Corn is the Basis of Mexican Cuisine at Dolores
Learn all about the nixtamalization of corn into masa, which is the basis of authentic Mexican tortillas and tamales.
Dolores chef Maria Meza mixes masa for tamales. Photo by Jamie Coelho.
This past winter, Dolores Mexican restaurant in Providence hosted a tamale-making workshop called Masa and Cocktails with spirits brands Tequila Ocho, Nixta, Mezcal Vago and Abasolo Whisky. It was organized by Jhonny Ramos, Casa Lumbre spirits ambassador, with Chris Simmons, Tequila Ocho and Mezcal Vago ambassador, and the purpose was to teach guests all about the importance of corn in Mexican culture and cuisine, as well as in special spirits that also include corn as a main ingredient. The workshop informed guests about the process of nixtamalization of whole dried corn kernels, cooked and soaked in an alkaline solution then ground into masa, which is integral to creating the distinct flavor and texture of Mexican corn tortillas and tamales.
Nixta, a corn licor.
Dolores chef and matriarch Maria Meza and family, including her son Joaquin Meza, were the focus of the demonstration, cooking lesson and cocktail tasting at Dolores, delivering a meaningful message about corn. We also learned about how the grain plays a role in various Mexican spirits brands, in addition to agave in tequila and mezcal.
“Today, besides having fun, it’s all about corn, right?” says Chris Simmons, after sending around small samples of Mezcal Vago served neat for tasting. “So that’s why we’re incorporating Mezcal Vago elotes. It is an agave-based mezcal, but then we take corn and we put the corn in the still, which is what creates the alcohol. It is a little bit higher proof than some tequila, so you’ll definitely get a little bit of that heat. What you’ll notice is that it’s a little bit sweet because of that addition of corn.”
Joaquin Meza explains to importance of corn and nixtamalization in Mexican cuisine.
All About Maiz
The lesson on the importance of corn in Mexican cuisine continued throughout the demonstration with Joaquin Meza’s guidance.
“There’s a saying in Mexico that says, ‘Sin maiz, no hay pais.’ Without maiz, there is no country,” Joaquin Meza says. “And Mayans regarded their history, the mythical story of how they came about, as they were born from maiz.”
Without corn, there is no Mexican cuisine. “There is a corn element in every aspect of Mexican cuisine,” Joaquin adds. “The most basic thing you can have is a tortilla. There’s Maseca which is a widely known nixtamalized flour that has been taken over by the world. It’s easy. You don’t always have time to make your own nixtamalized tortillas, except in the countryside. So the importance of this as a restaurant is to teach this process. We’ve been doing [our own nixtamalization] as a restaurant since our El Rancho Grande days in Providence.”
At Dolores, it all starts with different heirloom corn varieties imported here directly from Mexico into the United States. Nixtamalization is the traditional process where corn kernels are cooked and soaked in an alkaline solution to soften the kernels and remove the outer layer, which aids in the digestion of corn and creates the amazing flavors of the tortillas and tamales. Indigenous peoples traditionally used ashes or rock forms to aid in nixtamalization.
“It’s like a science project. When I called Mexico, they’re like you add it up and taste it, and if your tongue feels like licking a nine-volt battery, you got it,” Joaquin says with a laugh. “When we first started, our tortillas were horrible, we couldn’t get it right, but we kept at it every day, and we finally got it to a place where our tortillas are amazing.” They now have different varieties including white, yellow, blue and purple.
Maria Meza leads the tamale-making lesson.
During the lesson, guests sipped the pure spirits and cocktails while the Dolores team handed out bowls of nixtamalized masa along with stewed chicken in green mole sauce and veggies for the tamale filling. Each guest was taught to mix the masa with their hands and then roll a small oblong-shaped portion of masa, stuff it with the meat or veggie mixture, and then tightly wrap it in corn husks for later steaming at home.
Maria Meza demonstrated the method with a smile. “You need to be happy when you are making tamales, because you need to put your hands in the masa,” says Maria, quickly rolling the masa in her hands. “You’ve got to be happy when you do it. So if you’re not happy, don’t do it,” she laughs.
Tamales rolled in corn husk.
A New Beginning
The Meza family started their restaurant legacy at El Rancho Grande in 2007, with Joaquin’s mother, Maria, cooking more Mexican-American cuisine as a self-trained cook. “We had a restaurant in Providence that we didn’t know where that was going to lead, but we always saw it as a step to get somewhere. We just didn’t know where,” Joaquin says. “And we started with a menu that was vaguely traditional Mexican. Chimichangas and burritos are really not Mexican.”
Joaquin says he wasn’t satisfied with the direction that El Rancho was going back then, and that it didn’t fulfill his goal of teaching people about real Mexican cuisine. “But I couldn’t keep complaining about how people saw Mexico, or Mexicans, or me, if I wasn’t doing anything to change it,” he says. “If they don’t know, how the hell am I going to complain?”
El Rancho Grande closed due to a fire and the results of COVID in 2020. But when the opportunity arose in 2019 to create a whole new restaurant, Dolores, based on the authenticity of Mexican food from the Meza family’s native Puebla and Oaxaca regions, they committed 100 percent. Their goal was to teach people about authentic Mexican culture and not just the Americanized version of it.
“When this project came about, the only non-negotiable was maiz. I needed corn, corn, corn, and fire in the kitchen,” he says. He started working with companies that source native maiz from Mexico, including the central valleys. “Academic studies have been done to determine where maiz originated from.”
We humans cannot process dried corn, and there’s not a lot of nutritional value to it as it is, but a cup of nixtamalized corn has as much calcium as a cup of milk. Joaquin says that in the countryside, people do not have easy access to meat and supermarkets, so this is very important for their nutrition. Often they mix it with vegetables, like peppers and tomatoes. “Nutritionally it’s substance, and it feeds the countryside of Mexico.”
Tacos at Dolores.
A Lasting Legacy
All of this information about Mexican culture is important to Joaquin, who named Dolores after his grandmother on his father’s side. He says information wasn’t passed on generationally, because his family came here thirty-four years ago, and a lot of the traditions were lost when they immigrated to the United States.
He only had one grandmother who was still living when he left Mexico at an early age, but he inspired his whole family to re-learn their cultural traditions. Part of that was honoring the family who came before him. “My mom is the one that deserves all the credit for everything, as she should, because she cooks amazing,” Joaquin says. In fact, chef Maria Meza was acknowledged as a 2024 James Beard Foundation Awards finalist for Best Chef: Northeast last year and attended the awards ceremony in Chicago. It’s a big accomplishment for the family that wasn’t quite sure how the community would react to more authentic Mexican cuisine representing the Mixteca region of Puebla and Oaxaca.
But Joaquin also wants to acknowledge his dad’s role in the creation of Dolores. “He’s been here since day one, and I want him to feel happy and be proud of what we accomplished here, because he’s also part of this. And what better way to honor my grandmother, who was the only person I remember when we were leaving Mexico,” he says, breaking down in tears. “When we were leaving Mexico, we stopped to say goodbye to her, and I remembered her tortillas, and that is why this is so important.”
“For me to present this, I needed to learn, not just my personal story, but my country’s story,” Joaquin says. “It’s a tradition that I now get to pass down.”
100 Hope St., Providence, 401-409-2075; Track 15, 1 Union Station, Providence, dolorespvd.com
Watch a reel from the event here:
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