Story: The Tamales of Oaxaca

The common tamale recipe is simple, ancient and perfect. A corn meal dough made from hominy (also called masa) is filled with a sweet or savory filling, wrapped in plant leaves or corn husks, and steamed until firm. Regional variations in fillings differentiate the tamales of Ecuador from the tamales of Panama from the tamales of Native Americans in Arizona, but tamales Oaxaqueños, from their namesake state in southern Mexico, they rise inarguably above all others.

The secret ingredient may very well be love, but the perfect ingredient turns out to be the celestial Oaxacan mole negro sauce. The supporting cast in these tamales is familiar; chicken, ground corn and the odd onion, all wrapped together with that savory mole in a banana leaf and steamed in the early morning while you're still tucked in bed and dreaming of pancakes. There could be some small benefit to using the banana leaf instead of the corn husk, but the savory sockdolager comes from from the quality of the local mole.

The most well known North American mole (pronounced moh-lay) originates in Puebla, Mexico, which is based on the flavor of the poblano pepper. But Oaxacans have developed at least seven different moles, the richest and most complex of them being mole negro, made with the locally perfected chilhuacle chili and the generous addition of superior Oaxacan chocolate. The result is ethereal, a combination of flavors and textures not found anywhere else.

Fittingly, Oaxaca itself may be Mexico's greatest concentration of superlatives. That is, the humble, relaxed residents of the city and state of Oaxaca believe that their food, their politics and their landscape are the best in the nation. Pride alone does not make them unique in the world, but the fact that most guidebooks, well-heeled travelers and many, many fellow Mexicans agree with them does.

And to bite into a tamale made with this mole is to know it yourself. A reliable test for finding the ultimate local food in any place is to look for the same dish in both the most and least expensive local eateries. In Oaxaca's finest, you can order an interpretation of this tamale that will run you upwards of $20 US. Even better, the one you can find in the Mercado de 20 Septiembre for $1.50 is the cheapest of luxuries and will cause even the worldliest eaters to question everything they know about Mexican cuisine.