The weather, it’s a-changing
By Lila Shaw Lash

As all of us have noticed in San Miguel, winter is on the way—time to dust off the blankets, light the pilot for the gas log, and begin enjoying my favorite part of winter... eating! Eating seasonally means once the weather shifts, so do we. In my mind, it’s a welcome bonus to always have something new and different to anticipate as each season marches by—fresh salads and tomatoes in summer, asparagus and tender baby veggies in spring and hard squash and savory soups in fall and winter. In Mexico, there are endless, exciting culinary treats for the impending cold season, so let’s explore a little.

Mexican hot chocolate with a molillo.

First, no soup worth its salt can be considered soup if it’s not made with the best-quality stock—homemade, in my mind, is all that qualifies. It’s ridiculously easy to make your own chicken stock, as the pollerias are set up to sell huacales and patas (carcasses and chicken feet) for your home kitchen. Usually, huacales will run you five pesos per kilo and patas are a similar price. For approximately four quarts yield (which freezes like a charm in one quart plastic containers), I recommend getting two kilos of huacales and one kilo of patas—for a total of 15 pesos. Could it be any cheaper? The traditional Mexican chicken stock is referred to as “clear” even though the end product reflects the color of the chicken matter. The “clear” reference is to reiterate that you don’t add extra sweetening veggies (carrots, celery, parsley, etc) that are traditional to an American or French chicken stock; just onion, garlic and salt (and a pinch of Mexican oregano, if you’ve got it lying around).

Ibarra is one of the many brands you can find in the supermercados.

Peel the loose skin from the patas and trim the toenails (I’ve spent hours with great Mexican chefs, clipping chicken toenails—fun, fun), break the backs of the huacales to help release the flavor and protein during the simmer and add it all to a good-sized stock pot with a halved onion and a few smashed garlic cloves. Cover with at least five inches of water, bring to boil, then lower to a simmer. A good stock will simmer for at least four hours, then be cooled overnight. After cooling, strain, add optional salt, bring to a boil, skim the fat and you’re good to go. I tend to leave one quart in the refrigerator and freeze the other quarts for later use.

A rich caldo makes for a wonderful sopa azteca.

If you’ve got a great pot of caldo, it’s also nice to have something warm to drink. My favorite tipico choice is traditional hot chocolate. You frequently see the grainy Mexican table chocolate—Abuelita, Ibarra—at tiendas and supermercados, so keep some in your kitchen cabinet. It’s quite simple to combine a few tablets of the chocolate with warm milk, and then let it simmer until the chocolate melts, but it’s also nice to jazz it up with a few additions. First, the traditional Mexican wooden molinillo is great to have for the authentic froth and consistency—you place it between your hands when it’s in the pot of milk, and roll it back and forth between your palms, but fast! Also, to jazz up the flavor, it’s nice to add a pinch of cinnamon and a drop of Mexican vanilla.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you could make a batch with leche bronca (the raw milk that is brought in each morning from the ranchos)—the flavor of real milk cannot be touched by the highly pasteurized and processed stuff you buy at tiendas. I know, I know, all your guidebooks about living in Mexico would never endorse doing such a thing, but you can bring the milk to a slow simmer for a few minutes to mostly pasteurize it, then freeze it for a later use. To be able to drink the real thing is a treat those of us not living on dairy farms rarely get to enjoy.

The weather, it’s a’ a changing, but oh what a treat it is to enjoy each wonderful season. Happy cooking!

Lila Shaw Lash is The Dinner Goddess, a personal chef and catering service for clients in San Miguel de Allende. She can be reached at lila@dinnergoddess.com.