Rachel Laudan

Now the move from Mexico City to Austin, Texas is largely behind me and there’s a whole month before the move back, I’ve had time to browse Roberto Santibañez’s Truly Mexican.  It’s the Mexican cookbook I’ve been wanting for a long time (and I don’t say that just because Roberto is kind enough to mention [...]

It’s Candelaria. The 2nd of February. The midpoint between the winter equinox and the spring solstice. Originally known as Candlemas in English, for the blessing of candles in the church, it’s a day that has been reduced to a shadowy presence in the United States, eclipsed by Groundhog Day, when a groundhog from Punxsutawney, Pa., [...]

So how were the wheat couscous and the maize couscous (remember this is not sweet corn nor even cornmeal but essentially a crumbled tamal of maiz that has been treated with alkali and ground wet) described in at least one Mexican manuscript cookbook of the early nineteenth century served? Here’s what the anonymous author says [...]