Visiting Puebla during the patriotic month
I had the opportunity to visit Puebla in the last weeks. I always drive past it when I go to Mexico City but I've never had the time to actually go and spend some time there. I spent three days visiting a friend I haven't seen in a long time. I was excited for the food, the churches and the cultural part but mainly for the famous Chile en Nogada.
Chile en Nogada is emblematic dish of Mexico, that was first done in Puebla. That's where it was first served to Agustín de Iturbide in 1821 and all of the ingredients that go into it are grown in Puebla, which makes it even more fascinating.
While I was there I went to the two places that are the most iconic and traditional. The first one was El Mural de los Poblanos, a restaurant that's been there for many, many years. Of course I had Chile en Nogada for breakfast, at nine thirty in the morning, and with it I got the trio of moles: Mole Poblano, Pipián Verde and a Pipián Rojo done with pumpkin seeds and a little bit of peanut. All of them are stuffed with chicken and then bathed in the mole, so it's really three moles in one. Really delicious.
The Chile en Nogada was delicious too. In Puebla they leave the sauce a little more chunky. I think they blend it very smooth and then add more walnut at the end so it stays coarse. It's very interesting.
Of course, Puebla is incredible with its many churches. The city is beautiful itself.
Puebla’s full name is Puebla de los Ángeles coming from the Spanish conquest, where a lot of the nuns settled. One of the most famous churches is Cholula, sits on top of the hill, it takes are many, many flights of stairs to get up there. But once you go up and go in the church is full of gold, truly stunning, incredibly gratifying to go up and also look at the view of the city from the top.
To break the evening, I had tacos at a place called Los Aguacates that serves amazing ribeye, and many more meats. They are served with a generous amount of guacamole and there is a salsa section and plenty of garnishes you can add to your tacos.
The next day I went to Casa Reyna, another very traditional place that's been there for ages and where everybody goes. It's also a hotel. It's very hard to get a reservation so I went in the morning, on a Sunday. The Chile en Nogada there was interesting because they hand you a certificate signed by a notary saying that every single ingredient is from Puebla and nothing is brought in from out of state. They also number them. Mine was 24,032. My friend went at the beginning of the season and she was in the first thousands. They are incredibly proud of it and they should be.
I was also stunned by how big the chile was. Compared to Oaxaca it was incredibly big, easily enough to feed two people, maybe three. I obviously asked for one for myself. And of course I got the three moles again to compare. I liked the moles better at El Mural de los Poblanos but I liked the Chile en Nogada better at Casa Reyna.
Every table around me at breakfast was having it too. They also give you an extra side of sauce, and when people finish the chile a lot of them take bread and clean the plate with it. The sauce is one of the stars of the dish. Peeling all of those walnuts is incredibly hard work, which makes it that much more gratifying when you eat it. Every restaurant and every billboard I saw was serving it, and people there are so proud of it. I was very happy and very grateful that I got to eat at both of those places.
After that I did some plant shopping, since gardening and visiting nurseries is one of my hobbies.
Overall, I was stunned by Puebla. The cathedral downtown is the biggest church I've seen outside Mexico City and it is stunning, the architecture and everything inside it. This trip inspired me to come back and feature chiles en nogada at the cooking school. We made a video cooking them, and it's part of the recipes we’ll be cooking this month at the school.
Saludos,
Kaelin
