Sohla's Aztec Taco Tuesday (with Hot Chocolate!) | Ancient Recipes With Sohla | History

okay so the way that the aztecs would finish this  off is they pour it from real high and that get a   little more froth and make sure everything's  emulsified so i'm gonna give it a shot oh god some of it's on the floor   hey there i'm sola always and this is ancient  recipes with sola in each episode we're going   to take a dish you may recognize and attempt to  recreate one of the oldest versions of it to ever   exist a little history it's a little cooking  and it's a whole lot of me what's not to love in this episode we're going to try to recreate  aztec flacos which would eventually evolve into   modern day tacos and because i can't pass up an  opportunity to use chocolate we're going to also   try out an ancient aztec recipe for hot chocolate  chocolate the aztec flacco was very different from   the version you may be familiar with from your  go-to taqueria no lime no cilantro no cheese yep   some of those staples of modern tacos weren't  in the original dish at all those things were   brought to central america by the colonizers  and would then be integrated into the dish so i'm going to start by working on the filling  we're going to do a little veg prep i've got a   couple tomatoes and we're going to core it so  these tomatoes onion peppers it's all going to   get charred on the komal it's a flat surface that  you use to char things and cook tortillas so we're   going to char these veggies on there they're going  to get nice and blackened and soft but yeah we're   just going to core our tomatoes just to get rid of  that tough stem and we're going to keep it intact   so it doesn't like burst on there and get all the  we don't want to lose those juices you know now   our peppers i'm just going to remove the  top and try and pull out some of those seeds   now everyone always says that taking out the  seeds makes it less hot but that's totally not   true the heat's actually in the ribs but taking  out the seeds is a good idea it'll lessen the heat   slightly but more importantly the seeds can  be kind of tough and bitter if you leave them   in there so i'm just getting in there with my  knife we want to keep it intact though because   we don't want it to like fall apart on the  komal we're just going to char him on there   and with the serranos i'm just going to remove the  stems i don't know if i'm gonna use all of these   it's good whenever you're using chilies to give  them a whiff if you're brave get in there and   bite them see if they smell spicy these don't  smell spicy at all so i'm actually gonna go   ahead and use four if you've got some spicy  ones maybe use one or two but i think we're   going to be okay here with all four and then  the onion i'm going to just peel off the skin   and i'm going to make big slices that are  going to be easy to turn on the kamal so i   just i just took a little slice off the root  because i want to hold it together and then i find it easier to slice once we peel it now the onion is gonna get really charred  on there and that makes it nice and sweet   onions tomatoes you can like burn to death  so the onion i'm gonna do some big fat wedges   so we have some more surface area to get it  nice and charred but it's gonna stick together   making it easier to turn on the  kamal i'm gonna go back and trim   off some more of this root we just  need enough root to hold it together i think you could totally do this with  like green onions shallots anything   in the allium family can totally take the  char okay so i'm gonna set this aside so   we can take it over to the stove to cook on  the kamal and next we're gonna work on our   masa all right chilis poblanos i can feel  the onion i'm getting onion eyes already next i'm going to mix up my masa for my tortillas so masa is made by nyxtimalizing corn which is  done by simmering the corn in calcium hydroxide   and then you let it soak for a while and then  you rinse it in cool water and then you grind   it and you end up with this paste which is masa  that's what you use to make tortillas tamales   whatever the hell you want now masa masaharina is  a really nice like convenient modern day product   that is pretty much that masa that's been fully  processed which is then just dried so that you can   add water and make masa whenever you want without  having to like mixtimalize your own corn right   and we're going to add some salt let's start out  by forking in our salt so you can turn your hand   into whatever tool you need right now my hands  will whisk huh so i'm going to whisk in the salt   and then i'm going to keep this like whisk form  for adding the water we're going to eyeball this   so getting the texture on your masa right takes  a little bit of practice i'm using kind of like   tepid water you don't want to use cold water it  kind of seizes a bit and you end up needing more   in the beginning and then you end up with  like a really sticky dough but you also   don't want to use hot water we're going to slowly  incorporate it we want to have a nice soft dough   that it it's gonna kind of stick to your hands  but not totally and it's not so dry that it   cracks when you try and press it it takes a little  bit of practice to nail it now this isn't like   a glutinous bread dough we're not trying to  develop any starch by our the kneading process   here is just about making sure everything  gets evenly hydrated and i feel like we're   getting pretty close the way to check and see if  your masa is good i like to roll a little ball   it should easily come into a ball without being  too sticky and not leaving too many cracks so   you see i've i've got this like cracked situation  when i try and roll it so i'm gonna add a little   bit more i'm gonna go for maybe a tablespoon of  water and then we'll mix it up and try it again   so i guess that they found that the aztecs  didn't actually use any fat in their cooking   so this would be a very lean very  lean taco okay i have a nice ball   when i squish doesn't crack too much doesn't  stick i think our dough is good to go so i'm   going to let this rest covered and in the meantime  we're going to make our taco filling i prepped my   veggies and now we're going to char them on  the komal this is a ceramic komal which is   exciting because i've never used one like this  before the ones i've used have been steel or cast   iron i'm just gonna toast it totally dry we want  to develop some nice char lots of blackening don't   be scared we're not going for brown we're going  for black it's going to add lots of smoky flavor   so the best way to do that is to just kind  of let it sit still let it do its thing   so the first account of the takisa or the  taco party was written about in the book   the true history of the conquest of new spain  written by bernal diaz in 1568 okay so i'm pretty   happy with the char i got on my veggies my peppers  onions they're looking good to me the tomatoes   kind of they just stuck and burnt like the juices  came out of them and burned i i'm not familiar   with this kind of come on so i think maybe  there's a better way to do it that i don't know   i'm sure the aztecs have their secrets but we're  going to move on i think it's going to be okay   this looks really good and i think we're going  to have lots of good flavor now they would have   probably smashed this up to make the salsa for  the turkey i'm going to go ahead and chop because   you know i'm just going to do it my way why the  hell not right so i'm gonna do a very rough chop   here we're not getting too precise just breaking  it down and then i'm gonna smash it a little more   in the skillet the tomatoes i'm just gonna scrape  right into the skillet and smash in the skillet   but i want my peppers and onions to get  a little head start a little choppy chop now the onions i know they look quite blackened  but onions are one of those vegetables where they   can really take it they could everything in the  onion family scallions shallots i can't think   of any other onion anything in the allium  family though you can char it it turns into   something else onions are a really cool vegetable  because they can be spicy or sweet or bitter   or aromatic like just really depending on how you  treat them so i'm happy with that shock situation   okay so now i've got these tomatoes they  did get kind of stuck so i'm going to just   scrape them into this cap iron skillet which is  where i'm going to prepare the rest of my taco   filling but it's nice and soft i  think we've got some good flavor now let's put the rest of these guys in  here i'm gonna just like smish smash it i really just the thing that i want to do right  now is put a whole bunch of like olive oil   or butter they didn't have that but the  food i've come to know as like you know   latin americans really different from what it  used to be so i'm just going to give it a smash   let's get this over some heat but we got some heat  going while this kind of cooks down a little bit   i'm going to season it with a big pinch of salt  and some episode episode is an herb that's like it   it smells a little bit like oregano you can find  it everywhere like it honestly in manhattan it   grows you know how there's like a random tree on  the sidewalk in manhattan and then a little patch   of land where it says please clean up after your  dogs a lot of times there's episode growing there   but it's it's very grassy and has a little floral  note a lot like oregano if you can't find episode   oregano is a good substitute but most latin  grocery stores have it it's worth checking out   it gives it like a really nice authentic  aroma i think i'm gonna do a little more   and i'm going to add my turkey meat now so the  reason we're using turkey is that's what they   had around they didn't have pigs they didn't have  chickens they didn't have cows but they had turkey   even though none of the things that i think  about in a modern day tacos not here like   there's no cumin there's no lime there's no  cilantro but i'm still it still smells a lot like   a taco like a salsa we're getting acidity from  the tomatoes and i think the char is doing a   lot so this is looking nicely cooked i think we're  pretty much there it's it's still a little saucy i   don't want to cook out all of the moisture from  the veggies because we want it to have like a   nice moist saucy vibe the turkey looks cooked  through i feel like our turkey filling is ready   to go i'm going to let this hang out on the back  burner and stay warm while we make our tortillas   i've got my masa right here that i prepared  earlier and it's been resting and you can see it's   really it's moist but it's not sticky and as after  resting it's like a little bit easier to handle   it's a little more pliable and i'm gonna keep  it covered while i work because it can dry out   pretty quickly so the problem with these cast iron  presses is the masa really wants to stick to it   so i'm going to use a couple pieces of parchment  they definitely wouldn't have parchment paper but   we've got it we're going to use it so i'm going  to start by making little balls so i think it   takes it takes a couple tries to really nail the  size of the dough ball to get a nice big tortilla   but you want to go for like a ping pong ball size  so take your time make a nice smooth ball because   the smooth ball means you're gonna the edges  of your tortilla are gonna be nice and smooth   if it gets cracked now it'll be cracked later but  if it does crack a little bit don't worry about it   all right let me go here i like to put it not  exactly in the center but slightly just slightly   off center towards the hinge because when we  press it down it's going to push the mouse forward   so we'll end up centered afterwards and now we  these are super fun now we do this now we press if you don't have a tortilla press i've totally  done this with like the bottom of a really heavy   cast iron pan oh but look at how beautiful that is  yeah that was a pretty good first try yeah okay so   our komal is preheated over like medium high heat  and once we get it on there it's going to happen   pretty quickly you want to use the parchment to  help you flip it on just like that flip it off   so i've been told that for the best tortillas you  want to do a couple of flips we're going to flip   flip flip like every 10 seconds and then we get  a good puff and um look i didn't i didn't get a   flipping tool let's see if we can flip this guy  oh oh all right it's really fun to watch people   making tortillas you just keep going one at a  time you really gotta use a good amount of body   pressure get in there make it thin when you're  dealing with anything that needs a flip you know   it's ready to flip when it tells you that it's  ready to flip it'll like release itself from the   pan when it's ready so sometimes you guys just let  the tortilla talk to you oh and we have release   that's exactly what you want to see there's  a little charring there's a little blistering   we got a little poof and i'm  gonna give it another flip and then another final flip how many flips is that  one this is two this is three four flips that's it   i feel like that's the right amount of flips  as soon as your tortillas come off the kamal   you want to wrap it in a towel so  it stays nice and warm but ideally   you want to have your friends and  family lined up we're having a tequisa   everyone's lined up you make a tortilla you  hand it to someone and it goes directly into   their face that is that is the ideal  consumption method for a tortilla okay it took a few tries but we got there it's  just like making pancakes you got to play with   your burner a little bit to figure out exactly how  high to set it now that the taco ingredients have   been prepped we're going to go into the chocolate  which to give you an idea of what it's going to   taste like translates to bitter water they drink  a lot of this hot chocolate they thought they   had like mind opening powers health benefits  all that stuff so we're gonna give it a shot   first thing i'm gonna do is bring some water to  a boil along with one sliced serrano chili see   it's not what you expected already  twists and turns right at the beginning   so i've got one sliced chili and we're  going to let this simmer for a little bit   to try and pull out some of that heat we want to  flavor this water with that spicy chili flavor   while that does its thing i'm going to prepare a  vanilla bean vanilla bean actually comes from an   orchid and it's one of my favorite ingredients  this is a really nice moist juicy one i kind of   like i haven't seen people do this but my thing is  i like to massage it a little to loosen up those   seeds inside the pod before getting in there this  is especially helpful if you have kind of a dried   out bean but this is a really nice fresh juicy  history channel really sprung for the good stuff   we're going to use a pairing knife to split it  right down the middle and i'm only going to use   half of this vanilla bean in here and i'm going  to just use the seeds but you can use all of the   vanilla bean like save the pods i like to shove  it into sugar maple syrup honey honey vanilla is   really really tasty okay i've got this spicy chili  water i'm gonna strain it to remove the chilis and   the seeds so we just have this spicy liquid and  this is going to be the base of our hot chocolate i'm going to pour this liquid back into the pot  oh it got a light little tint of green already too   very quickly much like oh i got chili in my throat all right now i'm going to add  the seeds from this vanilla bean   and a bit more water and we're going to let it  come to a simmer and add our cocoa powder so okay so we're going to be using unsweetened cocoa  powder for this beverage but they would have   used something more like a cocoa mass like just  cacao beans that have been fermented and then   mashed into a paste that's not something that's  easy to find these days but cocoa powder is   going to give us a lot of the same flavor so i'm  just letting this come up to a boil and then i'm   going to add the cocoa montezuma was said to have  consumed a hundred of these a day out of a gold   goblet i don't know how you i don't know if that's  true i don't i don't know how you got that much   time for hot chocolate was he doing nothing else  perhaps so what they would traditionally whisk up   their hot chocolate with is a is a wooden whisk  called a mole neo we didn't have one of those   okay so originally this was like this long  piece that came out here with the second handle   i think it's like a ravioli cutter but  uh you know improvising making it work   it kind of looks a lot like a millennial  so i'm hoping it's gonna do the same thing   so now i'm gonna add the cocoa and then i've i've  not used a mole neo before but i'm going to i'm   going to try i feel like it might work so this is  this isn't the original we're making it work but   i feel like it's doing something so the liquids  sloshing around the cocoa seems to be getting   mixed up we're just going to cook this until  everything is like nice and smooth emulsified   this looks nothing like the hot chocolate  that i know the hot chocolate i know comes   with freeze-dried marshmallows this is splashing  around i'm not getting much broth okay so this   is definitely not something the aztecs would have  used oh my you it's more powerful than i expected   oh but we are getting frost everything is mixed up  there's no clumps of cocoa this is gonna be spicy   because i can like feel the chili heat oh look at  it go i bet if the aztecs had one of these they'd   be into it we're getting some froth we're getting  emulsified and i think that we have achieved   chocolate this is ready to go where's my goblet is  there a gold goblet okay so i've got everything i   need for my little taco party our hot chocolate's  ready to go so i'm going to plate a couple up   here are our tortillas you can see it's really  nice and supple and tender it's exactly what   you want i'm gonna load it up with some of this  turkey filling so a lot of our veggies have really   nicely like melted down so we have a little  saucy action happening here we go i'm a two   taco girl i'm gonna do two look at that okay this  isn't a good one don't look at that let's look at   this look at that it's a beautiful tortilla  and you know the process for making a tortilla   actually hasn't changed a whole lot in thousands  of years which is pretty cool all right tacos so   the way that the aztecs would finish this off is  they pour it from real high and that get a little   more froth and make sure everything's emulsified  so i'm gonna give it a shot okay let's see oh god some of it's on the floor that's  cool i'm gonna go back i'm gonna do it again   they also do this with chai in india  to like froth it up and cool it down   it's hey it's a skill it's harder than it  looks okay i'm not gonna spill this time   i just gotta like go with it oh a little  spill but you know there's a little froth   it's cooled down a little i'm  gonna have a bite of my taco i'm so sure sorry it takes me a minute this is a lot better than i was expecting  to be honest because it's turkey there's   no fat there's no cheese there's no avocado  i really thought this was going to be flat   but there's a lot of flavor from those charred  veggies we're getting that acid from the tomato   the tortilla is really nice and soft and tender  and you can see the turkey's not dry at all   it's super juicy from all those vegetables  i'm really surprised i'm genuinely really   surprised by how good this tastes the episote  is adding a really nice like herby bright note   which i wasn't expecting a little bit of  like thyme oregano kind of vibe that's a   really nice and there's a good bit of  heat the serranos didn't smell too spicy   but i like the spice level we ended up with so  that's the surprisingly delicious i'm not missing   the lime or cilantro at all there's a lot going on  the char is what's doing it the char is bringing a   lot of depth a little bit of smokiness a little  bit of sweetness it's what's bringing so much   flavor to this really really simple dish all right  so let's try the hot chocolate okay this is so this smells like hot chocolate but it also  smells like serrano peppers which is interesting   let's get in there it's very hot sorry guys oh gosh it's spicier than  i thought oh oh boy hold on this tastes nothing nothing  like hot chocolate it's it's actually pretty spicy it really hits you  in the back of the throat i i smell chocolate   but i don't taste it i'm i smell chocolate and  vanilla but i taste chili it's a little weird   i feel like this is like probably a good cold  remedy because my my throat is cleared like you   feel you feel the heat coming down you feel the  heat through your nose but i i don't think i i   don't think i would have this again it's just it's  a lot it's really intense it's just bitter and   heat but it's a little confusing because you smell  chocolate like it smells like brownie batter i'm   really getting the vanilla and the cocoa but then  it tastes like hot sauce like a really bad hot sauce i don't know i think  it's growing on me a little bit i have a perpetual stuffy nose that's cleared up  it tastes like it's good for me it doesn't taste   like the hot chocolate i know i don't want to put  marshmallows in this what this is missing is like   a quarter cup of sugar that's what it'll need  to like taste like hot chocolate to me but um   it's definitely interesting this is supposed  to have mind opening qualities i don't know if   my mind's opening but my sinuses definitely are  maybe montezuma just like needed claritin maybe   he had allergies and that's why he had to drink so  much of this i take it back i take it back i think   that i don't hate it it really it takes a minute  it's one of those things you got to kind of sit   with it it's just a little bit of a shock to the  census you know for the modern chocolate consumer we're going to do this right goes together pretty well that actually works  together because this is like a savory beverage   it's spicy kind of cut through this tastes kind of  rich and fatty even though we didn't add any fat   to it just from the turkey meat and the salsa we  cooked down so this kind of cuts all of that and   it cuts the heaviness of the tortilla so it goes  together really well i really like these tacos   they definitely surprise me the drink i don't know  i'm 50 50 on this one i need to think about it a   little bit but if you really like this episode be  sure to like and subscribe and hit us up in the   comments if there's any vintage or ancient recipes  you want to see me try out i really want to try   something i think from the paleolithic era i don't  know we'll see all right i'll see you next time you

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 226,552

Rating: 4.9099803 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, documentary history channel, history documentary, documentary, history channel full episodes, history channel documentaries, sohla, sohla el-waylly, ancient recipes, cooking shows, cooking, cooking history, historical cooking, culinary history, recipes, kitchen, bon appetit, how to cook, Ancient Recipes with Sohla, ancient recipes clips, ancient recipes videos, ancient recipes history, Sohla's Aztec Taco Tuesday

Id: 4Dp0nuF1oKY

Length: 24min 34sec (1474 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/giantspeck]

Oooh, this was a suggestion in the comments of the first episode!

Edit: Here's a Food52 article by Sarah Jampel which talks about the spiciest part of a jalapeño.

[u/byronite]

I kinda have mixed views on this video. I get that the Aztec civilization no longer exists, but there are millions of Nahua people alive today. Most of the techniques, ingredients and equipment in this video quite similar to those that are still used. I don't really care much about cultural appropriation on cooking shows because everybody does it, but it's pretty harsh how she speaks of Nahua culture in past tense.

[u/BlondeAmbition123]

This was such a fun episode!

[u/dog-carpet]

from picking fresh herbs for your tacos in dog poop grass, to making a drink that smells like brownie batter but tastes like bad hot sauce, with this episode, at least, i'd say sohla's taking more of a bizarre foods w/ andrew zimmern approach than emulating what max miller's doing on tasting history