I arrived in Puerto Escondido after a torturous, six hour, stomach churning ride over the Sierra Madre. I made my way from the bus station to my new Mexican family’s house using the directions I’d written on a scrap of paper. I nervously passed what would be my new family dog “Roca”, an aggressive bulldog but apparently named due to his stupidity as well as solid stature. I knocked on the door and was warmly welcomed by Eduardo and Zorbeda, my new Mexican madre and padre.
I’d already had my first authentic taste of Mexican food in Mexico City and Oaxaca on my way down to Puerto and it had blown my mind! The fresh flavours and incredible spices were like nothing I’d ever heard of, let alone seen in the UK. On arrival I wondered; ‘where the hell are all the burritos and fajitas?’ I was quickly educated that the Mexican food as we know it here in the UK are actually all American inventions. “Gringo Food”.
Zorbeda was an incredible cook and I learned a lot from her both in the kitchen and on trips to the market where she introduced me to new tropical fruits and vegetables. Guanabana quickly became my smoothie of choice.
Back to tortillas; The Beetle delivered every morning. The local tortilleria churned out thousands. They were about as fresh as you can get and ay ay ay did they taste great! My days of eating tortillas that taste like cardboard were over. Tacos are like sandwiches to Mexicans, you can buy them everywhere. The tortillas in all their forms are visible everywhere, from the blue corn tortillas chips accompanying your bottle of Indio beer (or Coronita if you’re feeling flashy) to fried taquitos from street food stalls.
As well as learning the recipes we use in our food truck I also learnt one valuable lesson about Mexican food. Nothing can beat fresh tortillas.
As more and more people discover the wonderful world of authentic Mexican food the demand for good corn tortillas grows. Completely dismissing the well know Tex-Mex brand who sell their token corn/cardboard tortillas, you can buy corn tortillas from Mexico in the UK. Unsurprisingly they tend not to be too great as they have travelled 5000 miles and are packed with preservatives. One or two tortillerias have popped up in the UK in recent years (including ours here) but we’re still yet to find anywhere that comes close to what you’d find in Mexico.
Our advice; buy your Mexican food from a place that makes their tortillas fresh each morning and you’ll notice the difference. If you wouldn’t go to a bakery and buy yesterday’s bread don’t settle for less with tortillas. If you’re making Mexican food yourself, buy a bag of masa and a tortilla press, you’ll never look back.
Buen Provecho!
Chris
the little taquero
