Twenty-four years ago, when Carmen Titita Ramirez Degollado’s husband opened a simple restaurant in a working-class neighborhood in Mexico City, she never dreamed she’d be running the place.
Since his death 16 years ago, Ramirez Degollado has turned Restaurante Carnitas El Bajio, into a critically acclaimed restaurant whose special dishes feature the cuisine of Veracruz.
In the process, she has become one of Mexico’s foremost authorities on the food of her region.
During a recent visit to Chicago, Ramirez Degollado introduced the traditional cooking of Veracruz to a class of 30 eager students at Frontera Grill. The class, rapidly taking notes between sips of the rich coffee of Veracruz (and Mexico’s best, she says), quickly catches the passion of this culinary evangelist.
Veracruz, in eastern Mexico along the Gulf of Mexico, “is a state that boasts of happy people, a long coastline and much fish,” says Ramirez Degollado, dressed in the embroidered white outfit typically worn by the mayoras, the revered female cooks who hold the secrets of the Mexican kitchen.
“It also is very famous for cooking its fish and fowl such as quail and duck. There is an incredible amount of indigenous produce–especially herbs like epazote, my favorite.”
With that, she drops an enormous bunch of the pungent herb into a kettle of broth made from blue crabs. The broth simmers with roasted tomato, onion, fresh chilies, cinnamon and black pepper and becomes one of the region’s specialties, chilpachole de jaiba, an aromatic and spicy crab soup.
More familiar to the students is the state’s most popular culinary contribution–the jalapeno chili, named after Jalapa, the capital of Veracruz. But Ramirez Degollado, unfamiliar with the larger, milder jalapenos found in the United States, finds she needs to add a few more to properly season the chilpachole.
Content with the heat level of the soup, Ramirez Degollado turns the class over to one of her five children, Maria Teresa, also a chef and a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
Working quietly, the young woman transforms a bowl of freshly rendered pork lard, flour, eggs, sugar and a bit of Spanish sherry into a pie crust. Before adding a lattice top, she mounds a sherry-infused prune filling in the center of the crust. Served warm with a mug of Mexican chocolate, this Veracruz specialty astounds the class with its tender crust and rich filling.
Black salsa, or salsa negra, is also intriguing. Ramirez Degollado begins the preparation by frying a half pound of smoky, deep red chipotle chilies (also known as chiles moritas) in oil until they are deeply colored and perfume the air with their pungency. Garlic cloves are added to the frying oil while the chilies soak in hot water sweetened with piloncillo (unrefined sugar). The whole mixture is pureed and then fried again until it is practically black in color and rich in flavor.
Ramirez Degollado also prepares pescado en adobillo, a tangy chili-seasoned Veracruz fish dish. Served chilled or at room temperature, she says it is perfect for warm-weather entertaining.
“It also is a beautiful example of mestizo cuisine because it combines the native chilies with the olive oil and vinegar brought to Mexico by the Spanish.”
TANGY CHILI-SEASONED FISH FILLETS
(PESCADO EN ADOBILLO)
Preparation time: 1 hour
Soaking time: 24 hours
Chilling time: Several hours or overnight
Yield: 8 servings
The fish can be grilled or fried in a small amount of oil before marinating it in the rich, yet mild, red chili sauce.
5 dried ancho chilies, see note
1/4 teaspoon each: cumin seeds, black peppercorns
1 small ripe tomato
1 small white onion, thickly sliced
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil to taste
4 to 5 tablespoons cider vinegar, or to taste
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1 1/4 pounds small new red potatoes, cooked, peeled
8 small skinless red snapper fillets, 4 to 6 ounces each
Thinly sliced white onion, flat-leaf parsley for garnish
1. Break the stems off the chilies and split them open. Shake out the seeds and tear out the lighter-colored veins. Put into a bowl and add hot water to cover. Cover with a plate to keep chilies submerged and let soak 24 hours. Strain, reserving the chilies and soaking liquid separately.
2. Lightly toast the cumin seeds in a small skillet just until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Remove to a spice grinder or coffee mill and grind along with the pepper into a powder.
3. Broil the tomato 4 inches from the heat source, turning often, until the skin blackens nicely on all sides, 10 to 14 minutes. Remove the core and put the tomato (with the skin) into a blender or food processor. Meanwhile, put the onion slices on a sheet of foil in a cast-iron skillet or on a griddle and cook over medium-high until nicely browned on both sides, about 10 minutes. Put the garlic cloves into the skillet and roast them until the skin is blackened and the garlic is soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Peel the garlic.
4. Add onion slices, peeled garlic, cumin and black pepper to the blender. Add soaked chilies and process, adding just enough of the soaking liquid to keep the mixture moving, into a puree. Push the puree through a medium-mesh wire strainer into a bowl. Season with oil, vinegar and salt.
5. Prepare a hardwood charcoal fire or heat the gas grill. Grill the fish, 6 inches from the heat source, until cooked, about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Cool the fish; place it on an attractive, deep-serving platter. Place the potatoes around the fish. Cover the fish and potatoes with the chili sauce and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
6. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature garnished with sliced onions and parsley sprigs.
Note: Dried ancho chilies are available in Mexican markets, many large supermarkets and specialty stores such as Whole Foods and Fresh Fields.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories…..185 Fat……………6 g Cholesterol…..28 mg
Sodium….575 mg Carbohydrates….14 g Protein……….18 g
