May 5, 2006
Pico De Gallo, Old Mexican Style
3 cans jicama, chopped
2 cans orange, chopped
2 lemons
chile piquin, powdered, to taste
salt to taste
Mix the diced jicama and chopped orange, add the juice from two lemons and salt to taste.
Let it rest for three hours before serving.
Just before serving dust top with powdered chile piquin.
Recipe by Josefina Velazquez De Leon, Mexican Cook Book, 1947.
I was introduced to Josefina Velázquez de León by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, author of ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, as he spoke on the Splendid Table. Ever since his late introduction to Mexican food, he has undertaken serious academic inquiry into the history of the Mexican table.
[About 1940] the spread of processed foods to the countryside sent folklorists rushing to preserve the previously scorned vernacular cuisine. The most prolific of these culinary researchers, Josefina Velázquez de León, published more than a hundred and fifty cookbooks, including a volume of regional recipes that became the model for future cookbooks seeking to represent the Mexican national cuisine.
In 1947, Josefina made her foray into the American kitchen. Mauricio Velázquez de León writes:
The 1947 edition of Mexican Cookbook Devoted to American Homes, is divided into four sections. The first is a lengthy explanation of Mexican food including an installment called “How to Cook the Mexican Way in the United States.” The two following sections portray an array of recipes, from well-known Mexican dishes like tamales and moles that remain unchanged to this day, to some forgotten delicacies like Caguama (sea turtle) Soup, a “favorite dish among Baja Californians.” The last section of the book offers a look at one of Josefina’s most ambitious projects: to gather, research, and publish recipes from all the different Mexican regions. This task began in the 1940s when she embarked on a series of trips around the country… Mexican Cookbook Devoted to American Homes the first book published in English to collect, in a single volume, a selection of these regional dishes.
And so this 5 de M, raise una cerveza, margarita or horchata and toast Mexico’s own culinatrix, Josefina!
(For a taste of Mexico at home, check out the Missipi Delta’s Tamale Trail.)
