I like to explore different markets, and I always discover something new. I'd traveled around the country before and visited my parents' hometowns (my mother is from Guanajuato my dad is from San Luis Potosí), but everything in Oaxaca tasted brighter and more intense. Seven years ago, when I visited Oaxaca for the first time, with Pujol's chef Enrique Olvera, it was mind-blowing. But as I worked in restaurants, and moved from New York City to Europe, I started taking trips on my own. I get it - my parents left for a reason, wanting a better life for my brother and me. My dad, who usually supports everything I do, was totally against my wanting to go back to Mexico to research the food. As I was learning the science behind soufflés and sauces, I felt like I should have been studying the complexity of moles and the process of nixtamalization that allows us to turn maize into masa. When I went to cooking school to study pastry, I was completely separated from that part of my culture because everything was based on French technique. Living in an immigrant community like that, with tons of taquerias and vendors selling chile-lime-doused fruit on every corner, it feels like you're in Mexico. Growing up first-generation in Little Village, Chicago, I thought I knew Mexican cooking.
0 kommentar(er)
