All our workshops feature a full array of traditional and contemporary fare. From the country's celebrated antojitos (appetizers such as quesadillas, sopes and tostadas) to its exotic soups, unusual sauces, and inventive entrées such as squashflower-stuffed chicken breast in peanut sauce or salmon in hoja santa with chipotle hollandaise, Cocinar Mexicano takes partipants step by step through a cornucopia of Mexico's most mouth-watering dishes.
We change our menus every January and even from session to session depending on the availability of seasonal ingredients, but no one will leave without learning how to make the perfect red or green hot sauce or how to prepare a world-class guacamole. And an expert bartender will be on hand to make sure everyone can pour the perfect margarita. Participants will also try their hand at some of our own creations, including a series of surprise desserts especially developed for this program.
Other leisure options:
Hiking
Swimming
Massage
Temascal
Private Spanish classes
Horseback riding
Faculty Information:
Chef Marta García was born in the town of San Diego de Alejandría, a rural community in the highlands of Jalisco, in central Mexico. The middle child in a ranching family of seven, she and her five sisters attended the local convent school, where Marta discovered her passion for the art of cooking—a passion she later pursued with courses in pastry-making, sausage-making, sauces and the other specialties she still draws on today as chef of El Ciruelo, the gourmet restaurant now in its twelfth year.
Celebrity chef Mónica Patiño is a household name in Mexico thanks to her popular daily television program, El Rincón de los Sabores. As teacher, chef, cookbook author and restaurateur, she is known for bringing the perfectionism and classic styling of her early training in France to the traditional dishes served at her first restaurant, La Taberna del León, as well as to the exquisitely fused menus of her signature "bistro," M/P, and the recently opened Naos, all in Mexico City.
Other Activities:
Leisure Options & Excursions:
Tepoztlán is still off the beaten track for tourists from abroad but with its gentle climate and lush vegetation has long been a popular weekend spot for Mexicans from the capital. Ringed by the gnomelike foothills of the nearby volcanoes, Popocateptl and Iztaccíhuatl, the village lies within a national park known for its unusual convergence of alpine and semi-tropical ecosystems.
Tepoztlán also boasts one of Mexico's two mountaintop pyramids, the 14th century temple devoted to Ometochtli, god of pulque, along with one of the oldest cathedrals in the country, the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Natividad, built between 1560 and 1580. The town is also home to two exquisite small museums, one a branch of The National Museum of Anthropology, the other focused on the archeological treasures that continually turn up whenever new foundations are dug here. For lovers of Mexican artesanía, or crafts, the Sunday market of the village is also a big draw.
Facility Information:
Our Kitchen:
Our outdoor kitchen/classroom combines beautiful blue and white handmade talavera tile with state-of-the art cooking equipment. Though our cook's assistants are at the ready to chop and slice, we encourage everyone to participate in all stages of meal preparation, from cleaning squashflowers to blending the ingredients for mole to wrapping fish in banana leaves or hoja santa for roasting on the grill.
Notes:
If you would like us to guarantee your place, please submit an additional $500 per person deposit.
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