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Editor’s Note: Alta Baja Market, a Latin market and restaurant in Santa Ana, California, was the winner of the el Restaurante Independent Mexican Restaurant Award in 2021. In a recent newsletter they shared this great little story about how one of their popular desserts came about. We share it here with the permission of owner Delilah Snell.
Or how a friend's leftovers inspired a dessert…
For the 2023 Rancho Gordo ENCUENTRO, we were not planning to do a dish. It’s really hard to cook and plate a full, constructed item (alongside incredible chefs) while running an event — especially with a small team.
Then two weeks before Encuentro, I got a text from the BRILLIANT chef Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria.
He told me that he had these little disposable “cups” that are called ramekins…and they were FREE. 500 of them. Do I want them?
DUH!
As I have said in a previous email, as a small business owner, we are always operating on the smallest of budgets. The “free” is golden to us and it’s a huge help. Now, to put this free vessel to use: what could I do with a small ramekin???
I stared at it and thought…
POZOLE.
We have been serving the hominy soup every last Sunday of the month for years…but what about doing a spin on it as a dessert topped with jam — something else we are also well known for? Rancho Gordo also sells pozole, so I think we have an idea!
And so Pozole Brülée was born.
I spent the next four days coming to the store at 3am to create and perfect this dish for the event. We served it as the last course for the Encuentro Sunday “Supper with Friends” and it seemed to be a hit with the over 250 diners we hosted. General Manager of Food for the LA Times Laurie Ochoa even mentioned it HERE — incredibly flattering!
It seems that stories like this are how a lot of things happen at Alta Baja. We are met with a challenge — sometimes big, sometimes small — (like a small container in this case LOL), but we figure it out by using our imagination.
I can’t wait to see what the next challenge will be :)
Salud!
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