MexiGoals for 2013

Oaxacan pasilla chiles were among my Christmas gifts. Photo courtesy of Luchito.

I'm taking time out from writing about my sweet tamales to say Feliz año nuevo to my readers and set out my plans for 2013.

Last year was my second year of blogging and it greatly exceeded my expectations.

I went from a few hundred pageviews to more than 2700, and got 129 likes for my Facebook page.

Also I cooked some great food, went to a tequila tasting at Lupe Pinto's, and discovered  Gran Luchito salsa made with the coveted Oaxacan pasilla chiles!

2013 has its work cut out to top that, but here are a few things I want to accomplish by the end of this year.

• Make another mole

My posts on making the famous mole poblano have led many readers to my blog, but there are actually seven kinds of mole, and I want to cook them all.

Plus, as Mrs MexiGeek got me smoked pasillas Oaxaqueñas from Luchito, I have the means to make Oaxacan black mole.

However, I may make a less challenging one, like the green mole or manchamanteles.

• Put up an ofrenda for Day of the Dead

An ofrenda is a little altar to your deceased relatives that you put up for el día de los muertos.

I didn't make one last year, but I'd like to have one for my grandfathers this year. I'll probably pay an e-visit to Between the Trees when Autumn comes round again.

• Cook for someone else

Last year my wife cooked a 1950s-style dinner for her food blog Cooking the History Books and we invited a friend to share it.

This year I'd like to cook a set meal for company as well.

My idea is actually to do three courses of non-spicy Mexican food, to counter the misconception that all Mexican food is hotter than hell.

Let me know if you'd like to come along, by the way.

• Do restaurant reviews

It's been a while since I've been to a Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh, so I'd like to see what they're serving and tell you what I think of it.

• Sell t-shirts

Yes, we have t-shirts now. Also mugs, notebooks, and other stuff. I'll be launching this by the end of January.

• Shoot a video

I'm overwhelmed by how my blog traffic has grown, but I feel the next step in developing MexiGeek is to add video.

I don't intend to stop writing and switch to vlogging, but I would like to document some of my adventures in a more live-action format.

I'm not sure what form a MexiGeek video would take, especially as I don't know if I'm presenter material, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

If you're into filming or editing and you live in Edinburgh (and will work for tequila), give me a shout.

Then there are some things I might not get around to this year, but I'll try to do in the near future.

• Interact with you guys

One of my favourite bloggers, Tiffany of Kitchen Conversations, does a Mexican supper club in London.

This inspired me to do some kind of direct interaction with my Edinburgh- and Glasgow-based readers.

I was thinking of calling it Fajitas Anonymous.

The idea is that if you want to cook some more adventurous Mexican food but don't really know where to start, I'll come over and help you.

I guess it would kind of be like doing my blog live from your kitchen.

Impress your friends with your mastery of regional Mexican cuisine. Or not.

Probably need to put some more thought into this one.

• Meet up with other Mexican-food bloggers

Besides me and Kitchen Conversations (based in London), I've recently discovered A Mexican Cook in Ireland (based in Dublin).

What do we all have in common?

We're all expats (a Mexican, an Arizonan, and a Californian).

We all cook Mexican food and blog about it.

We all are an hour's air travel from each other.

So we should totally get together and do some kind of event or something.

Obviously I'll need to ask them about this, but in the meantime check out their blogs and other activities, if you haven't already. 

• Write a book

This blog first started as research for a novel, believe it or not, but since the cooking had taken over I've been thinking I should write a different kind of book.

I doubt this would be a cookbook. There are already plenty of good Mexican cookbooks out there.

I was thinking something more like cooking memoirs or a Mexican cook's travel guide to Scotland (where to get ingredients, where the best restaurants are, etc.).

Again, this needs more thought, but it's something I'd like to get into.

Beyond that, we're expecting a visit from the stork next month, so if I suddenly stop blogging for a bit, you'll know why.

Now back to the tamales...

A Real Oaxacan Smoked Chile Paste: Gran Luchito (product review)

This is possibly the most exciting Mexican product to arrive in the UK since I’ve lived here: a real Oaxacan smoked chile paste called Gran Luchito.

It’s exciting not only because it’s delicious - which it is - but because it used to be available pretty much in only one part of Mexico.

Gran Luchito is made in Oaxaca, a state in the south of Mexico (bordering Guatemala). Oaxaca is one of the culinary capitals of Mexico and is world-famous for its distinctive regional cuisine, including chiles so rare they aren’t even widely available in the rest of Mexico, let alone all the way across the Atlantic.

Chief among these is the pasilla de Oaxaca, a smoked chile exclusive to the region. I’ve read about this chile many times, in many books. They all say the only place to get it is a market stall in Oaxaca - if you’re lucky, because it’s becoming increasingly rare.

The elusive pasillas de Oaxaca.

You can’t just nip down to Tijuana and pick up some of these chiles. They ain’t there. But they are the star ingredient in Gran Luchito.

So how does it taste?

Gran Luchito is a smoked chile paste, somewhat like a chipotle paste, but much deeper and more complex.

It has a gorgeous aroma, and because it’s sweetened with agave nectar (agave is the plant from which mezcal and tequila are made) rather than sugar, the sweetness is more natural and subtler than that of commercial chipotle pastes, which tend to use refined sugar.

Heat-wise it’s at least as hot as a chipotle paste, which most people seem to rate as 7/10. I can’t quite decide whether I think it’s slightly hotter, because for me chile heat takes a backseat to chile flavour, which Luchito has in spades.

I’m a guy who LOVES chipotles, but Luchito could honestly make you switch.

How do you use it?

The producers advertise its versatility, because it can be used on its own or as an ingredient in other dishes.

On its own I like to spread it on toast or a warm tortilla. It can really liven up a sandwich as well. I also mixed some in with my homemade Sikil p’ak (Mayan pumpkinseed and tomato sauce) for a Yucatecan/Oaxacan fusion.

Mixing some Luchito into a sauce or mole will give it a beautiful, smoky dimension, and it would be an incredible marinade for roasting or grilling meat.

You can also transform it into a delicious salsa by simply blending a tablespoon or two with a of couple roasted tomatoes and one or two cloves of garlic.

Don’t overdo the garlic because there’s already some garlic in Luchito, and make sure you blend to a rough, textured consistency.

This salsa will blow your mind, and it's great for dipping or to spoon on top of tacos or other dishes.

You can also substitute tomatillos for the tomatoes (if you have some). The contrast between the smokiness of the Luchito and the tartness of the tomatillos is incredible.

The other great thing about Luchito is that’s it’s easy to use. Many, many Mexican recipes call for you to make your own chile paste, usually by toasting dried or smoked chiles in a dry pan, soaking them in boiled water, and then grinding or blending them down. Luchito have basically done that for you.

Así se hace en México. They grind the chiles with a metate so you don't have to!

As making a chile paste is one of the more labour-intensive steps in making a sauce or mole, having a jar of Gran Luchito means you can have a authentic Mexican meal midweek. And how can you not be amazed by the possibility of cooking with authentic Oaxacan flavours after work on a Wednesday?

Now, I like to be balanced in my reviews, so I tried to think of any negatives, but I really can't. This is just a delicious and exciting product and I'm amazed that we can actually get this here in the UK.

So where do you get it?

Probably the easiest way is online from Gran Luchito’s website. (They also sell dried pasillas de Oaxaca. Awesome!)

Or you can check your local Mexican deli, grocer, or shop (if you’re lucky enough to have one near you).

I’ll be ordering another jar of this shortly, as well as some of the dried chiles (which I need to make mole negro). And a lot of my chipotle-based recipes are already becoming Luchito recipes.

MexiGeek can’t go to Oaxaca, but Oaxaca has come to MexiGeek!