As you may or may not know, I am living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for 10 weeks. It is not a vacation per se, as my husband and I are basically just working from a different location, albeit a warmer location.
I’ve just begun to realize that the time here is going to fly by, so I have my “To Do” list in hand and am hoping to enjoy and explore as much of this town as I can. As you do know, I am a total foodie. Therefore, a cooking class was at the top of my list.
Surprisingly, there aren’t that many organized cooking classes in Puerto Vallarta. There are a few people that do them out of their homes and I found one restaurant, El Arrayán, that holds monthly classes (seasonal). I had eaten at this particular restaurant during my last visit to Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago and enjoyed it, so I expected a good class with good food.
If you are wondering what the word “arrayán” means, it is a species of tree that bears a small sweet and tart fruit by the same name. It grows in and around the region of Jalisco, México (the area I’m in). The restaurant actually has its own arrayán tree growing in the courtyard.
The class was held on Monday, January 24 (2011). We met at the restaurant at 9:30 a.m. I was a little late (only 2 minutes) due to the longer-than-expected walk but everyone was there and I missed the introductions. I was greeted by Carmen Porras, the owner with the vision to showcase genuine Mexican food by exclusively using the highest quality ingredients and creating an authentic experience for guests. She and a partner opened the restaurant in November of 2003 and it has won numerous awards since then.
The group of roughly 15 consisted mostly of women and the average age was probably 50. It was a great group of people that shared a passion for good food. We squeezed (literally, I had one check on someone’s lap) into a van and a taxi and headed out for breakfast. Since I usually don’t go out for breakfast (I’m traditionally a fruit, yogurt, or granola bar kind of girl), I was looking forward to a traditional Mexican breakfast; specifically I was looking forward to eggs with a Mexican twist (i.e. spicy salsa and maybe some chirizo). Well, I did not get eggs. In fact, I bet you would never guess what I had for breakfast at 10 a.m. on this Monday morning.
We pulled up to a cute little place tucked behind the local supermarket called El Taquito Hidalguense.
My breakfast consisted of two lamb tacos. This was an easy thing to embrace, no matter the time; the tacos were outstanding. I eagerly piled on the condiments: fresh cilantro, chopped white onions, hot salsa, and a mild green salsa.
Most people got Mexican coffee but I was eying the jar of red stuff on the counter; I was finally going to try the red drink I’d seen around town (I didn’t know what it was; therefore I was never confident ordering it). But on this particular morning, during my not-so-typical breakfast, I figured I’d give it a try. It is called agua de jamaica, a tart red drink made from the hibiscus flower. It was really good. Kind of like a cranberry juice in color but much lighter and with a more delicate flavor, pretty much like an iced tea made with flowers. I didn’t find it tart at all, in fact I ordered another.
After “breakfast” we headed out to a couple of local places.
The first stop was a kitchen supply store, which had the basics needed for a Mexican kitchen (home not commercial). There were dishes, silverware, strainers, gadgets, etc… I bought a bowl since we have a serving bowl shortage in the house we are renting.
We then headed to a flour tortilla “factory.” And by factory, I was expecting some huge industrial building with multiple assembly lines; after all a lot of tortillas are eaten in this country. I seriously had the Laverne & Shirley assembly line and theme song in my head.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.
We're gonna do it!
Give us any chance, we'll take it.
Give us any rule, we'll break it.
We're gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin' it our way.
Nothin's gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We're gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin' it our way.
There is nothing we won't try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there's no stopping us.
We're gonna do it.”
Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated.
We're gonna do it!
Give us any chance, we'll take it.
Give us any rule, we'll break it.
We're gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin' it our way.
Nothin's gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We're gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin' it our way.
There is nothing we won't try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there's no stopping us.
We're gonna do it.”
Sorry, now you have the theme song in your head too.
Well, while there was an (as in one) assembly line, there was no factory; just a small, unassuming shop the size of a garage that I think I had walked past before without even noticing. We were able to walk in the cramped space and watch the process, which was cool. It also had me thinking food again a mere one hour after breakfast. The tortillas down here are amazing and the ones hot of the press melt in your mouth!
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| The Tortilla "Factory" from the Outside |
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| Cooling Rack (notice the fan) |
After that we headed over to a little market area. We checked out a bulk food store and a fruit store. There was also cheese, meat, and fish purveyors in this area. It was the kind of food market area I had been seeking and I plan to head back there regularly.
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| Not sure how long they let the meat sit out??? |
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| Corn Tortilla "Factory" |
Our last stop, before heading back to the restaurant, was the shop of one of Carmen’s friends. The store was called Peyote People. The owner was very passionate and informative about his collection of Mexican Folk Art and Native artifacts. This is where I fell in love with a giant peacock.
We arrived back at the restaurant around noon, got our aprons and recipe books, and headed into the roomy kitchen where we proceeded to learn how to make some traditional Mexican dishes. Everything had been prepped and all the mise en place was ready to go.
Everything was measured, organized and put onto trays for each recipe. For a moment I started dreaming about having my very own prep cook; visions of a dishwasher danced through this day dream also.
Back to reality Penelope.
All the dishes were pretty straightforward, nothing to complicated.
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| Chef Mariano Valdés Ruiz preps the pork |
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| Captive Audience |
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| Chef shredding the pork using 2 forks. It went really fast - good technique to use. |
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| The pork simmering with a banana leaf |
Of all the things we prepared, the one thing that surprised me was the beans. I’m not a huge bean person but I do eat them because beans are good for you, right? Protein and fiber and all that. Well, these beans that we made were amazing, but not exactly healthy. The secret ingredient? Lard! Lots of lard. I believe it was duck fat; we’re talking about 4-5 cups of the stuff along with sautéed garlic and onions. Carmen tried to inform us that there are new studies out that lard isn’t as bad for you as originally thought. Yeah right, I thought; but in the same breath, I decided to believe her so I could eat these beans without the guilt. “Lard is good for you.” Seriously, these were the best refried beans I’ve ever had. (FYI – Refried just means cooked twice; they aren’t really fried. Then again, with the lard they may as well have been.) I actually have cousin, Eric, who once told me if he could only eat one thing for the rest of his life it would be refried beans. I guess if the beans tasted like this I could see where he's coming from.
I liked the pace of the class and the chef did a good job of moving along and offering explanations. And I liked everything we made! I will definitely be making all of these recipes.
We sat down as a group to eat at 2:50.
Our meal started out with a margarita, sopes, and chips with three different types of salsas.
Here is what we learned to cook:
Aguachile de Camarón: Ceviche With shrimp, pineapple marinated in lime juice. Serrano peppers, onions, cucumber, and cilantro.
Cochinita Pibil: From Yucatán. Boneless pork leg marinated in “achiote”. Slow cooked with banana leaves.
Xnipec: Red onion and habanero pepper relish (FYI – The habenero pepper is the second spiciest pepper in the world. Xnipec (pronounced Ch-knee-peck) means running nose. Which I can confirm, this “relish” will make your nose run from the heat.)
Frijoles Negros Refritos: Refried black beans.
Test: Can you tell which of the above photos is mine? Hint: not the top one. I got the top one courtesy of the restaurant. It looks like I have a ways to go on my photography skills. Or maybe I was just hungry and snapped the photo quickly so I could dig in?
Salsa Verde: Fresh tamatillo and Serrano pepper salsa. (no photo, sorry)
Flan de Cajeta: Milk caramel flan.
I'm not usually a flan fan, but I love caramel. The caramel made this flan delicious!
What a feast it was. The food was amazing. Nothing like a 4-course lunch at 3:00 in the afternoon. I was stuffed. I paid $85.00 (US) for the class, which I thought was a little spendy but in the end I thought it was worth it.
Oh! I forgot to mention that I ate a cricket. Carmen brought out a bag of them before our meal arrived. They actually sell bags of crickets there and have a cricket taco on the menu.
Roasted ‘Chapulines’ Tacos
Real crickets, crunchy and tiny, sautéed with red onion and cilantro, mild tomatillo and avocado salsa on the side. An appetizer from the city of Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ka) in southern Mexico.
The women next to me tried one first and said it tasted like a salty nut. I figured what the heck, and popped one into my mouth. Well, I don’t know what kind of salty nuts this lady had in the past but all I could taste was a fried bug, creepy crawly legs and all. Now that I think about it, maybe it hadn’t been fried? Anyway, I tried to take a photo of it in my palm before I put it in my mouth. Apparently, my hand was shaking just having it in my palm and the photo didn’t turn out so good. But I think you get the jest and in a way I’m saving you from the visual. Upon the first chew I found myself quickly reaching for my water; the cricket was making me thirsty.
When I mentioned to my parents a couple days later that I forgot to tell them that I had eaten a cricket, my Mom figured it was an accident and I ate it because it was in my salad or something and my Dad asked if it was because it was dipped in chocolate. He knows me well.
I've actually already made the ceviche at home and it turned out great. I like slicing the shrimp in half and leaving it in bigger pieces and I like the addition of pineapple.
One group participant was a writer from a local media website on assignment covering the cooking class. Check out her article here: http://www.pvpulse.com/en/activities/featured-tours/el-arrayan-cooking-class-and-food-tour FYI - she has a photo of the crickets!
If you find yourself in Puerto Vallarta, I highly recommend a cooking class at El Arrayán. Here is a link to their website: www.elarrayan.com.mx
Cheers!
