Haz clic aquí para leer esto en español
Guavas con Rompope de La Casita
By Paola Ortega
Rompope is slowly becoming more popular in the U.S., but for two restaurants in Southern California, it has been a longstanding menu staple.
Jesse Gomez and Chef Jose Acevedo, founders of Mercado and the former Yxta Restaurant in the Los Angeles area, along with Chef Ramiro Arvizu and Jaime Martín Del Campo of La Casita Mexicana in Bell, incorporate the liqueur in a number of their desserts. Their goal? To share with everyone the wonderful delicacies they grew up with.
“It takes me back to my childhood,” Arvizu says. “It was present in my house every day.”
“To me, it’s very Latin, it’s very Mexican,” says Gomez. “I enjoy the aspect of giving our guests a little taste of our culture. Instead of using eggnog or using traditional aperitif for an after dinner drink, we have rompope.”
The traditional Mexican liqueur, also known as the Mexican version of eggnog, is a rich blend of milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and rum that may be infused with hints of cinnamon and other local ingredients. Due to its sweetness and digestive properties, it is considered a dessert in and of itself and commonly sipped on at the end of a meal.
Rompope’s robust flavor along with its creamy consistency makes it an ideal culinary ingredient to use in classic Mexican desserts like cakes, gelatins, and frozen treats. Below are a few ways Gomez and Arvizu draw from tradition to make their rompope desserts uniquely their own.
A Dessert Accompaniment
Flan with Rompope at Mercado
At Mercado, rompope is served in a small dish alongside their in-house churros and signature flan, which was named the “Best Flan in the Universe” in 2007 by the OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano. When asked about its advantages, Gomez says it’s a great enhancer.
“For us, it’s a really simple application,” Gomez says. “It gives it a nice boost as far as taste and flavor.”
As an accompaniment, the serving style is important. Rompope can be enjoyed either warm or cold, but Mercado’s flan is paired specifically with chilled rompope to complement its cold composition. The drink’s alcohol content, though low, is also carefully considered when deciding how it will be presented to guests.
“At one of our restaurants, we used to actually pour it over the flan that we make—that’s amazing—kind of automatically,” Gomez explains. “At the other restaurants, we’d serve it in a ramekin so the guests can pour it over themselves, and the reason for that is because there is a little bit of alcohol in it. It’s a small amount of alcohol, but it’s still considered alcohol, so we let the guests know.”
Churros with Rompope and chocolate
Similar to their flan, their churros are accompanied by dipping sauces of either cold rompope or cajeta. While the churros aren't available at all locations yet, they plan to expand this offering to the rest soon.
“We were serving it in Santa Monica, we started serving in Pasadena about a week ago, I think eventually we will serve the churros everywhere.”
Early on, the liqueur used to be available for purchase at Mercado’s companion Yxta Restaurant, which recently closed in May after 15 years. “It was one of our liqueurs on our back shelves. So, you could order rompope at my restaurant. Now, we use it as an accompaniment.”
A Savory Ingredient
Rompope can also be incorporated into desserts through other ways. At La Casita, Martin del Campo and Arvizu bathe their signature guavas in rompope, a recipe that was inspired by the creative and soulful cooking of Arvizu’s grandmother.
“My grandmother used to cook guavas in syrup with cinnamon,” Arvizu says. “One day, she put the guavas with the syrup and the cinnamon and she coated them with rompope, and this gave them a very special flavor. When we opened La Casita, I told my business partner, Jaime, that we should put those on the menu. They were simple to make and very delicious. So, we started cooking guavas, the way my grandmother used to make them.”
Using stewed guavas as the base of the dessert is an ode to the fruit's popularity in Mexico, and the inclusion of rompope adds to its cultural significance. “Our restaurant is Mexican, and we keep our dishes as Mexican as possible. Rompope is a colonial recipe – it’s part of the Mexican gastronomy,” Arvizu says.
The guavas are coated with a syrup made of rompope, agave, and sugar, which are then boiled in a small amount of water. Once they’ve softened, cinnamon sticks are added, and they’re laid to rest for two to three days. Although guavas are already sweet, Arvizu explains that this process allows them to absorb the other flavors of the mixture.
As for the type of rompope used, Arvizu says they either make their own or use one of popular versions available on the market. When they make the rompope at the restaurant, they are able to control the alcohol levels to their liking.
Endless Possibilities
Because of its relevance to Mexican culture and its versatility, Gomez and Arvizu don’t see themselves halting their use of the sweet drink any time soon.
“It’s an interesting ingredient, and I think it’s something we could do more with,” Gomez says. “It’s important for us to be innovative and use different ingredients, not only unique ingredients but ingredients that are unique to Mexican food and Mexican culture.”
La Casita doesn’t just feature rompope in their guavas – it’s also offered as a cream substitute in their café de olla. “We also used to have pan de elote that was freshly smothered in rompope,” Arvizu says.
Since rompope is dairy-based, Gomez and Arvizu agree that it would make an excellent addition to tres leches cake. “You could technically use it as one of the milks,” Gomez says.
It doesn’t stop there. Arvizu says that, for horchata lovers, rompope can star in it too!
Paola Ortega is a regular contributor to el Restaurante.
Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to el Restaurante's digital publications for free by clicking here.