• Home
  • Food Tours
    • "NEW" Flavors of Mexico tour
    • Seafood Secrets tour
    • Barrio Bites Tour
    • Mercado & More Tour
    • Mazatlan Night Eats
    • Mexican Kitchen experience
    • *SEASONAL* Day of the Dead tour
  • Stories and Recipes
  • About us
    • Contact us
  • Book a tour
  • Mazatlan travel guide
  • COVID-19 Safety Protocol
  • Job opportunities
Flavor teller
  • Home
  • Food Tours
    • "NEW" Flavors of Mexico tour
    • Seafood Secrets tour
    • Barrio Bites Tour
    • Mercado & More Tour
    • Mazatlan Night Eats
    • Mexican Kitchen experience
    • *SEASONAL* Day of the Dead tour
  • Stories and Recipes
  • About us
    • Contact us
  • Book a tour
  • Mazatlan travel guide
  • COVID-19 Safety Protocol
  • Job opportunities
"Food is our common ground, a universal experience" - James Beard

The Mazatlan Cookbook Club

9/29/2020

5 Comments

 
Are you having fun in the kitchen these days? Chances are what may have once been a creative outlet has become more of a chore. What if you could submerge yourself in traditional Sinaloan cuisine, learn about local ingredients and finally deliver those delicacies you’ve always wondered how to make?

Not being able to host food tours for several months, has left a hole in my heart and it has only confirmed that people coming together over food have a tremendous healing power.
Thankfully many of us have found a way to keep calm, keep cooking and keep sharing recipes. This got me thinking… why not create a community around Mazatlan’s traditional food? The silver lining in this scary time, is that it’s brought out the best in our community and I’m hoping we can find ways to support each other beyond words on a screen.

The Mazatlan Cookbook Club

​There are many ways you can build a community, but in times like these we all want to learn new things, see the world through different eyes and experience food from a unique perspective. What better way to do this than through a cookbook club? Think of it as a book club combined with a (virtual) dinner with friends. The Mazatlan cookbook club is all about discovering specialties that Mazatlan and Sinaloa have to offer. You will be able to share your thoughts and experiences with other people.

I will be using recipes from four traditional cookbooks that I believe are essential for a Sinaloa home. However Sinaloan cookbooks are hard to find and most are out of print. I have to give a big shout-out to Jaime Felix from the Conservatory of Mexican Gastronomic Culture, who was kind enough to share recipes from his private collection. In the history of Mexican cookbooks, the ‘classic canon’ has always implied a central and southern Mexico bias. That has left us with a limited recipe bank and omitted the delicious food from Sinaloa.

Let’s change that, starting now!

The majority of the recipes I will use come from the ‘bible of Sinaloa cuisine’: a cookbook named “Mis recetas de cocina” by doña Cuca Cardenas. Who is doña (translation: mrs.) Cuca Cardenas and why is she so famous? She has made it her life’s mission to put together Sinaloa’s recipes in one cookbook “Mis recetas de cocina”. And she has been able to assemble an amazing collection. The first edition of her cookbook was published in 1980 (it’s older than me!) and it’s been a wedding gift for many newlyweds in Sinaloa for decades.

I met doña Cuca Cardenas last year at the UNESCO Creative Cities project when we interviewed the culinary godfathers (and godmothers) of Sinaloa cuisine. She is in her eighties, but still happy to share her story and her passion for food.
 
Here’s what you can expect from the Flavor Teller:

Starting next week, I will be sharing and cooking one recipe every week from one of these cookbooks. I will post a blog with the recipe and a fun background story here. If you want to be with me in spirit, please cook along. The final product will be shared on the Flavor Teller website and Flavor Teller Instagram page.
You’ll get to know more about the local ingredients, preparation techniques and the history of each dish so you can become a more confident cook. Tell your friends to join too! Share your creations and tag Flavor Teller on Facebook or Instagram using our handle @flavortellerexperience and using #mazatlancookbookclub.

I’m not a chef or a food blogger and that’s part of the fun of this. We’re going to figure it out together and I’ll be available to answer your questions as you cook your way through the recipes. If you can’t find a specific ingredient, just let me know and I’ll give you alternatives.
Let’s get started! And please know that when we can get together in person again (because that day will indeed come), we’ll be putting together a cookbook club that we can all participate in face-to-face, from the comfort of our friends’ homes or from wherever we like.

Happy cooking, Flavor Teller fans!
 


5 Comments

Viva Mexico! - Chiles en Nogada

9/15/2020

0 Comments

 

Life is about eating the seasons. Sometimes you have to take advantage of a specialty, otherwise it will be gone until next year. Think mango season, think Noche de Muertos bread or think Mexico’s Independence Day specialty ‘Chiles en nogada’ or poblano peppers in walnut sauce. Every September you can find them in restaurants or instead you can make it yourself.
What are ‘Chiles en nogada’ and why are they only available around September 15th? And what’s the deal with the walnut sauce; that doesn’t sound very Mexican at all.
‘Chiles en nogada’ are stuffed poblano peppers with a minced meat filling and walnut cream sauce. It is topped with pomegranate seeds and parsley. The history of this dish is linked to Mexico’s struggle for independence. This started on September 15th 1810 with the ‘Cry for Independence’ (‘El Grito’) by the priest Miguel Hidalgo and it ended in 1821 when General Agustin de Iturbide was proclaimed the first president of Mexico. The story goes that General Iturbide triumphantly visited the city of Puebla. To honor his presence the nuns of the Santa Monica monastery, created this dish resembling the colors of the Mexican flag. They used what they had at hand: walnuts and pomegranates. Until this day it’s the most traditional dish you can eat on September 15th.
You might think this is an impossibly difficult dish to create yourself (I thought so!). But using the traditional Sinaloa cookbook ‘Mis recetas de cocina’ by Doña Cuca Cardenas made me realize it really isn’t. Now before we dive into the details, you should know one thing.  When you talk about traditional Mexican cuisine there is no such thing as the ‘original’ recipe. There are many (many!!!) variations on the theme, with every region, city or family having their unique ingredients. So my point is: feel free to be creative. If you can’t find a certain ingredient, substitute it with a similar option.

CHILES EN NOGADA
12 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and seeds removed
1 tbsp. vegetable oil 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
1/3 cup onion, finely diced 
¼ kg/ ½ lb ground pork 
¼ kg / ½ lb ground beef 
1 cup diced tomato 
1 tsp sugar 
1 apple, peeled and diced 
1 pear, peeled and diced 
¼ cup raisins 
¼ cup dried fruit, diced (peach/apricot) 
1 cup almonds, peeled and diced 
Salt and pepper to taste
 
 
PREPARATION:
Place the poblano peppers under a broiler or directly on a gas heater. Char the peppers until black, then place them in a container with lid or a plastic bag. Leave for about 15 minutes, remove the skins under running water. Make an incision on one side of the pepper and remove the seeds. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion and the garlic, then add the ground pork and beef. Add a pinch of salt and sauté until browned. Then incorporate the tomato and sugar and mix well. You might have to add some water. Leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Now add the apple and the pear and simmer for another 5 minutes. Finally add the raisins, candied fruit and chopped almonds and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Fill the poblano peppers with the meat and place them on a serving dish. Cover with the walnut sauce (recipe below).
 
WALNUT SAUCE
200g / 7 oz. walnuts, peeled 
3 tbsp. sugar 
150g / 5 oz. goat cheese, cream cheese or feta 
½ - 1 cup milk or sour cream 
4 tbsp. parsley, finely diced 
1 ½ cup  pomegranate seeds  

PREPARATION:
Soak the walnuts in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove the water and peel off the skins. Place the walnuts in a bowl and cover them with milk. Leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
Discard the milk and place the walnuts in a blender or food processor. Add the goat cheese, sugar, a pinch of salt and enough milk to get a smooth consistency. Cover the stuffed poblano pepper with the walnut sauce and dress with pomegranate seeds and parsley. ‘Chiles en nogada’ are served room temperature or cold.
 


0 Comments

    Flavor Teller

    Maaike Hoekstra has lived in Mexico for over 15 years. She is passionate about Mexican culture and food. Here are the stories and recipes she finds along the way.

    Archives

    April 2025
    September 2024
    May 2024
    March 2022
    June 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    June 2019
    November 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Location

What Our Clients Are Saying

Great experience with knowledgeable guide. As part of foreign community in Mazatlan I am quite familiar with the history and food of Mazatlan.  However I really enjoyed the Flavor Teller experience. Food was delicious and I learned much more about the city we love. Built confidence and I will definitely return to the food vendors and restaurants we visited today.

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • Home
  • Food Tours
    • "NEW" Flavors of Mexico tour
    • Seafood Secrets tour
    • Barrio Bites Tour
    • Mercado & More Tour
    • Mazatlan Night Eats
    • Mexican Kitchen experience
    • *SEASONAL* Day of the Dead tour
  • Stories and Recipes
  • About us
    • Contact us
  • Book a tour
  • Mazatlan travel guide
  • COVID-19 Safety Protocol
  • Job opportunities