Cooking with Diana Kennedy's "Oaxaca al Gusto"

[Chris Amirault]

Here's the working menu. OaG is Oaxaca al Gusto; ECM is Essential Cuisines of Mexico:

Cena de Navidad de Oaxaca

Oaxacan Christmas Dinner 2011

escabeche de pescado horneado

escabeche of fish

OaG 142

salsa de camarón fresco

fresh shrimp sauce

OaG 95

* * * * *

pollo en mole negro costeño

chicken in black mole from the coast

OaG 153-4

estofado

OaG 39

calabaza tierna guisada

stewed pumpkin

OaG 214

quelites guisados

seasoned greens

OaG 87

pico de gallo

grapefruit and pasilla salsa

OaG 52

salsa de ajonjoli

sesame seed sauce

OaG 154

chiles jalapeños en escabeche

pickled jalapeño chiles

ECM 237

* * * * *

tortillas

arroz a la menta

rice with mint

frijoles negros

black beans

* * * * *

Del Maguey 100% Tobala Single Village mezcal

Chinaco Añejo tequila

margaritas Castañedas

Dos Equis XX Amber

horchata

atole de cacahuate

peanut atole

OaG 361

[kalypso]

Chris, that looks like a pretty ambitious - if not tasty - Christmas dinner. But it sounds like it would be a very good one. Please let us know how it works out.

[Chris Amirault]

I think it's pretty doable, actually, with several components that can be prepared in advance. Then again, the outer limit of doable was this 2009 insanity, with nearly everything prepared a la minute.

[rancho_gordo]

I think you're going to be very busy! But vale la pena!

I was looking through OaG and found DK's recipe for chilecaldo, which I had in Cuicatlan. It's a great dish, if you're so inspired. The chilhuacles were used some stage between fresh and dried and served whole in the bowl.

[FoodMan]

Chris-

That looks like a great menu. I am curious about the Atole. Will you be making the masa per page 395? She instructs the cook to boil the corn and then send it to the mill to be ground to a smooth paste. I've always wondered if storebought prepared masa (not the dried Maseca) can be used for Atole, but I've never tried it.

[Chris Amirault]

I think that storebought masa can't be used because it's been limed/nixtamaled. Atole masa has no lime in it. I don't have my book handy, but I'm pretty sure that's correct.

[FoodMan]

I think that storebought masa can't be used because it's been limed/nixtamaled. Atole masa has no lime in it. I don't have my book handy, but I'm pretty sure that's correct.

You are correct, that's why I was not sure if store bought will work at all. Taste will be wrong I suppose. I am juts not sure to make Atole then (at least per Ms Kennedy's specs) with no access to a "mill" for the white corn. Will pureeing or processing give a decent enough result maybe.

[Chris Amirault]

Dunno: it seems a decent possibility given that you're not trying to create a dough but rather extract components from the corn into liquid....

[EatNopales]

Chris & Food Man... you can make reasonably good Atole from Maseca or any store bought masa intended for Tortillas. There are manyh types of Atoles some made with Pinole (tosted corn), from Amaranth... even Oats... I don't think it is an over generalization to say most are made from Nixtamalized Corn.

[janeer]

I just reviewed the menu and the recipes in OAG. A few comments/questions. I don't really understand the sequence. You have three sauces; are they all going to be served as appetizers with the tortillas? If not, what is their purpose? I would drop the estofado; it clashes. You might think about glazing the pumpkin in a little piloncillo or maple syrup after it is cooked, would be a nice complement to the mole. Dessert?

[Chris Amirault]

There are going to be a wide array of humans at this meal, including a few who "don't like" Mexican food, and thus the menu is skewed to include things that I know certain individuals would like (hence the estofado). The escabeche and shrimp sauce will be served simply with tortilla and perhaps chips.

Dessert is the responsibility of my better half.

[rancho_gordo]

On paper I don't understand the appeal of Estofado but I've had it twice and it's a super dish.

I think you are doing some great diplomatic work here on behalf of Mexican cuisine. I believe you will have converts!

[Chris Amirault]

Due to some family complications, we didn't have the full house we expected for Xmas dinner and were dealing with a lot of other matters in the lead-up. So I cut way back on the meal, and ended up serving the mole, calabaza tierna guisada, beans, rice, tortillas, and horchata. The two dishes from DK's book were excellent. I used a pumpkin, cubed and cooked sous vide 85C for about an hour, for the calabaza dish, and that was a surprise hit with everyone.

But the stand out, of course, was the mole. It required a remarkable effort, and took the better part of a day to get the paste prepared. But now I have a few pounds of the paste, and it's just stunning. I'll happily report more if people have questions, but I assure you that it's worth the effort.

Sorry -- no photos.

[budrichard]

Lats Fall I searched for Pasilla de Oaxaca but couldn't find any sources but did leave my email with two vendors. 'The Chile Guy' who i have ordered from before finally came through about a month ago and i ordered two pounds at about $60 plus shipping. another source shortly after responded also at a higher price. Whether they have any left, I don't know but this Post is about my using the chiles to make the various sauces and Mole's in Kennedy's book.

I won't go into detail because if you have the book, you know that the sauces are much more involved than the normal mole sauce recipe you will find.

Suffice it to say, that everything I have made so far has been excellent and everything you read about these unique chiles is correct. Think of a chipolte but far more refined in taste, nice smoke and very nice heat. It is hard to describe but one would think that a smoked dried chile is a smoked dried chile but it is not.

My son even made a simple chile recipe and it was enhanced by the flavor of the Pasilla de Oaxaca chiles.

Anyway I am happy with my chiles and Kennedy's book which I can now continue to peruse and try recipes.-Dick

[rancho_gordo]

Went to a party this weekend and I decided to make Mole Amarillo from Cuicatlan in the La Cañada section of the book. It's simpler and uses chilhuacle chiles, which I had. I made it with a mix of chicken and trumpet mushrooms instead of pork (it was a mushroom themed party) and I cooked it in a clay cazulea. DK has you thicken the pot with 1/2 a cup of masa that is then thinned out. I would start with a quarter cup and see what you think. And allow it to cook because the natural corn starch makes it stodgier and stodgier. I ended up thinning it out quite a bit with more of the chicken stock and then it was really delicious.

I was happy not to bring beans, for once, and I was secretly thrilled when an Important San Francsco chef, not known for his love of Mexican food, had two big helpings.

[rancho_gordo]

I decided to make Chilate de Pollo this weekend. I had the costeño chiles and the recipe seemed easy enough. It's interesting to note that on the internet, there are lots of recipes for chilate poblano, apparently a Puebla dish that uses guajillos instead of the Oaxacan chiles. I'm assuming it's a Mixteca dish. One of our employees here is from the Mixteca Alta and knew of the dish but it's more watery and not thickened with the masa.

My costeños had been in a foodsaver bag and looked a little sad. 10 minutes in hot water and I remembered how pretty and red/orange they are.

The chile sauce is thickened with a third cup of masa. It's not just for thickening; it's a killer flavor.

It reminded me of this very interesting thread here on eG.

The recipe is very straightfoward. She has you add 2 sprigs of epazote and I guess you just leave them there. If you're eating all in one sitting, it's fine but l removed the sprigs for the leftovers as they were plenty epazote-flavored.

Super good. At first I was on the fence but I was licking the plate by the end. My 11 year old loved it and I have to say. it's pretty picosa. Not inedible hot but you have a respect for the chile afterwards.

Leftover sauce made its way on to eggs this a.m.

All in all: great obscure dish. If you love epazote you should make it right away and sub guajillos and a few de Arbol chiles if you lack costeños.

[rancho_gordo]

Thought I'd share this image. It's a batch of chilhuacles using a technique that is very organic and we think will help us get through the border faster. The production chiles are still on the plants but if all goes as planned, we should have these for sale by Christmas.

And I found some local guys in the north bay who are growing and drying yellow costeños! I'm going to try and see if we can get some.

Edited August 20, 2012 by rancho_gordo (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Great news: can you say anything more about the technique?

[rancho_gordo]

Normally they're dried on the ground and apparently our government doesn't want us exposed to a lot of things that might be there. So we're using a fabric to keep them off the ground and limit the exposure to the elements. We're also working with organic bug sprays instead of the heavily used pesticides that are very common, especially after several bad growing years. I'll go into more detail when it's really a success.

[janeer]

I decided to make Chilate de Pollo this weekend. I had the costeño chiles and the recipe seemed easy enough. It's interesting to note that on the internet, there are lots of recipes for chilate poblano, apparently a Puebla dish that uses guajillos instead of the Oaxacan chiles. I'm assuming it's a Mixteca dish. One of our employees here is from the Mixteca Alta and knew of the dish but it's more watery and not thickened with the masa.

My costeños had been in a foodsaver bag and looked a little sad. 10 minutes in hot water and I remembered how pretty and red/orange they are.

The chile sauce is thickened with a third cup of masa. It's not just for thickening; it's a killer flavor.

It reminded me of this very interesting thread here on eG.

The recipe is very straightfoward. She has you add 2 sprigs of epazote and I guess you just leave them there. If you're eating all in one sitting, it's fine but l removed the sprigs for the leftovers as they were plenty epazote-flavored.

Super good. At first I was on the fence but I was licking the plate by the end. My 11 year old loved it and I have to say. it's pretty picosa. Not inedible hot but you have a respect for the chile afterwards.

Leftover sauce made its way on to eggs this a.m.

All in all: great obscure dish. If you love epazote you should make it right away and sub guajillos and a few de Arbol chiles if you lack costeños.

This looks d-lish. Is that leftover sauce from the pollo over poached eggs in the last photo?

[rancho_gordo]

This looks d-lish. Is that leftover sauce from the pollo over poached eggs in the last photo?

Yes,.

[rancho_gordo]

Made Chile canario en pilte this last weekend. 

Dang, these were good. And very hot. 

 

 

 

 

Basically manzano chiles and onions with yierbasanta leaves wrapped in a banana leaf and then steamed. 

The onions take on all the flavors. 
Really worth the bother, especially if you have access to hoja santa/yierbasanta/acuyo. 

[Chris Hennes]

How did you serve it? As a vegetable side? 

[rancho_gordo]

Like a salsa/relish. 
Last night was with pork tenderloin and later with some cheese on a tortilla. 

[Chris Hennes]

Nice. Where do you get those chiles? I've never seen them before.