Tasting NM / classics Back to Basics The 10 essential ingredients of a true New Mexican kitchen— regardless of your zip code. by PETER BG SHOEMAKER I’M NOT A NATIVE New Mexican, but I eat like one. And I’m getting to the point where I’d like to cook like one as well. So it seemed a good idea to explore and share what real New Mexican cooks think are the most important ele- ments in a New Mexican kitchen. My first stop was a series of cookbooks produced in the 1960s by the women of the Española Hospital Auxiliary. The recipes in the hand-illustrated, photocopied, and hand-stapled booklets were divided among Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo dishes, and very useful for cluing me in on particular ingredients. I then spent some time with Janet Malcolm, chef and manager of the famed restaurant Rancho de Chimayó—which just received a James Beard America’s Classics Award—to find out what a lifelong New Mexican cook cooking for discerning New Mexicans con- Clockwise from above: Piñon siders important. Finally, I spoke with Kathleen Wall, a cel- nuts, tortilla press, dried posole, blue cornmeal on ebrated Jemez ceramic artist who is a veteran chef behind husks, yellow squash, zucchini. years of public and private feasts at her pueblo. Together they offered an authoritative set of basics for eating and cooking New Mexican standards. photo by INGA HENDRICKSON 66 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 WWW.WRIGHTSGALLERY.COM 1. CHILE Chile adds the spice to New Mexico’s life- blood. This is only barely a metaphor. Malcolm claims that it’s the most important feature of local cuisine, and she would know. Reputations are staked on its various incar- nations. It is grown all over the state, with the mother of all crops traditionally coming from Hatch. The classic uses include chiles rellenos, red chile sauce, salsa, and the most perfect hamburger topping imaginable. New Mexico chiles are showing up all around the country, even in jars at a Costco in Brooklyn. Check labels and ask restaurant staff to con- firm that you’re getting New Mexico chile. Our website offers recipes for red chile sauce (mynm.us/redchile sauce recipes) and green GLASS BOWL BY ADRIAN WALL chile sauce (mynm.us/greenchilerecipe). 2677 LOUISIANA BLVD NE, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87110 | 505.266.0120 | 866.372.1042 2. BEANS The humble pinto bean is celebrated here as nowhere else: festivals, bean-picking parties, Photo: Anne Staveley bean-themed road races, and bean farmers (many from the Estancia Valley, where most of the best beans are grown) who will talk terroir like mad Frenchmen. Earthy pintos, along with smooth and rich bolitas and sweet Anasazis, show up in canvas sacks every fall, and New Mexicans prefer them cooked slowly with a few spices, maybe a hunk of salt pork, and an onion and tomato in a micaceous pot. (See the Frijoles de Olla recipe on p. 76). Then they go into burritos or are served as a side dish with a little cotija, to accompany classic meals such as huevos rancheros. 3. BLUE CORN Along with beans and squash, corn is consid- AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION. ered one of the “Three Sisters”—the staple AN EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNITY. ingredients of New Mexican cuisine. But blue Strong Academics | Arts | Athletics | Community Service corn, which is 20 percent higher in protein than yellow and white corn and has a sweet- er, earthier taste, is the standout. This Native staple is found in tortillas, atole, chaquehue Prep means Prepared. Ready for Anything. (see recipe on p. 76), or, if you’re lucky, pan- cakes. Blue cornmeal is widely available in Learn more at sfprep.org or call New Mexican grocery stores, and you can to schedule a tour 505 795 7512 buy it online at newmexicanconnection.com Serving Grades 7-12 | Tuition Assistance Available photo by INGA HENDRICKSON and santafeschoolofcooking.com. nmmagazine.com // MAY 2016 67 Tasting NM / classics 4. PIÑON NUTS While the smoke of piñon wood is what marks winter for many, the fragrant, high- protein nut from its cone gives a distinctive flavor and texture to New Mexican food. They’re often sold from roadside trucks and local markets. Italian pignoli can be substi- tuted, and often are when native supplies run low. Blue corn piñon pancakes and piñon-studded meatloaf are two tasty itera- tions. Outside of New Mexico, piñon nuts Clockwise from left: Bowl of posole, blue are hard to find. Try pinonnuts.com or cornmeal, pinto beans, newmexicopinonnuts.com. red chile powder. Top right: Mica Clay cook- ware pot by Lorenzo 5. POSOLE Mendez, from Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery. Posole is both an ingredient (nixtamalized corn kernels) and a hearty stew, a mainstay of holiday tables and Native feast-day offerings. This stew can be made with the addition of water, pork, chile, an onion, and garlic (see recipe, p. 73). If you can find frozen posole, buy it—it’ll speed up preparation. Outside of the Southwest, or areas with significant Mexican populations, posole can be hard to find. Check local Hispanic markets or visit santafeschoolofcooking.com or Amazon. 6. YELLOW SQUASH Midsummer, New Mexicans are inundated with yellow summer squash. Which means really only one thing: calabacitas—a simple dish that combines chile, squash, and corn (recipe on p. 75). Every family has its own recipe—and claims it is the best one. Though the amount of vegetables and spic- es varies, the result is always delicious. If you can’t find yellow squash, zucchini will work fine, as will any summer squash. 7. CORNHUSKS Dried cornhusks serve as the perfect vessel for steaming freshly made tamales (recipe here: mynm.us/recipe_tamales). But they also play a role in another iconic state dish: Indian bread made in an horno (outdoor, beehive-shaped clay oven seen all over New Mexico). Kathleen Wall told me that they are all perfect thermometers. Just toss a cornhusk into the horno. If it slowly browns and crisps, the oven is ready to go. If it shriv- photo by INGA HENDRICKSON els or catches on fire, the oven is too hot. 68 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 Outside of New Mexico, check your local Hispanic market for cornhusks. 8. MICACEOUS POT Not every kitchen has a micaceous pot, but they probably should. Cooks and potters alike will tell you that the sparkly, highly conductive, mineral-rich clay makes water taste sweeter and food richer. Generally unadorned except for the mica and the fire blooms caused by wood-fired pit kilns, micaceous pots are usable art. They are safe for stovetops, microwaves, and ovens. You can buy them at the legendary Santa Fe res- taurant Cafe Pasqual’s, on-site or via the online store: mynm.us/pasquals_pots. 9. TORTILLA PRESS Making a tortilla isn’t hard. Making 100, or even 20, can create a lifelong aversion to rolling pins. You can fake it with parchment paper, a couple of plates, and some elbow grease. But for enchilada day, a press is a lifesaver. Essentially two pieces of metal with a compression handle, it takes a plum- size bit of dough and produces a six-inch corn tortilla—I like my Norpro brand press. For flour tortillas (see recipe, p. 71) a rolling pin is still best. 10. A LONG TABLE AND BENCHES New Mexican cooking, particularly if you’re going traditional, requires space. So you will need a long table—preferably wooden, and having once belonged to your great- grandmother—and benches. The benches can be moved to allow for rolling dough or cutting biscochitos. And when it comes time to eat, as Wall said, “with benches you can always fit one more person in.” If you haven’t inherited such kitchen furnish- ings, try Southwest Spanish Craftsmen (southwestspanishcraftsmen.com) or your local antique store. � Peter BG Shoemaker is featured in “Storytell- ers,” p. 12. Please turn the page for classic recipes employing various of these ingredi- ents and implements. nmmagazine.com // MAY 2016 69 Tasting NM / classic recipies You can roll out tortillas with a pin, but when it comes to corn tortillas, a press makes mass production easier. photo by JEN JUDGE 70 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 WHEN IT COMES TO finding authentic New Mexican recipes, outside of asking your abuela, our go-to source is Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison’s Tasting New Mexico: Recipes Celebrating One Hundred Years of Distinctive Home Cooking (Museum of New Mexico Press), an official project of the New Mexico 2012 centennial. With a combina- tion of ingredients, tools, and the directions that follow, you have all that you need to make your kitchen New Mexican. (The book is available online at mnmpress.org or by calling 800-249-7737.) FLOUR TORTILLAS Makes about 8 tortillas, approximately 7 to 8 inches in diameter In Southwest culinary circles, flour tortillas are most closely associated with the cooking of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. New Mexican versions—thicker, smaller in diameter, and chewier than most others— actually probably predate these better- known cousins. Spanish settlers preferred wheat to corn, so they used it to produce a flatbread similar to a Pueblo tortilla, a tradi- tion that has persisted in Hispano families for centuries now. Cheryl Alters Jamison’s Little Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Lenore Tapia-Baker, with other members of the Tapia family, taught her how to make these 30 years ago. Experienced practitioners can flap and slap and pull the dough out into perfect rounds, but for the rest of us it’s usually easier to roll them out with a pin or use a press.