1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (162 page)

Where:
In Toronto
, Lee, tel 416-504-7867,
susur.com/lee
; Bent, tel 647-352-0092,
bentrestaurant.com
;
in Singapore
, TungLok Heen, tel 65/6884-7888,
tunglokheen.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Susur: A Culinary Life
by Susur Lee (2005).

Although this French-Canadian classic spiced meat pie is a traditional treat during the days between Christmas and New Year’s, it is much too fragrant and soul-satisfying to be relegated to that short of a stay on menus. Most traditionally prepared with only pork, the pie sometimes includes beef for contrasting flavor and texture. Whatever the meats, they are enhanced with plenty of onions, potatoes (cubed or mashed), a heady, Christmas-y sprinkling of cinnamon and cloves, and often nutmeg and allspice, plus the cook’s choice of herbs. No wonder this lusty, savory stew under a flaky lid of pastry is an enduring favorite not only in Canada, but also across the border in several parts of New England, where each region has its own special spicing formulas and types of pastry.

As with so many dishes, there are conflicting opinions about its origins. Some claim the idea of meat pies came to Canada by way of early immigrants from France as far back as the mid-seventeenth century. The more assertively nationalistic insist that the
tourtière
’s spicing and combination of ingredients is strictly Québécois, but that early forms were filled with the meat of game birds and animals, a version that still exists in areas where hunting is popular. Along with dishes known as
tians
, cassoulets, and casseroles, tourtière takes its name from the round pie tin in which sweet and savory
tourtes
are baked.

However it began, tourtière is evidence that a homey stew can take on special-occasion elegance when baked under a golden lid of pastry that, once broken open, allows for the escape of mouthwatering aromas.

Where:
In Quebec
, Aux Anciens Canadiens, tel 418-692-1627,
auxancienscanadiens.qc.ca
;
in Dover, NH
, Harvey’s Bakery & Coffee Shop, tel 603-749-3564,
harveysbakery.com
;
in Attleboro, MA
, Morin’s Hometown Bar & Grille, tel 508-222-9875,
morins1911.com
.
Further information and recipes:
A Taste of Quebec
by Julian Armstrong (2001);
Canada’s Favourite Recipes
by Elizabeth Baird and Rose Murray (2012);
canadianliving.com
(search classic tourtière);
allrecipes.com
(search traditional french canadian tourtiere).

A sauce-covered, exuberant mess of a dish.

It might not look like much at first—just a saucy red casserole topped with melted cheese. But dive into a piping-hot pan of plump and juicy enchiladas, and you will be rewarded with one of Mexico’s great comfort foods.

Enchiladas
is shorthand for
tortillas enchiladas
, meaning corn tortillas that have been “dipped” in a chile-based sauce. And indeed, food historians conjecture that the original enchiladas were probably the Mayan dish
papadzules
: corn tortillas dipped into a pumpkin-seed puree and filled with chopped boiled eggs. From these humble beginnings, countless variations developed throughout Mexico and beyond. Never mind the nineteenth-century travel guide
Through the Land of the Aztecs
, which called enchiladas “greasy tortilla sandwiches … sold everywhere … perfuming the air with a pungent, nauseous smell.” That unfavorable review, penned in 1883 by an author who called himself “A gringo,” clearly betrayed the prejudices of the time.

Gringo’s taste notwithstanding, the dish has remained enormously popular and can be found in endless permutations, filled with anything from ground beef to shredded chicken to seafood, swimming in generous quantities of red or green chile sauce. There are the open-faced fried masa cakes topped with red chile sauce and black olives that they make in northern Mexico’s Sonora, and the ever-popular New Mexican enchiladas, made by layering tortillas in a tall stack with cheese and onions in between and sauce over all. The kind most familiar to Americans is the belt-loosening Tex-Mex variation with a shredded cheese filling (usually Monterey jack) and a tomato-fortified red chile sauce, served with a scattering of raw onions and rice and beans alongside. In whatever combination of sauce and filling, enchiladas are a rich, spicy, rustic pleasure.

Where:
In Mexico City
, La Casa de las Enchiladas at four locations,
lacasadelasenchiladas.com
;
in California
, Taquerias El Farolito at multiple locations,
elfarolitoinc.com
;
in Houston
, Pico’s, tel 832-831-9940,
picos.net
;
in Dallas
, Fearings, tel 214-922-4848,
fearingsrestaurant.com
;
in New York
, Benny’s Burritos, tel 212-633-9210,
orderbennysburritos.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Cuisines of Mexico
by Diana Kennedy (1986);
Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen
by Rick Bayless (1996);
saveur.com
(search enchiladas).
Special events:
The Whole Enchilada Fiesta, Las Cruces, NM, September,
enchiladafiesta.com
.

The world’s most addictive dip.

We have the ancient Aztecs to thank for the luscious, buttery, spicy dip that they called
ahuaca-mulli
(avocado sauce), and that we know as guacamole. These days, guacamole is still a simple affair, a bright-green mash of avocados sparked with onions, hot green chiles, garlic, cilantro, salt, and a generous squeeze of lemon or lime juice. The addition of tomatoes is controversial. However delicious those juicy, rosy fruits may be, they can dilute the rich texture and flavor of the mix, and make it more perishable to boot. Mexican cooks aren’t all in agreement on this point, however, and ingredients vary from region to region. In the Jeréz market in Zacatecas, in north-central Mexico, for example, guacamole is made with both tomatillo and sour cream. In the state of Guanajuato, in central Mexico, guacamole might contain small amounts of chopped peaches, grapes, or pomegranate seeds. And in New York, one Anna Falcone stirs in cooked corn kernels, while ABC Cocina adds green peas, and at élan, uni joins the luscious fray. Regardless of embellishments, though, everyone agrees that guacamole is best prepared and served in its authentic vessel, the
molcajete
, a black volcanic stone mortar. A wooden or ceramic bowl and a sturdy fork do almost as well.

Because of its simplicity, guacamole is only as tasty as the avocados it is made with, and the best variety for the occasion is the nutty, creamy Hass, a small avocado with rough skin that turns from green to purplish-black as it ripens. The Fuerte, with smooth green skin, is a good second choice—similar in flavor to the Hass and somewhat larger.

As anyone who has made guacamole knows, the single biggest pitfall is the avocados’ rapid oxidation, which can turn the beautiful, sunny dip an unappetizing-looking brown. This is, to some degree, preventable, at least for an hour or two. Avoid reactive metal dishes and utensils when making your guacamole, and store it in a deep bowl, refrigerated and covered tightly with plastic wrap, with an avocado pit nested in the middle to forestall darkening. If you still get discoloration, just scrape off the top layer—what’s left underneath should still be a vivid green.

Where:
In ten U.S. cities; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Panama City; and Dubai
, Rosa Mexicano,
rosamexicano.com
;
in Houston
, Irma’s Southwest Grill, tel 713-222-0767,
irmassouthwest.com
;
in Austin, TX
, Güero’s Taco Bar, tel 512-447-7688,
guerostacobar.com
;
in New York
, Coppelia, tel 212-858-5001,
coppelianyc.com
; élan, tel 646-682-7105,
elannyc.com
; ABC Cocina, tel 212-677-2233,
abccocinanyc.com
.
Mail order:
For Hass avocados, tel 760-749-4568,
californiaavocadosdirect.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Essential Cuisines of Mexico
by Diana Kennedy (2009);
Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen
by Rick Bayless (1996);
bonappetit.com
(search guacamole).
Special event:
Avocado Festival, Carpinteria, CA, October,
avofest.com
.

Huachinango a la veracruzana
is a pungent rainbow of a dish, with an enticing herbaceous fragrance and a jalapeño-heightened flavor enveloping filets of red snapper and small jewel-like cuts of vegetables. Native to Veracruz, it is made by marinating the fish in lime juice, then baking it under a tomato sauce that includes olives, capers, a variety of fresh herbs, and emerald glints of the jalapeños that give the dish heat and depth. Warm corn tortillas, served alongside, sop up fish and sauce. All manner of firm, white-fleshed fish can be used in place of the snapper, as it is the piquant and flavorful
veracruzana
sauce that is the true centerpiece of this beloved dish.

Where:
In Xalapa, Mexico
, Café y Restaurante La Parróquia, 52/228-817-7401;
in Veracruz City, Mexico
, Restaurante La Choza (no phone);
in Dallas
, Veracruz Café Dallas, at two locations,
veracruzcafedallas.com
;
in Houston
, Pico’s, tel 832-831-9940,
picos.net
;
in New York
, Pampano, tel 212-751-4545,
richardsandoval.com/pampano
.
Further information and recipes:
Zarela’s Veracruz
by Zarela Martinez with Anne Mendelson (2001);
New World Kitchen
by Norman Van Aken (2003);
epicurious.com
(search pescado a la veracruzana);
cookingchanneltv.com
(search veracruz red snapper).