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There is nothing like a smell to jog the memory. This afternoon, I made something scrumptious that immediately transported me from chilly Stoke Newington to the heat, hustle and bustle of a Mexican market.

We ate like kings everywhere in Mexico. For me, it was the culinary highlight of Latin America, but the undisputed number one spot goes to Oaxaca. This place first popped up on my radar way before I decided to go traveling thanks to Wahaca, a restaurant in London named after the phonetic spelling of Oaxaca. Anyone who lives in London and appreciates good grub, knows that Wahaca serves up some of the best Mexican food going. It is inventive, fresh, flavoursome and in the spirit of the motherland; it is reasonably priced (for London at least).

Restaurante El Naranjo, Oaxaca

We visited Oaxaca in early October. The combination of swine flu and low season meant that even on our budget, we were able to blag a vast room in a lovely old hotel in the main square. So, with a few more pesos in our pot, we headed out for a nice dinner at El Naranjo, a restaurant recommended in the guidebook. Despite being housed in the leafy courtyard of an attractive C17th house, it didn’t look too promising at first, since there wasn’t a single person inside.

But just as we were about the turn on our heels, the chef appeared to introduce himself and to explain the menu. His name was Andrew and he had moved from Connecticut to Oaxaca, to immerse himself in what is often considered to be the capital of the Mexican culinary scene.

To cut a long story short, we had a fabulous meal and we were so wooed by Andrew’s delicious Calabaza blossoms stuffed with Oaxacan string cheese that when he mentioned he gave cooking lessons, we signed up without a pause for consideration.

Stall belonging to the spice queen of Oaxaca

We showed up the next afternoon and the lesson began with a trip to the nearby markets to buy ingredients. We stepped out of El Naranjo’s cool, shady courtyard and followed Andrew, crocodile-fashion, out into the busy streets of Oaxaca.

First stop was a butchers stall, where Andrew bought some chorizo for our soup. The stall heaved with piles of beef; cut into huge wafer-thin pieces so that they lay on the counter like folded bedsheets and hung from the ceiling like curtains, which had to be parted by the cashier in order to give and receive change.

From here, we dived deep into the heart of Mercado Benito Juarez to buy spices. The stall Andrew took us to was owned by a lady he described as being something of a demigod; worshipped by many a disciple of Mexican cuisine. She presided over the biggest selection of chillies I had ever seen; there must have been close to 40 different types of every imaginable size, shape and strength. Andrew raved about the Mexican vanilla she sold and we duly bought a fistful of pods to smuggle home in our backpacks. (I have just checked online and Waitrose charges £4.29 for 2. We paid about that for 15)

Chapulines, surprisingly tasty fried grasshoppers

From here, we headed out of the market, running the gauntlet of wizened old ladies selling ‘chapulines’ which are small, fried grasshoppers; revolting to look at but surprisingly moreish.

The next and final stop was Mercado 20 de Noviembre, where Andrew’s favourite cheese seller had a stall. Oaxaca is famous for its string cheese which tastes like a cross between halloumi and mozzarella and is produced in bandage sized widths and wrapped up into neat bundles the size of bowling balls.

A ball of Oaxacan string cheese

Laden with goodies, we headed back to the kitchen to watch Andrew weave his magic, as we sipped on some of his refreshing Hibiscus flower juice. He began by demonstrating two salsa recipes, followed by sopa de frijol (bean soup) flavoured with toasted avocado leaves. He then demonstrated an Estofado, which is in essence, a chicken stew but concoted from a dizzying array of ingredients and brought together in a rustic, rough-hewn clay cooking pot known as a ‘Cazuela’.

The final thing Andrew demonstrated was a ‘Natilla’ a vanilla custard dessert, before we all sat down in the courtyard to enjoy the feast he had prepared. Needless to say it was magnificent and the crowning glory to a very special afternoon. The cooking lesson was a definite highlight of my time away and quite the finest souvenir money could buy; I learned something, it weighed nothing and it has the power to transport me back to that special afternoon, as soon as the smells begin to fill my kitchen.

It is not my place to share Andrew’s recipes; they have been whispered into his ear, in good faith by the great characters of Oaxaca’s culinary scene. But I have Googled Natilla and there are many recipes that follow the same principles. So click here, have a go yourself and enjoy the flavour of Oaxaca.

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