Mexico - A foodie explorer’s paradise

One of the things Emma and Ragnhild adored most about Mexico was without doubt the sensational food! And we are clearly not the only ones. In fact, UNESCO even added traditional Mexican cuisine to their list aimed at ensuring better protection and greater awareness of important cultural heritages, known as the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. Food and drinks definitely played a big part in our exploration of the country, and some of our fondest memories indeed involved eating with or getting cooking lessons from our new friends!

Our first lesson; the tortilla of course… You cannot have Mexican food without it and it goes with any topping your heart desires! Although ours did not come out as smooth and pretty as those of Doña Eva, they sure were tasty served up with frijoles (refried beans) and eggs :)

Emma with the final result!

How it's done by a professional - from a Coatepec restaurant

Our second and a bit more ambitious cookery class was attempting to make tamales. With the preparation being fairly labour- and time-intensive, tamales are a holiday affair and feature in many special Mexican occasions. Often a family will come together to make a very large portion (it is virtually unheard of to make a few tamales). The sizes, colours and shapes vary as much as the fillings, and you can have them steamed, oven-roasted, fire-roasted, toasted, grilled, barbecued, fried or boiled. We made savoury ranchero tamales with chicken. First off you create a tomato sauce and poach some chicken, then prepare the masa (corndough) together with pork fat (!), a little stock and the secret ingredient (a pinch of baking powder to make them fluffy and delightful). Finally, we assembled the ingredients together with the traditional herb aqui, wrapped them up in banana leaves from Eva's garden and steamed them in a large special pot on the stove.

Preparations

Ready to go in the thamale pot!

Almost there!

Raggy excited about the final result!

To conclude this foodie post - tacos! Early on in our stay in Xalapa, we were invited for dinner our friends house and Bely made the most divine taco meal for us. Without much persuasion, she offered to teach us how to cook Taquitos con Pollo (mini chicken tacos) with all the trimmings, including a green and red salsa sauce! Emma unfortunately had to work that day, but was still able to join later along with some other friends to enjoy the final result. Delicious! Tasting new food is an important part of exploring any new culture and we definitely recommend trying to cook some local treats as well. Buen provecho!

Serve up in the company of good friends and drinks :)

The result