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In a 1994 article for Saveur magazine, writer Peggy Knickerbocker felt compelled to explain to readers, "You will not find burritos in Oaxaca." These days, that kind of disclaimer isn't necessary, as increasing numbers of Americans have discovered the complex, flavorful moles and fluffy tamales of this southern Mexican state. Tlamanalli, a restaurant serving Zapotec Indian cuisine in the tiny town of Teotitlán del Valle, has become an essential stop for Mexico-bound foodies. And a rapidly growing Oaxacan community in Los Angeles has introduced its unique cooking to West Coasters. Oaxacan food is now thriving on both sides of the border.
Zapotec Chiles and Spanish Pigs
Crisscrossed by steep, craggy mountains that somewhat resisted Spanish invasion, Oaxaca has kept much of its indigenous culture — at least 16 tribes still retain their distinct languages and dress. It's known as the land of the seven moles, and these intricate sauces, made by toasting and grinding spices, seeds, and chiles, are truly the hallmark of the region. Local tribes were preparing moles and raising corn, tomatoes, squash, beans, turkeys, cacao, and chiles long before Cortez ever set foot in the "New" World. The Spanish brought chickens; cattle; spices such as canela (true cinnamon), cumin, and cloves; and pigs (and thus the all-important lard). Native cooking techniques such as steaming and dry-roasting on clay griddles were joined by Spanish baking and frying.
The corn dough known as masa plays a huge role in Oaxacan cooking, used for tamales and a wide variety of tortillas, from thick to thin, plain to stuffed. Popular cheeses include the fresh, crumbly Queso Fresco; aged, firm Queso Añejo; and a local string variety that's formed into a flattened ball. The herbs hoja santa (which has a distinctive, aniselike flavor) and epazote (pungent, almost medicinal) are common seasonings.
Modern Innovations
In Oaxaca City, traditional cuisine is getting a modern spin. At the noted El Naranjo, chef Iliana de la Vega prepares elegant, lighter versions of classic dishes, with vegetable oil instead of lard — much to the dismay of purists. Of course, there's still plenty of lard to be had around the zocalo (town square), where bustling stalls serve street snacks such as fried tortillas topped with spicy vegetables. For an informed perspective on this and other Oaxacan dishes — as well as how to cook them at home — we turned to chef and cookbook author Zarela Martinez. Read on for her recipes and tips.
Chef Zarela Martinez's Oaxacan Recipes
Zarela Martinez came late to her calling. As a young mother and social worker in El Paso, Texas, this northern Mexican native began baking cookies and catering for extra cash. Her own mother encouraged her to pursue her passion, even arranging for her to travel to various U.S. cooking schools. After several years of study, Martinez met Paul Prudhomme, who urged her to focus on regional Mexican dishes and develop a personal style. She spent a week in his kitchen, a brief period of time that changed her life.
"Two months to the day, I was cooking at a huge event at Tavern on the Green," she says. "It totally launched my career." Her inventive cooking, with its innovative use of authentic Mexican flavors, was unlike anything New Yorkers had eaten at the time. It grabbed the attention of 200 members of the press who were at the event. Food critic Craig Claiborne wrote a profile of her in The New York Times, and soon after, she moved to the city to become the executive chef at the hot spot Cafe Marimba.
"I didn't know anything about the restaurant business," she says. "I didn't even know there was a pantry station." Realizing that there was a whole world of Mexican food about which she needed to learn, Martinez decided to go on a "grand tour" of Mexico. Rock 'n' roll manager Albert Grossman, a frequent diner at Cafe Marimba, recommended Oaxaca.
There, Martinez discovered what she calls her "indigenous past" — the mixed Spanish and Indian heritage denied by many Mexicans, including Martinez's own mother. "My mother can sit there and talk to you for three hours about how we have no Indian blood," she says. But Martinez knew otherwise, and her experiences in Oaxaca awakened her to "this mystical culture, and a totally different kind of food." The region, she says, "felt like my spiritual home." She has continued to visit over the years, and in 1997 wrote the definitive cookbook The Food and Life of Oaxaca.
In addition to her New York City restaurant Zarela, which opened in 1987, Martinez is also the author of several other cookbooks and the host of a PBS cooking show, all devoted to regional Mexican cuisine. "My whole life has been dedicated to promoting my culture," she says, adding that she never feels like she's working, even though she does so 14 hours a day. "I'm having a ball."
To catch some of Martinez's passion for Oaxacan cooking, as well as benefit from her expertise, click on the links below for her recipes and tips.
- Avocado Ice
- Green Mole With Pork
- Potato Purée
- Turkey Tamales with Mole Negro
- Vegetable Medley in Garlic-Chile Sauce
Glossary
Consider this an incomplete lowdown on the flavors of Oaxaca.
Cacao/Chocolate - The cacao bean, the dried, cured seed of the cacao fruit, holds a special place in the history of Mexico. Cacao was offered to the Gods by the Aztecs and Mayans, and was so valuable that it was used as currency. In Oaxaca, some people still toast their own beans on a comal (see below) and grind them on a metate (see also below) with Mexican cinnamon and sugar to make chocolate. The chocolate is used in hot and cold drinks, traditionally hand-foamed with a special wooden whisk called a molinillo. It's also one of the many ingredients in Oaxaca's famous mole negro.
Chapulines - Grasshoppers. Samplers report that these fried critters are nutty and delicious. Available at some Oaxacan restaurants in Los Angeles, chapulines are often sprinkled with dried chiles and lime and served as an appetizer. It's also worth trying gusanitos de maguey, or maguey worms. The larvae of an insect that lives on the maguey plant, gusanitos are smoked and used as a flavoring in salsas and other dishes. They also sometimes turn up in bottles of tequila and mezcal.
Comal - Oaxacan griddle traditionally made of clay, used for dry-roasting ingredients such as tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, onions, and chiles to bring out their natural sugars and deepen their flavors. You don't need a clay one, but some sort of griddle or large cast-iron skillet is essential for preparing Oaxacan cuisine. Other traditional Oaxacan tools are the molcajete, a bowl-shaped volcanic stone mortar, and the mano, a pestle, used together to grind and purée spices, chiles, and other ingredients. Many cooks now substitute a combination of a blender and sieve to achieve similar results. A metate, also used with a mano, is a table-shaped implement traditionally used to grind corn and chocolate.
Corn - According to Zarela Martinez, Oaxaca is one of Mexico's greatest centers of corn-based cuisine. Masa is made by treating corn with an alkali such as slaked lime and then grinding it into a moist dough. Coarsely ground masa is beaten with lard and steamed with flavorings in corn husks to make tamales, a popular fiesta food. More finely ground masa is used for tortillas, of which there are a great variety, including gordas (small and thick), blandas (thick and soft), empanadas (large, stuffed tortilla pies), and clayudas (huge, dense, and flat). Clayudas, spread with asiento (a grainy, delicious lard residue), refried beans, cheese, and salsa, are one of the category of corn-based street snacks called antojitos (whims), which are sold in stalls in the markets. Masa is also used to thicken atole, a corn gruel that's a popular Oaxacan breakfast.
Mezcal - This liquor, made from the agave plant, tends to be earthier (and sometimes smokier) than most bottles labeled tequila, although tequila is technically a type of mezcal. Premium mezcals make delicious, and authentic, accompaniments to Oaxacan meals. Martinez recommends Del Maguay Single Village Mezcal, produced in New Mexico in collaboration with Zapotec farmers. Another important Oaxacan drink is agua fresca, a refreshing combination of water, fruit, and sugar.
Mole - A general term for a sauce that usually has dried, ground chiles, is enriched with seeds or nuts, and contains a wide range of herbs and spices. There are seven moles in Oaxaca: Amarillo (yellow and usually spicy-hot); Negro (black mole, known for the inclusion of cacao among its many ingredients, though it gets its color from blackened chiles); Coloradito (spicy and reddish); Verde (fresh, green, and herbaceous); Rojo (red and usually sweet); Chichilo (dark and smokey, but not as rich as mole negro); and Manchamantel (a fruit-based sweet-and-sour mole). According to Martinez, Oaxacan cuisine, unlike many others, values the sauce, rather than what it goes on, as the "pièce de résistance." Even today, Oaxacan cooks will gather their own special spice and seed mixtures at the market, take them to mills where they're ground into pastes, and then painstakingly assemble the sauces, which can involve more than a dozen steps.
