Yucatán residents protest the rape and murder of José Eduardo Ravelo in Mérida.
Four Mérida municipal police officers are now in custody for the rape and murder of a young man, according to an announcement by the Yucatán state governor on Saturday.
After police detained José Eduardo Ravelo, 23, on July 21 he was raped and badly beaten, leading to his death on August 3. Ravelo had recently arrived in Mérida from Veracruz, looking for a job.
The day after the attack, his mother said, Ravelo called her and told her what had happened. She traveled to be at his side as he was dying.
“In a video … the attorney general’s lawyer told me that when he was inside [the jail], you can hear screams and no one went to help him,” the victim’s mother told local media outlets.
“In our state there is no place for impunity … there will be justice,” Governor Mauricio Vila said, adding that the family had accepted help from the State Commission for Victim Services.
The murder has triggered protests by Yucatán residents and nonprofit organizations. The demonstrators rallied outside the municipal government building on Sunday.
“The police don’t protect us; they rape us, they kill us!” people chanted.
Some left flowers and candles by the building’s entrance in Ravelo’s memory.
Lawyer Adriana Quintal was one of the people who attended the protest. She said the crime was not an isolated incident.
“This is not an isolated case of violence by the police against citizens, what’s different is it’s the first case where a mother dared to rub it in their faces. In Progreso last year there were various [police murders],” Quintal said.
The federal Interior Ministry (Segob) has announced that the investigation will include an inquiry into whether discrimination based on physical appearance, age or personal identity factored into the attack on Ravelo.
The documentary Comala will compete in the Toronto International Film Festival.
It was only after his father’s death that Monterrey film director Gian Cassini, 34, learned what his father did for a living: he was a drug cartel sicario. The man had often been absent in Cassini’s youth, and now he knew why.
His father was killed during the violent drug-trafficking crackdown by the Felipe Calderón administration, Cassini said.
“At the time I remember it was like … I wanted to keep it in a box, as if it were separate from him. I thought, ‘I don’t need this in my life,’” Cassini said.
But talking with his father’s family and seeing their loss, Cassini became more interested in the dichotomy between the man his family knew and the violent business in which he had been involved and decided to make a documentary about his family’s experience. Now, after nine years of work, the film Comala is debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“Initially, I thought I’d make a fictional film, but when I met with my family and saw everything, how the absence of a son, a brother and a father affected them, I was inspired [to make a documentary] … Little by little I convinced them to participate, which is admirable because we all have things we are ashamed of or things we don’t want to confront … in the end, they threw themselves in and were completely honest with me,” Cassini said.
Rather than focusing on sensationalist violence, the film looks at the toll his father’s line of work took on his immediate family. One of the film’s goals, Cassini said, was to spread awareness of the problem of violence, which is often normalized.
“It’s terrifying how we have arrived at the point of normalizing the violence of narco-trafficking. It is something that seems to no longer affect us, and is even celebrated [in popular culture] … It’s worth remembering that … in the midst of all of that, we are still human beings and what is happening affects us,” Cassini said.
The Toronto festival runs from September 9 through 18.
On Saturday night reports were heard of an armed man shooting in the tourist zone of Cabo San Lucas. It turned out to be none other than the head of the state Ministry of Public Security in Baja California Sur.
Germán Wong, allegedly drunk, drove through the area near Lázaro Cárdenas boulevard shooting off rounds around 11 p.m.
After receiving the reports local police mounted an operation to catch the shooters, who were traveling in a white Honda. When they found the vehicle and stopped it, they found Wong in the passenger seat. He was accompanied by three women and another man.
According to the newspaper Milenio, the officers did not believe Wong when he claimed to be the head of the state police and their superior officer. Instead, they handcuffed and interrogated him.
An hour later, municipal Police Chief oJuan José Zamorano arrived and ordered Wong be disarmed and taken home.
Baja California Sur Governor Carlos Mendoza later announced on Twitter that Wong would be fired. He has been the minister of public security since February 2018.
“The members of my cabinet must have irreproachable conduct,” he wrote.
Fewer Brits are expected among travelers at Mexico City airport.
The inclusion of Mexico on the U.K.’s travel red list means losses in the millions of dollars for the tourism industry, according to trade body the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
A third wave of Covid-19 infections in Mexico has seen around 20,000 new cases a day, which triggered the U.K. to change the country’s status from amber to red on its travel list. Many tourists from the U.K. rushed home before 4:00 a.m. Sunday to avoid a 10-day hotel quarantine which will cost arrivals about US $2,425. People without legal residence are banned from entering the U.K. from Mexico.
The WTTC estimates that the decision will affect about 6,000 U.K. tourists. Data from the Tourism Ministry (Sectur) shows the United Kingdom is the main source of tourists from Europe and the fourth biggest globally. Mexico was becoming a more popular destination for U.K. tourism, which grew by 16.8% from 2015-2018, from 505,954 to 590,954 visitors.
The announcement deals a fresh blow to the industry, which suffered badly due to travel restrictions in the pandemic. Data from federal statistics institute Inegi shows that the value of the industry dropped 55.1% in 2020 compared to 2019. However, it was still a significant foreign currency earner: according to the WTTC’s annual economic impact report it contributed 8.5% to Mexico’s GDP in 2020 and generated 5.8 million jobs.
The vice president of the WTTC, Virginia Messina, estimated the economic impact of the decision. “The longer [restrictions] are extended the greater the impact. We are talking about many millions of dollars for the Mexican economy,” she said.
She added that the restrictions could cost $2 million per day for the tourism industry, which would mean losses of $364 million over six months. Other European countries could also take action to restrict arrivals from Mexico, she said.
In the U.K. 70% of the population has received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and officials hope to hit 100% in October. That has heightened fears of introducing new Covid-19 variants to the population, against which vaccines may not be effective. Meanwhile, in Mexico almost 40% of people have received a first dose, according to Health Ministry data released on August 7.
Sixty countries are on the U.K.’s red list including much of Latin America. The countries include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and Panama.
The U.K. government updates its list of countries every three weeks. Travelers can view updates and requirements on the official government website.
The basking shark on the beach in Puerto Vallarta.
An unusual sight gave beach-goers a scare on Saturday in Puerto Vallarta. After an ominous triangular fin was spotted circling near the shore, bathers exited the water and a crowd gathered to watch a small shark, just over a meter long, that was wandering through the shallows.
Fear quickly turned to concern for the animal’s well being after the shark came too close to the beach and a wave left it stranded on the sand. Civil Protection agents quickly arrived at the scene to help the shark, which had an injury on its tail. They decided that it was not serious enough to necessitate additional aid.
Then, with the help of local parachute tour operator José Manuel Castillón and his boat, the animal was taken half a kilometer out to sea and released, well away from the beach and its tourists.
It was identified as a small basking shark, a species that does not attack humans.
The longest cable car line in Latin America was opened by Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum in the east of the capital on Sunday, less than a month since the first line of the system went into full operation.
Line 2 of the Cablebús improves connectivity in working class Iztapalapa – the most populous municipality in the country – through seven stops linking Metro stations Constitución de 1917 and Santa Marta by a 36-minute journey end-to-end. The 10.8-kilometer line will transport up to 108,000 passenger daily in 305 cabins, cutting the journey by almost 50 minutes, and cost 3.18 billion pesos (almost US $159 million) to build.
Line 1 went into full operation on June 11, connecting the Gustavo A. Madero borough to the Indios Verdes Metro and bus station. It has registered 56,000 users per day compared to the 48,000 predicted, which makes it the second most used cable car in Latin America, even by pre-pandemic numbers, according to city officials.
Cabins on both lines have capacity for 10 passengers, but only six are currently permitted due to coronavirus restrictions.
The inauguration of Line 2 saw a festive atmosphere with dancers and drummers and 100 murals by 35 urban artists revealed on the new line and its surroundings. Around 500 people attended. Some shouted “President! President!” to Sheinbaum who has long been touted as Morena’s next presidential candidate.
The mayor pointed to the social benefits of the new transport option. “The Cablebús project represents not only an investment in public transport – massive, modern, innovative and non-polluting – but one that reduces inequality, that gives dignity to a population that has been historically overlooked,” she said, adding that public investment was urgent in the municipality, one of the 15 most violent in the country.
While joking that the area would now be recognized for more than just cumbia band Los Ángeles Azules, she noted that the new airborne transport system was the fruit of an administration that is not corrupt.
Iztapalapa Mayor Clara Brugada said the area would be transformed entirely. “Today Iztapalapa ceases to be the backyard of Mexico City, the garbage dump of Mexico City. Today Iztapalapa takes flight,” she said.
Resident Óscar Méndez immediately saw benefits in safety and efficiency. “Before it took me an hour and a half or more to get to Santa Marta, but now they say it will be half an hour and it’s going to be safer. The truth is that taking a minibus is like flipping a coin: you don’t know what’s going to happen; whether you’re going to get assaulted or you’re going to get stuck in traffic. This [the cable car] looks great,” he said.
The first cable car to open in the Valley of México was the Mexicable in Ecatepec in October 2016. A new 8.2-kilometer line is under construction in the same municipality, and there have been discussions about a new cable car service in the west of Mexico City in Naucalpan, and another in the southwest of the city to connect the neighborhoods of Magdalena Contreras and Tlalpan.
Line 2 runs each day until 11:00 p.m. and starts Monday to Friday at 5:00 a.m, Saturday at 6:00 a.m. and Sundays and public holidays at 7:00 a.m. Trips cost 7 pesos and are free for adults over 60, people with disabilities and children under 5. Passengers can travel with a bicycle Monday-Friday.
Promotional image of Vicente Fernandez, left, and a later one that was used in internet memes because he appeared in distress due to his bow tie.
If my discussions about this topic with friends, family, and other longtime foreign residents are any indication, this list might get me into some trouble.
So let me explain a little why I chose these five pop culture icons to highlight. They are not necessarily the most important, nor the only ones those of us who live here for any length of time should know. Mexico is a vast and multi-layered culture that takes more than one lifetime to explore.
Instead, take this list as a starting point. You might have seen these personajes (celebrities/characters) or heard of them, but you may not know exactly who they are. (I left out Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo simply because they are already internationally famous.)
However, they are well-known to our Mexican friends and family, known multi-generationally. References to them appear in street murals, internet memes and other modern expressions, even if they have died some time ago. They are all from popular culture but demonstrate different aspects of it.
El Santo (The Saint)
Statue dedicated to El Santo in the wrestler’s hometown of Tulancingo, Hidalgo. Jay Galvin
No wrestler in the United States has achieved the iconic status that he of the silver mask did decades before The Rock or John Cena ever stepped into a ring. The Mexican term lucha libre (free fight) better describes the entertaining morality plays that are called wrestling in the U.S.
El Santo was just that, a “saint” fighting for justice in scenarios that the common man could identify with, even if they were often a bit corny. He was immensely popular in the ring, in comic books and in the 52 films he appeared in from the 1950s to the very early 1980s.
His real name was successfully kept secret, allowing audiences to see themselves in the character, until the retired Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta removed his mask on a television show in 1984.
Cantinflas (Mario Moreno Reyes)
Where El Santo portrayed the innate good of the common man, Cantiflas (Mario Moreno Reyes) represented his mischievous side. He is the only pop culture character who has a verb named after him in Mexican Spanish, cantinflear, which roughly means to perform linguistic gymnastics to obfuscate a situation, especially when authorities are trying to take advantage of you.
Cantinflas is best known for his work in movies in the 1940s and 1950s, the height of Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema, where he basically played the same character over and over in different dress.
In the early 1980s, Cantinflas was spontaneously named by several respondents to a political survey asking who would be a suitable presidential candidate in the 1982 elections.
He had a brief stint with international fame, appearing in the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days, but could not get further in Hollywood because his humor was too rooted in the Spanish language.
El Chavo del Ocho (The Kid from Number 8)
This was the name of a television show and its main character the most popular creation of the comedian Chesperito (Roberto Gómez Bolaños). The chavo was an orphan who lived in a barrel inside a Mexican-style vecindad (tenement) on a television sitcom that ran from 1973 to 1980.
Wordplay, running gags and physical, even violent, humor defines much of the show. Many critics at the time considered it to be “trash,” but others recognized that El Chavo and his cohorts struck a chord with many Mexicans.
The idea of watching obvious grown-ups play children may seem strange, but El Chavo is one of two important little boy characters like this. The other is Chabelo, played by Xavier López Rodríguez until 2015, when he was 80.
El Chavo del Ocho remains highly profitable for Televisa. To this day, the show remains in syndication, along with an animated version created in 2006, and Televisa still sells merchandise for the franchise.
Roberto Gómez Bolaños, who played El Chavo, studied mechanical engineering at the National Autonomous University but left to pursue writing.
Vicente Fernández
There are several extremely important singers in charro (cowboy) outfits from the 20th century, including Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete. Vicente Fernández was inspired to sing traditional Jalisco ranchera music by watching Pedro Infante’s movies in the mid-20th century. He followed his icon into recording contracts and movie appearances.
In fact, he is credited for breathing new life into ranchera when it was in danger of falling from popularity in the 1970s. Like El Santo, his fame was reinforced by regular appearances in movies, starting with the 1971 release, Tacos al Carbón.
At age 81, he still records music, stepping back from live performances only a few years ago. Today, his son Alejandro Fernández continues the family legacy of singing ranchera in the charro outfit.
La India María
This choice is likely to get me in the most trouble (though not as much as Memín Pingüin would!). There are few female pop icons in Mexico, but it is important to have one in this list.
Chalk drawing of La India María.
There is an indirect link between this character, played by María Elena Velasco, and the smiley-faced dolls sold all over Mexico. The clothing and hairstyle for both are based on one typically worn by Mazahua women who migrated to Mexico City in the latter part of the 20th century.
Collectively known as “Marías,” the women were distinctive in the capital because of their use of traditional dress and making a living selling in the street; unfortunately, this invited abuse and ridicule. La India María suffers many of these problems in the movies and television shows in which she appears, almost always diffusing the situation using acts of morality and humor.
Cantinflas "Por mis Pistolas" [English Subtitles]
A short clip from a movie by Cantinflas.
Certainly, there are many more people and characters that those of us who live in Mexico, especially long term, should be familiar with. Those who almost made the cut here include actress María Félix and singer Juan Gabriel.
Given Mexico’s obsession with clowns, I even briefly considered the comedian and talk show host Platanito despite his rather coarse humor.
What pop culture icon would you have included on this list?
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
One year when I was living in Querétaro, my bike was stolen. So was my digital camera (this was before the era of great camera phones) and two very full piggy banks. The owner of the house knew who had probably done it because he’d left his copy of my keys unattended with some of his workers and there had been no break-in.
If you’ve ever had property stolen from you — especially when you worked hard and sacrificed to get it — then you know the specific type of impotent rage it can make you feel.
If you’ve had something stolen from you in Mexico, that rage comes in two parts: first, when you realize that someone has committed a crime against you and second, when you realize that there will very likely be zero justice.
In my own case, the owner of the house replaced my camera, at least; I would not have gotten it back otherwise. But I still had to go file a police report, something that took upward of three hours.
In the case of another friend whose vehicle was stolen, the part about filing a report is what made him (and what makes most others) ultimately give up.
Before they would even start looking for the vehicle, he needed a variety of signatures from a variety of institutions — all of them across town from one another, of course, making him spend days running around as if neither telephones nor the internet existed.
By the time he had gotten most of the ones he needed, he was out quite a bit of money in taxis and a full week had passed.
If you happen to be the victim of a crime, the message is loud and clear: you’re on your own.
Sure, the bureaucratic machine will go through the motions for you … as well as demand a lot of work from you. Will justice be done? Though it might be once in a while — even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, as my high school calculus teacher used to say — you’re probably better off making peace with what’s happened and moving on.
Having property stolen is frustrating and sad, and it’s thankfully the only crime I’ve been a victim of so far here (unless you count the occasional unwelcome butt grab). But when crimes are essentially those of terror — like kidnapping, torture and murder — patience with a dysfunctional and ineffective justice system can downright disappear.
Just ask the people of Fresnillo, where a full 96% of people feel unsafe, or any of the other numerous communities that have been completely overtaken by narcos. As offended and dismissive as the president was about the United States claiming that one-third of Mexican territory is controlled by narcos, I’d like to see him live in one of those places and then talk about how “peaceful and tranquil” the country is.
Underpaid and uncertified police officers, narcos who have essentially taken over entire communities and bureaucratic policies that actively discourage crime victims from seeking justice; we ignore our clunky, ineffective system at our own peril. Because when there’s not a functioning system, something comes up and takes its place; it doesn’t just stay a vacuum.
When a security and justice system is ineffective, a new one will be built by someone. This is what happened with the “El Machete” defense force in Chiapas most recently and what’s happened in various other parts of Mexico such as in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán (spoiler: the results are not typically what they hope to achieve).
And while the recent news of armed citizen groups in Chiapas running security forces out of town and taking matters of justice into their own hands is either alarming or inspiring (depending on how you look at it), what it’s not is surprising.
It’s simply what happens when people know for a fact that justice will not be served. It’s what happens when they know they are not safe. It’s what happens when they know that the system is not meant to work for them.
According to locals, known violent criminals were living among them and the authorities were doing nothing about it, so the group decided to handle it themselves. What’s disturbing is the way they did so, raiding the homes of some and taking one suspected motorcycle thief and literally setting him on fire (he survived).
There’s a certain portion of the population who I think would be perfectly happy to see criminals face this kind of punishment. But if we want human rights to be respected, we can’t simply torture people who are accused of crimes, even if they’re certainly guilty. Preventing that kind of mob justice is why the institution of criminal justice exists.
I understand anger. I’ve been so angry before that I’ve literally wished for certain people to get hit by a bus. I get it. But do Kill Bill-like fantasies have a place in real life? Probably not.
I also worry about the absence of a system for truly proving someone’s guilt or innocence when citizens take the law into their own hands. What’s to stop someone with a personal vendetta from accusing someone of a crime and having communal rage wrongly brought down upon them?
On the other hand, seeing justice done in a place where there’s precious little of it can be so, so, satisfying; I understand people who say, “Well, it’s better than nothing.”
I don’t have a solution. I’m just spinning the most anxious of my wheels. Making sure all security forces are well-trained and well-paid enough to resist bribes is one step; a cutting-down of the tasks that a crime victim must complete to even begin to try to find justice is another.
The president said, “There is governability, there are no risks of instability. We’re fighting the scourge of violence every day, and peace and tranquility can be spoken about throughout the country.”
I know virtually no one who would agree with this statement. It’s time for a real overhaul.
The president took a moment at his Thursday press conference to dedicate a bolero by Marco Antonio Muñiz’s Lamento Borrincano to Puerto Rico.
The national referendum last weekend had asked whether five former presidents should be investigated for corruption. Some international media outlets had called President López Obrador’s motivations into question for putting the matter to the public.
After all, there was no longer presidential immunity, and so there was nothing stopping former leaders from being investigated: AMLO himself had made sure of that by lifting the privilege in 2019.
With plenty at stake — not least for a group of ex-presidents with chequered political records — the conferences were likely to be a combative affair.
Monday
It was back to the beach to start the week: Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.
Governor Enrique Alfaro reviewed the state’s security. The crime rate, he said, was below the national average up to July, but homicide was higher than in 2018.
The president endeavored to view the positives: “6,474,708 citizens, women and men, participated yesterday … the majority voted for ‘yes’, 97%,” he said. The National Electoral Institute, he added, who “pretend to be democrats,” were culpable due to their failure to promote the poll.
However, AMLO confirmed that charges against ex-leaders were not off the table.
The topic of corruption is never far from the mañaneras. A local journalist queried: had it been wise to disband the Tourism Promotion Council?
“Oh, of course, no, no, no. It was the cave of Ali Baba and the 140 thieves. They robbed all of the money, it was a facade,” AMLO replied.
AMLO found much to be happy about this week, even the results of the nationwide referendum on Sunday on whether to investigate ex-presidents.
“Now, it’s breakfast time,” he declared, shortly before striding away to attend to the nation.
Tuesday
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell fulfilled his recurring duty on Tuesday, and stated that 97% of people who were in hospital for Covid-19 hadn’t been vaccinated.
Scandal was afoot when a journalist revealed he had seen the transcripts from a private meeting of the Pemex union: “It was direct confrontation, including insults against you,” he said, and added that attendees had conspired to strike to put pressure on the government.
AMLO kept his cool, and called for clean, democratic union elections. Later, on the topic of authoritarianism in teacher training colleges, he renewed his call. “No to chiefdoms. Democracy in schools, democracy in unions, democracy at home and democracy in government. Everywhere,” he said.
Many prison inmates are soon to be released, under certain conditions: one is torture. However, a journalist said that forcing prisoners to shave was tantamount to torture, according to legal modifications made in 2017. The president conceded he didn’t know how many suspects would be freed, and declined to clarify the legal status of the clean shaven.
Wednesday
Gas company workers had gone on strike in the Valley of México to protest a new price ceiling. They could be prosecuted, AMLO said, shortly before Ana Elizabeth García arrived to discuss media untruths.
Despite reports to the contrary, the Environment Ministry was not using a toxic fertilizer in the Sowing Life treeplanting project, nor did the government leave flood victims out of pocket, she confirmed. García added that a report on a hike in electricity rates was sensationalist because it didn’t factor in inflation. She then raised another article on the president’s plan for potholes, but failed to highlight a lie.
It was all sour grapes, AMLO said, and stated that advertising from the last three administrations had made the media rich: more than 2 billion pesos for the newspaper El Universal.
Later in the conference, the president pondered a poem to be included in his new book, apparently due for publication at the end of the month.
A journalist interjected, referring the president back to the case for tightening press regulations. He refuted the notion, before returning to the poem. “A drop of mud may fall on a diamond, and can even obscure its radiance, but even if the whole diamond is covered in mire, its value will never be lost for a moment and it will always be a diamond …”
Fake news patrol head Ana Elizabeth Garcia shares a lighthearted moment with the president on Wednesday.
The conference came to an abrupt halt shortly after. The president had an “important engagement,” to attend, but left the identity of his meeting companion a mystery.
Thursday
The head of the Federal Electoral Tribunal had been removed Wednesday, and AMLO called for further changes: “There is a crisis … reform is essential in both the National Electoral Institute and the Electoral Tribunal,” he said.
A journalist raised the government’s civil case against U.S. gun manufacturers, and inquired about the Venezuela negotiations. The president said Mexico would likely be the venue for talks between President Nicolás Maduro’s ruling party and the Venezuelan opposition.
Migrants and their remittances were given a big hand by the president, whom he estimated could send US $48 billion back home this year. “The truth is that our countrymen help us a lot … So, all our support, our attention, our respect, our admiration and our gratitude to the migrants.”
To those in Puerto Rico — 300,000 according to a journalist — he dedicated a song. Marco Antonio Muñiz’s Lamento Borrincano was played; it’s a bolero ballad about the island.
Once again, the president had big travel plans. Friday’s conference would be broadcast from Los Cabos, Baja California Sur. Saturday would take him to Colima, and Sunday to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Friday
Sporting a guayabera, a sun-kissed AMLO delivered the conference from Los Cabos. The state had the second least number of homicides in the country, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said, adding that Yucatán had the least.
A congratulations from the president: the men’s Olympic soccer team had taken bronze.
The president pointed to the economic impact of the pandemic, and to other indicators, which he said told a different story. The peso, he said, had held steady, salaries had increased in real terms and tortillas had become more affordable.
Before wrapping up, AMLO added to his criticisms of the Federal Electoral Tribune. “They created a Frankenstein. It’s a judicial power, but the Supreme Court can’t intervene … [they made it that way] so that the court depended on political parties. That is the kind of party politics that needs to be corrected,” the Tabascan premier asserted.
Making your own tortillas is way easier than you think!
It never occurred to me to use masa harina, or corn flour, in anything besides tortillas.
But now that I am using it, I’m loving the nutty corn flavor, slightly gritty mouth-feel and airiness it lends to both sweet and savory baked goods. It’s surprisingly versatile, and I’m having fun in the kitchen with it!
Apparently, I’m not the only one — check out the recipe below for Masa Ball Soup, a clever (and delicious!) take on classic Matzoh Ball Soup.
So what’s the difference between masa harina and cornmeal? They’re both from corn, but that’s where the similarities end.
Cornmeal is simply dried, ground corn. We’re talking “regular” field corn, not the super-sweet hybrids we like to eat at picnics. Unless it’s labeled “whole grain,” it’s made from degerminated corn, i.e., the nutritious bran and germ have been removed to make it last longer.
You can make this Tequila Lime Cake with 3 tablespoons of the Mexican liquor or substitute lime juice.
Masa harina is also made from dried corn, but using a special process called nixtamalization. It’s soaked in a limewater solution to remove the hull, improve the texture and help release nutrients. When those soaked corn kernels are ground, that’s fresh masa. If you dry that, you have masa harina — literally “dough flour.”
That’s why you can’t really substitute one for the other; they’re very different.
Tortillas, sopes, huaraches, gorditas — all of these are made from masa harina. Can you, should you, make your own at home? Another surprise: it’s not that hard. Really!
Tequila Lime Cake
1 cup flour
¾ cup masa harina
2 ¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, melted OR 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (or half and half)
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
3 Tbsp. tequila OR fresh lime juice
Zest of 3–4 limes
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted if lumpy
Zest of 2–3 limes
2 tsp. tequila or milk
2 to 3 tsp. lime juice
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square or 9-inch round pan. In small bowl, whisk flour, masa harina, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In larger bowl, whisk granulated sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, milk, tequila/lime juice and zest. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Pour batter in prepared pan. Bake 25–30 minutes, until cake edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before glazing.
To make glaze: Mix confectioners’ sugar, zest, tequila (or milk) and enough lime juice to reach a smooth, pourable consistency. With cake turned out onto a plate, pour glaze over top, spread to edges and allow to drip down the sides.
In large bowl, whisk eggs with water and oil. In a small bowl, mix masa harina with baking powder, salt and pepper. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; combine thoroughly. Refrigerate uncovered for 30 minutes.
Divide stock evenly between two pots, season both to taste with salt; bring to a simmer. Add carrots, celery and sweet potato to one pot; simmer until just tender. Set aside.
Using wet hands (re-wetting as necessary), form masa mixture into 1 to 1 ½-inch balls. Add to simmering pot of stock without vegetables. Mixture may feel soft but should form balls. Once all masa balls are added, cover and simmer until cooked through, 30–45 minutes. Cooked masa balls can be kept warm in their broth until ready to serve.
Reheat both pots. Using slotted spoon, transfer masa balls to serving bowls; strain masa ball cooking broth with fine-mesh strainer into the pot with broth and vegetables. Ladle hot broth and veggies into each bowl. Garnish with cilantro, peppers and lime wedges.
Tortitas de Elote
Enjoy as a crispy side dish or as a snack with bean dip, sour cream, fresh salsa or a squeeze of lime.
Tortitas de Elote are crispy, cheesy bites of heaven.
1¼ cups masa harina, plus more for coating
½ tsp. salt
½ cup grated Chihuahua cheese
1¼ cups milk
¾ cup sweet corn kernels
¼ cup chopped scallion
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
Corn oil
In a bowl, mix masa harina, salt and cheese. Heat milk to a simmer; pour into masa harina mixture. Stir. (Cheese should melt and incorporate into the dough.) Gently fold in corn, scallions, cilantro and garlic. Let sit 30 minutes to turn into a medium-stiff dough.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Using your hands, make patties out of the dough, about 4 inches across and ½-inch thick. Dredge in masa harina; lay gently in the skillet. Cook until golden and crispy, about 4 minutes per side.
Masa Harina Pancakes
1 cup masa harina
½ cup flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
3 Tbsp. corn oil
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, milk and oil. Pour into dry ingredients; stir. Let sit 5 minutes; stir again. Batter should be thick. Heat skillet over medium heat and spray or pour a little oil onto it. Cook pancakes, turning once when bubbles form.
Masa harina pancakes are just as fluffy as conventional ones, but with a touch of nutty corn flavor.
Tortillas
2 cups masa harina
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups warm water
In large, shallow bowl, combine masa harina and salt. Gradually add 1 cup water, using your hands to make a cohesive dough; then add remaining water slowly, mixing and kneading in the bowl, until dough is smooth and somewhat firm (like Play-Doh). Divide into golf ball-sized chunks, then roll into balls. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel.
To shape, a tortilla press is easiest, but they can be rolled by hand or pressed with a skillet or flat-bottomed dish. (Put plastic wrap on either side of the dough ball before flattening it.)
Preheat a comal, cast iron pan or griddle over medium-high heat for 5 minutes until evenly hot. Add a tortilla. Flip after 10 seconds, then cook each side for about a minute or until brown spots form. Tortillas should puff up while cooking the second side.
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