Foraging & Hunting Experiences

Here is a link to a web page project we did for school where we talk about our Foraging and Hunting experiences related to the Forest chapter of the omnivore's dilemma. There are also nice pictures of our adventures.

Omnivore's Dilema Project

Pistolera's Food - So proud of it!

I wrote this for Pistolera's website. It describes my inspiration and background and how they got translated into the food at Pistolera's menu.

Pistolera's Food

Pistolera was put together with the idea of bringing real authentic Mexican Food to Shanghai. There are a lot of other "Mexican" restaurants in Shanghai that offer modified and simplified versions of Mexican food. We wanted to bring the real thing with the real Mexican flavors based on authentic Mexican ingredients.

Pistolera's Head Chef, Leonardo "Tabasco" Guerrero, is a native of the state of Sonora in Northwest Mexico. He grew up in a city called Hermosillo in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. This area of Mexico together with the southwest part of the USA was the heart of what we know as the Old West. This was were cowboys fought against the native Apaches for survival. The name Pistolera was chosen to represent this cowboy culture from the Mexican side of the border with a sexy twist.

We bring the best of Mexican food from different parts of Mexico, but we put a special emphasis on food from Tabasco's native land. Many people think that Flour Tortillas, Burritos, and Chimichangas aren't real Mexican food, but this is incorrect.

All of these originated in northern Mexico and there's a reason behind it. While in southern Mexico corn grew naturally, in northern Mexico it was hard to grow because of the dry land and weather. They found out that wheat was easier to grow in the north and with the Tortilla tradition they ventured to make wheat flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. However, wheat flour is a lot more elastic, which helped to create those big tortillas that we now use to roll up Burritos and Chimichangas.

The cowboy culture also means great grilled meat. That's why some of the staple dishes are the grilled meat tacos and burritos. In these desert like territories there are some base ingredients of Mexican cuisine that grow wildly. Some of these are the oregano, a variety of hot peppers, and Mesquite wood that gives a very good smoky scent to those bbq dishes.

Sonora also has very good seafood because it has 1208km of coastline along the Gulf of California which is also known as the Sea of Cortez. The Sea of Cortez is so rich on marine life that when the legendary French diver, Jacques Cousteau, visited it, he called it "The Aquarium of the World". Mexicans put a special touch on the preparation of seafood by mixing it with a variety of spices and peppers to come up with delicious dishes like our Ceviche Tosatadas and Tequila Sautéed Shrimp Quesadillas.

In a few words, Pistolera was born when you put all of the above together with some of the traditional and ancient cooking techniques and ingredients from southern and northern Mexico. Techniques dating from the time of the Mayans and Aztecs that have been transferred from generation to generation and served with the same homey feeling as you would get them in any mom and pop restaurant in Mexico.

Tacografia

How accurate do you guys think this is?

*You can click on it to make it bigger

A Fishing Experience

My most successful fishing experience was back in 2012 in the beautiful waters of the Andaman Sea in Thailand. We rented a big boat to spend the day fishing and relaxing. We caught a few tunas and dorados through the morning. In the early afternoon, when one of the lines started running it was my turn to take it.



I start pulling and to my surprise it was a really heavy one. For the first 5 minutes I would gain a bit of line for a moment versus loosing a lot right after. After about 20 minutes, the fish started getting tired and I finally started getting it close to the boat. My arms were exhausted! We saw him jumping out of the water and it was a beautiful sail fish. It was so big! We took pictures and put it back in the water.




We were able to keep a couple of tunas and the dorado. On the way back to my friend's condo, we stopped at s small store and bought local products to make a couple different ceviches. I made a Tuna Ceviche in a Cilantro, Orange-Lime and Coconut milk marinade and a Dorado ceviche with tropical fruits served in freshly opened coconuts. Fresh fish like that is just priceless!



The boat owner asked me for my details after I took out the sail fish. He said it was part of the protocol. They also tagged the animal before they put it back in the water to keep a record. Weeks later, I received a package in the mail with a letter asking me to join a club. You can pay some money to receive a plaque with the certificate and to help keep the protection of the species. I found that pretty interesting and I think programs like this are a great way to keep a healthy fishing industry.

The Hunting Experience

My Korean friend Sung and I happened to go out deer hunting together down in Michigan last December. My father-in-law has a farm in eastern Michigan. He's been hunting all his life and he introduced me to it in the winter of 2013 where I got my first deer. I had been deer hunting down in Mexico before, but I was too young and didn't get to shoot a deer. I have successfully hunted ducks and doves a few times before, but never a big mammal. Reading the hunting section of the Omnivore's dilemma book, I found out that we shared mostly the same feelings. The anticipation before the hunt, the high on sensory awareness, the feeling of failure after coming back empty handed, and the satisfaction of the kill shadowing the guilt. There was one thing that differed, I didn't feel disgust from cleaning the carcass. I did feel a bit like a savage with all the blood running through my hands and yeah there was a stench but nothing too bad. If the organs and stomach are taken out carefully without ripping the stomach or tripes, it ensures a cleaner job and keeps the stench to a minimum. I was so excited about butchering the meat and learning more about breaking down a whole animal. Do I feel any guilt? Well, there is always a weird feeling of guilt after killing an animal. Nowadays though, deer hunting is very well balanced in North America. Deer have no real natural predator, except for a few wolves left here in and there. Also, the extensive farming land provides them with pretty much an infinite source of food, like grains and vegetables. The population of deer has thrived in the last few decades. Hunting keeps the population of deer under control to keep that balance. That puts my mind at peace about killing them. You would be surprised about the amount of meat you can get out of a deer. Once you have a good grilled venison medallion from the back strap served on jus made out from the trimmings, or venison stew or venison jerky, that definitely keeps me motivated to keep doing it. In fact, I can't wait until next hunting season.

Best Latin American Restaurant Prize 2013

There is a video that City Weekend released about last year's awards and I make a short appearance on minute 1:13. It's also my proof that Pistolera actually won Best Latin American Editor's Choice last year.

Check it out: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTY0MDQ3ODQ4.html

Oh Yeah Babeee!!