They came to learn how to cook with mezcal. They came from England, Poland, Australia, the United States and even from the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca. This was as international a mezcal cooking class as one could imagine. Goal of course; In recent years, chef Pilar Cabrera Arroyo has earned a worldwide reputation as one of Mexico’s best cooks, specializing in preparing regional Oaxacan cuisine for both her restaurant La Olla and her cooking school Casa de los Flavors.
I attended the class in May 2015, another mezcal event in my adopted hometown, the city of Oaxaca, located in south central Mexico. Others have included cocktail and mixology sessions; nights of combining the iconic agave-based Mexican spirit with chocolate and craft beer; Mezcal tastings of countless brands of both the intoxicant certified for export and that produced for local consumption (often referred to on drink menus as “agave distillate”); educational programs sponsored by the federal government; formal conferences and briefings on the state of the industry; and of course cooking classes. In my line of work I have to keep up. But the most important thing is that I enjoy learning, despite having been around mezcal for a quarter of a century. The industry is changing rapidly these days.
One of the most recent phenomena, at least in Oaxaca, has been teaching how to cook with mezcal. So it was only natural that chef Pilar put mezcal cooking on her six-week class rotation. She had been using the spirit in recipes for years; in her classes, at her restaurant, and by demonstrating and promoting Oaxacan cuisine outside of Mexico at American and Canadian cooking schools and restaurants.
But ask Chef Pilar if traditional Oaxacan cooks use mezcal as an ingredient in their dishes, and the answer is a resounding NO. But she is not a traditional cook by any means, even though she learned the trade from her maternal grandmother. Chef Pilar comes to the industry through her university program in food sciences and nutrition. As she keeps up with modern trends in gastronomy, mezcal is for her an ingredient like other spirits are for the great chefs of the western world.
This particular class began as Chef Pilar invariably does, with a brief overview of what will be prepared in class and the ingredients that will be purchased at a local market. Where others may not be ready to improvise, Chef Pilar points out that there could be an additional recipe and dish in the mix, depending on the availability of seasonal produce. “The rainy season is just beginning, so we may find some fresh wild mushrooms brought down from the sierra early this morning, and then I can decide what to do with them,” she advises. She then asks if there are any vegetarians in the group and if anyone has a food allergy.
The visit to the market also went according to plan, with chef Pilar shopping for ingredients while pointing out and explaining particular chilies, some tropical fruits, worms and grasshoppers, tejate, masa and more. That day we also attended a fresh fish market for shrimp and red snapper, the latter being a key ingredient for ceviche al mezcal, a last-minute addition to the class menu.
Good chefs are always willing to adapt and learn. Pilar is no exception, and where she stands out from some others who instruct, is in not hiding from her students the fact that she is always eager to learn and she doesn’t know everything. For example, our special guest was a traditional cook from the Mixteca Alta district of Oaxaca. She had brought some unique ingredients from her region to teach how to make a particular sauce, a second complement to the fixed five-course menu. Chef Pilar asked questions in order to learn about the chiles and nuts used and how to incorporate them into the salsa recipe, just like the rest of us did.
Not all recipes are suitable for mezcal as a complement, especially some moles; and so neither our yellow chicken nor the memelites were made with the liquor. Some dishes you just don’t play with. And each dish asks for a different mezcal. It’s the same as mixing cocktails, although some bartenders would disagree and say that a cocktail should be made with any cheap old mezcal. I suggest they haven’t taken Mixology 101.
Four of our seven dishes were made with mezcal: ceviche, cottage cheese pie (similar to ricotta) with chocolate sauce, shrimp skewers with mango sauce, and Oaxacan pasilla chili sauce with worms (not surprisingly made with mezcal). of worm). Although most dishes incorporate sprat, each particular bottle must be carefully selected as the agave variety is capable of producing so many different nuances. I was asked to choose the appropriate ones based on what Chef Pilar indicated that she needed to impart through the mezcal.
It was a practical class, with each student in charge of preparing each dish. And when all was said and done, before we sat down to our exquisitely prepared meal, there was naturally a mezcal tasting session.
I encourage readers to plan dates for their visit to Oaxaca based on Chef Pilar’s mezcal cooking class schedule, although private individual and group spirit-focused classes can be scheduled for other dates by contacting her well in advance. .
If the above hasn’t been convincing enough to illustrate the value of a mezcal cooking class, then perhaps this recipe, reproduced with permission from the class I attended:
ORDER PAYMENT WITH MEZCAL CHOCOLATE SAUCE
6 servings
INGREDIENTS
4 ounces of Oaxacan chocolate
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided (see preparation below)
1 piece of Mexican cinnamon
1 tablespoon (or maybe a little more) espadín mezcal
1 package (about 42) Maria cookies
1 ½ cups cottage cheese (ricotta sub)
4 eggs
¾ cup evaporated milk
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
Zest of 1 lime
PREPARATION
1. For the chocolate sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the chocolate, 4 tablespoons butter, cinnamon, and ½ cup water, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the mezcal. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
3. Melt remaining butter. Put the cookies in a blender. Pulse until crumbs form. Add the melted butter. Pulse until the crumbs start to clump together. Transfer to a 12 X 8-inch baking pan. Using your fingers, press evenly into the crumbs to form a crust. Set aside.
4. In a blender, blend cottage cheese, eggs, evaporated milk, condensed milk, and lemon zest until smooth. For in the prepared crust.
5. Bake until cheese filling is set, about 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
6. To serve, cut pie into 6 pieces. Lay each piece on a flat dessert. Drizzle chocolate sauce over each serving.