Cooking In Mexican From A to Z – Details, episodes & analysis

On this episode of Cooking In Mexican From A to Z, Aarón and Zarela sit down with Lori Flores. Lori is an associate professor of History at Stony Brook University, where she teaches classes in US Latino, labor, immigration, and food history. They discuss Lori's background growing up in rural Texas, her migration to the East Coast, and how Mexican food arrived in East Coast cities like New York.

Lori is the author of the award-winning book Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California Farmworker Movement (Yale, 2016). Her new book on the history of Latino food workers in the US Northeast from 1940 to the present day has received support from the Russell Sage and Rockefeller Foundations.

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.

On this episode, Sandro Canovas sits down with Aarón and Zarela to discuss Sotol, the state spirit of Chihuahua. They outline how it is made from plants of the dasylirion genus, close relatives of the onion, it's significance to the state of Chihuahua, and it's popularity in the United States. 

Sandro is a bi-national third-generation brick maker turned adobero. Raised in Mexico City, aka Tenochtitlan, he immigrated to Oregon in 1995 and began working with earth-based construction techniques. After spending 19 years as a seasonal commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea of Alaska, he made his home in south Presidio County, Tejas.  

Since early 2022, he has been a vocal opponent of the appropriation of Sotol in Texas. Spearheading the defense of the designation of Sotol that exists since 2002 for Chihuahua, Coahuila y Durango in Mexico. When not playing with mud he spends his time advocating and educating people about how the patrimony of the tradition of Sotol is affected by the appropriation efforts in the US and its industrialization in Mexico. Sandro started his campaign to protect Sotol in Texas by pressuring the distillery in Marfa to respect the DO and implement science based practices into their business model.

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.

On this week's show, Zarela & Aarón welcome Sagrario Cruz Carretero to explore the history and cultural legacy of Afro-Mexican cuisine. First, they set the stage with some context about the past and present demographics of African immigration to Mexico. Sagrario shares her personal story of how a trip to Cuba - and her own family history - ignited her interest in this topic. Together they document various Afro-inspired ingredients including plantain, yucca, malanga, rice and beans, gandinga, soup, chitlins, various distillates, and more.  

Looking for more? Many Afro-Mexican recipes can be found in Zarela's Veracruz. For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

For our Season 4 launch of Cooking in Mexican from A to Z, Zarela & Aaron sit down together to discuss the most-requested topic from their listeners: Tamales.  Together they detail every part of the tamale-making process, including tips like: what lard does for tamales, why you shouldn't overfill your tamales, and how you could repurpose your smoker or pizza oven to mimic the traditional sacahuil technique. Plus, they discuss different regional styles of tamales and the role they play in wakes, weddings, and Christmas celebrations. 

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

For our final episode of 2021, Zarela & Aarón are thrilled to welcome Mauricio Velázquez de León to discuss his relative, Josefina Velázquez de León. Josefina was Mexico's first celebrity chef: she was on the radio, television, and published  dozens of cookbooks popularizing traditional Mexican cuisine.

Together they dive into Josefina's legacy: she championed new technologies, promoted Mexican cooking both at home and abroad, and celebrated women throughout North America. Though Mauricio was only 5 when Josefina passed away, he was raised on stories of her life and works. He has followed her footsteps in becoming a publisher in his own right; check out his work at Duopress Books.

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

On this week's show Aarón and Zarela are thrilled to welcome their longtime friend Stephan Pyles to discuss all things Tex-Mex and Southwestern Cuisine. Stephan is a 5th generation Texan and a founding father of Southwestern Cuisine, who created 23 restaurants in 6 cities over more than three  decades of cooking. 

Stephan and Zarela have known each other since the earliest days of Zarela's career, and they recently traveled to Oaxaca together. We hear all about the most surprising meals from their trip, and then they regale us with some older, personal highlights of their time spent with Zarela's mother; from careening through L.A. traffic to entertaining together at Stephan's home.

Plus, they track the evolution of Tex-Mex and modern Texan cuisine, and have a spirited discussion regarding the invention of the burrito.

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

On today's episode Aarón and Zarela welcome Carlos Yescas to talk all about Mexican cheese. Carlos is the founder of Lactography and LACTEO Network, and an incredibly knowledgable global cheese advocate. He is also a fellow HRN Host, on the show Cutting the Curd  (Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS). 

Carlos guides us all through the dairy making process, moving from milk to crema to requeson to cuajada to panela and more. At every point in the cheesemaking process his primary concern is quality and he teaches that consumers can make a positive impact by demanding higher quality dairy products. This is a master class on Mexican cheese!

Photo by Vladimir Pudovkin

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

On this week's episode Aarón and Zarela are thrilled to welcome  Rafael Mier, the Founder and Director of Fundación Tortilla, to guide us through a deep dive on Corn. Rafael's mission is to preserve and popularize the many, wonderful heirloom varietals of corn that can be found all over Mexico. 

Together they pick apart the differences between various types of corn, and how that impacts their use. They also discuss what the Mexican government is doing to protect heirloom corn varietals, how some regions use corn leaves instead of the husks for wrapping tamales, and  Zarela shares her recipe for zacahuil. Have you ever wondered what makes popcorn pop? This is the episode for you!

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions and powered by Simplecast.

On this week's show, Aarón and Zarela discuss Sonoran cuisine with their friend Regina Schrambling. Regina grew up in Arizona, across the border from Zarela's native state of Sonora. Together they reminisce about the meals and treats of their respective childhoods. Along the way they try to spell out how Sonoran cuisine is distinct from Tex Mex, how Pozoles vary indifferent regions in Mexico, and how the advent of refrigeration has changed how we consume meat. Plus, Aarón shares his traditional recipe for Menudo, and his techniques for preparing tongue in the kitchen.  And last, but not least, we have several rounds of spirited discussion about the Sonoran Hot Dog.

Photo Courtesy of Bob Sacha

For more recipes from  Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions  and powered by Simplecast.

On this week's show Aarón and Zarela are thrilled to welcome Pati Jinich. Pati is a chef, author, and TV personality, and she joins Aarón and Zarela to discuss the traditions of The Day of the Dead. They start with the origins of Día de los Muertos as a 3 month long pre-hispanic celebration, and proceed to explore its significance in Mexican culture. Along the way, Pati covers a variety of recipes for Pan de Muerto, from her favorite traditional recipe to more modern takes she has found in Mexico City. They also discuss a number of moles and how they factor into the celebrations.

Zarela and Aarón could have Pati on to speak about almost any topic having to do with Mexican cooking, so they also dip into a number of other subjects, including: highlights of food in Mexico City, the particularities of the cuisine of northern border towns, Mexican pizza, sushi, and more. 

If you enjoy this conversation, look out for Pati's newest cookbook, Treasures of the Mexican Table: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets, which releases on November 23rd, 2021. 

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!

Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is  produced by HotDish Productions  and powered by Simplecast.