Seasonal Notes
Kaelin's stories on food traditions, culinary observations and seasonal cooking from all over Mexico from Oaxaca to Yucatán and beyond.
It's called quesillo, not string cheese
People call it queso Oaxaca outside Oaxaca. Here in Oaxaca, we take huge pride correcting people, telling them it's called quesillo.
But in Oaxaca, we make many styles of cheese from cow milk, but nothing more celebrated than these three: queso fresco, quesillo, and requesón.
The tomato ranch my father started
Thirty minutes north of the city, on the way to our cooking school in the Etla valley, my father started a tomato ranch twenty-five years ago.
In 2022, the year my dad got sick, my brother Jesse and I took it over.
Had a suitcase full of ingredients for my first time cooking in Japan
My first time visiting Japan. I had a suitcase full of dry chiles, four moles, heirloom corn, Seasons of my heart chocolate, mezcal and herbs from Mexico. The first thing that crossed my mind is customs and I was extremely nervous. But a good old "how are you" to the customs official and next thing you know I am in the cab on the way to the hotel with no issues.
Scouting mexico city: Maizajo and Caracol de mar
Last month I was in Mexico City with my best friend Pedro to scout and try new restaurants. Two places made the cut.
Slow-Braised Baby Back Ribs with Purslane
From my time as a Chef de Cuisine at La Calenda, I saw how they grew fresh herbs from The French Laundry Garden. I was lucky to be able to cook with the best herbs and I could use a little bit of everything, from the purslane, watercress to other heirloom herbs.
Relleno Blanco: A dish I'd never heard before
Cooking underground in Pomuch, Campeche: Relleno Blanco Yucateco
I never know what we're going to cook at Diego's.
That's part of why I love going. Our Yucatán tour always passes through Campeche, the colonial city with a vibrant market, before we drive 40 minutes north to Pomuch, a small Mayan village.
What I eat for Breakfast
I spend plenty of my mornings in the biggest market in Oaxaca. Whether, it’s bright and early to buy produce for the cooking school or a tour of the market on Wednesdays with guests. And out of all the food options in the market, nothing hits home like memelas.
The four most eaten ingredients in Mexico
A milpa is the biggest expression of Mexico’s food chain: Corn, squash, chiles and beans. A milpa as an agriculture practice that to this day –not only in Oaxaca, but in most states of Mexico and also in South America– goes beyond a productive food growing system, it involves the many people who grow but also eat what is grown from the milpa.
Cempasúchil, a flower full of tradition
To my fortune, my neighbor and good friend Lider has been growing marigolds in his field besides corn and other heirloom seeds. Three years ago, during the Día de Muertos tour we pay a visit to his fields. We cut our own marigolds for the altar we do all together at the cooking school.
Chorizo Verde: From Houston to Toluca to California
The first time I encountered Chorizo Verde or its preparation, it was when I was working in Houston, getting ready to open the acclaimed restaurant Caracol with my good friend Chef Hugo Ortega.