When is an antojito no longer a whim?
The Galloping Gourmand
When it's a zacahuil.
Serious fans of Mexican cooking can read this recipe with no problem
whatever.
ZACAHUIL AL ESTILO HIGUERAS
http://www.humexicoforums.org/showthread.php?t=78358
Ingredientes
12 Kilos de masa seca (algo martajada)
700 Gramos de chile ancho
150 Gramos de chile guajillo
120 Gramos de chile pasilla
130 Gramos de cebolla asada
4 Cabezas de ajo asadas
6 Kilos de manteca de puerco
50 Gramos de polvo de hornear
1 Guajolote o pavo grande (6-8 Kilos)
6 Kilos de carne de puerco abierta como para milanesa o falda
1 Canasto de carrizo de 40 cm. de alto por 45 cm. de ancho
40 Hojas grandes de plátano asadas y mojadas
10 Pencas de maguey
2 Cuerdas largas (6 metros aproximadamente) para amarrar
sal
Preparación
Se parte el guajolote en piezas y se pone a cocer en 4 litros de agua
y dos cucharadas de sal hasta que suelte el primer hervor.
Los chiles se desvenan y remojan en agua caliente. El ajo y la cebolla
se muelen con los chiles, se frien en 5 cucharadas de manteca y 1
cucharadita de sal, se les agregan 2 tazas de agua y se dejan hervir
por 5 minutos.
A la masa se le revuelve el polvo de hornear, caldo de guajolote, el
resto de la manteca, 2 cucharadas de sal y el agua donde se remojaron
los chiles. Se bate bien, debiendo quedar la masa suave, y se deja
reposar 2 horas.
La canasta se forra por dentro con hojas de plátano, se humedecen bién
debiendo dejar parte fuera para poder envolver el zacahuil.
En el fondo y los lados de la canasta se pone una capa de masa de 2
cm. de grueso; encima se le pone salsa; después una capa de carne
delgada de puerco cruda y espolvoreada de sal; luego salsa y más masa,
la carne de guajolote bién repartida y bañada con salsa, y así
sucesivamente, alternando carne, salsa y masa, se tapa con las hojas.
Con las restantes se envuelve la canasta y se amarra bien. Se cuece en
horno de barbacoa muy caliente poniendo pencas de maguey encima de la
lumbre y sobre estas la canasta cubriéndola con mas pencas y tapando
el hoyo con tierra y lumbre encima. Se puede poner el horno a las 7 de
la noche y se deja cocer durante toda la noche, para tomarse en el
almuerzo.
60 PERSONAS
Sonoran Dude
> When is an antojito no longer a whim?
> When it's a zacahuil.
>
> Serious fans of Mexican cooking can read this recipe with no problem
> whatever.
>
> ZACAHUIL AL ESTILO HIGUERAS
>
> http://www.humexicoforums.org/showthread.php?t=78358
>
GG, Why post this? If all you are going to do is cut and paste why
single out "fans" that only read Spanish? You seem like an intelligent
guy, why don't you post something about Mexican food that you have
written about from your own pen. Feel free to post it in either Spanish
or English, we appreciate your creativity not your right clicking.
The Galloping Gourmand
> GG, Why post this? If all you are going to do is cut and paste why
> single out "fans" that only read Spanish?
I wanted to share the concept of the giant tamal known as "zacahuil"
with anyone who would appreciate the humor in a tamal large enough to
feed 60 people.
The whole idea of anything I post is to arouse interest in Mexican
cuisine that goes beyond the pathetic peon food that was brought here
almost a century ago, and which passes for the sum total of all
Mexican cuisine in the minds of the ignorant taco eater.
I grew up amongst Mexicans who didn't know anything about cooking if
it wasn't rice and pinto beans and tortillas.
I've worked with Mexicans who thought that enchiladas or tamales were
some sort of special treat, and I've worked with Mexicans who didn't
know how to make a tamale, but got insulted when I tried to tell them
how I did it.
I've had unpleasant experiences in small taquerias, trying to eat
their version of some kind of antojito that was "standard" in chain
established restaurants, or trying to cope with waiters who thought it
was funny that a gringo-looking diner would be eating gringo-style
pseudo-Mexican cooking there.
The big chain restaurants not only don't prepare the food
authentically, they also charge an arm and a leg for a combination
plate that should cost less than $5.00.
I wanted to learn to cook Mexican food for myself, so I started
studying Mexican cooking seriously.
I recently read an interview with the owner of a local chain of
Mexican restaurants who said that he was going to try to expand his
menu beyond the "traditional" tacos and enchiladas and tamales.
Hooray for him, maybe his patrons can get liver and onions (estilo
Mexicano, of course!) instead of having to be satisfied with tacos.
>You seem like an intelligent
> guy, why don't you post something about Mexican food that you have
> written about from your own pen. Feel free to post it in either Spanish
> or English, we appreciate your creativity not your right clicking.
Why bother to write it out in longhand? I have a keyboard and
mouse. ;-)
If I wrote an original recipe, somebody would say that I stole it from
somewhere else anyway.
But, I don't have to be an *authority* on any subject to share
information or observations or opinions on that subject.
However, If I dare to venture an opinion about Mexican cooking, I
might get attacked by somebody who claims that I don't speak for
Mexicans or for Americans, or for anybody else except me.
Oh, well...
One way to make any recipe seem more authentically "Mexican" is to
post the recipe entirely in Spanish and avoid any attempt to dispell
the reader's prejudices towards certain ideas or phraseology.
But nothing will make everybody happy, so why worry about it?
Wayne Lundberg
"The Galloping Gourmand" <flying...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
---snip for brevity---
> Oh, well...
>
> One way to make any recipe seem more authentically "Mexican" is to
> post the recipe entirely in Spanish and avoid any attempt to dispell
> the reader's prejudices towards certain ideas or phraseology.
>
> But nothing will make everybody happy, so why worry about it?
-----------------------
Wayne here: Most Mexican main meals are rather boring and only the
antojitos add any color to the event, foodwise. Take the typical main meal
menu: Bread, tortillas and salsas aplenty on the table. Then wet soup, like
a chicken broth spiked up with a squeeze of lime and pinch of cilantro.
Followed by the main dish, a scoop of fried rice, and a guizado -- some with
meat, some without meat. And the beans either from the pot, a day old and a
bit drier or third day and refried. Then a flan to top it all off.
I'm guessing that fully 80% of all Mexicans, rich, poor and in-between, have
rice and beans on their main meal dish for every, and I do mean every day.
The wet soups will vary from broth with pasta, with rice, with chicken, with
shrimp, with calabazas....
The really 'fun' stuff, in my opinion, are sopes, chalupas, tacos,
tostadas, enchiladas, quesadillas, tamales, corundas, barbacoa, chilpachole,
birria, chiles en-nogadas, chile rellenos and of course mole in any of it's
million varietis.
Just my two-bits worth from living there and learning as much as I can.
Wayne in Chula Vista
Sonoran Dude
The Galloping Gourmand
> I'm not worthy
You're probably right. But there are other readers who may appreciate
the intrinsic humor of a giant tamal.
It might even make the finals of Mexico's Funniest Home Videos.