One of my goals in San Miguel de Allende was to take a cooking class. San Miguel has plenty of those, but I wanted something intensive — a place where I could seriously discuss the food and explore some basics that I hadn’t yet grasped in my Thursday night cooking class.
A while back, Rachel Laudan had recommended a woman named Marilau in San Miguel. Marilau’s website was impressive: she had a techniques class that taught how to capear and how to clean nopales, and another called the ABCs of Mexican cooking that taught salsas, moles, pipianes and adobos.
The latter sounded perfect for me. Luckily she had availability, and at my request she graciously squeezed the normally four-day long class into two days.
On the first day — salsas and adobos — I showed up at 10 a.m. to a clean, comfortable room in a house in Col. San Antonio. I thought we were going to start cooking, but instead Marilau started the class with a short lecture about dried and fresh chiles. She explained that it’s not okay to mix dried and fresh chiles, and that even mixing two types of fresh chiles in a salsa no-no. When I asked why not, she said it ruins the salsa’s balance.
“Sabes la palabra cacofonía?” she asked. Do you know the word cacophony? I nodded.
A few minutes later, she presented me with a bowl of anchos, guajillos and pasillas.
“Go ahead, toast them,” she said. I placed several chiles on the comal.
“No, you committed an error,” she said. “Unless you have a lot of experience cooking Mexican food, you should only toast one at a time. Or else they burn. And they make the salsa bitter.”
This was exactly the kind of information I’d been hoping for. How to toast a chile was something my Thursday-night cooking class instructors had glossed over, because they assumed everyone already knew how to do it. And most students did, in fact. Most grew up watching their Mexican mothers or grandmothers cook, and some operate food stands.
Over the next two days, it was exactly those kinds of secrets that I learned — the proper way to toast a chile, to remove its seeds, how to fry a chile and how much lard to use in the pan. I learned that green salsa isn’t as tart after it’s been cooked in a pan, and that cilantro stems should always be used, because they’re the most flavorful.
Truly, though, my epiphany moment happened on the second day, when we made pipiánes and moles. I’d never tasted a fresh pipián before, and it was so luxurious that I told Marilau: “I now know what I want to do with my life. Voy a dedicarme a hacer pipianes.”
The final product was not even the best part. She taught the pipianes and the moles in a way that showed how the flavors played off each other, and how they stacked together to create this complex sauce. We would grind each item individually — fried tortilla, nuts, spices — and add it to the pot, and then taste. I had no idea that ground, fried tortilla could be used as a spice, but that’s what it really was. I also didn’t realize how much a handful of ground raisins could change a mole sauce.
I wish I had more photos to show you, but I was so busy cooking that I didn’t take many pictures. I’m hopefully going to go back this fall to take a few more classes.
If you’re serious about learning Mexican food, you should really seek out Marilau. She is a fantastic resource.
Marilau, Mexican Ancestry Cooking School
Calle de La Luz # 12, Colonia San Antonio
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico 37700
From USA/Canada: 011 +52 (415) 152-4376
Mexico: 01 (415) 152-4376
San Miguel de Allende: 152-4376
Rajas con crema, which we made in the salsa class
A tasting of fresh salsas, made in class
Wow, Leslie, Marilau’s class sounds awesome. Please hurry up and put together a Mexican cookery book with all you’ve learnt; with pictures showing the basics with interviews iwth the ‘teachers’ that you are finding. Simple ‘how to’ pictorials and resource and travel sections. It would be fascinating. I will be the first to stand in line and buy it. I’m vegan too but I’d find a way to adapt recipes.
Thanks for the idea, India. I’d love to see a book that had simple how-to pictorials on how to fold a tamale, and how to de-vein chiles. (For instance.) If you know of any graphic designers who don’t cost an arm and a leg, let me know. 🙂 I think I may just develop this idea further. Appreciate your comment!
Lesley, I think you are an already exceptionally talented photographer but I did recently come across a girl who has your kind of style and has published. http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/03/15-food-photography-tips-for-bloggers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KathysBlogHealthyHappyLife+%28Kathy%27s+Blog%3A+Healthy.+Happy.+Life.%29
You could contact her..
Also, perhaps you could print an blog book (from your blog so far) and then source an agent to publish it for you. You could do this in Mexico for a food or travel publishing company (they need all the help they can get with tourism) and/or approach a cookery book publisher. Good luck. I really think your work and passion is worthy of this Lesley. To think about it, what would be AMAZING also is if you made a colourful food/travel documentary. Mexico has such a bad rap and you seem to be safe and thriving there. I’d like to get the REAL view of the people, their culture (food especially..just because I am a foodie) and age old cooking techniques. You have an exceptional talent because of your love of adventure and your curious nature. Also, I suspect you are probably a people person and they probably open up to you. I have a longing ot visit Mexico but keep putting it off because of what the media report. Anyway, food for thought..
I have indeed taken 3 classes in San Miguel with Marilau, and I agree entirely with your description. If you want to learn to cook and prepare traditional Mexican dishes well, this is the best way to start. It’s not about the recipes: it’s about the ingredients, the techniques, the heritage. Marilau opened my senses to the pleasure of flavors, scents and colors. Forever I am transformed.
Hi Patricia: I’m so glad to hear you had an equally wonderful experience with Marilau. You’re exactly right that it’s not about the recipes. I came away thinking more than ever that Mexican food is actually pretty malleable, even when you’re talking about traditional dishes. You don’t need to exactly measure onion, or put an entire fried, ground tortilla — it’s really to taste, and that’s still considered “authentic.” Thanks for your comment!
I bring specialty tours to San Miguel. Rachel had recommended Marilau to me for a group of chefs, restaurantuers and food historians who cam to San Miguel. Each and every woman, many who teach worldwide, were extremely delighted and impressed with Marilau. I know she would be recommended by them without any hesitation.
So glad you wrote about her……….
Thanks Babs. I’m glad to help her any way I can — I really think she’s one of the few people teaching Mexican food in a way that’s understandable to foreigners. By the way, if anyone else knows of any other great Mexican cooking instructors, I’d love to hear more suggestions.
When there’s that much to learn, why rush things? Surely the essence of getting inside a cuisine is taking the time it needs. And if you only had two days, then do two days’ worth and come back later for more.
Why are we always trying to tailor the world to fit our schedules, instead of yielding to the way other people do things??
Hi Naomi: Marilau would’ve been the best judge on whether we were rushing things, and she didn’t mind. Obviously I wasn’t expecting to learn the entire Mexican cuisine cannon in two days — I had a window, and this worked for me.
So true Leslie, for us Mexicans (specially the girls that is) we grew up learning from our Mothers and Grandmothers how to toast chiles (yo tuesto todos a la vez, pero bueno, tengo años de experiencia) and all those little secrets that are what sets the difference between `auténtica comida casera´ and the rest.
I was truly blessed having two amazing grandmothers who were wonderful home cooks. One was from Puebla and the other from Oaxaca, so I grew up between chiles en nogada, moles and pipianes.
How lucky chica I am!.
Yes indeed Heidi! One of the things I’d love to do this year is start visiting more Mexican home kitchens, and writing about it. (Assuming I could find folks who would let me observe/help/wash dishes.) I appreciate you sharing your memories.
I always thought ground toasted tortillas were used to thicken, but it makes sense that it is a “spice” contributing flavor of toasted corn. And it is good to know that different chiles should be toasted separately.
What a special class this was.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen: Thanks for your comment. I think that ground tortilla does work as a thickener, but it’s overwhelmingly, in my opinion, a spice — just tasting a before-and-after version of pipián or mole, there’s just a stark difference when you add the tortilla. One slurp and it was like a light bulb when off in my head. (e.g., “So *this* is what I’ve been tasting all this time!”)
Sounds very informative, wish I had gone to San Miguel on my recent visit to the cooking classes.
I agree with Indialeigh on a cookbook.
Lesley, haha I can totally relate to your “No, you committed an error,” moment with Marilu. I’ve commit several “errors” under Zarela’s instruction, but those mistakes are the best reminder of the proper way to toast a chile, reconstitute masa or braise meat.
If you’re interested in cooking in a Zapotec kitchen Zarela has a wonderful contact in Oaxaca, named Zoyla. I took a class under her last fall when she visited New York and it was amazing- pipian, segueza, and tamales! Let me know and I’ll ask Zarela for her info for you. xogabriela
what an experience, two days in her kitchen..oh I would have savored every moment..thanks for giving u a small peak inside, tortillas as spices…how simple, yet I would have never thought..
bonnie