Pictures promised for tortilla-making. Casual Sunday night with some experts

My first recipe from here! So excited to share it with you.

Paches are like tamales, except they’re made with potatoes instead of cornmeal masa. What I find really interesting about the tamales here is the difference between them and Mexican tamales. Mexican tamales have somewhat the texture of corn bread. If you had to pick it up in your hands, you could eat it like a sandwich.  In Guatemala, because the corn is cooked once before the tamale is assembled and then steamed with the meat and sauce that also go into the tamale, it comes out much softer—more the texture of grits than anything.

Here’s some pictures. These are the paches, with potatoes instead of corn. Easier to make and much more delicious (though more expensive).

The recipe is below.

The tortilla here in Guatemala is sacred.

I’ve eaten 26 of them in the last week.

We got a huge lecture in Spanish class today about how you can never throw away a tortilla--jamas. It’s like the Pan de Dios and therefore totally forbidden to waste. If you’re going to eat a tortilla, you’re not going to eat half a tortilla. You’re not going to take a piece and throw the rest away. You’re going to eat the whole tortilla, and that’s all there is to it.

It was explained like this: tortilla is the one food you can find on the table in every Guatemalan house, regardless of income. The rich will fill their tortillas with huge chunks of meat. The middle families will put beans, and the poor might just put salt. But it’s tortilla just the same. It’s the single, uniting food that sustains everyone in this country, whether they’re on the verge of starvation or extraordinarily overly well fed.

And people here still make their tortillas by hand—and if they don’t, they buy them homemade from the tortilleria around the corner whose workers they’ve known for years and are practically family.

We learned how to make them today in my Spanish language training class, and they are difficult to make correctly. I wish I had brought my camera, but one day I’ll bring it to the tortilleria and show you all the process. It’s pretty cool. You basically start with raw corn, cook it, then you take it to the mill to be ground. Then you add water, and there’s your masa. Then you just form it by hand into a flat shape and put it on a hot ceramic stovetop for about 2 minutes and there you have it! Tortillas. 

 

I know I said this was about Guatemala, and it is, but this was too good not to share. Our old priest (who's not a priest anymore. Long story) is really close with our family, and he came over to our house and started cooking at around 12:30 today. We made a 10-course meal, and I have never felt a stronger need to name my food baby. (It's Igor for the record.) Anyway, here's some pictures of the crazy birthday/goodbye/reunion dinner that occupied my entire afternoon.

The Menu:
1) Crostini topped with mascarpone, chives and thyme
2) Salami and cheese
3) Caprese salad
4) Carciofi e funghi marsala - Cremini mushroom and artichoke hearts in a Marsala wine sauce
5) Celery and fontina
6) Percatelli alla Amatricana alla Vodka - spaghetti with a hole in it (like a straw) served with cream vodka sauce made with bacon, sausage and beef.
7) Braciole - (Arms) - thin steaks wrapped around herbs, parmesan, and prosciutti, seared then simmered in the sauce
8) Orange salad on Romaine hearts
9) Blood orange sorbet and frosted grapes
10) Zuppa Inglese alla Limone e Fragiole - (English Soup with Lemon and Strawberries) - Zuppa Inglese is the Italian version of bread pudding - Tiramisu is one. This one was just with lemon instead.

Fat.

What will I eat, you ask? Here's a list of the foods I'm most excited to try, Guatemala style:

Chiles rellenos - Stuffed Chile Peppers

Kak'ik - Mayan Turkey Soup

Subanik - Spicy Meat and Vegetable Stew

Elote - Roasted Corn with toppings like butter, cheese, and lime

Tres Leches - Cake made with 3 types of milk. So moist and delicious

Not to mention the mangoes, plantains, avocados, rice, beans, and tortillas I plan to eat daily. Oh, and at the top--that's a jocote fruit