to the ones I’ve eaten elsewhere, especially considering the price (£4.80).

Mains: A good test of a Mexican restaurant is their mole sauce. Mole comes in lots of regional variations, but of course they had the king of the mole sauces, Poblano mole. It’s a dark brown sauce and includes at least four different types of Mexican chiles, almonds, peanuts, chocolate (plain), sesame seeds… The chicken enchiladas covered in mole were very good. The sauce was a bit too sweet for my taste, but still pretty much on the button, taste wise. I was most impressed that they served black beans on the side, not pinto beans. Major props for that. The rice, I think, was basmati and just boring and white (£12.00). The chile relleno was tasty, but a bit too much cheese (£9.80). Where are they getting fresh poblano peppers from?

We were too full for dessert, but there’s enough on their menu to drag me back every few months. I’d recommend it as long as you steer clear of the nachos and the “Crepas Mestizo”, which looks horrid. I’m a bit offended it’s on the menu. Apparently the same company has opened a burrito place nearby. Worth trying. Total bill including tip: £44 (for two).

Mestizo
103 Hampstead Road
NW1 3EL London
Tel: 020 7387 4064
www.mestizomx.com
(menu is available online)