Desserts and other such sweets

[m brown]

Hi Chef and thank you for taking the time to be here!

I would love a little insight on the desserts, sweets, chocolates and celebration specialities of Mexico.

What desserts do you serve in your restaurants?
Do you have a favorite?

We have been chatting as late here at Cheftalk about Marshmallows and fun flavors including chilies, coffee and berries. (there was a mention of truffle oil and wasbi...hmmm)

What part do chilies, coffee and chocolate have in desserts of Mexico and for that matter how large a roll does chocolate have in the dessert and general cuisine of Mexico?

This week we have created some house made basic marshmallows and will be enrobing in dark chocolate and rolling in ground couveture, cocoa nibs and ground espresso for an upcoming event in NYC called Chocolate Ecstacy.
Is there a quintisential chocolate sweet that you are aquainted with from Mexico?

Is there a special item served at weddings? I have had clients ask for sugar covered almonds at there wedding symbolizing the bond of matrimony. Does any such thing exist in the Mexican culture? More or less in the different regions?

I look forward to hearing your views and findings!

Thanks again!
Best,
Michele

[momoreg]

To add to mbrown's question, when you design a menu, be it dessert or food, how faithful are you to the original Mexican recipes? I imagine that to some extent, you want to Americanize or modernize your dishes to keep them interesting to our palates.

[shroomgirl]

what varieties of choc do you use?

[Rick Bayless]

Wow, you have a lot of questions! We serve desserts from all different regions of Mexico. Our dessert menu is different in Frontera and Topolobampo and both change every two weeks. So you can see, we are constantly growing, learning and working on different flavors of flan, icecream, etc. We recently added to the infamous tres leches (a true celebration cake) another milk and now we offer quatro leches.

As far as chocolate--we have our chocolate supplier from Oaxaca. Really wonderful bars that we make our famous Frontera Pecan Pie (has never been off the menu since we opened) and of coure various other things ranging from chocolate sauce to flans, the chocolate is truly delicious.

I have a real sweet tooth--I love dessert, so I think there is a place for a little dessert even everyday. (lime ice or a fruit crisp does it for me)

Some traditional Mexican favorites are crepas con cajeta made with goat's milk and wonderful Mexican cinnamon. There are so many flavors to use: prickly pear, mango, lime, the list goes on and on. Using piloncillo--the Mexican unrefined sugar shaped in a cone, is used in our kitchens as well. And of course all of the fresh, seasonal berries make it into all of our crisps and ices.

[phatch]

I watched you cook the crepes con cajeta a week or two ago on your PBS show. I guess it's in reruns as it were. Loved the cast iron pan. I enjoy cooking in cast iron though mine aren't as old.

My 8 year old aughter watched with me and thought it looked good too.

Phil

[kalypso]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

what varieties of choc do you use?

I'm assuming that by choc you mean chocolate?

You can get MayorDomo Mexican chocolate from Oaxaca through Chocosphere - www.chocosphere.com - as well as El Rey chocolate from Venezuela. IIRC, they carry both the regular and semi-sweet varieties. There is really no comparison between MayorDomo and the more readily available Ibarra and Abuelita. The MayorDomo is really good stuff. I've ordered quite a bit of different chocolate from Chocosphere with very good luck, i.e. it arrives safe and sound and in good condition.

Zingerman's used to stock Susanna Trilling's chocolate de metate, I don't know if they still do. It was priced at around $15/lb.

[shroomgirl]

Thank you what a great site!! some of my favorite chocolates as well as some I'd not seen before.....pretty exstensive line, too bad it's not wholesale.
I just bought 11# Callebaut for $44.

[cakerookie]

I am interested in that sugar cone.

[even stephen]

Any mexican grocery store carries it. It may come in any number of
shapes, but mostly the cone shaped. When you find a good mexican
grocery store, ask where the best carnaceria or mexican butcher shop
is. If you find a good one, you will really enjoy some of the marinated pork
and beef.