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El Quelite, an agriculture and livestock-based town outside of
Mazatlan, Mexico, is one of the most unique towns I have ever encountered, for it has miraculously upheld centuries of tradition and culture that continue to be expressed in everyday life today. Every Tuesday, residents play the traditional
Aztec game
Ulama, they house rooster farms for
cock fights, participate in
charros or
Mexican rodeos and most families stay in their same house with their same family businesses for generations to come.
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El Meson de los Laureanos draws visitors from everywhere with its authentic El Quelite atmosphere and unique dishes
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Dr. Marcos Asuna, self-proclaimed
“Father” of Rural Tourism in Mazatlan, has been living in this tiny town since birth. In fact, he has transformed the very house of his childhood into the renowned
El Meson de los Laureanos, an eclectic mix of local agriculture, livestock and tradition that draws domestic and international visitors of all ages.
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Dr Marcos Asuna was born by this historical wall mural and next to this original El Quelite stone artifact (corner) that Will Ferrell personally enjoyed during his visit
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Every single knick-knack, every piece of furniture, the murals across the walls, the bathroom sinks, the photographs, everything, has a reason for its placement in
El Meson de los Laureanos, for everything is attached to a memory from
Marcos’s life. For this reason, Marcos exudes a
passion and energy that many restaurant owners lack. According to
Marcos,
El Meson de los Laureanos is a place where you “leave your formalities at the door” when entering and have built new relationships by the time of exiting, which is evident as he personally welcomes his guests with open arms and a radiant, laughing smile.
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Dr Marcos Asuna treats all guests like family
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This warm welcome is how
Marcos perceives tourism in general. “Tourism helps bring education to children, as it shows them how to love different kinds of life in the world – the animals, the soil, the forest, varying ethnicities – and how all are interconnected,” says
Marcos.
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To maintain the authenticity of El Meson de los Laureanos, Dr Marcos Asuna has original artifacts and birds from the town
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El Meson de los Laureanos does a perfect job at connecting these various life forms, especially when it comes to its phenomenal food! By the end, we were all stuffed to capacity and could barely move for the rest of the day, but it was worth every bite and sip.
We started with
fresh cow cheeses and creams that are made fresh from El Quelite born and bred cows, traditional-type
chunky salsa, spicy
roasted tomato salsa and
El Quelite’s original Mexican pizza, which takes the traditional toasted corn tortilla with salsa and cheese, but kicks it up a notch with pork rhines tucked within.
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The fresh dairy is great as a side dish - cocque cream (left), requeson cheese (upper middle) and nata cow milk cream (right) - or atop a Mexican pizza (far right)
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Soon after came the meal, which was a smorgasbord of deliciously rich and tender meats:
shredded beef, broiled lamb or pork with roasted vegetables, quail thighs, and the renowned
cow tongue, which draws domestic and international guests alike. To my surprise, the
cow tongue was my favorite dish, not only at
El Meson de los Laureanos, but also in all of
Mazatlan.
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We ate savory vegetables with tender beef, lamb, pork, quail and tongue, all from the local livestock
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Some side dishes included
white, refried beans with crumbled cow cheese, full
grilled onions and sweet
nopales (cooked
Prickly Pear Cactus). My new vegetable obsession is
nopales, so I need to figure out where to find this in LA as soon as possible!
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Vegetarian-friendly side dishes: nopales and guacamole (bottom left), white beans with cheese (top left), grilled veggies (top center) and fresh salsas (top / bottom right)
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Of course, you can’t end a meal without a proper
dessert, and
Marcos is not one to skimp on this rule. We had (starting with upper left corner and going clock-wise):
caramel milk, a sweet corn tamale and
sweet cream, as well as
candied pumpkin, candied papaya and
candied sweet potato. I enjoyed the tamale and could handle a few bites of the candied pumpkin, but overall, these desserts were a bit too sugary for me to be do more than a tiny tasting of each.
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The dessert sampler of various candied squashes and creams
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Back to the real food, though, as I just cannot forget about
the amazing-ness of the cow tongue! I am not trying to gross you out (as I know “tongue” sounds icky), but it was sooooo succulent, soft (but NOT slimy) and flavorful, with just enough spice and tang to heighten your senses without having that fiery taste. With that kind of party on my palate,
I just HAD to grab seconds from the table… and then request a whole additional bowl… which I finished… alone…
Hope nobody else was interested…
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El Meson de los Laureanos is a visual representation El Quelite's history and Dr Marcos Asuna's life
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If you can’t make it to
El Meson de los Laureanos (which is definitely a huge mistake and something I recommend you put on your “Life To Do List”), then you could attempt to make the
cow tongue on your own. After
Marcos saw how much I genuinely love this dish, which was evident by the incredibly amount I managed to fit in my belly, he excitedly offered up his recipe. Behold:
A Very General Guide to Cooking Cow Tongue
(a personal recipe straight from the horse's mouth... or in this case, the cow's)
Ingredients:
Cow tongue (as many as you'd like)
Water enough to completely submerge tongue, onions and bell peppers when boiling in pot
Olive oil
Few onions
Few bay leaves
20 bell peppers (any color)
10 tomatoes
Chili peppers (1 per tongue)
Black pepper
Minced garlic (barely any)
* will also need a large boiling pot and a large saucepan
Boiling the tongue and base in a pot:
1. thoroughly
clean and wash the tongue
2. boil tongue for 2-3 hours with full onions, a few bay leaves and 20 bell peppers
3. remove the tongue once it feels smooth on the surface (where the taste buds lay) and set aside in separate dish to cool off
4. make sure to keep the boiled water
5. cook 5 tomatoes (time depends on how tender you want them) in the water from the boiled tongue and add a touch of olive oil
6. chop the 5 cooked tomatoes and set aside with tongue
7. make sure to still keep the boiled water and set aside
Cooking spices and vegetables in a separate saucepan:
8. chop 5 raw tomatoes
9. finely chop 1 raw onion
10. grate 1 chili per tongue getting cooked
11. mix all the ingredients in the pan - 5 chopped raw tomatoes, 1 chopped raw onion, 1 grated chili per tongue
12. add a touch of black pepper
13. add a TINY (almost nothing) amount of minced garlic and olive oil
14. cook together until onions begin to tenderize (they will turn a slightly iridescent brown color)
15. when all is ready, put on the tongue
16. if tongue has cooled-down enough, cut it into 1-inch slices (if it’s too warm, it won’t cut properly)
17. scrape any caramelized and melted “stuff,” as Marcos so eloquently phrased it, from the saucepan and mix with the boiled water mixture (the one with bay leaves and bell peppers) from before
18. let all sit together so the tongue can absorb the flavors, and when ready to eat, heat up in pan and…
¡
DISFRUTA LA COMIDA!
Below are helpful links to Dr. Marcos Osuna, the tour company and Mazatlan’s tourism:
Pronatours
Contact: City Guide, Ernesto Piña
erniecol@hotmail.com or pronatours@elcid.com.mx
Rural Mexico Tourism / El Meson de Los Laureanos
Contact: Developer of Tourism, Dr. Marcos Osuna
ruralosuna@hotmail.com
Mexico Tourism Board
Contact: LA Director, Jorge Gamboa Partron
jgamboa@visitmexico.com or northamericanpress@visitmexico.com
I <3 Mazatlan (quick company references, maps, printable coupons and general overviews) www.i-love-Mazatlan.com
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