Hello masa-friends,
I hope you are well and getting rest. I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted. It’s been nearly two years since we went into the first lockdown and we continue to deal with COVID-19 and it’s relentless, overbearing presence. Drink more water, go outside, see friends (responsibly), and try to be nicer to yourself. I’m telling you to do this, but really it’s a reminder for myself. I need to drink more water, go outside more, see friends, and be nicer to myself.
Thank you all for signing up for masa classes in January. They have been fun, informative, and everyone seems to have left with a smile on their face. I get to exercise my teaching muscle, one that was on pause for a few years, since I stopped coaching/teaching improv troupes in SF. But, I think the rust has come off.
Come make tortillas, sopes, tlacoyos, tetelas and gorditas: Sign Up Here. Private at home classes are also available to book here. Classes have really helped me keep Carmen, our one and only employee, employed during this slow season. FYI, January, February and March are usually very hard times for food businesses. The post Holiday decrease in sales is very harsh, and most business see a big drop-off in sales during this time.
Pop-Up / Market Dates and Group Masa Classes
WED 2/9/22 - POP-UP Market, OAKLAND. Preorder for pickups at The Alice Collective 272 14th Street Oakland, 5:30-6:30 pm. Pre-Orders are live until Tuesday 2/8 12:00pm.
WED 2/16/22 - POP-UP Market, OAKLAND. Preorder for pickups at The Alice Collective 272 14th Street Oakland, 5:30-6:30 pm. Pre-Orders will go live on Friday 2/10 until Tuesday 2/15 12:00pm.
THU 2/17/22 - POP-UP Market, SAN FRANCISCO. Preorder for pickups at Gemini Bottle Co. 2801 22nd Street SF, 5:30-7:00 pm. Pre-Orders will go live on Friday 2/10 until Tuesday 2/15 12:00pm.
SAT 2/19/22 - POP-UP @ OAKTOWN SPICE SHOP, ALBANY. Preorder information will be released via Instagram. Please follow us HERE Oaktown Spice Shop, 1224 Solano Ave. 11:00 am-1:30 pm. Pre-Orders will go live on Wednesday 2/16 until Friday 2/18 12:00pm.
MON 2/21/2022 - Oakland, CLASS will be held at 272 14th Street Oakland 10:00am-12:00 pm. Limited at 6 people, must be vaccinated & boosted, and masks are required. We will make tortillas, tetelas, tlacoyos, sopes, and gorditas. You will get to taste all of these masa forms and take 2 lbs of masa home. Sign up HERE
More to come…
Maíz de Yucatán
My family is from the state of Jalisco. I am not from the Yucatán peninsula, nor have I spent significant time there. I spent a few days in the Yucatan Peninsula, mainly Northern Quintana Roo doing the mandatory twenty-something Tulum area trip. And spent some time in Merida and Valladolid, two stunning cities in Yucatán. What little I saw of the peninsula was absurdly lush and diverse, sprawling market stalls overwhelmed by their abundance of perfectly ripe fruit, permeating the musk that only warm tropical fruit can. Intense humidity that coated you with thick air, and made you wonder how much a person can actually sweat before no longer having anything to give. The mosquitoes were relentless and the salsas were absurdly bright despite the charred quality most shared.
My parents ended up in the Napa Valley because my uncle Fidel was attending a local university in Angwin California and they knew a handful of people from Cuquio that had moved to the Napa area. In San Francisco, I noticed pockets of immigrants from Puebla, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Guerrero. During my time working in restaurants in the bay, I would occasionally hear a language I couldn’t decipher. It definitely wasn’t one of the romance languages, though Spanish was sprinkled in. It was one of the many variations of the Mayan language.
Ask most restaurant folx in the Bay Area if they know anyone who speaks Mayan, and odds are they work with someone who does. The Bay Area is rich with our neighbors from the Yucatan Peninsula, sprawling from Quintana Roo all the way down to Belize and Guatemala. I worked with a kitchen team that was predominantly from Yucatán and would watch them closely whenever they made family meal for themselves. Habaneros were charred to a black powder, orange and lime was combined with achiote for their cochinta pibil (or occasionally sour orange was acquired from who knows where). Emanuel, not me, the head chef of the commissary, also went by Manny, would char tortillas over the open flames of the stove until they blackened, stating that the burnt bits were the best part. I learned about his fondness for acid and spice as essential accents to a dish. The reaction your mouth makes when encountering a puckering tart pickled onion atop of cochinita is part of the flavor of the dish. That exhale after eating intensely spicy recado negro, consisting predominately of habanero and onion ash, was part of the experience of the flavor of the dish. With sikil p’aak, the subtle heat the creeps up after the richness of pepitas has worn off.
When our maíz partners began importing maíz from the state of Yucatán, I wanted to taste all of them. I managed to get 4 four varietals in various shades: Xnuk Naal, Dzit Bacal, Eh Hub, and Xmejan Naal. These varietals are incredibly resilient and hard. Yet require a delicate hand when cooking. These have incredibly dense starches that require a longer cook and soak. Common sense would guide you toward increasing the temperature and adding more cal, but quite the opposite. The purple varietals are so delicate in color that I have to reduce the cal percentage from 0.08% to 0.0725%, and not let the water exceed 85 degrees Celsius. The maíz is incredibly sturdy, but requires that I treat it with utmost attention and nuance.
As with all the maíz I use, and the masa I make, I hope to use the “medium” of masa to share my story with you all. Some may say that me not being from the Yucatán peninsula should disqualify me from cooking this maíz or making dishes from the region. I think that is a valid perspective. I also believe that it is valid for me to try to recreate ephemeral experiences derived from memories and relationships. I know Manny doesn’t read my newsletter; but, I want to make sure that I acknowledge him for the information and advice he passed along, and for the curiosity he sparked in me the first time I saw him “burning” his chiles.
For more visual content, you can follow my Instagram @bolitamasa and subscribe to our posts. It really helps us get out there.
Thank you for that little taste of the Yucatán! Your respect is appreciated