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The AriMexico Kitchen cookbook cover

The Cookbook

the AriMexicokitchen.

A field-guide cookbook of Arizona and Mexico City recipes from my table to yours — mole ground by hand, mesquite in everything, and the slow Sunday dinners that taught me color belongs on the plate.

Printed on demand·Hardcover & softcover·Ships worldwide

What's inside

two deserts,one kitchen.

  • 60+ recipesArizona classics, Mexico City moles, and the long-table Sundays in between.
  • Hand-written notesThe story of every dish — where I ate it, who taught it, why it stayed.
  • A pantry field guideMesquite, mezcal, Mexican oregano, and the chiles that do the heavy lifting.
  • Photographed on filmWarm grain, golden light, and the tables where it actually happened.
Mole Negro Oaxaqueño
Mercado de la Merced, Oaxaca

Mercado de la Merced, Oaxaca

Oaxaca · the signature

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño

Before you start: clear the day. Mole negro is a many-bowl affair and it doesn't hurry. You'll need a heavy comal or cast-iron pan, a blender, and patience for toasting. Pantry: dried chilhuacle and mulato (substitute ancho and pasilla for a kinder version), Mexican chocolate, almonds, raisins, a ripe plantain, stale bread, sesame, and a slow afternoon.

Serves 6· an afternoon — start at noon, eat at dusk
What goes in
  • ·6 dried chilhuacle (or ancho) chiles, seeded
  • ·4 dried mulato chiles, seeded
  • ·3 dried pasilla chiles, seeded
  • ·1/4 cup sesame seeds
  • ·1/4 cup almonds
  • ·1/4 cup raisins
  • ·1 ripe plantain, sliced
  • ·2 slices stale bread, torn
  • ·1 small onion + 3 cloves garlic, charred
  • ·1 disk Mexican chocolate, chopped
  • ·1 stick cinnamon, 3 cloves, 1 allspice
  • ·2 tbsp lard or oil, 6 cups stock, salt
How it goes
  1. 1Toast the chiles on a dry comal until fragrant — don't burn, or they turn bitter. Soak in hot water 20 min.
  2. 2Separately toast sesame, almonds, cloves, cinnamon, allspice. Set aside.
  3. 3Char the onion, garlic, and plantain in a dry pan until blackened in spots.
  4. 4Blend the soaked chiles with stock until smooth; strain. Blend the nuts, spices, charred veg, bread, raisins and chocolate into a second paste.
  5. 5In a heavy pot, heat lard; fry the chile paste until it darkens, about 5 min. Add the second paste and fry another 5 min.
  6. 6Pour in the remaining stock, simmer uncovered 45 min until it coats a spoon. Salt, a pinch of sugar, a square of chocolate to finish.
  7. 7Pour over poached chicken or turkey. Let it sit a day if you can — it's better tomorrow.

My abuela toasted the chiles twice. Once for the depth, once for the smoke. Don't skip the second toast — that's where the black in negro lives.

Pour with — a tiny glass of reposado — sip, don't shoot

The table

the food,cooked slow.

Hermosillo, at dusk

Hermosillo, at dusk

Sonora

Carne Asada de Mesquite

What you need: a sack of mesquite charcoal (gas won't give you the smoke), thin-cut beef — look for thinly sliced sirloin flap — a strong pair of tongs, and a salsa fresca already made. This is a fire-and-friend recipe, not a technique.

Carne Asada de Mesquite
What goes in
  • ·1.5 lb thin-cut beef for asada
  • ·Juice of 2 oranges + 2 limes
  • ·4 cloves garlic, minced
  • ·A handful of cilantro, chopped
  • ·Coarse salt, black pepper, a glug of oil
  • ·Salsa: 4 roma tomatoes, 2 jalapeños, 1/4 onion, cilantro, lime
How it goes
  1. 1Marinate beef in citrus, garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper — 20 min, no more (the lime cooks it).
  2. 2Build a hot mesquite fire; let the flames die to white coals.
  3. 3Grill fast, 2 min a side, until charred. Rest 5 min.
  4. 4Chop fine, pile onto warm tortillas, spoon salsa over. Eat standing.

The fire is the recipe. Mesquite burns hot and sweet — let it, and the meat takes care of itself.

A courtyard, Tlacolula

A courtyard, Tlacolula

Oaxaca

Caldo de Quelite

What you need: a bunch of quelites (substitute Swiss chard or amaranth greens), a pot, and an hour. The greens are the point — find the most peppery, slightly bitter bunch you can.

What goes in
  • ·1 large bunch quelites (or chard), stemmed and chopped
  • ·1 onion, diced + 2 cloves garlic
  • ·1 jalapeño, sliced
  • ·6 cups broth
  • ·1 cup cooked hominy or white beans (optional)
  • ·A spoon of lard, a sprig of epazote, salt, lime
How it goes
  1. 1Sweat onion, garlic, jalapeño in lard until soft.
  2. 2Add greens by the handful; wilt down 5 min.
  3. 3Pour in broth, add hominy and epazote. Simmer 25 min.
  4. 4Salt, a squeeze of lime, serve with warm tortillas.

Quelites are weeds with a pedigree. Forage them at the market if you can't forage them yourself.

My tía's ranch, Sonora

My tía's ranch, Sonora

Sonora

Tamales de Elote

What you need: fresh sweet corn (don't bother with frozen), corn husks soaked, a steamer, and a free morning. These are the sweet, custardy ones — dessert-tamales, almost.

What goes in
  • ·6 ears sweet corn, kernels cut
  • ·1/2 cup masa harina
  • ·1/3 cup sugar (or grated piloncillo)
  • ·1/4 cup melted butter
  • ·1/2 tsp baking powder
  • ·Pinch of cinnamon, pinch of salt
  • ·Soaked corn husks
How it goes
  1. 1Blend the corn kernels to a rough paste.
  2. 2Mix in masa, sugar, butter, baking powder, cinnamon, salt.
  3. 3Spread onto soaked husks, fold loosely (they need room to puff).
  4. 4Steam 1 hour over gentle heat. Open one — it should be set and slightly springy.

Leave them a little lumpy. The whole kernels are the surprise in every bite.

The bar

somethingto pour.

The palenque, Santiago Matatlán

The palenque, Santiago Matatlán

Oaxaca · drink

Mezcal Paloma

What you need: a good joven mezcal (don't waste the smoky one on soda), fresh grapefruit, lime, a smoked salt rim, and ice. That's the whole list.

Mezcal Paloma
What goes in
  • ·2 oz mezcal joven
  • ·3 oz fresh grapefruit juice
  • ·1 oz fresh lime juice
  • ·A pinch of salt
  • ·Grapefruit soda or sparkling water to top
  • ·Smoked salt for the rim
How it goes
  1. 1Salt the rim of a clay cup. Fill with ice.
  2. 2Shake mezcal, grapefruit, lime and a pinch of salt. Pour over ice.
  3. 3Top with a splash of grapefruit soda. Stir once. Drink slow.

The clay cup is the point — it keeps the mezcal cold and the hands warm.

Tunas from the cactus fence

Tunas from the cactus fence

Sonora · drink

Horchata de Tuna

What you need: ripe prickly pears (tunas), the magenta ones, rice, a little milk or oat milk, and a sweet tooth. Handle the pears with a towel — those spines are invisible and mean.

What goes in
  • ·6 ripe prickly pears, peeled and cubed
  • ·1/4 cup white rice, soaked 2 hours
  • ·2 cups water + 1 cup milk or oat milk
  • ·3 tbsp sugar or agave
  • ·1 stick cinnamon, ice
How it goes
  1. 1Blend soaked rice with water until smooth; strain through a cloth.
  2. 2Blend prickly pears with the rice water, sugar, cinnamon. Strain again.
  3. 3Stir in milk. Serve over lots of ice.

The color is impossible on purpose — magenta like a desert sunset. Don't water it down.

Dawn, before the fire

Dawn, before the fire

Sonora · drink

Café de Olla

What you need: a clay pot (the olla — it's half the flavor), Koffin Coffee's darkest roast, piloncillo, a stick of cinnamon, and the patience to let it nearly boil. This is morning, not a beverage.

What goes in
  • ·4 cups water
  • ·1 cone piloncillo (or 3 tbsp dark brown sugar)
  • ·1 stick cinnamon + 3 whole cloves
  • ·4 tbsp Koffin Coffee, medium ground
How it goes
  1. 1In a clay pot, simmer water with piloncillo, cinnamon, cloves until the sugar dissolves.
  2. 2Bring just to a boil; add the coffee, kill the heat.
  3. 3Cover and steep 5 min. Let the grounds settle. Pour from high up — it froths.

My grandfather drank this standing at the stove, before the sun. The clay is the recipe.

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