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It's early morning at the Mayan ruins of Uxmal on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, and chef Patricia Quintana and I are the only people in sight. From our vantage point high on the steps of the crumbling Palacio del Gobernador, we see massive gray stone structures with fantastically carved serpents and masks all around us. There is nothing that an ancient Mayan wouldn't have recognized—except for us, that is.
"You see," says Quintana as we make our way down the steep, uneven stones, "before the tour buses arrive, you can almost feel what it would have been like for the Mayans before the conquistadors."
Quintana, the chef and co-owner of Izote, one of the hottest restaurants in Mexico City, is passionate about tracing Mexican cuisine back to its pre-Columbian roots. She's especially fascinated by the Yucatán, where she's made dozens of trips over the past quarter century to research her 14 cookbooks. Yucatán cuisine is distinctive partly because the region was geographically isolated from the rest of the country for centuries, Quintana explains as we head toward the market in the capital of Mérida, on the northwestern side of the peninsula. Our driver speeds along the Paseo de Montejo—a broad avenue lined with faded colonial mansions in varying states of restoration. This part of Mérida, just outside the center of the city, is architecturally reminiscent of Havana: The Yucatán peninsula juts into the Caribbean Sea, so Mérida is actually closer to Cuba than it is to Mexico City.
The Spanish influences on the cuisine are strong—the conquistadors arrived in the 16th century—but so are those of the Mayans, whom the Spanish were never quite able to obliterate, despite their bloody efforts. Northern Europeans have left their legacy too, particularly the Dutch: Holland was an active trading partner in the 19th century, when Mérida was the center for the production of henequen, a fiber traditionally used for making rope.
"The corn, the chocolate and the honey, the venison and wild turkey, squash, cucumbers, chiles and tomatoes are from the Mayans," Quintana says. "The pork and Seville oranges come from Spain, and the Edam cheese from the Dutch."
Edam? It sounds strange, but as we enter the dim, narrow lanes of the huge covered market, I see balls of Edam and Gouda everywhere, piled into pyramids next to dozens of bins of earth-toned recados, the ubiquitous herb-and-spice pastes. Quintana stops in front of the tubs of recados. "Each one of these is for a different dish, and people buy a few cents' worth to use that day," she says.
I lean over to catch a whiff of a ruddy paste made of annatto and other spices. The scent, musky, sharp and very intense, is completely different from the nutty, grassy odor of the greenish one next to it, made of pumpkin seeds, or the peppery aroma of the brown paste behind it. "The dark one is a spice paste made of cloves, black peppercorns and other spices and tastes of earth and fruit," Quintana explains, raising three manicured fingers to her lips as if she were tasting it. "It's for pavo en escabeche—spice-rubbed turkey. There's a touch of vinegar in the sauce and a lot of onions and garlic. When I make it, I serve it with a roasted green-chile sauce and warm, soft tortillas."
This passion for cooking developed at an early age. The daughter of cattle ranchers, Quintana grew up in Mexico City and spent summers in Veracruz running barefoot through the houses of the workers, who would always give her a little treat—a sliver of pork, a nibble of tortilla, a ripe piece of fruit.
"I wanted to be like them," she confides. "I couldn't, of course, but I could learn their recipes, which define the essence of a person." So, with every gift of food, she began asking, "How do you make this?" And she would stay and watch the women cook every morning, moving from one house to the next to learn something new.
Watching Quintana maneuver quickly from stall to stall in the market, it's easy to imagine her as a little girl, inquisitive and earnest. Even as an adult, her efforts are rewarded with morsels of food. By asking an older Mayan woman wearing a hipil (a traditional white embroidered dress) about her roasting method, she talks her way into tastes of cochinita pibil, the pit-roasted pig marinated in sour Seville orange juice, garlic and that intense-smelling red recado made from annatto seeds.
"Before the Spanish introduced pigs," Quintana says as we eat the tender shreds of pork with pink pickled onions, "the Mayans pit-roasted venison with a similar recado. At Izote, I sometimes use the same paste for ribs."
This snack whets our appetite, but it's only 11:30, too early for lunch. So instead we head back to the Paseo de Montejo, and go to Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, a sorbet shop and café where hordes of schoolchildren usually congregate in the afternoon. We pick five flavors of sorbet—including nance (similar to a yellow plum), saramullo (a tropical fruit that tastes like honeydew) and a fantastic sweet corn—and the house specialty merengue, puffy pyramids that are soft inside but have crunchy brown tops. We also share a few rich, nut-colored shortbread cookies called polvorones, which are made with toasted flour and brown butter.
Afterward, we walk around the 16th-century Plaza Grande, Mérida's central square, where visitors come to see the colonial Spanish cathedral, the Casa de Montejo (a faded stately mansion converted to a bank) and a museum of contemporary Yucatán art. Snaking our way through the alleys behind the plaza, we end up at La Prosperidad, which specializes in botanas (little snacks), with a thatched roof and a band playing the greatest hits of Mexican pop. Occasionally, a diner gets up and sings, swaying arm in arm with the bandleader, a jeans-clad crooner in a Panama hat. Quintana orders us a round of micheladas, a tangy mix of lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and good, dark Yucatán beer. "It will bring your appetite back," she promises me.
A good thing, since the botanas that come out are irresistible; they include papadzules, hard-cooked eggs wrapped in corn tortillas with pumpkin-seed sauce and sopa de lima, a chicken-tortilla soup that's flavored with a fragrant local variety of sour lime. We eat all of it with xnipek, the ubiquitous table sauce of habanero chiles, scallions, citrus juices and cilantro. Xnipek translates to "dog's nose"—it's so spicy, one's nose starts to run after eating it.
By the time we leave La Prosperidad, it's started to rain, so we decide to head back to our hotel, the Hacienda Xcanatún, about 20 minutes outside the city. After drying off in my room, I meet Quintana at the hacienda's bar and order the house cocktail, an icy margarita-like concoction made with the local anise-and-honey liqueur called xtabentún. A few minutes later, Cristina Baker joins us. Baker and her husband, Jorge Ruz, bought the 18th-century hacienda eight years ago and spent five years restoring the property, creating 18 suites, each with its own terrace, while keeping much of the traditional stone buildings intact. (In Mayan, xcanatún means "tall stone house.") Once part of a henequen-producing estate, the hacienda was abandoned in the 1950s or '60s after the introduction of synthetics for ropemaking reduced the demand for henequen. Many such estates throughout the Yucatán have been bought by young entrepreneurs and turned into small hotels and restaurants.
As we discuss our plans for the next day, Quintana says she must try the queso relleno, a stuffed cheese rind that's a Yucatán delicacy. "Queso relleno is really the hollowed-out Edam cheese," Baker tells us. "The soft part of the cheese, the center, was scooped out by the patrón, the boss. The servants got the rind, which they stuffed and steamed."
Baker says that Reyna Gallegos, her friend's Mayan cook, makes a fantastic queso relleno and she arranges for her to cook with Quintana the next afternoon. So in the morning, Quintana and I head to Izamal, a colonial town built on top of the ruins of a Mayan city that was dedicated to the sun god, Kinich-Kakmó. After the Spanish invaded, they used the stones from the temples to build an ochre-hued cathedral. If you look at the floor, you can see a carved mazelike pattern, a hallmark of Mayan design. Around town, hulking Mayan ruins still stand, pyramids of grey punctuating the green landscape.
For lunch, Baker recommends the restaurant Kinich-Kakmó, which has a traditional oval-shaped Mayan hut in the back garden. There's a pleasant shaded garden, but we choose to stay inside, where two Mayan woman are making tortillas over an open fire.
"You can see the irregular pieces of corn in the masa—you know this is stone-ground by hand," Quintana says. These tortillas, which taste of fresh toasted corn, smoky from the fire, are steamy and wonderful; they're delicious fried and served with the vinegary turkey en escabeche.
When we return to Hacienda Xcanatún, Gallegos is already in the kitchen, an apron tied over the elaborately embroidered hipil she made herself. Her Spanish, tinged with a musical Yucatán accent and riddled with Mayan words, is hard for me to understand. But it's easy to follow her deft hands as, over the next two hours, she scrubs and trims the cheese rind to leave only the thinnest shell, then fills it with a near-black mixture of ground beef, raisins, olives, almonds and spices that have been fried together until nearly caramelized. The stuffed cheese rind, wrapped in cheesecloth and banana leaves, is then steamed until the inside turns molten and runny. The patróns didn't know what they were missing.
Before we eat, Gallegos stoops over the food she's prepared and pauses to recite a prayer in her low Yucatán patois. Half in Spanish and half in Mayan, her blessing—over the Dutch cheese—is fitting for a cuisine and a region that, over the centuries, have evolved into their own compelling hybrid of so many cultures.
Yucatán Lime and Chicken Soup
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
4 medium tomatoes
1 large white onion, unpeeled, plus 1/2 cup minced onion, for garnish
21 garlic cloves, peeled (2 heads)
3 whole chicken breasts on the bone (about 1 1/4 pounds each)
3 quarts chicken stock, low-sodium broth or water
2 limes, zest finely grated and limes halved, plus wedges for serving
20 allspice berries
1 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican, plus more for sprinkling
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 large scallions, minced
Twelve 6-inch corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
2 banana chiles or jalapeños, seeded and minced
1. Preheat the oven to 500°. Arrange the tomatoes on a small rimmed baking sheet. Set the unpeeled onion in a pie plate with 6 of the garlic cloves. Roast the vegetables on the top rack of the oven until blackened on top and tender, about 10 minutes for the garlic, 20 for the tomatoes and 30 for the onion. Let cool slightly, then cut the onion in half. Press the tomatoes through a coarse strainer.
2. In a large saucepan, cover the chicken breasts with the stock. Add the lime zest and lime halves, allspice, oregano, the remaining 15 garlic cloves and a pinch each of salt and pepper and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add the roasted onion, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.
3. Transfer the chicken to a platter and let cool. Gently simmer the broth for 10 minutes, then strain. Wipe out the saucepan. Remove the chicken from the bones and tear it into thick shreds.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the saucepan. Add the scallions and roasted garlic; mash the cloves to a paste with a fork. Cook over moderately high heat until the scallions are browned, 4 minutes. Add the strained tomatoes and simmer until the fat separates from the sauce, about 5 minutes. Add the strained broth and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 cup of oil until shimmering. Add one-fourth of the tortilla strips and fry over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips, lowering the heat if the oil gets too hot.
6. Add the chicken to the broth and cook until heated through. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the tortilla strips and sprinkle with oregano. Serve, passing lime wedges, minced onion and banana chiles at the table.
Garlic-Rubbed Spareribs
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
Patricia Quintana loves to roast meat and fish in banana leaves, which add flavor and keep food moist and succulent. She cooks pork spareribs that way, then serves them with warm tortillas and bowls of garnishes alongside. You can also shred the sparerib meat, mix it with the onions it was roasted with and the pan juices and use the combination as a filling for the tortillas.
ingredients
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons annatto (achiote) seeds
16 garlic cloves, 10 halved
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
2 tablespoons freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 racks large pork spareribs (about 3 1/2 pounds each), trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt
6 banana leaves, about 12 by 18 inches each (optional; see Note), thawed and patted dry
18 bay leaves
3 small red onions, thinly sliced
Two dozen 6-inch corn tortillas
1. In a small saucepan, cover the annatto seeds with water, bring to a boil and simmer over moderate heat for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 2 hours. Drain the seeds and pat dry with paper towels. Transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a paste.
2. Preheat the oven to 500°. Put the 6 whole garlic cloves in a pie plate and roast on the top rack of the oven for about 10 minutes, or until blackened on top. In a food processor, puree the roasted garlic with the halved garlic cloves and the onion. Add the annatto paste, oregano, pepper, grapefruit and orange juices and oil and process until blended.
3. Rub the spareribs with 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Set 1 of the racks in a large roasting pan and coat with one-third of the annatto marinade. Repeat with the remaining ribs and marinade, stacking the racks on top of each other. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line each of 3 large rimmed baking sheets with a banana leaf. Set a rack of ribs on each leaf, meaty side up. Arrange 6 bay leaves and one-third of the red onion slices on each rack and cover with a second banana leaf. Cover each pan tightly with foil and bake for about 2 1/2 hours, or until the ribs are very tender; shift the pans halfway through cooking. Remove the spareribs from the oven and let cool, covered, for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, wrap the tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for about 10 minutes.
5. Preheat the broiler. Uncover the ribs and discard the banana leaves, onions and bay leaves. Broil the ribs, 1 rack at a time, 8 inches from the heat, for about 4 minutes, until crispy; baste occasionally with the pan juices.
6. Cut the racks into ribs and serve with the warm tortillas and bowls of Pickled Red Onions and Yucatán Table Sauce.
MAKE AHEAD: The recipe can be prepared through Step 3; refrigerate overnight.
NOTES: Banana leaves are available in the freezer section of Latin and Asian markets and in the fresh produce section of some supermarkets.
Pickled Red Onions
Recipe by Deborah Madison, from The Winter Garden
Makes about 2 cups
These onions are a great addition to salads, but they're also wonderful on burgers or hot dogs or with grilled poultry or meats.
1 1/2 cups white wine or cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large, dark red onion, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds
3 cups boiling water
1. In a medium bowl, combine the vinegar and cold water with the sugar and salt. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt.
2. Put the onion slices in a colander and pour the boiling water over them. Rinse under cool water and drain. Add the onion to the vinegar brine, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.
MAKE AHEAD: The onions can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Citrus Dressing
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
2 pounds large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 ripe Hass avocados—halved, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the shrimp until loosely curled and just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain well; transfer to a large bowl and let cool slightly.
2. In a small bowl, combine the grapefruit and lime juices, vinegar and oregano and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of the citrus dressing to the shrimp, toss well and season with salt and pepper. Season the tomatoes and avocado slices with salt and pepper and arrange on a platter with the onion, alternating and overlapping the slices. Spoon the remaining citrus dressing over the salad and top with the shrimp. Drizzle olive oil over all and serve immediately.
Spicy Orange and Jicama Salad
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
6 small navel oranges
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup jicama sticks (3 by 1/2 inches)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
Salt
Cayenne pepper
1. Working over a bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the orange sections into the bowl; pour off and reserve the orange juice for another use. Toss the orange slices with the onion slices and the jicama, sprinkle with the cilantro and season with salt and cayenne. Cover and refrigerate the salad until chilled, about 2 hours. Serve cold or slightly chilled.
MAKE AHEAD: The salad can be refrigerated overnight.
Yucatán Table Sauce
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Makes about 1 Cup
This all-purpose hot sauce is called xnipek, or dog's nose, because it's so spicy it makes your nose as moist as a dog's. It is prepared with two kinds of chiles, including fiery habaneros.
2 jalapeños
4 scallions, minced
3 habanero or Scotch bonnet chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Salt
1. Roast the jalapeños directly over an open flame or under a preheated broiler, turning, until blackened all over. Put the jalapeños in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 5 minutes. Discard the blackened skins, stems and seeds; cut the jalapeños into thin strips.
2. In a bowl, mix the jalapeños, scallions, habaneros, cilantro and grapefruit, orange and lime juices; season with salt.
MAKE AHEAD: The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Turkey Breast Escabeche with Onions and Poblanos
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
Escabeche—loosely defined as pickling—is a classic Spanish cooking preparation brought to the Yucatán by the conquistadors. Prepared with partridge in Spain, in Mexico it is often made with chicken or small turkeys. Grilling the poultry over charcoal adds a fabulous smoky flavor.
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
8 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt
1 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
One 5-pound whole boneless turkey breast with skin, halved lengthwise, tenderloins reserved for another use
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 quart water
4 poblano or banana chiles
Vegetable oil, for brushing
Chile-Herb White Rice, for serving
1. In a spice grinder, grind the oregano, cumin, peppercorns and cloves to a powder. On a work surface, using the side of a heavy knife, mash the garlic with 2 teaspoons of salt and transfer to a small bowl. Stir in the 1 1/2 tablespoons of vinegar and the ground spices.
2. Rub 1 tablespoon of the spice paste onto the meaty side of each turkey breast half and 1/2 tablespoon of the paste onto the skin side. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, put the onions in a large bowl and add the 1 cup of vinegar. Toss well and let stand for 1 hour.
4. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, bring the water to a boil. Stir in the remaining spice paste and add the turkey breast halves, skin side down. Cover partially and simmer over moderately low heat for 30 minutes. Turn the breasts over and simmer until just cooked through and tender, about 30 minutes longer.
5. Meanwhile, roast the poblanos directly over an open flame or under a preheated broiler, turning, until blackened all over. Transfer the poblanos to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 5 minutes. Discard the blackened skin, the stems and seeds and cut the poblanos into thin strips.
6. Transfer the turkey breasts, skin side up, to a baking sheet and let cool until warm. Cover with plastic so the meat doesn't dry out.
7. Drain the onions and add to the cooking liquid. Cover and simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 12 minutes. Uncover and simmer over moderately high heat for 3 minutes. Add the poblano strips and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes. Season the cooking liquid with salt.
8. Preheat the broiler. Brush the skin with oil and broil the turkey breasts about 6 inches from the heat for about 2 minutes, until browned and crisp, rotating the pan as needed. Transfer the turkey to a carving board and let rest for a few minutes. Slice the turkey about 1/3 inch thick and arrange the slices on a platter. Spoon the onion-and-poblano cooking liquid over the turkey breasts and serve with Chile-Herb White Rice.
MAKE AHEAD: The spice rub can be refrigerated overnight. The poblanos can be roasted and refrigerated overnight.
Chile-Herb White Rice
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, halved
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups long-grain rice
3 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, plus 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 large jalapeño, 1 half cut into 6 slices, the other half minced
1. In a mini processor, puree the onion and garlic. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil. Add the puree and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the water and salt, stir well and bring to a boil. Add the parsley sprigs and jalapeño slices, cover and cook over low heat for 25 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover the rice and immediately wipe the underside of the lid dry. Discard the parsley sprigs and jalapeño slices and fluff the rice. Transfer the rice to a bowl, garnish with the chopped parsley and minced jalapeño and serve right away.
Melted Edam with Beef
Recipe by Patricia Quintana
Serves 6 to 8
Thanks to the Dutch presence in the Yucatán, Edam is ubiquitous at local markets. A whole aged cheese is often stuffed with ground meat and steamed, then served with two sauces: tomato-chile and creamy white. In the U.S., where cheese rinds aren't as sturdy, it's easier to shred and bake the cheese, then top it with the ground meat.
1/4 cup pure olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 Anaheim chiles, coarsely chopped
1 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
1 pound ground beef
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup pitted green olives, chopped
3/4 cup golden raisins (4 ounces)
1/4 cup drained capers
2 large hard-cooked egg yolks, finely chopped
3/4 pound Edam cheese, shredded
1. Preheat the oven to 400°. In a medium skillet, heat the oil. Add the garlic, chiles and onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until lightly browned and softened, about 12 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for 1 minute, then push the mixture to 1 side. Add the ground beef to the skillet. Break it up with a wooden spoon and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until starting to brown, 4 minutes. Stir in the sauce, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat until the meat is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add the olives, raisins and capers and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
2. Spread the cheese in a large, shallow baking dish. Cover with foil and bake until just melted, 10 minutes. Spoon the beef mixture on top and serve hot.
SERVE WITH: Warm corn tortillas and Yucatán Table Sauce.