The Town of Chiapa de Corzo is recognized for its typical food all year round. Often, traveling between San Cristobal and Tuxtla, we pass by Chiapa de Corzo to eat their cochito horneado roasted pig (Rudy loves it), the children ask for pozol and we take some tamales that I consider to be amongst the best I had tasted in Mexico. So take advantage of the Fiesta Grande to taste its delicacies!

“Often they cook in the early morning, in groups, taking turns, to have the dishes ready early. […] And when the day of Lord of Esquipulas arrives, the comideras already have the pork with rice ready to be accompanied with drinks like mistela and aguaardiente de anise, and pozol, tazcalate, chocolate, atole agrio, perfect to fill with energy. On the 17th and 20th, San Antonio and San Sebastian inspire the comideras to prepare long-awaited pepita con tasajoin huge pots.”

PEPITA WITH TASAJO (main dish of La Comida Grande)

Ingredients: 1 kilo of beef in strips, 1 kilo of ground pepita de calabaza (pumpkin seeds), 1/2 kilo of ground raw rice, 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper, salt to taste, achiote to color, 1/2 kilo of lard.

Spread the ribbed meat with salt. Then dry in the sun a day or two. Boil the dried meat in water. Wash the pumpking seeds and brown it in the comal and grind it in the mill. Wash the rice, dry it and grind (raw). Mix the pumpking seeds with the water left from boiling meat, beating with your hands and adding rice. Move constantly so that it does not get sticky. Then strain the mixture through a canvas. Then, heat the lard in a clay pot, and add previously made mixture. Add the achiote, season and simmer, leaving it on medium flame. Add the meat at the end, when serving.

* fragment and recipe of the book “Fiesta Grande Chiapa de Corzo”