The following article by Michael Mello was taken from the Los Angeles Times for demo purposes.
Food is an integral part of any trip to Mexico. On my November visit to Mexico's capital, I shunned the nearest taquería in favor of a more scholarly approach to satisfy my culinary hedonism.
That meant hiring Graciela Montaño. Her résumé includes hosting a public TV cooking show in Mexico City and running Aura Club de Maridaje, which is one of a few local businesses that offer food-themed tours and cooking classes.
She promised just what I wanted: a tour both entertaining and enlightening. We would visit a local market, gather fresh ingredients, then create a traditional Mexican dish from scratch.
We negotiated our way through the distractions of vendors hawking exotic tropical fruits and sampled traditional Mexican corn (much starchier than its selectively bred American sibling), heavily seasoned with chili.
For an American, it was an interesting experience buying pork from a vendor who diced it on a well-worn, unfinished block of wood in the 75-degree heat of late morning. Naturally, it was our last item after procuring corn masa to make tortillas and achiote (sometimes called annatto) paste to flavor the pork.
Montaño guided me in the subtle art of dropping pressed masa on a griddle to produce a tortilla done enough to finely crack its edge while keeping the interior soft enough to caress the pork, chicken or carne asada that then becomes a taco. She limits her classes to one student at a time, allowing me ample opportunity to practice my technique.
A heavenly smell soon emanated as the crimson, achiote-slathered pork met the searing heat of the skillet.
At last, we carried the sacrificial pig and placed it on a table resplendent with the proper accompaniments for tacos al pastor: minced onion, cilantro, limes and diced pineapple.
After that experience, it was a marriage to which I'm wholly committed.