Diana Kennedy tells insider's story of Mexican cuisine
BY BARBARA ALBRIGHT
For AP Weekly Features | Wednesday, December 03, 2003
She is the author of many books, including "The Art of Mexican Cooking" (1989), "My Mexico" (1998) and "The Essential Cuisines of Mexico" (2000).
She has been decorated with the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given to foreigners by the Mexican government, and she received a lifetime achievement award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), in recognition of her superlative career in the food world.
A native of England, Kennedy moved to Mexico in 1957 to marry Paul P. Kennedy, a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. She had always loved to cook and eat, she says, and she dived headfirst into learning about the cuisine of Mexico.
At the suggestion of Craig Claiborne, then New York Times food writer, she began to teach Mexican cooking classes in 1969. In 1972, she published her first cookbook, "Cuisines of Mexico."
Wanting her cooking to be as authentic as possible, she roamed the country in her white pickup truck, her sleeping bag packed with her, as she researched and recorded recipes, techniques, and the history and folklore of foods from all over Mexico.
Kennedy spoke by phone from her Mexican home, before preparing recipes from her latest book, "From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients" (Clarkson Potter, 2003, $40.00).
I had met her 15 years ago in action at a book fair, and I was reminded of how impressed I was with her high energy, attention to detail, and well-researched books.
"I want the recipes to be absolutely authentic, but sometimes you have to work to get a fabulous meal," Kennedy said, talking about her mission in her writing and teaching, and her attention to rigorous detail.
Today, Kennedy lives much of the year in an ecologically planned adobe house in Michoacan, Mexico, which also serves as a research center for Mexican cuisine.
Chilies Rellenos
About the chili poblano, Kennedy writes: "It is also known as chile para rellenar or `chile for stuffing,' as gordo in Jalisco and as jaral in the state of Mexico, among others. In the United States, it is often marked 'pasilla,' which indicates something dried and wrinkled, or the oxymoronic name, 'fresh pasilla.' When ripened on the plant, then dried, the poblano becomes the chile ancho."
Preparation for stuffing:
* Place the whole chiles over the open flame of a gas stove or on a charcoal grill, turning them from time to time until the skin is blistered and lightly charred. If you do not have a gas stove, then wipe the surface of the chiles lightly with oil and put them up under a hot electric grill, about 2 inches from the element and turn them from time to time until blistered all over.
* Place them immediately inside a paper or plastic bag and set aside to steam for about 10 minutes; this process will loosen the skin. Then remove the skin by just running your hands down the chile. Wipe off any pieces of reluctant skin with a damp cloth.
* Do not rinse as some cooks and writers suggest; you will lose all the concentrated juices and impair the flavor. Do not put into a hot oven; the skins may blister, but the flesh will be cooked too much.
* Make a vertical slit on one side of the charred and peeled chile and carefully cut out the placenta at the top, which holds most of the seeds; take care to keep the top intact. Try to remove some of the veins without shredding the flesh of the chile.
The following recipe for pork filling for poblano chilies is Kennedy's favorite filling for rellenos, most likely because it was the first one she learned in 1957.
"Some cooks prefer to mix pork with beef or other meats -- a popular filling is now made with chicken," Kennedy says.
"But whatever meats you want to use, you will have better results if you poach and shred the meat -- ground meat just doesn't give the same flavor and texture, and besides you don't have the delicious broth for the tomato sauce.
"Fry the meat in lard if you can bear it. You will need about .5 cup filling for each poblano chile."
Pork Filling For Poblano Chiles
Cooking the meat:
2 pounds boneless pork with some fat, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
Salt to taste
Seasoning the meat:
4 to 5 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
2/3 cup finely chopped white onion
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
8 peppercorns, lightly crushed
1/2-inch cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
1-1/4 pounds tomatoes, roughly chopped, about 2.75 cups
3 heaped tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons blanched and slivered almonds
2 heaped tablespoons acitron or candied pineapple (see note)
Salt to taste
* Put the meat into a large saucepan with the onion, garlic and salt. Barely cover with water, cover the pan, and cook over medium heat until tender but not soft, 35 to 40 minutes. If you have time, leave the meat to cool in the broth for better flavor. If not, strain and reserve the broth; set the broth and meat aside to cool.
* When cool enough to handle, shred the meat roughly, discarding any large pieces of fat and cartilage. Then chop the meat to a medium consistency. You should have about 3 cups. Skim the broth and set aside.
* Melt the lard in a large skillet and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the meat, sprinkle with the spices, and cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time and scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid sticking until it begins to brown very lightly, about 8 minutes.
* Blend the tomatoes to a textured puree, add to the pan, and cook over fairly high heat until the juice has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. (Albright notes: The tomatoes I used were not especially juicy so I added a little of the pork cooking broth.)
* Just before the end of the cooking time, stir in the raisins, almonds, and acitron. The mixture should be moist but not juicy. Stir in salt to taste. Carefully spoon this mixture into skinless and seedless chiles.
* Makes about 3 cups (enough to stuff 6 poblano chilies).
* Note: The large, round biznaga cactus, Echinocactus grandis, is candied and sold under the name of acitron. It can be found in the United States in Mexican bakeries.
* Recipes from "From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients" by Diana Kennedy, Clarkson Potter, 2003, $40.
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