Mexican Gastronomy at UNESCO World Heritage Site: End of Year Festivities and Traditional Dishes

A World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO, this is how Mexican gastronomy is described and it dresses up during the end of year festivities with dishes prepared over several days that bring together the indigenous heritage of mestizo Mexico with European influences. .

“A mix between Spanish cuisine and traditional cuisine and a very typical thing is a Vizcaya cod,” explained Barbara Sibley Chef and Owner, @La_Palapa.

The star ingredient is a fish preserved in salt since the 15th century in Europe. It is rumored that the best is the Norwegian one.

After soaking in water for 24 hours to extract excess sodium and remove its bones, it is cooked in a tomato sauce with garlic, onion, pine nuts and capers.

Sibley, the chef and owner of La Palapa in the East Village, prepares it like generations of cooks in her native Mexico City.

Sibley.

“They also make an apple salad with cream and at La Palapa, what we like is to make a Christmas tres leches salad.”

Mixing apples, walnuts, dried fruits, raisins, cranberries, sour cream, condensed milk and pomegranate cloves, the flavor of the Mexican version of the Ambrosia salad conquers palates around the world.

“Great!” exclaimed one diner.

Another star of the New Year’s table is the dish known as “romeritos,†a type of aromatic shrub that belongs to the amaranthaceae family and that the chef, businesswoman and anthropologist, says has stopped supplying north of the border. She has adapted the dish with wild botanical sprouts that balance the complex sauce that accompanies them.

“We use a “quelite†which is a little different, but it gives us that sensation of the flavor of the quelite el mole, with chicken, turkey or “guajolote†as we say in Mexico, with black mole.

“Mole†is the Nahuatl word that means ‘sauce’. On Mexican tables around the world it is a conglomerate of dried chilies, fruits, nuts, spices, sugar and chocolate that, emulsified with chicken broth, creates a complex and unforgettable culinary experience in every bite. And all before dessert.

“You can’t miss the 12 grapes at midnight to toast the arrival of the New Year,” said Sibley.

And, as in Spain, millions of Mexicans eat a grape for each bell that marks midnight on January 1st, each one accompanied by a wish for the new year. Barbara has some for the industry that has weathered the challenge of a global pandemic.

“May NY have more growth and more resurgence after the difficult years we went through.”

The special New Year’s Eve menu will be available at La Palapa until December 31.

2023-12-15 20:59:00
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