Piernas, Pavos, and Bacalao

This is the time of year when most books on Mexican cooking written for English-speakers leave you a bit up in the air (exceptions are Patricia’s Quinatana’s Mexico’s Feasts of Life and Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz’s Complete Book of Mexican Cooking).

All my neighbors are busy exchanging their recipes for piernas (legs of pork), pavos (turkeys) and bacalao (salt cod). The stores which don’t carry any of these items most of the year have unsteady-looking piles of salt cod of various grades, rows of fresh pork leg and hams, and frozen turkeys (much more expensive than in the United States).

The first two are used stuffed. Stuffings, at least around here, fall into two chief categories. One is a picadillo, ground beef, spices, chopped fruits and nuts, and egg to bind. The other is a mixture of mainly dried fruits and nuts. You can now buy the first frozen in the grocery store. Lots of places offer to cook your turkey or pork for you. Most of my neighbors prefer to make their own. The bacalao is usually prepared a la vizcaína with tomatoes, olives, pimientos, onions and garlic.

So while we are sleeping, in the wee hours of the morning all the other houses in the neighborhood will be full of light and life and bursting with family members. One brings the bacalao, another the stuffed roast, another a pasta dish (canelonis seem to be fashionable right now), others the salads, and yet others the fruit cake or regular cake. Christmas Day is very quiet indeed.

Funny how after four hundred years there is still doubt in many minds about whether these dishes count as Mexican.

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