Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/80

 mysteries; but before going home I had secured many of the various receipts from the venders. I found plain atole much the same in appearance as gruel of Indian meal, but much better in taste, having the slight flavor of the lime with which the corn is soaked, and the advantage of being ground on the metate, which preserves a substance lost in grinding in a mill.

Tortillas, likewise, lose their flavor if made of ordinary meal. Atole de Ieche (milk), by adding chocolate takes the name of champurrado; if the bark of the cacao is added, it becomes atole de cascara; if red chili,—chili atole. If, instead of any of these agua miel, sweet water of the maguey, is added, it is called atole de agua miel; if piloncillo, the native brown sugar, again the name is modified to atole de pinole.

The meal is strained through a hair-cloth sieve, water being continually poured on it, until it becomes as thin as milk. It is then boiled and stirred rapidly until well cooked, when it is ready for the market. As served to the wretched-looking objects who so eagerly consume it, one felt no desire to partake, but in the houses, there is nothing more delicious and wholesome than atole de Ieche.

All the stews, fries, and great variety of other edibles were patronized and dispatched with the greatest eagerness. Barbacoa is one of the principal articles of food known to the Mexican market—and is good enough for the table of a king. The dexterous native takes a well-dressed mutton, properly quartered, using also head and bones. A hole is made in the ground, and a fire built in it. Stone slabs are thrown in, and the hole is covered. When thoroughly hot, a lining is made of maguey leaves, the meat put in, and covered with maguey, the top of the hole is also covered, and the process of cooking goes on all night.

The next morning it is put in a hot vessel, ready to eat—a delicious, brown, crisp, barbecued mutton.

As the process is difficult and tedious, it is not generally prepared in the families, and even the wealthiest patronize the market for this delicacy, ready cooked.