Aromas y Sabores 2011: Chile Education in the Land of the Mennonites

Chef Patricia Quinatana in an ocean blue traditional Raramuri dress at Hacienda de Bustillos, Chihuahua.

Our previous day learning of the depth of Chihuahuan cuisine had me lost in thought as we entered the city of Chihuahua--this trip opened another portal into the wealth of Mexican cuisine. We may never now how profound this cuisine is in such a large country with so many undiscovered traditions.


We started our morning at La Casona, a 19th century mansion that was built for general Luis Terrazas. It's a splendid place in Chihuahua's capitol for a breakfast of Mexican classics. But on a tour that had each of us consuming enough calories to put a bear into hibernation, I grabbed a coffee and escaped with a few bus mates in tow for a market visit.


In Chihuahua, the local taco faves are ubre(utter), bistec(steak), and tripas(tripe). Tacos aren't the main street food here; that would the famous northern-style burritos: thin homemade flour tortillas filled with a local guisado(stew). These burritos are in the taco family--they are tacos.


Our second stop was my favorite cheese stand in the Mercado Popular del Centro. The queso menonita, or Mennonite cheese is made by the descendants of the original Dutch-Canadian Mennonites that arrived in the early 1920's by invitation of Mexican president, Alvaro Obregon. You can find commercial brands of Mennonite cheese all over Mexico and even in the US, but this is the good stuff from small ranches in nearby Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua--home to the largest Mennonite community in Chihuahua.


There are cheese here you won't find anywhere in Mexico like the cheeses of Delicias, Chihuahua, and a regional style of queso ranchero.


The queso pura leche has a light flavor of barely spoiled milk.


Queso Parral from another small town we visited on this trip is perfect for quesadillas. The regional cheeses of Mexico are alleles for the various strands of culinary DNA found all over Mexico: enchiladas, snacks made with masa, chiles rellenos, etc. What's lost in Mexican-American cuisine are these subtleties--there's no such thing as just enchiladas mexicanas. There are enchiladas chihuahuenses, oaxaquenos, poblanas, sinaloenses--it's all regional. In Chihuahua the Mennonite cheeses and other local types help define the cuisine.


Chiles are also a strand of DNA. Personally, I feel a strong attachment to these Chihuahuan chiles. They are delicious and responsible for my favorite recipe of rajas con crema. The chilaca is a long, green chile that is similar to the Anaheim but with a fuller flavor. It's simply divine in rajas con crema.

During this leg of the trip Chef Patricia Quintana gave us an impromptu lecture on Chihuahuan chiles on our bus. It had the energy of a press conference at the signing of a major peace treaty. Chile fever was in the air.

The chilaca is used extensively in its green, fresh form, but the Chihuahuans don't use the yellow form fresh; they dry the yellow chilaca to make chile de la tierra. In other states the yellow chile would be called chile güero in its fresh form.

The ripened red chilaca is also dried and called chile colorin, or chile colorado.

And the hardest working chile in Mexico, the chile pasado, gives Chihuahuan cuisine its greatest star. It's brilliant in braises, stuffed chile dishes, and stews. The fresh chilaca is roasted, peeled, then dried to make a chile pasado: it's smoky, powerful, and earthy.

These a chiles with big northern flavors that helps make Chihuahua one of the greatest traditional cuisines in Mexico.


After our brief, but informative trip to the Mercado Popular we caught up with Aromas y Sabores at the Governor's Palace for an expo of Chihuahuan food products. Here we found cheeses, beef producers, beef jerky companies, and my favorite sotol to date. Sotol Coyame has been around since 1970--sotol is the local agave distillate made from the sotol, or desert spoon--and isn't known outside Chihuahua. Until it makes it to the states, I've a bottle at home to keep me company.

I grabbed a couple of bottles of salsa Chihuiriwa from a local maker of hot sauces that is a fine brand for home use. The expo was impressive and a gave us a close and personal look at the hometown goods.


And the buffet continued at Hacienda de Bustillos in Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua for more samples of Chihuahua's dishes and food products. I enjoyed the lovely asadero cheeses that give the quesadillas of Chihuahua their much deserved fame. The chile relleno with chile pasado again showed the importance of this chile in Chihuahuan gastronomy. You better believe we had carne asada, rajas con crema, machaca, and a variety of foods made from the ranches own apple orchard. There's nothing like being outdoors on a ranch with a grill full of slabs of rugged beef cuts for carne asada, with waiting hands armed with hand rolled flour tortillas.


Before heading on into the domain of the Raramuri, we caught a glimpse of Mennonite life in Cuauhtemoc at the Mennonite house, a museum and shop. There was a Mennonite family visiting from Canada at the house that I spoke with who said that they were born in Mexico but then joined up with the Mennonites living in Canada. With them was a group of women dressed for a different time in their floor length plain dresses that only exposed their weathered faces, and coarse feet.

A more modern Mennonite woman spoke with us as Mexico City reporters climbed on top of one another to ask questions I'm sure these people are familiar with. I was taken with this woman's streak of rebellion (she spoke of her dislike for the traditional dress and roles that Mennonite women play)but noticed that although she looked like a modern woman, she had neither a manicure nor a pedicure. These women live a beauty product-free life, which seems almost impossible in the year 2012.

The level of abstinence and ascetic lifestyle of the Mennonite will forever fascinate the outsider--it gives you the chance to examine your own lifestyle. We can live without these things, I guess, but I do long for a modern beauty bathed in perfume, painted with cosmetics, with shiny skin from scented lotions, and armed with sexy, shaped nails.

Since this day, this trip, my eyes have become sharper. This pattern of a cuisine based on national foods that are regionally focused by cheeses, tortillas, and chiles, with unique local dishes can be easily translated to the casual visitor if you get out and explore a bit. Check out the markets first; do this every time you visit a new Mexican city, or town. In the markets you'll find the pulse of the local cuisine.

By nightfall we arrived in Creel, and began a beautiful journey into the culture of the Raramuri, known as the Tarahumara. I had seen the Raramuri around town in my many trips to Chihuahua, and also on this trip, but our next few days would be a gift from the gods.

Aromas y Sabores 2011

Aromas y Sabores 2011- Parral, Chihuahua: Northern Exposure

Photograph of General Francisco "Pancho" Villa at the Museo Francisco Villa in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua

Hidalgo del Parral--founded in 1631 as a mining colony--would begin our [Aromas y Sabores] eye opening odyssey into the northern state of Chihuahua; rich in native-American tradition, stocked with a formidable gastronomy, a curious history of German Mennonite cheese makers, the terroir of Sotol, the grandeur and adventure of the Copper Canyon and the famous Chepe(train),the land of the Rarámuri, and the place where General Francisco “Pancho” Villa was assassinated.

Our first stop was at the mine for a luncheon to sample the marvels of parralense cuisine, before exploring the city. The event gave a glimpse into the past and present of a city that was once declared the “Capital of the World” by King Philip IV of Spain for its bountiful silver strike, and now the former prized, colonial city is celebrated for its culinary strike--it ranks as one the 10 gastronomic wonders of Mexican cuisine.

Chef Patricia Quintana in Chihuahuense fashion

By the end of this leg of the trip we found that Chihuahua holds its own with any states in southern Mexico and that my own speculations about the north were validated. While cookbook authors and culinary travelers have focused on Puebla, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, and Mexico City, they’ve neglected to look beyond the surface of Mexico for its cuisine. Chef Patricia Quintana gave an impromptu lecture on our bus during our Chihuahua trek that was revelatory. I’ve taken greater notice of the intricacies of chiles, tortillas, cheeses, and common dishes and flavors found all over the republic; and how they adapt in each region. Tortillas are Mexico’s canvas, painted with the colors of spring and fall in chiles.


The La Prieta mine produced silver, gold, and zinc for almost 4 centuries and now is a tourist attraction in Parral

Chihuahua tourism was just as hospitable and delightful as our hosts in Nuevo Leon. They put together a tight menu of regional dishes on a patio overlooking the city of Parral. Spectacle and commotion became a routine part of our visits to each city as we snapped photos, and plunged our eager hands into snacks, noshes, and slurped down any beverage that was handed us.


Pictured L-R, Liliana, Sarahi, Jahzeel, and Julieta at La Prieta Hill overlooking Hidalgo de Parral were part of the many attractions we saw in the final resting place of "Pancho" Villa. I can see why he liked it here. These young ladies and the Chihuahua tourism people made sure we all got seated--all 90 of us--for a taste of Parral.


Enchiladas in Los Angeles are about the most difficult foods to find for me--hardly anyone does them correctly. Traditional enchiladas in Mexico are perfect examples of the local culture: local fillings, local tortillas, and local finishing touches.

Little did I know at the time of this lunch that I was having my enchiladas prepared by royalty. Doña Cuca started in 1922 and has made their enchiladas exactly the same as day one. They are famous for their enchiladas verdes made with chile pasado, but today it was enchiladas rojas with chile california filled with queso ranchero from Chihuahua.


The recipes are simple, the sauces are pure chile with a bit of garlic to allow the bold flavors of these chiles to shine. It's the same today as when Doña María del Refugio Delgado Muñoz began serving them back in 1922.


At our tables Chihuahuan requeson(similar to ricotta), and asadero(melting cheee) were set out to awaken our appetites. Chihuahua has one of the most archetypal cheese traditions in Mexico.


Arroz a la jardinera, a local rice dish with carrots peas and corn.


Like many northern bean dishes the refritos here are fortified by pork lard for flavor and it gives the beans a rich creaminess.


It was here at this event that I found my favorite rajas con crema, made with the spicier and more full bodied chile chilaca.


Asado de puerco, a pork with chile california dish is used to fill burritos de guisado as well as gorditas here in this region.


There is a pit roasting tradition in Chihuahua explained the young chef that oversaw our meal, "we prepare barbacoa de res underground." The barbacoa was bursting with juice and tremendous beef flavors.


The chile pasado is the hardest working chile in Mexican cuisine. Take a chilaca, roast it, and set it to dry with seeds and skin intact. The chile packs a wallop that is quintessential Chihuahua. You've had pork ribs with chiles a million times, but costillas de puerco en chile pasado is an entirely new sensation. Dark, smoky chile sauce clings to the pork ribs bite after pleasurable bite. Les ingredients are used in some of these preparations because the chiles have strong flavors, and don't require all the seasoning of sauces from other regions of Mexico.


For dessert, dulce de frijol, sweet cool beans topped with cinnamon and nuts.


Later in the afternoon we made a few stops, first at the Panificadora Parralense to try the famous rayadas(pictured in the top center of the collage), a simple wheat and white flour bread with hints of anise. Parralenses eat these with meals and use it to make capirotada(bread pudding) in the Semana Santa(holy week leading up to Easter). This place has been around for a while, but you know, I'm not a bakery buff, BUT, I sure know when I'm in a great bakery, and this is one of them. You can see and smell the quality items all of which are fired in owner, José Guadalupe Ochoa's brick ovens.


As if 90 people snapping pictures at the bakery wasn't enough, our trip over to the famous Dulceria La Gota de Miel(since 1932) peaked to a new level of media frenzy. Shutterbugs fell upon the sweets like bees lusting after the queen bee. So, I made like a hornet and buzzed off for a while to achieve one of my prime directives--a walk around every town I visit. When I came back it was still a swarm.I spoke with a photographer who was taking pictures of all the other photographers climbing all over each other to get their shots. "This is crazy", he said.

Once the clicks of digital cameras ceased then it got even more intense as lots of locals as well as people from our group snatched up handfuls of treats made from a base of milk and nuts, and stuffed them in goodie bags. I waited 'til it was over and settled for what was left, and even the less desirable items at this well known sweet shop were delicious. We happily chewed on our bite sized candies in tourist cars on our way to have our first sips of liqour that day, besides the beers I had at lunch of course. OK, second sips of alcohol that day.


At the Leyenda de Chihuahua distillery, we were greeted by General Fransisco Villa--or at least a good likeness--to sample the spirit of Chihuahua: sotol. Sotol, or Desert Spoon, is available in the United States from the Hacienda label, but many other makers exist in Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila.


Of course we visited the Museo Francisco Villa, erected at the exact location Pancho Villa was ambushed on Friday, July 20th, 1923, as he and some bodyguards and staff road by in his 1919 Dodge Roadster. The retired general had come into town to do some banking as a pumpkin seed vendor ran up and yelled Villa! Villa! Seven riflemen then emerged with guns blazing and killed all but one passenger including the legendary General Francisco Pancho Villa. A total of 9 bullets hit Villa, killing him instantly.

Our dinner was a gala event that was attended by a portion of our weary group. But we couldn't proceed without booze, so I grabbed famous southwestern chef and restaurateur, Mark Miller, for a booze run. Another chance to explore. We finally found a place that would sell us some beer at that hour, a dive bar that had a pile of dirt as you walked downstairs, and you had to walk past a vacant 35 yards of space before you reached light and bar folk. The women working there couldn't figure out why we wanted beer to go, but after playing with us a little bit they made a care package for us. "You're not going to open this in the street are you?" "Of course not", we replied.

Just another day on the road with Aromas y Sabores, an unforgettable journey on the northern route, and a rediscovery of Chihuahua's culinary treasures, and a tale of Hidalgo de Parral, Chihuahua, the Capital of the World.

Aromas y Sabores 2011, La Ruta del Norte

Villa Ahumada,Chihuahua:A Quesadilla and Burrito Oasis on the Cd.Juarez-Chihuahua Highway

Ah, the luxuries afforded a musician on the road.The Southwest flight to El Paso, the border crossing, and then the five hour schlep to the city of Chihuahua, the state capitol of Chihuahua. Of course, there weren't any direct flights to Chihuahua, right? Impossible!

Then, the busted radiator. "I have a cousin who's going to bring a replacement radiator," says our driver. We wait. One of the guys is getting nervous."I don't like being here in Ciudad Juarez, man, it's fucking crazy over here," he mumbled, eyes shifting to and fro.He's from Chihuahua, but me, I just don't worry about those kinds of things.Beer,food,chicks,tequila....

My cynical predictions almost always coming true."We're going to catch the bus to Chihuahua," said with an all too familiar sigh. I had suggested this about two and a half hours ago. "If they can't send another vehicle, let's catch the bus!" No one listens. I don't like idle time in Mexico, too many good eats and drinks awaiting, and all I could think of was the scent of flowing cheese stabbing the air, just down the road in Villa Ahumada. Villa Ahumada is a cheese huffers wet dream.


I passed out on the luxury Chihuahuenses bus line and came to while we were stopped somewhere along quesadilla row in Villa Ahumada, the smoked village. I gulped a startled breath and began to stumble out of the bus when the driver passed me and said with a smile,"we're leaving." "Nooo,how much time do I have?", I gestured. "Vamanos," he commanded,"we will stop farther down the road." He would be taking us to his account, the place that all bus drivers and cab drivers strike deals with. Do not listen to your taxi drivers and bus drivers unless they're off duty. They get kick backs for bringing customers to hotels, bars,restaurants, strip clubs, and even quesadilla stands.

Villa Ahumada is famous for their quesadillas.They resemble the American style quesadilla in every way, but on a superficial level. They're flour tortillas folded in half and filled with cheese. The difference is that the tortillas are made from scratch, not store bought, and the cheese is Chihuahuan asadero, a soft white cheese first made by the Mennonites of Chihuahua. Unlike the processed cheese used in American quesadillas, the asadero doesn't leech any oil, and gets nice and creamy. It has a low melting temperature, so no need for grating. Two whole round slices of asadero are placed on the tortilla atop a comal, and in minutes, a delicious northern quesadilla. The cheese has a mild tang, with an attractive flavor of fresh cow's milk cheese. These aren't served with guacamole, none is needed.

They can be ordered sencillo, just cheese, con guisado, with a stew, or you can get burritos, a handmade tortilla with a guisado. The typical guisados are deshebrada, shredded meat in a suace,picadillo,ground meat with vegetables,chicharron in a red or green sauce,rajas con queso, poblano strips with cheese,machaca,dried meat,beans and cheese, mole, eggs and chorizo, or even weenies. The ultimate is the montado, a burrito with asadero, a guisado of your choosing, and a thin chile relleno. There is also a burrito filled with a chile relleno and refried beans, this is referred to as a chile relleno in Chihuahua, or burrito de chile relleno.


We passed all the miles of quesadilla stalls as I peered helplessly from the windows of the bus. It's quite a sight to see, stall after stall, all making quesadillas and burritos, the smell of burning cheese soaking up the night air. When I thought all was lost we ended up at a truck stop style restaurant, Los Arbolitos.

The nice ladies at Los Arbolitos do a great job.The guisados are all very tasty, and I no longered felt gipped by our bus driver.


You can even get asadero, jocoque(cultered cream), queso mennonita(Mennonite cheese), or other local cheeses to go.


I went with a quesadilla con guisado. First, the melting of asadero, more exciting than the Super Bowl,well, for me anyway.


Then, the guisado. Hmmmmm......



A quesadilla of deshebrada roja and a chicharron rojo topped with a trio of salsas. These stellar quesadillas washed away my moans and groans, and the guisados were of the best kind, slowly cooked, savory, and rich.

Ordering quesadillas for most of us here in the states is SO mundane,but this isn't the case in Northern Mexico. From the the south of Mexico, quesadillas are fried or grilled masa turnovers filled with guisados, and in the north the quesadilla lies in the dominion of the flour tortilla stuffed with artisanal cheese made by Mennonites. These quesadillas are a smokin' good time.

Sated and rested, it was off to the city of Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua for a show, where I met a small town beauty queen with big dreams, too big for Cuauhtemoc.



On the way back to Ciudad Juarez, we stopped at one of the many rows of stalls in Villa Ahumada before crossing the border and catching that flight from El Paso to LAX. Villa Ahumada is an hour and a half outside Ciudad Juarez on highway 45 as you make the five hour trek to Chihuahua.


Touts from the various stands run out to wave in drivers from the highway, directing you to their stalls.


In the back, the quesadilla specialists do their thing. Out front, the burrito and chile relleno carts await your orders.The burritos in the northern states are thin, and are a member of the taco family. They're just a tortilla wrapped around a guisado, no other ingredients.What we call burritos in the US aren't the same thing....at all.


The asadero stand is minimal,just sliced cheese and handmade flour tortillas.


The quesadilla sencilla. This is a Chihuahuan quesadilla in its purest form, no salsas, just tortilla and asadero cheese.The flavor is more than surprising. You might find yourself scanning the tables and stands for salsas, guacamole, or just about anything to put on these naked foods, but just one taste and...perfection.



From the burrito cart I ordered the burrito de chile relleno. A roasted, and battered Anaheim chile spackled with refried beans.A reversal of fortune where a chile relleno becomes the filling. "Take that!", says cheese to chili.


But the montado takes the prize here.The mounted burrito! This is a tortilla with asadero cheese, a guisado, here I chose machaca, and a chile relleno.


Even with all these goodies wrapped in the lightly flavored tortilla, the burrito remains thin.Store bought tortillas impart strange flavors to burritos, sometimes even a pancake-like flavor, but flour tortillas made from scratch, and rolled into their rounded form are a different prospect all together. This is the flavor of my grandmother's Aguascalientes kitchen. In Sinaloa the flour tortillas are more larded, in Sonora they are thin and more boldly flavored, but in Chihuahua, flour tortillas are more dry and milky white, with a natural taste of flour.These are the tacos of Chihuahua, the burrito, or burro.

These quesadillas and burritos de guisados of the northern states of Mexico are just as valid and representative of Mexican culinary heritage as their southern counterparts. Anyone who'd propose otherwise is merely being obtuse.

Yes, there is a quesadilla village in Mexico, an amusement park for cheese lovers. The asaderos in Villa Ahumada are the reason families love to make this trip. It's the cheese.....and burritos! For the burrito obsessed in Los Angeles and other parts of the US, I believe a visit here might elicit a tear. It's the realization that your favorite Mexican-American foods actually have tangible roots in Mexico, but here you can experience the pinnacle of burrito and quesadilla attainment.

Driver, take me to Villa Ahumada!

Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua

Various stalls, restaurants and carts
Located on the Juarez-Chihuahua highway 45
Los Abolitos

Truck stop on the edge of Villa Ahumada heading on to Chihuahua