z e u q z á V

n é b u R

Tabasco’s Cui•si•ne A Deluge of Aromas, Colors And Flavors

Jorge Priego*

exican cuisine is recognized the world deserved fame while others remain practically over for its broad variety of regional unknown. This is ’s case, despite its rich Mdishes rooted in ancient, diverse cul - variety of dishes made with local products, ingre - tures. However, some regional cuisines enjoy well - dients that are truly exotic for the non-native. Tabasco’s cuisine is based on the sage integra - tion of indigenous and Spanish cooking, enriched * Director of publishing and literature at the Ta bas co State Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Sports. by the creativity of our grandmothers, who, when they lacked certain spices and condiments, sub - We thank Mexico City’s Club France restaurant for allowing us to photograph the dishes it prepared during Tabasco Week. stituted what Nature provided around them.

105 Among Tabasco’s edible vegetables, in addi - They have also always eaten shellfish like crab , tion to those introduced by the Spaniards, are mollusks like shote and oysters, and crustaceans yucca, the sweet potato and macal ; chaya or Mayan like shrimp and pigua . spinach, avocados, chinín , squash and chayote With all these meats and vegetables, how could squash; plus corn, used to make different foods they not develop a varied, delectable cui sine. And and drinks. As seasoning, nature has also provid - if we add to this the immense profu sion of prod - ed spices like malagueta pepper and various aro - ucts that have come to Tabasco from across the sea, matic herbs like chipilín (from a legume), momo we find that the number of dishes offered in this (elsewhere known as acuyo or hoja santa [holy humid, tropical corner of Mexico has multiplied leaf]) , muste , parsley and epazote or pigweed. enormously. The varieties of game and fish are practically Authentically native dishes, true delights for infinite: there are the mammals like deer, wild the most demanding palate, include ulich or uliche boar and pig, tepezcuintle or agouti paca, arma- (an indigenous word with the root úlum , mean ing dillo and manatí ; fowl, like the mountain turkey, turkey, and ich , or chile pepper or ají , the dish’s main the chachalaca , the hoco pheasant, the cocopa - ingredients). Another is maneas , a kind of , to , the pijije or whistling duck, and the Canadian traditional during November festivities honoring duck; the fish include the snook, the pejelagarto the spirits, and served during patron s aint cele - (alligator-head fish), the wreck fish, the topén , brations. Old books mention these dishes, saying guabina , baby shark and the delicious castarrica , that during Chontal Day of the Dead celebra - paleta , tenguayaca, zacatera and colorada two-band - tions no one could refuse to eat ulich (also known ed bream. As if that were not enough, Ta bascans as caldu benditu , or “blessed broth”) without run - also eat reptiles like the iguana and the azpoque , ning the risk of angering the spirits, who would as well as the crocodile or lizard, a very important avenge themselves on the offender, visiting upon part of the Chontal indigenous diet; tortoises and him/her a disease the doctors would not know turtles like the Central American river turtle; the how to cure. Ulich is a simple, healthy, delicious Mesoamerican slider, a freshwater turtle; the guao food, made solely of turkey broth thickened with and the chiquiguao , two varieties of musk tur - corn meal and seasoned with garlic, onion, cumin tle; and snapping turtles. and .

Tabasco’s cuisine is based on the sage integra tion of indigenous and Spanish cooking, enriched by the creativity of our grandmothers. l e i t n o M

e i s l

E

l

e

i

t

n

o

M

e

i

s

l E

Amashito chile pepper sauce is a must on the Tabasco table. Alligator-head fish salad, an up-to-date recipe for a traditional ingredient.

106

Another excel lent , ery includes dishes

z

e u

unique Tabascan food q with salted beef or z

á V

is called , or n pork, wreck fish and verde é

b

u “green”, used to dress R other fish, number - pork, pejela garto , tur - ing among them black tle, Mesoamerican slid - beans with salted beef er, alligator snapping turtle or pork, a dish called “little or , another name for face beans with salted pork.” mondongo Tabascan meringues are a real treat. beef stomach. Verde is made with The wide variety of vegeta bles ground chipilín and Mayan spinach ( chaya ) leave s offers good color and delicious flavour to both pu - and amashito chile pepper, which are then beat - chero and mondongo (cooked beef stomach). Both en with water or beef broth cooked with garlic. dishes include pieces of chayote squash, squash, This mixture is strained through a cloth, seasoned yucca, macal , corn, ripe plantain, sweet po tato and, with salt, onion and sweet chile peppers, thick - sometimes, “soup bread,” the fruit of the bread ened with green plantain and then added to the tree, brought to Tabasco during colonia l times. meat to cook. White turtle, now an endangered species, was Chirmol is one of the most common dishes in a luxury dish for many years for Tabascans, cooked Tabasco’s indigenous and rural areas, although it i s in verde , stew or in blood. White turtle cooked in eaten by people from every social class through- blood is one of Tabasco’s most delicious dishes, its out the state. It can be prepared with different distinctive flavor stemming from two basic ingredi - kinds of meat like pejelagarto or crab, but it is usu - ents: green plantain cut in round s and pars ley, fla - ally made with duck or beef, to which corn meal, vored with tomatoes, onion, sweet chile peppers, toasted tortillas, achiote (annatto) , epazote , garlic, oregano, cloves, Castile pepper and cinnamon. garlic, tomatoes and onion are added. Many dishes are recreations of Spanish or Cen - Tabasco’s extreme climate forced its inhabi - tral Mexican fare, like stews made of turtle, turkey, tants to find the best way to preserve game, do- hen or chicken, flavored with garlic, onion, toma - mestically-raised meat and fish: salting the flesh toes, salt, cinnamon sticks, olives, capers, almonds was the solution. This means that Tabasco’s cook - and raisins. Tabascan are filled with equal parts of cooked, finely minced pork and beef and fried with garlic, onion, tomatoes, raisins, ol - We could not leave out . ives and almonds. After tortillas are cooked on a grill, They come in different colors, forms, they are passed through very hot lard or oil, but consistencies and flavors. not fried; then they are soaked in a sauce made with liquified, drained ancho and pasilla chile pep - pers, tomatoes, garlic and onion, and fried; the l e i t n

o tortilla is then filled, rolled up and covered with M

e i s

l a spoonful of sauce, dusted with Ta bascan-made E cream cheese and garnished with rounds of sliced purple onions, blanched in hot water. We could not leave out tamales. They come in different colors, forms, consistencies and fla - vors, from the “lordly-prey-in-the-middle” tamale , made from dough strained through a cloth with a “prey” or piece of turke y, hen or pork in the mid dle, and ac companied by a special sauce

Alligator-head fish is one of Tabasco’s most common dishes. that gives it a delicious flavor , to the hum ble, pre-

107

His pa nic ma nea , un - rañón , pitahaya [a va - z

e

u q

s trained corn meal z riety of prickly pear],

á

V n

dough mixed with é water melon, can -

b

u beef, pork, or in olde n R taloupe, pineapple, times, lizard, cooked oranges, grapefruit , in very little grease. Little limes, etc.) are the ba - chipilín ta ma les are the most sis for dozens of refresh - popular: they are prepared with ing beverages when mixed with Mashed plantain stuffed with ground meat. strained cornmeal dough, chi pi lín water, coconut juice or even milk. leaves and pork lard, and bathed in a tomato, gar - Another delicious drink is matalí ade, made with lic and amashito chile pepper sauce. One variety matalí leaves (from a plant known in central Mex- of these little tamales has shredded pork. “Little ico as “chicken grass”), beaten with water, lime road” tamales are made from strained cornmeal juice and sugar. dough, with a strip of cooked meat down the mid - Tabascan desserts, mostly made with local dle. It can be beef, pork or alligator-head fish, fruit, include coconut, nance , plums, red cur ren ts, which are a positive delight. Chanchamitos are coco plums, and the popular “monkey ears ” (halves round ta ma les made of unstrained cornmeal dough of wild papaya fruit soaked in dark brown sugar colored an orange red with achiote (annatto), with that gives them a blackish brown color making lots of fat and pork wrapped not in banana leaves them look like monkey ears). Tabascan merin gues like all the others, but in joloche , the Tabascan are delicious; some are flavored with guanábana , name for dried corn husks. an unparalleled treat. Among the dozens of sweets , Although many other dishes could be listed, I have to mention the fragile, delicious panal de I will instead mention the most popular drinks. rosa , made with conch rose petals, which give it In one of his most celebrated poems, the great a unique flavor and aroma. poet Carlos Pellicer said, “I, who am from Tabasco Finishing up this brief sketch of Tabascan / with knots of Mayan blood, /where ground ca - cooking is difficult. Dozens of dishes, desserts and cao / gave new meaning to water,” describing the beverages have been left out, waiting to be discov- birth in his homeland of the product known as ered by the curious in search of new fla vors. Tabasco’s gift to the world: . Sweet and bitter chocolate have both been used from colo - nial times on in Tabasco, the first, beaten togeth - Tabasco’s gift to the world: chocolate er with milk and the second, with water. Ori gi - was originally prepared with water because milk nally, the drink was prepared with water because was not introduced until after the conquest. milk was not introduced until after the conquest. Besides chocolate, the region boasts two other bev - l e i t

erages that use cacao as an ingredient: or n o M

e i

chorote and polvillo . Pozol , or white pozol , a nutri - s l E tious, refreshing drink, is prepared with boiled, ground corn mixed with water. When ground, toasted cacao is added, it is called chorote or sim - ply pozol , which can be drunk fresh or fermented. Polvillo is made from , or toasted corn flour, and finely ground cacao, mixed wi th water and sweeten ed; it can be served cold or hot. The immense va r iety of fruits from the humid tropics (gua nábana [custard apple], ju jo , cacao, ma - Creme of Mayan spinach ( chaya ) soup.

108