More on Ottoman-Mexican cuisine, decolonization, pita bread and one last recipe for hummus (my new favorite)
Ottoman heritage in the food of México
After a short segment devoted entirely to hummus, here's the continuation to the essay of the previous post, plus two recipes: a last one to prepare this loving and pacifist chickpea puree —the most beautiful and delicious one I tried so far (I found it a post late, but I couldn't skip sharing it with you)-, and the recipe to make your own pita bread (I promise it's not difficult, you don't even need an oven, just a pan or comal).
So, starting from the last paragraph....
The third reason why the assimilation of Ottoman cuisine into the Mexican palate happened so organically is because this migration from Lebanon to Mexico was not the first time in history when the flavors and techniques of the peoples of Mesoamerica and those of the Near and Middle East met. This had happened, something like 400 years earlier, but under a different narrative and in a different context: European imperialism and colonization;
In short, by the time the first ship from Lebanon arrived at Mexican port, sesame seeds and mole were already old friends (it is no coincidence that to refer to a sociable person in México we say: "they is the sesame of all moles"), along with many other seeds, nuts, and spices that became fundamental in some of these pre-Hispanic chili sauces or chilmollis. And what can we say about chiles en nogada, for example, if we subtract from this emblematic recipe —whose origin dates back to colonial times and not to Iturbide's visit to Puebla, as the myth goes— the chile poblano (which is not even a pure species, but a cross between a chile poblano and green pepper), and the acitron (which is no longer used in its natural version, as it is in danger of extinction), both, the rest of the ingredients —the walnuts, the pomegranate, the pine nuts, almonds, parsley, dairy products, sherry (which is Andalusian), spices (depending on which ones are used, as there are an infinite number of variations), raisins, and other dried, crystallized and fresh fruits (except banana, which is of oceanic origin)— as well as the cooking techniques —the picadillo (which is also of Andalusian influence), the stuffed vegetables, the walnut sauce, and the mixture of salty and sweet— are of Ottoman origin (Rachel Laudan, Gastronomy in Empire. Cuisine in World History, Chapter IV). In fact, in the beginning, this dish was a dessert made by the nuns of Santa Monica to commemorate, in the month of August, the Augustinian celebrations (of the saint, not the emperor, do not get confused again), the modifications that were made to this dish upon the arrival of Iturbide, were mostly decorative, as they were intended to accentuate the colors of the Trigarante flag.
Now, the presence of the egg in this recipe deserves a special paragraph, because, although its origin is not particular to any of the cultures related to this dish, its inclusion is fundamental. As I have said in previous occasions and I repeat here (because then I see respected educational media such as PBS making mistakes of this kind): a chile en nogada that is not covered in egg batter cannot be called chile en nogada, period. You can call it whatever name you want (I use "falso chile en nogada", you can use it too), but it is a different dish. The reason is not nonsense, but has a simple explanation (if you want to consult a more reliable source, here is the link of a talk with an expert on the subject). The capeado (egg batter coating) is irreplaceable because it constitutes the baroque essence of this dish, since it symbolizes the gold coating typical of ecclesiastical altarpieces. This last characteristic —together with the knowledge and creativity of the Augustinian nuns— is, in fact, the only European contribution to the dish.
In summary, we could say that the Mexican cuisine, which was born in colonial times and was nourished by the techniques and ingredients of Mesoamerican cuisine, has a fundamental Ottoman influence. In other words, if we remove all those "golden layers" from our cuisine and decolonize it, then we can realize that the Levant and the Middle East have always been closer to Mexico than we think.
Returning to the series Mo (which, not only I consider an excellent example of this accumulation of cultural influences grounded in contemporary reality, but also has the great quality of belonging to the group of series that are not categorized as food series, but in essence they are) then, the protagonist is not so wrong to argue that by marrying his Mexican girlfriend he is not really marrying "out of his culture" —unlike his sister who married a white Canadian.
The influence of Arab cuisine, especially Lebanese, has always been present among Mexicans, so much so, that products such as pita bread, hummus, and labneh, have never occupied the shelves of the foreign products sections in supermarkets, but rather the local ones. However, since I have been delving deeper into the research of the different cuisines of the Levant and the Middle East, in general, and the Palestinian cuisine, in particular, I keep being amazed at the number of fortunate coincidences and exchanges it has with Mexican cuisine —in both directions— and not only in terms of ingredients and techniques, but also in the way we eat and in the magical, healing, and ritual power we give to food, especially within the worldview of our indigenous peoples.
(To be continued...)
And well, in the following posts we will analyze several dishes and ingredients with these characteristics. But let's start with this last hummus recipe that I found in the documentary that I talked about in the previous post. It is served at Lina, a Palestinian hummuseria located in the heart of old Jerusalem, which many people qualify as "the best in the world", and whose recipe uses non other than jalapeño peppers.... ❤️ To distinguish it from other recipes I gave it the name of the place.
HUMMUS LINA STYLE
I don't have the exact recipe, but here's my best attempt to reproduce it based on what I saw in the video...
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