Most people look forward to turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and perhaps even yams on Thanksgiving. I love all those items too, don’t get me wrong, but growing up in a Mexican household has also made me yearn for the other Thanksgiving foods that can be found on my dining room table when my family celebrates el día de acción de gracias: carne asada, frijoles, tamales, tortillas and salsa.
Most years our feast generally features a variety of Mexican and American foods, turkey and tamales, flan and pumpkin pie, but one year, we decided to do Thanksgiving completely Mexican-style, turkey-free.
My family hails from a region in Jalisco near Guadalajara. Anyone from Guadalajara and that region knows that the torta ahogada is a staple food as well as a difficult one to master because of the sauce it requires. Wanting to pay homage to our heritage and our bicultural palette, my mother, sister and I decided that serving the perfect torta ahogadas would be a great Thanksgiving meal. We were really excited to begin our endeavor and find the perfect recipe for the spicy, orangey sauce that is used to “drown” the tortas.
Since the men in our family are usually busy watching football or hiding out in the garage during this holiday, the food-making activity and hence, food decision-making is up to the ladies and we didn’t think to consult them about our Thanksgiving al estilo Guadalajara.
The wife of a cousin was kind enough to share her rather simple recipe for making the sauce with us. We figured we couldn’t mess up. One of the key ingredients involved is chile chipotle. For those of you who don’t know, chipotle, when used in the wrong amounts can cause a strong, overpowering reaction. We were trying to avoid that and were certain that our sauce was just right. We went with lomo (beef tenderloin) and ham as the main fillings.
That night the familia gathered around our humble dining room table to take part in Thanksgiving dinner and after our traditional prayer, complaints were almost immediate, “Where’s the mashed potatoes? Why aren’t we eating turkey?”
We shot back with our certainty that they would enjoy the meal just as much as the usual Thanksgiving fixings, but soon we all realized a fiery fact. The salsa was entirely too spicy! We had gone overboard in our excitement and couldn’t handle the very dish we were so looking forward to serve. Only those of us brave enough managed to fight past the teary eyes and nose sniffling to claim victory over the torta ahogada. We wrapped up dinner that night with flan and since then, many a reference has been made to our “Mexican Thanksgiving.”
With Thanksgiving upon us yet again, I think it’s time for my family to implement a new tradition, if you want it then you make it. As for me, I think I’m going to make desserts this year, apple pie and arroz con leche, just to be safe.
