male speaker: hi, andthank you for coming today. this is a great collaborationbetween the authors discussion group and the food team. we have chef margarita here,from chihuahua, mexico. today we're talking, or she willbe discussing, various recipes from her book,"mexico-- the cookbook," which covers pretty much mostof the regions, or states, in mexico. so without furtherado, chef margarita.
margarita carrilloarronte: thank you. thank you very much. well, thank you very much. good afternoon. i'm very glad to be here,sharing with you all this experience fromliving such a long time. and i will startwith telling you that this is a recipe from theyucatan, in which the marinade we're going to prepare can beused in mostly any protein.
it can be used with chicken,with fish, with shrimp, with pork. it will be delicious preparedwith almost anything. we'll start with-- let me see. we'll use the heat,but if i take it away from the plate, the heat, itwill not roast the banana leaf. so i'll turn it upside down. and you will see howit changes color. look.
are you looking? it turns bright green-- look. and it becomes flexible. look how nice. ok, and now it's flexible. and it doesn't break. otherwise, it breaks. we are going to prepare themarinade, which is achiote. this achiote is annattoseed dissolved in vinegar,
and make a paste,together with dry roasted garlics, fresh garlics, spices,cinnamon, bay leaves, peppers, allspice berries. and we'll make it liquidwith orange juice. if we don't have sour orangejuice, as we use in mexico, then you add the orange juice,normal-- regular any orange juice-- and vinegar. ok, so this is ready. we'll add epazote.
sorry. ok. and we'll preparethis with the fish, and we'll put it inthe refrigerator. and now we willprepare the escabeche. ok, we need olive oil. the garlics-- theyhave to be complete so people can see themand take them off, if they don't want them.
we'll add the cinnamon bark,some peppers, some cloves, and some bay leaves. [sizzling] all these herbsstart protesting. and red onion. very slightly. we don't want them to get brown. we'll add thevinegar, the chiles. but we have to-- in orderto have the flavor, but not
the heat, you have to makelittle holes in the habanero. mmm. and we'll add alittle bit of water. little bit of salt. and that's it. we have to leave this resting. ok, this is ready. mmm, smells delicious. we leave this resting.
so it will get a red color. if you want it morered, you put the skin-- you know, this paper-like skinthat the red onions have-- put them in a cheese cloth,together with a slice of beet, tie it, and put it there,so it will get bright red. sometimes you are in a hurry,so you don't have time to. now we'll prepare the fish. yeah, [spanish]? is that all?
we'll have the fish, alittle bit of pepper. we use a lot of theallspice berries, and it's the only spicethat is from mexican origin. the rest is from alot of other places. and the american ambassadorwe had at that time, when he discoveredit, he tasted it, named it allspice, becausein its little berry it has the flavor of theblack pepper, the nutmeg, the cinnamon, and the clove.
that's why it's called allspice. so we have onion, tomato. [inaudible] and we willadd a little more salt/ little bit of habanero. if you don't want habanero,just omit it, or put one whole, without opening it, soit will give the flavor, and it will not give the heat. ok? that's it.
we can send it to be baked. and this, if you don'thave an oven, no excuse. you put it on a comal. you don't have acomal, a saute pan. put it on a saute pan,like this, put a few drops, like an ounce ofwater on the bottom so it creates the firststeam, and then cover it. it will be ready in 15minutes, 10 minutes. we have it finished,so that-- ok, ok.
questions? be ready with your question. audience: [inaudible] margarita carrilloarronte: oh, yes. i do. no, no. in mexico. come to mexico. i would love to be in la,because my son is here, but no.
he works for the movie industry. but no, no, no. margarita carrillo arronte: iwould be a liar if i told you. but i'm going totell you something. if they give you something withyellow cheese, don't eat it. we don't even have it in mexico. we call it american cheese. so they have to be honest. they have to give you-- theyknow that you like fried food,
so that's why they-- andof course, taquitos and all these things friedare delicious, but it's not the only thing. you know, i normally never,never fry the food i eat. but i try it in my menu. i have nothing fried but thetotopos that i-- we fry it every day, andthen after frying, i put them in the ovenwith lots of kitchen paper so they let all the oil off.
because it has a very badfame of being unhealthy food. and it isn't. it's not fair. and there is a reasonwhy i understand. at the beginning, i was veryangry with mexican people who cross the border,and for me, it's a way of prostituting the food. they do prostitute the food. but i understood that they comehere searching for a better way
to live, because in mexicothey cannot find it. we are too many. and they come here,they work hard, and they open theselittle places, and they want tobe accepted madly. they need to be accepted. so they are willing toadapt their traditional food to the american taste. so that's why theydo it, because it's
the easier-- they didn'tcome here to educate you. they came here to be accepted,and to work hard, and to have a better life. so that's why they are willingto prostitute the food, but i don't. so that's why i wrote thisbook, and in many-- there are a few friedrecipes, like bunuelos, and other things, some desserts. but mainly,everything-- you know,
the traditionalcooking techniques of mexican authentic foodis on the comal, steamed, boiled, in the pit,through a hole in the oven, on hot stones. there are many other-- grilled--many other ways, but not fried. margarita carrillo arronte:well, to begin with, they don't find thesame ingredients. it's the most important reason. and something else.
this is-- and youwill understand this. you're young, intelligent guys. you will understand thatwhen the spaniards came, they brought the pigs with them. they brought the lard, andthey brought the olive oil, and the frying technique. and it was expensive. mexicans couldn't afford it. only rich peoplecould afford it.
so it became a way ofstatus, a sign of status. only rich people couldeat with these elements. there is even a saying inmexico, from colonial times, that when you haven't seen afriend for a long time-- oh, have you seen chochito perez? oh, no. but you know, theyeven cook with lard? they are doing so well thatthey even cook with lard. so it became like theyare so wealthy now,
why, they can cook with lard. and that has happened here, too. when they come here,they have a better life, and they can cook with oil. so the most rememberedthings-- you know, food is completelymingled-- mexican food is completely mingled with theculture, with the religion, and especially iswith the feelings. when you are sick,you immediately
remember what your mother cookedfor you when you were young. you were little. you remember it well. so food, as it becomessomething mixed with the feelings, andthe homesickness, and all these things-- they wantthe most popular street food that reminds them of the foodfrom chiapas, or from wherever they are. so they cook.
margarita carrilloarronte: achiote? annatto. it's a bush that givesa bright, red flower. but in the heart of it haslike a pod, like an open pod. and you open thispod, and inside it's like a corn kernel,a little corn kernel. and instead of white kernels,it has red bright kernels. and it's the annatto seeds. and everybodythere, what they do
is put them in a jar withvinegar or sour orange juice, and let them soak. but they are going to use them. they mix them with dry roastedgarlic, cinnamon, black pepper, with spices. and they have their achiote. margarita carrillo arronte:you can buy it here. margarita carrillo arronte:yes, the color is-- and the food looksdelicious, and the flavor.
and you can buy it in allmexican or south american stores. yes? margarita carrilloarronte: of course. margarita carrillo arronte: ok. a lot of-- i could tell youthat the most important thing is the practice. so don't be disappointedand not try again. try again.
your dog will be very happyeating horrible tortillas, but well cooked. and just mix the masaharina with-- if you're making like a kiloof masa harina, just have a bolitolike that, of my size, not yours-- you know, like this. 50 grams of wheat flour. mix it there, and add warmwater, tepid water that you can put your littlefinger, and count until 10,
without burning yourself. don't go, one, two,three, four, five, aah! no. just warm water. and mix it. enough water. and it has to be a littlebit sticky at the end, but then it's perfect. and you just make the littlebolitas, put them in the press.
and the flat pan, the comal,has to be thick and very hot, hot enough to seal thetortilla right away. but as you don'thave any practice, and you will burnyour fingers if you try to turn the tortilla,have one of those spatulas, and turn it. why didn't they work out well? they broke? margarita carrilloarronte: practice.
yes, and the doughhas to be wet. margarita carrilloarronte: masa. it has to be corn, but not fromcolombia or-- because that's not made from nixtamal. it has to be masa harinafrom mexico, maseca or-- what's the other name? maseca or-- i don't rememberthe name of the other. but it has to be corn,nixtamalized flour, corn flour. that's the secret.
if it's too white, thenit's not the good one. it's light sand color. margarita carrilloarronte: buy a mexican one. and don't hesitateto add enough water. and if it's too wet,add a little bit more, and no problem. it's not like flourharina that you will develop thegluten, and all this. no, this hasn'tgot that problem.
and it's very, very delicious. don't add any salt to it. well, something else. it's important. here-- i didn't makeenough marinade, but normally you have alot of marinade left over. what you do is you boil it,reduce it, and then add it to the fish, or to thechicken, or whatever. and what you have to do is servewith-- where's the escabeche?
you put it on top,ok, on top, on top. and a little bit moreolive oil, and you serve it with fried plantain. and the plantain,where are they? male speaker: [inaudible] margarita carrilloarronte: yes, over there. the blackened, the better. you will never eat a--this plantain is not ready. touch it.
it's very hard. it has to be black, more black,much more black than that. ok, if you-- beans. beans. in the southeast of mexico,and the south in general, we always eat black beans. in the north, wealways eat brown beans. yes, yes. a little bit of olive oil.
you have to helpyourselves from here. and you can haveyour achiote ready. once you dirty yourblender, you buy a big piece of achiotepaste, and roast garlic, and fresh garlic, anddry roasted cinnamon, and pepper, and oregano--everything blended with vinegar. and you make a paste,like a lighter paste. put it in your fridge, andyou keep it there for months.
yes. margarita carrilloarronte: mainly. we ate a lot of fish. margarita carrilloarronte: well, it was before the spaniards came. it was in the 1900s--no, the 1500s. but then they came, and theybrought all the animals. so they mixed. margarita carrilloarronte: i'm not-- well,
we have a differentsystem of eating. what we do, we have avery good breakfast-- not coffee and doughnuts. we have eggs, beans,a heavy breakfast. and then just a lunch--you know, chicken. kids take to school asandwich, or something. then we have a very heavy mealat lunch time, 3:00-- 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon-- butheavy soup, vegetables, fish, whatever, dessert,and everything.
and then in theevening, a light dinner. we have like a quesadilla, ora bowl of cereal, or a yogurt, or something lightin the evening. it's a different system. but the most importantmeal is-- yes, and we have fish, and alot of vegetables, yes. but please, it's getting cold. so i don't know, what'sthe mechanic here? margarita carrillo arronte:ok, there are plates.
and please help yourselves. otherwise it's going to be-- audience: thank you so much.
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