Juicy Post: Cinco De Mayo Sort Of

Holiday Excuses

Being married to an atheist who loves all holidays including religious ones, with the caveat that the holiday precludes his being denied food and drink, has its advantages. He looks forward to special meals, has taken over the setting of the table, researches dishes, and spends time with his most immediate concern, that of the celebratory libation. So it should not come as a surprise that we have added Cinco de Mayo to our list. We both feel that the US has a paucity of national holidays in comparison to the UK and Italy. Since I do not have a cc of Mexican blood but have loved learning how to make tortillas from Diana Kennedy and try to grow limes to fuel mindblowingly flavorful margaritas, our embrace of Cinco de Mayo should also not be a shock. As a side note, I don’t have a cc’s worth of El Salvadorian blood either, but ever since I was introduced to pupusas by El Salvadorian Cuisinettes, I have decreed that my last meal should be several pupusas with the required curtido and salsa. 

The surprising thing about Cinco de Mayo is that it is not a major holiday in Mexico, while it has taken on great importance in the US. We seem to use it as an excuse  for recognizing a large segment of our population with margaritas and Corona beer. But, as I have read, the favorite Mexican drink combining tequila and grapefruit soda, called La Paloma is more popular than our appropriated lime and tequila one. In the US, this celebration of Mexican-American culture generates beer sales that approximate the Super Bowl’s. Not surprisingly, if you dig down a bit, Cinco de Mayo has numerous threads of the New World against the Old and some startling correlations to our Civil War.

A Little History Never Hurts You

Cinco de Mayo celebrates a single battle fought against the French, whose government under Napoleon III was anxious to carve out an empire in Mexico. Benito Juarez, a lawyer and member of the Zapotec tribe, was elected president of Mexico when it was in financial ruin and unable to pay back debts to England, Spain and France. Spain and England cut a deal with Mexico, but the French government wanted to capitalize on Mexico’s financial distress to expand its colonial empire there. It also desired to maintain good relations with Southern cotton planters, as France had a successful fabric business. As such, they perceived the American Civil War as a propitious time to gain a stronger foothold in Mexico. In one of those Hurrah! moments, a vastly under-equipped Mexican army under General Zaragoza, a native of Texas, whupped an elite French force in a single day at Puebla. The victory was short-lived, and the French government became more enmeshed in its military endeavors and colonization in Mexico.  There is some thought among historians that this French defeat and further embroilment in Mexico gave Lincoln’s army some breathing space as the French government had plans to arm the Confederacy with superior munitions.

French And Mexican Inspirations

In 1989, I stumbled on a recipe for Huevos Rancheros that is probably as Mexican as I am, but is equally well intentioned. And having sampled many versions of this dish, we still love this one the best. You can purchase tortillas to go with it, or you can follow numerous videos to make them. You don’t need a tortilla press; cast iron frypan and two plastic bags do the trick quite well. I follow the proportions in Diana Kennedy’s book, which is 300gr masa flour to 325ml water. I add a bit of salt to the dough. Individual balls of masa dough should be 40-50gr . Put a slightly flattened ball in between two bags, take a cast iron frypan to flatten, and finish with a rolling pin. She advises you to pull one bag off, flip the exposed tortilla side into your hand and peel off the other plastic bag when you are ready to flip the tortilla onto your griddle(we like the Mineral B Crepe & Tortilla Pan from the folks at de Buyer) . Leftovers from this recipe for Huevos Rancheros make a delicious filling for your tacos the next day, or put it in the freezer for a quick tortilla filling later. 

For dessert, we discovered  at Easter  this dreamy combination of the French Île Flottante with some of the elements of a Mexican flan in yet another Gourmet Menu cookbook. So again, it’s maybe Mexican only around the edges, but is just as delicious as the above Huevos Rancheros.  It’s a bit of a project also, but can be done the day ahead. Make the caramel syrup, the nut or seed  brittle and the crème anglaise a day ahead. Sometimes I have made the meringue (which is formed in a ring mold and baked in a water bath) ahead too. I pulverize the brittle instead of breaking it into pieces as pictured in the Gourmet centerfold. And you can use nuts instead of pepitas and sesame seeds – for me it is pistachios and pine nuts. The praline powder keeps forever in a covered container. 

In the Huevos Rancheros, I have used red and yellow bell peppers sometimes instead of green, three or four chilis in adobo instead of the canned ones listed.  I make the beans, pork stew and tomato sauce a day ahead. They are also all freezable. I am not a fan of canned beans, so I soak and cook dried ones instead. You have lots of wiggle room in this dish, just as we have with the US version of Cinco de Mayo.