The fun of writing a blog is that you can write about any and all adventures as they pop up in your consciousness without going in chronological order. Follow me now as we zoom out of Colorado and on to my fond memories of flavorful experiences in old Mexico.
My first memory of the culinary flavors south of the border came whilst I was on vacation in the Yucatán in the early 80’s. There was one hotel in the sleepy town of Playa del Carmen. About 5 miles north of this hotel and next to La Posada del Captain Lafitte’s was a small tent resort called Kailuum. This tent resort had the amenities of a central dining hall, a kitchen and a bar all under one palm roof called a palapa. The bar was self-service with a chalk board to be used by the patrons to keep track of consumption with a live hawk named Garp keeping a watchful eye to keep you honest. The kitchen was minimal to say the least. The water was in 5-gallon bottles. The refrigeration was ice chests. The hood system was the Caribe breeze. The flooring was beach sand. The cooking fuel was propane tanks with very crude and rustic burners. At the end of the night, cleanup was laid-back, just wipe everything onto the floor and rake it away.
The accommodations were large designer tents with a stunning view of the coral reefs just 40 yards from the shoreline. The pathways on the property were lit by kerosene torches. It was so rustic and romantic. The cost could not be beat. $40.00 a day for a room and two meals. The food was exceptional Yucatán cuisine. I was very complimentary of their flavors and was therefore invited in to their kitchen to observe. I watched them make Limon caldo (lime soup). They used sour oranges instead of limes. You cannot find sour oranges north of the Yucatán, but 1-part orange juice and 3 parts lime juice are a good substitute.
In the early days of Hudson’s, I was employed by the U.S. Meat Export Federation to travel into the big hotel kitchens that featured U.S. meats and teach them how to barbecue Texas style. One of the reasons I was hired to do this travelling barbecue tour was because I was my own boss and didn’t have to ask permission to leave my restaurant. So off to Mexico City, Acapulco and Cancun I went to get in the trenches with some of the best Mexican chefs to show them what I knew about the Texas “cue”. The ultimate goal was for them to learn it so well that they would continue this style of BBQ long after I left. This traveling BBQ festival was also a PR stunt that would interest the media.
I made everything from scratch that would be at a Texas BBQ; two BBQ sauces, brisket, rubs, smoked chicken, cole slaw, ranch beans, potato salad, etc. My first challenge came while making the BBQ sauces. Both of them required Worcestershire sauce. No one in the kitchen knew what that was and my kitchen Spanish was poor and it was a flavor that was distinct and I was unable to communicate. So, I was lead to the storeroom to see if I could find a substitute. I got a tour of the bowels of the hotel which was much like being in Downton Abbey’s back halls. Instead of the Minute Maid juicer that cut the fruit and juiced it, there was an old man who would throw the orange into the air and cut the orange in half with a swift swing of his sharp knife while the orange was airborne. Another man would take the cut orange and squish the juice out using a margarita squeezer. Quite the assembly line and like nothing I had ever witnessed before. When we got to the large storeroom, I found the Worcestershire
sauce. It was the same recognizable label as Worcestershire at home, but it was called Salsa Ingles. Flash forward 30 years, I was watching a show on PBS “Patti’s Mexican Table”. Patti was doing a recipe that had Worcestershire sauce in the recipe and she said “no real Mexican could ever pronounce ‘Worcestershire’”. I’m sure that changing the name to Salsa Ingles was a good marketing move.
I was assigned a French trainee who to took me to the open-air market in search of sausage that was a good substitute for “Texas sausage”. I was eating raw sausage trying to find the right one. My French helper was by my side tasting right along with me. He got Montezuma’s revenge and was absent for a week.
The market was huge. The entire market seemed to be out of control, but I’m sure there was a method to the madness. It fed 25 million people.
In the poultry area there were six 18-wheeler semi-trailers packed with head on chickens in crushed ice. Two guys were in each trailer throwing the chilled birds out to the poultry butchers.
The flower section was visually stunning with all of the colors and took your breath away with the intoxicating smells. It was blooms forever.
When we returned from our day of shopping and were preparing to BBQ, I realized there was no smoker or pit. What to do? There were rows of banquet warming carts that are normally used to hold warm plates of food for large banquets, bingo. I bent the bottom of the door to allow oxygen in. Now to find wood to create smoke. We were in downtown Mexico City and there was no wood in sight. I prefer a lighter smoke, pecan wood or a fruit wood like apple, cherry or peach. I have smoked with grapevine, cedar or even newspaper when in a jam. The hotel’s veggies were delivered in wood slat crates. So, I tore some crates down and created a small fire out of the busted-up crates to get the wood flavor and then finished the cooking in conventional ovens. I was doing an interview with a food editor of one of the Mexico City papers when asked what kind of wood did I use to get that tasty flavor? I replied quickly, without hesitation, tropical fruitwood.
Next stop on my tour was San Miguel for several days. From San Miguel I traveled on to a BBQ festival in Acapulco at the Hyatt. It was becoming clear to me in my travels that each region of Mexico had its own style, just like the difference in cuisines of New Orleans, New York or San Francisco. I was becoming the king of improvisation. My kitchen Spanish was improving, but I still had problems understanding when they spoke too fast. The kitchens didn’t have air conditioning which took me back to the early days at Hudson’s when our only cooling power was a warehouse fan. We didn’t use the fan much because when we turned it on it was so powerful that it would suck the dining room doors open and empty the dining room of its cooled air creating steamy customers. We did later install 8 tons of cooling power, but that was after a couple of years of being open for business.
Back to Acapulco, the kitchen staff would brew Jamaica tea and blend it with sugar water to keep cool and hydrated. It worked. There are more electrolytes in the tea than a sports drink.
One morning I went for a swim in the Acapulco Bay and midswim, I realized that most of Acapulco was not on a sewer system. Take it from me, don’t swim in Acapulco Bay.
Leaving Acapulco, I headed to another Hyatt south of Cancun. After having done many BBQ festivals throughout Mexico, I had learned to access the willingness of the hotel’s cooks to do most of the prep work and this allowed me time to eat and absorb the local cuisine. One such day with some spare time while in the Cancun area, I joined a hike through the Yucatán jungle. It was sold as an eco-walk. After I survived the day, I renamed it the “Mexican death march”. It was 105 degrees with 100% humidity with green switches brutally whipping us as we hiked the narrow path through the jungle. It was all worth it, I saw a lot of firsts for me; wild vanilla orchid, wild chocolate pods, annatto seed trees (base for achiote) and a green python snake. At the conclusion of the march we had a traditional meal prepared by the local ladies of chicken marinated in sour orange and achiote grilled over hard jungle wood. It was worth the march.
This tour of Mexico exposed me to vast world of exotic spices and flavors. I had to become immersed in the interior of Mexico before I could appreciate their flavors aka “sabor”. I gained a deep understanding that the rustic yet elegant style of our Texas cuisine had originated in Mexico. Even though the original intention of my job as BBQ Teacher was to travel and teach, at the end of the day, I was the one that acquired the most education that carried me along on a 32-year ride at Hudson’s on the Bend.
My favorite trip to Mexico was the trip to Oaxaca with Pam and Mike Reese. We flew into Oaxaca via private jet and proceeded to eat and eat and eat. I tried mole until I was dizzy and diabetic. We went to the local market where I tried the likes of dried crickets, ant eggs in garlic butter, not to mention a bowl of mescal worms. Lord I do love the street food.
We arrived in Oaxaca during “day of the dead”. We experienced all of the local events. The path to the cemetery was ablaze with vases and vases of marigold flowers. We saw colorful sand paintings depicting the past relatives and their beloved vices were incorporated into these paintings. But, my favorite memory of this trip was a short trip we took to a small village just a few miles outside of Oaxaca. All the locals from two different villages, about 150 villagers in all, young and old, were dressed in colorful costumes and were playing musical instruments, i.e. tubas, trombones, horns, guitars etc. The two villages marched towards each other as they played their music louder and the dancing became wilder. When the two groups of villagers merged the music and dancing reached its peak with the villagers energetically jumping up and down in dance. It was a true celebration. As far as I could tell there were very few onlookers, the event was purely for the joy of the villagers. The next day we were walking the streets looking for Oaxaca wood creatures when the smells of chocolate filled the air. I followed my nose to a shop that was roasting and grinding the chocolate bean with native sugar. I had found the birthplace of chocolate and if you know me at all, you know that I died and somehow landed in heaven.
Mexico, the country, its people, the art, the culture, the food have all left dinosaur tracks on my heart and soul. I have had some of my greatest moments and adventures in that country, it is so beloved to me. I have an employee of 30-years that has become one of my most treasured friends that has an avocado ranch in the mountains west of Mexico City that has shared his home and hospitality on this ranch with me. The adventures go on and on. I do love Mexico and all the flavors it has introduced to the world. It has without a doubt guided “Texas cuisine”.
Enjoy the recipe for Chipotle BBQ Sauce
A chipotle pepper is a jalapeño pepper left on the vine to turn red. Then dried and smoked, it still has pepper heat. If you don’t like spicy heat leave a portion out.
Chipotle BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
3 strips of bacon, minced (frozen bacon minces more easily without becoming gummy).
½ cup white onion, minced
2 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce (Salsa Ingles)
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
3 teaspoon hot sauce
2 cups catsup
1 can chipotle in adobo (4 oz.), minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
Method
In a skillet, cook the bacon until it is brown. Do not discard the bacon grease. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet with the cooked bacon and drippings and cook until they are translucent. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Adjust salt to desired taste.
Hold in an airtight container in the cooler. It will hold for 2 months in refrigeration.