You can bet your AZTEC this food was good...?

There's a good chance that you had dinner with one of the three sisters tonight, and we're not talking about the Kardashians.

The Aztecs along with other Central American civilizations relied heavily on maize, squash and beans (The Three Sisters). After the Spanish conquistadors reached the New World these key ingredients crossed the oceans to cast their nourishing spell over the masses.

It can be argued that corn has changed the world more so than any other food. The Aztec used to make tortillas and eventually their cuisine evolved enough for us to have Burritos!! Today you can find maize in everything from candy to hamburgers (corn = cow food, too).

Maize combined with beans and squash made up the core of a healthy diet for a people who didn't have many meat options. The Mexicas (Aztecs) included many other things like chillies, tomatoes, limes, cashews, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and of course chocolate. They domesticated dogs, ducks, bees for honey and turkeys for meat and eggs. They hunted and fished as well, using animals such as deer, rabbits, iguana, fish and shrimp for food.  Even insects, such as grasshoppers and worms, were harvested.  However, These various types of meat made up only a very minor part of the Aztec diet.

Speaking of chocolate (more appropriatly, chocolatl), it might have been one of the Aztec's greatest gifts to the world. The cocoa bean was highly treasured in the Aztec Empire. In fact, the bean was used as a currency AND drink. The "hot chocolate" they made is completely different from what we know today. Instead of sugar, they added peppers, cornmeal and spices. 

Let's give it a try! 

AZTEC "HOT CHOCOLATE"

-1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-2/3 cup boiling water
-ground pepper of chilies to taste

Grate the unsweetened chocolate into a bowl and cover it with a little of the boiling water. Mash the mixture into a paste. Add the rest of the water and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until frothy. Add the pepper and chilies to liven up the drink. 

Warning! The chocolate will not totally dissolve and will have a grittiness to it.

For the last night of our project, we ventured to Felipe's get a taste of something that used to be real Mexican. It was so good you'd give your life to Quetzalcoatl for a bite... maybe. 

You say Guotie, I say Pot Stickers.

Almost every single cuisine culture throughout time has had their own take on the dumpling. Italian has tortellini, Latin American has empanadas and Chinese has JIAOZI!

The signature dish of the Chinese New Years, jiaozi comes in three different types:

1. Shuijiao, water (boiled) dumplings

2. Zhengjiao, steamed dumplings

3. Guotie, "pan stick" dumplings... but we know and love them as Pot Stickers!

(There is also an egg dumpling, but it does not fall under jiaozi.)

Originating in Northern China, guotie is said to date back four millennia. However, it is first mentioned in literature during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 CE) when author said guotie was good for the soul. :)

It is true that rice was the first grain cultivated and was one of the most predominate foods in China, it did not grow everywhere. Due to the low temperatures and dry land in the North, the ancient peoples relied mainly on millet, wheat, and soghum. From wheat we get dough, from dough we get guotie and from guotie we get warm, happy bellies.

Luckily for the Chinese, they were blessed with lots of interesting and full-bodied flavors. They had lemons, oranges, peaches, apricots, ginger and anise to work with. Domesticated animals were around, but because meat was so expensive and Buddhists are vegetarians it didn't start showing up regularly until the Sung Dynasty. Instead they made due with tofu and bead curd.

We were not able to prepare guotie, but we did find a yummy looking recipe...

PORK GUOTIE

-4 1/2 cups flour
-9 oz lean boneless pork, minced
-1 tbsp soy sauce
-5 tsp rice wine
-1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
-1 tsp salt, or to taste
-3 1/2 oz hotbed leeks
-3 1/2 oz sesame oil
-1 tsp flour mixed with 2 tbsp water

1. Mix the pork with the soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, and salt. Stir in one direction, adding 5 oz (150 ml) of water, a little at a time until the pork becomes sticky. Add the leeks and sesame oil and blend well, and divide into 60 portions. Set aside.

2. Stir 7 oz of water into the flour. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let rest for 30 minutes. Roll into a long cylinder and cut into 60 portions. Flatten each piece and roll into a circle about 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter. Place 1 portion of the filling on each circle and fold over. Pinch tightly to seal the edges and form a squat bonnet-shaped pouch. Repeat until all the dough and filling are used.

3. Arrange the pouches in a large pan. Heat to moderately hot, then add water to cover the pouches one-third of the way up. Cover the pan and cook over high heat until the water is almost absorbed. Trickle the flour-water mixture around the pouches. Cover the pan and saute over low heat until the flour forms a crisp film that link the dumplings together. Sprinkle the dumplings with a little sesame oil, cover again, and saute until the pouches are browned on the bottom. Remove with a spatula and serve. Saute and serve the dumplings in batches.

Oh! And don't forget the dipping sauce! Just whisk together some soy sauce, rice vinegar and (if you'd like) chilled oil and some minced ginger.

 

The gods ate ambrosia. And the morals? Not so much.

What comes to mind when we think of Greek food? Maybe yummy gyros or a crisp "Greek" salad? Wrong! Most foods that we typically think of as "Greek" come from a larger tradition of Ottoman cuisine. In fact, most Ancient Greeks only ate meat when it was being slaughtered for public sacrifice, and no one would have lay eyes on a tomato until about 1540 CE!

So let us tell you what the Hellenes really ate...

Their diet might seem "healthy" today, but really it was just a product of general poverty. It focused on olive oil, bread, fish, and veggies.

We chose to do a fish and fritter meal...

COD WITH CORIANDER
-2 tbsp of coriander seeds
-1 tsp salt
-2 cod steaks
-white wine vinegar


Preheat the oven in 375 F. Place the coriander seeds in a baking pan and bake them for 10 minutes. Mash them with a mortar together with the salt. Drain the fish steaks and remove any tiny bones you can find. Sift them with the coriander mixture and place them in a baking pan (baste the baking pan with oil). Cover the pan and place it in the oven. Bake the fish for 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with vinegar and serve hot. 


We weren't joking about their skimp nosh. Needless to say, we now know why either of us have never eaten cod... it's terrible! You'd think coriander would have a ton of flavor given that it flowers cilantro (the Spanish name for the plant), but the fish was very bland. About the most exciting dish that went down in Ancient Greece was the Spartans' "black broth"... a soup made partly with blood. 

HONEY AND SESAME FRITTERS
-1 cup flour
-1 cup water
-2 tbsp honey
-oil for frying
-1 tbsp baked sesame seeds

Mix flour, water and one spoon of honey and make a dough. Heat oil in a frying pan and pour ¼ of the mixture. When it thickens turn it upside down 2 -3 times to fry it in both sides. Prepare 3 more fritters following the given instructions. Serve them hot, pour over the rest of the honey and dredge sesame seeds over them.


With no sugar around, honey was their one and only sweetener. The fritters were a step up from the fish, but nothing extraordinary. 


All in all, our Ancient Greek foodventure was an EPIC fail! But don't feel too bad for the Hellenes, they compensated for their gastronomic austerity by being total oenophiles!!!

Getting down with Bacchus, nbd.