December 2008 Archives

Veronica has been recreating the flavors of Distrito Federal (Mexico City), almost since she arrived in San Francisco with her husband in 1995. Veronica started cooking for friends and family to quiet their longing for the foods of their beloved Distrito Federal. Their longing was San Francisco's fortune.

In 2006, Veronica became involved with La Cocina, San Francisco's first incubator kitchen, and soon after opened a booth at the Alemany Farmer's Market - El Huarache Loco (literally, The Crazy Sandal) has been a staple at the Alemany market ever since.

On any given weekend, you'll find Veronica serving authentic dishes from he beloved Mexico City. Unfortunately, what you won't find at Veronica's booth are her winning tamales. For this, you'll have to make special arrangements with Veronica - but they're worth every bit the effort.

In 2007, Veronica featured her Oaxacan style black mole tamal at our first annual A Taste of Tamales by the Bay. This tamal, with its succulent meat marinated in the 'black,' thick mole, earned Veronica the Best Traditional Tamale award in 2007.

In true Oaxacan style, Veronica's mole reveals stronger chocolate notes, accentuating the many other ingredients that make up this deliciously complex sauce, without ever being overpowering. Balance is the trick to excellent mole, and Veronica's black mole tamal was exactly that, a perfect balance of flavors wrapped in moist organic maize - an obvious winner.

As delicious as her tamales are, Veronica's signature dish is the Huarache, a sandal shaped corn tortilla stuffed with refried beans and lightly griddled. The huaraches are then topped with red or green salsa, crema (crème), onion, queso fresco (a slightly dry Mexican cheese), cilantro and a topping of your choice - milanesa, chicken or nopales (cactus salad). An excellent meal anytime, but an especially delicious breakfast before tackling the rest of weekend.

!Buen Provecho!

El Huarache Loco - Contact person Verónica Salazar. You can find El Huarache Loco on Saturdays and Sundays at the Alemany Farmers Market, 100 Alemany Blvd., San Francisco. 415-572-6832 elhuaracheloco@yahoo.com

Food has made some interesting journeys, fascinating stops, and left troves of amazing stories along the way. And this is what piqued my interest when I happened to catch the NPR story about the Delta Hot Tamales several years ago. Now seemed like the perfect time and place to dig up this story.

In California, tamales are as much a part of our food culture as hamburgers. Who hasn't had a tamale, even if it is the Early Bird special at the local Astro Burger joint, or worse yet, Dinty Moore tamales straight out of a can. Fortunately, a good, authentic, home-made tamale is no longer difficult to come by.

We owe this, in large part, to migrant Mexican farmworkers. Whether it was oranges in Orange County, artichokes in Watsonville, or tomatoes in Fresno, farmworkers, in search of a living, criss-crossed the country, following La Pisca, (the harvest), and left a culture of food in their wake, the Tamale Trail, all these years later.

This is that story. How Mexican farmworkers traveled into the deep South to pick cotton alongside African Americans over a century ago, and in so doing, turned a Mexican staple, the tamal, into a Mississippi staple, the Delta Red Hot Tamale.

I hope you'll give it a listen.

!Buen Provecho!

I was futzing around with my computer one night, searching for something worth listening to, when I happened upon this interview on Bill Moyers PBS weekly program, Bill Moyers Journal. The message, the music, the sheer possibilities presented by Mark Johnson, founder of the Playing for Change Foundation, in this interview have stayed with me ever since. I was reminded of how integral music is to our make-up, to what makes us human, and how music has a way of putting us in touch with our most elemental selves.

The interview is just under twenty minutes and worth every minute.

If you prefer the short version, I've also included the video clip.

Playing for Change may make connecting the world through music and art a real possibility, but I would add one more element -- food.

Change, Music, Art and Corn.

!Buen Provecho!

Having missed the grand opening, I finally had a chance to visit Omnivore Books on Food, a newcomer on Cesar Chavez Blvd.(at Church St.) in Noe Valley. What a gem.

Celia Sack, the proprietor, greeted me immediately. I was l hoping to find books about corn. What were the odds I'd actually find something so specific, I wondered.

Celia guided me to two sections. Not only did I find several possibilities, I found two definites. I should have bet some money on this search.

The first book, Concha's Mexican Kitchen Cook Book: delightful stories of customs, holidays and life in the land of Moctezuma, by Catherine Ulmer Stoker, is sweet. A bit audacious for a title, but the book was published in 1946. Concha is our guide through this recipe book, weaving stories to dishes typically served for some of Mexico's most observed holidays and celebrations.

The second book, The Book of Corn Cookery, One hundred and fifty recipes showing how to use this nutritious cereal and live cheaply and well, by Mary L. Wade, published in 1917, was my true find. Just below the author's name I found this sweet epigraph from the Farmer's Bulletin 565 that reads Corn may be called the American Indian's greatest gift to modern civilization.

I would have to agree with the Farmer's Bulletin - it is, afterall, the gift that gives us tamales.

Omnivore has a wonderful balance of rare books (some are signed), classics, and new classics, no doubt due to Celia's experience as an antique book dealer - which dovetailed into her passion for collecting cookbooks.

You'll find current titles for sure, but Omnivore is, at least it is for me, about unexpected finds; finds like a collection of recipes by Alice B. Toklas, or the one on animal husbandry, or even the one on pre-historic kitchens; or the small selection of carefully chosen magazines - like The Art of Eating - probably one of the most beautiful food magazines I've ever picked up - food writing that often reads more like poetry.

There had been another title on recipe writing, but it now occupies a space in my own library.

Visit Omnivore Books on Food the next time you're in Noe Valley, or make it your reason for visiting Noe Valley. It'll be time well spent.

!Buen Provecho!

Omnivore Books on Food · 3885a Cesar Chavez Street · San Francisco, CA 94131 · 415.282.4712 · Hours: Tues-Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 12pm-5pm

Many years ago, my friend Christina invited me to see her perform in this little play at the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts . She told me the play was about a family and tamales. I was in. The Bilingual Foundation for the Arts was in an old, former city jail (I loved going into old Los Angeles. buildings any chance I got), I loved tamales, and I enjoyed watching Christina perform. This was the trifecta as invitations go.

Looking back, it was probably one of the first performances of the this now annual Los Angeles holiday favorite adapted from,"Too Many Tamales," by Gary Soto.

All these years later I still remember the groaning and laughter from the audience when Maria, the story's protagonist, arrives at what she thinks is the only solution to her predicament: eat through the dozens, and dozens and dozens of tamales to retrieve her mother's wedding ring, a ring she did not have permission to wear, which she must have lost in the tamale masa while kneading it. Oh, the tension!

"Too Many Tamales" is a wonderful story that tackles big family issues in a fun and celebratory way. Issues like growing up, blending cultures as a family grows, resistance to family traditions and values, how through time they change yet, thankfully, in the end manage to hold onto what matters.

This is a play the entire family can watch together. Who knows, maybe this can be the start of a new family tradition: watch the play before the big family Christmas Tamalada. Of course, tamales play a central role in this family drama, as is true this time of year for many families around the holiday tamalada . This is in the nature of tamales:bring people together to accomplish a single delicious goal and watch what tales and dramas unfold.

If you live in Los Angeles, or if you'll be in Los Angeles in December, this play is definitely something to add to your To Do list.

Like my abuelita Ramona used to say 'A family that tamales together, stays together.' Okay, so I just made that up, but, you'll swear it's true after you've seen the play and danced in the aisle with your children.

Visit the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, and buy your tickets, or read a little more in the Los Angeles Times article, then go see it.

There's still time.

!Buen Provecho!