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Mexico Design & Style
The Series
By Karen Witynski & Joe P. CarrMEXICAN COCINAS
Mexican cocinas (kitchens) beckon with their colors, simmering aromas, humming activity and cherished implements that exude time-honored traditions.
One of the most captivating and busy rooms in the Mexican home, the cocina is rich with traditional design elements--a bright array of ceramic tile, handcrafted furniture, and local crafts. Each Mexican kitchen, especially those in old colonial homes and haciendas, had its own secrets, recipes, and delights.
Because hacienda kitchens often had to prepare meals for hundreds of people, they were spacious, well equipped, and always busy with activity. They centered around the tiled brasero, or hearth, where charcoal-burning stoves were set into long or horseshoe-shaped counters. In addition to the countertops, tile was used throughout-on floors, walls, and sometimes even the ceilings. Early hacienda kitchens were influenced by the cavernous kitchens of Mexico's colonial convents. In Puebla, the vaulted ceiling kitchen of the Convento de Santa Rosa is a masterful example of a space smothered in small glazed tiles. Here, the famed mole poblano made its first appearance in Mexican cuisine.
Many large homes and haciendas featured two kitchen areas. The main kitchen was used for daily meals and those prepared for fiestas; the other, which included an horno, or oven, was dedicated to both bread baking and tortilla making. In the main kitchen, the stove featured large ventilating hoods, often ornamented with fluting or simply decorated with garlands of garlic, local pottery, or sometimes a carved-wood Cristo. Colonial kitchen designs also featured alacenas, or built-in wall cabinets with hand-carved doors or often, decorative spindles or splats, to allow for ventilation.
Against a backdrop of lustrous tile, early Mexican kitchens were simply furnished with a variety of country elements that possess timeless character and ingenuity. Familiar elements included hearty wooden prep tables, stools, and chairs, to a variety of hand-carved stone and wooden vessels including mortars, sugar molds and cheese presses. Always present was the ubiquitous trastero, or open cupboard, designed to hold plates and cups within easy reach. Piles of parsley, cilantro and chiles would fill handwoven baskets, while large, hollowed gourds kept freshly made tortillas warm. Stacks of large clay ollas, or cooking pots, were often stacked upside down, awaiting daily use for rice, beans and moles.
Read the complete article . . . (+ 14 photographs)
Series Index & Introduction
Published monthly. ISSN #1028-9089
For MexConnect.Com LLC & Conexión México S.A. de C.V.
© Mexico Connect 1996-2007
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