History, The Kitchen

Cooking Technique : Martajar

Martajar : TRANSITIVE VERB : (Centroamérica) (México) [+maíz] to pound; grind

“Es la acción de machacar alimentos, ya sea en molcajete o metate, con antiguos utensilios de la época prehispánica, obteniendo una mezcla con aspecto rústico al que se le denomina molcajeteado, martajado o “no bien molido”.

It is the action of crushing food, either in a molcajete or metate, with old utensils from pre-Hispanic times, obtaining a mixture with a rustic appearance that is called molcajeteado, martajado or “not well ground”.

  • molcajeteado [adj] Mexico : ground by hand
  • molcajeteado adj. Mx. Referido a alimento, molido en un molcajete (Referring to food , ground in a molcajete)

Humans have been crushing and grinding foods for a very long time. The mano and the metate have been around since about 3500BC and the aboriginal people of Australia have used grinding stones for at least 65,000 years (Hayes etal 2022) with grinding stones having been found in Mirrarr country in Northern Arnhem land in the Northern Territory of Australia that have been dated to at least 68,700BC.

Girls preparing seeds at Yirrkala, Arnhem Land

Now, we can crush in several ways. Below are some of the tools discussed.

The molcajete and tejolote. This is often described as the “Aztec blender”. This tool is used to grind ingredients.

The mortar and pestle is more for smashing and pounding ingredients rather than grinding. This tool is very common in Asia and is an important tool for Thai green papaya salad as, without which, you cannot obtain the proper texture for the salad (these are also often made from wood). Archaeologists have found mortars and pestles in Southwest Asia that date back to approximately 35000 BC (Wright 1991).

The metate is, along with the molcajete, a tool of Mesoamerican cooks. Before the invention of mills and tortillerias the metate was a vital tool for grinding nixtamalized corn into masa and the woman of the household spent many hours hunched over the metate grinding masa for tortillas.

Every.

Single.

Day.

Grinding food in a molcajete (or on a metate) will give a very different texture to the food than blitzing it in a blender will. The stone is said to add flavour (1) and nutrition and may also be a source of beneficial probiotic bacteria. I have read that both the metate and the molcajete can be a source of probiotic bacteria in the diet. If these implements are washed with clean hot water and a stiff brush (and not with any kind of soap or detergent) then this allows a microcosm of beneficial bacteria that is added to any food subsequently ground in the implement. I have not since been able to find this paper though. You should never wash either of these tools with scented detergents as these may impart unwanted flavours to anything ground in (or on) them. DO NOT wash either your molcajete or metate with detergent.

  1. “the surface of the molcajete becomes impregnated with the remains of spices and condiments such as cinnamon, salt and garlic, and it is those ingredients that give sauces a unique flavor – the “molcajete flavor.”
Molcajete (and tejolote)
Mortar and pestle
Metate (and mano)

Now for some etymology.

Molcajete

According to Wikipedia….

Borrowed from Spanish molcajete, from Classical Nahuatl mōlcaxitl

  • a small mortar, typically carved from vesicular basalt (1) and used in traditional Mexican cuisine
  • A traditional Mexican stone tool, equivalent in function to a mortar and pestle, used for grinding food.
  1. Basalt is a type of volcanic rock that is formed from the solidification of molten lava that was rich in iron and magnesium. It is an igneous rock, meaning it is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Basalt is one of the most common rock types on Earth, and it can be found in various locations around the world, both on land and under the ocean floor. Vesicular refers to the gas bubbles, or vesicles, that were trapped and frozen in place as the rock crystallized
Vesicular basalt

Lets not trust wikipedia too much though.

mōlcaxitl

MŌLCAX(I)-TL pl -MEH ~ -TIN stone mortar, soup bowl / escudilla (M), molcajete. See MŌLLI, CAX(I)-TL. (Karttunen 1992)

Principal English Translation:  small mortar for grinding chiles; also, sauce bowl(s) (Cline 1986)

From mōlli (“sauce, broth”) +‎ caxitl (“bowl, cup”).

The root words

molli.

  • Principal English Translation:  sauce, something ground

caxitl.

  • Principal English Translation:  a vessel that can hold liquids, such as a cup or a bowl (or basin) (see Karttunen and Molina) :

From caxitl we get “cajete” (plural cajetes)

  • (Mexico) a bowl, basin or similar container
  • (El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico) an unglazed clay pot used in cooking
Caxitl
Cajete

There is a mid-way step between the molcajete de piedra (volcanic stone molcajete) and the caxitl or cajete and that is the molcajete de barro (“mud” or clay molcajete). This type of molcajete is a clay bowl which has a textured inner surface. These are used to grind fresh ingredients such as herbs and chiles into a rough paste.

Molcajete de barro

The Tejolote

The hand held grinding stone of the molcajete is called a tejolote (I have also seen it written as “tejocolote”).

Tejolote – Piedra de Molcajete – Molcajete Pestle – Mano de Molcajete

  • TEXŌLŌ-TL pl: -MEH grinding stone, pestle / tejolote
  • texōlōtl (absolutive plural texōlōmeh) : Principal English Translation: pestle, grinding stone (see Karttunen)

The tejolote (also known as temolote) is the hand-held grinding tool of the molcajete and is also made of the same volcanic rock or basaltic material that the molcajete is.

From Classical Nahuatl : teci (“to grind maize”) +‎ ōlōtl (“corn cob”), because of the pestle’s cylindrical shape.

  • teci : Principal English Translation:  to grind maize on a stone (see Molina and Karttunen)
  • olotl : Principal English Translation:  the heart of the ear of corn or maize (see Molina); the corn cob (or maize cob) with the kernels removed (see Karttunen); also, a counter when counting kernels of maize or other seed pods or bananas (see Molina, Karttunen, and Siméon)

In one of my previous Posts, What is Mole?, the molcajete comes up and its posited that the implements name is linked to that of the mole through the Nahuatl word “molli”

Molli : Principal English Translation: sauce, something ground (see Lockhart)

As noted in my Post…..

The word mole (mōh-lāy) may initially seem to have roots in the Spanish word “moler” (to grind) but this appears coincidental, even though a mole is derived from the grinding of a multitude of ingredients into an unctuous (1) paste. Mole is derived from the Nahuatl “molli” (2) which is generally said to refer to something being ground (from hard to soft) or a concoction (sauce) of substances ground together. Molli can be found in words such as “molcajete” (3) and āhuacamōlli (4).

  1. Unctuous derives from a Latin word meaning ointment. The literal translations of unctuous are fairly negative (see below) and I have always found it to be somewhat disparaging. * having a greasy or soapy feel *smooth and greasy in texture or appearance *having, revealing, or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality. However from a cheffy point of view unctuous is meant to denote a smooth (even creamy or velvety) and luxurious texture
  2. or alternatively “mulli” meaning a type of stew (guisado)
  3. the Mexican “mortar and pestle” (molcajete and tejolote) made from volcanic rock and, along with the metate, an important kitchen implement at the heart of the Mexican kitchen.
  4. Āhuacamōlli – a sauce made from ground avocados and the root of the modern word guacamole

BUT…..

Respecto a la etimología, el molcajete no se usa para hacer mole, sino simplemente para martajar el chile, o moler las especias que se usan en la preparación de salsas. (Ríos Hernández 1999)
“Regarding etymology, the molcajete is not used to make mole, but simply to grind the chile, or grind the spices used in the preparation of sauces.”

The Metate

Metate

A stone block with a shallow concave surface, used with a mano for grinding corn or other grains. They can be fairly simple (as shown in the image above left) and consist of nothing more than a flat stone (for grinding on) and a hand held stone with a smooth surface (for grinding with).

  • from Classical Nahuatl metlatl (“grinding stone”).

metlatl : Principal English Translation: a grinding stone (loaned to Spanish as metate) (see Cline 1986)

Mano

The grinding stone used on the metate is called a “mano” (literal translation “hand”) and links to “a mano” (by hand; with a person’s hand; or tools held in the hands, rather than with machinery)

A mano is a ground stone tool used with a metate to process or grind food by hand. It is also known by the Nahuatl term metlapil.

METLAPĪL-LI pl: -MEH>-TIN stone rolling pin used to grind cornmeal on the metate / moledor con que muelen el maíz

metlapilli : Principal English Translation: hand-held grinding stone, typically used for grinding maize kernels by hand on a large flat stone; the hand-held stone is usually paired (as a child to a parent) with this large flat stone, the metlatl (metate as loaned to Spanish) (see Karttunen)

To martajar something we are roughly grinding it and not smoothly pulverisinig it.

“Cracked” black pepper is a good example.

A maiz related example could be as follows. Un-nixtamalized ground corn is (or may be) called Polenta. Polenta can be roughly or smoothly ground. It CANNOT be used to make tortillas. See my Post Nixtamal for the reasons. Grits are similar in nature to polenta in that it is not smoothly ground but the big difference is that grits ARE nixtamalized. For a third reference I give you masa harina which is nixtamalized corn which has been ground finely(ish) into masa and then is dried into harina (flour). This can be rehydrated to make tortillas and is an excellent way to store masa as fresh masa can sour within a day or three (if stored in the fridge) and within 12 hours if stored outside of the fridge at temperatures above 25C. Masa harina will last for a year or so if stored properly (in an airtight container to protect it from insects, vermin and moisture, and out of direct sunlight)

Polenta
Grits
Masa harina

Mercedes Cossio writes of martajadas as being a variety of tostada as being similar to a tlayuda (although being of a slightly different shape and slightly smaller in size).

For clarifications sake…a tostada is a hard and crunchy fried tortilla. It can either refer to the plain tortilla or one that has been slathered with frijoles and topped with meat, potato, nopales, onion, cilantro, aguacate, salsa…….whatever takes your fancy……a tlayuda is the Oaxacan variety….the tortilla is cooked over a grill (or over charcoal), spread with frijoles (or asientos de chicharrón) and piled up with additional toppings such as chorizo, tasajo (thinly sliced beef), shredded chicken, cecina (pork), asiento (an ingredient worty of its own Post – Stay tuned), chicharron (fried pork rinds), lettuce, avocado, tomato, queso Oaxaca, and salsa.

A tostada is considered to be a flat tortilla. Purists will deny the “U” shaped fried tortilla used to make hard shelled tacos the status of tostada.

Tostadas
Oaxacan tlayuda

As I noted in Vitamina T : Totopos and the Chilaquil……..

Tostadas? Si.
Tostadas? No.

In this case however we are looking at the tostada Mercedes calls martajadas as being a tortilla made from roughly ground nixtamalized corn which is then cooked to crispy perfection in the manner of a Oaxacan tlayuda.

These martajadas are similar to the tostada de Arriero of Querétaro.

These tostadas are made by first creating a tortilla from coarsely ground nixtamalized corn. The nixtamalization is important as without it you cannot make a tortilla. Nixtamalization (the soaking and cooking of maiz in an alkaline solution)(1) changes the structure of corn. It makes the corn more nutritionally viable and it creates certain gums and colloids which allow the ground corn to stick together and form the pliable discs we know as tortillas. If you try to make a tortilla from polenta, which is simply un-nixtamalized corn which has been dried and ground, you will have no success. When you first cook this type of tortilla you take a little more time cooking it and a little more care ensuring that it does not burn as you need to remove as much moisture from the tortilla before you use it (or before you fry it hard into a tostada). This type of tortilla will absorb moisture more rapidly than a normal one and a tostada will crumble more rapidly from the wetness of the ingredients placed on it. These must be prepared to order and eaten immediately to prevent them falling apart because of this tendency.

  1. Nixtamal

The Martajada (or huarache toluqueño) from the neighbourhood of La Teresona in the city of Toluca is made from maíz martajado azul or crushed blue corn (and of course covered with frijoles, cilantro, nopales, onion, queso fresco and salsa roja de chile árbol o guajillo). It was said to have been created for the hungry patrons for the pulquerias that lay on the outskirts of town. These soon made their way to the CDMX and can still be found today in Chapultepec and the city centre.

Huarache
Huarache Chilango
Tlacoyos in the CDMX

Sometime in the 1930’s the city folk who ate the abundantly available tlacoyos were introduced to the huarache. Names were changed so as to differentiate between the two and the huarache chilango was birthed. The huarache toluqueño came along a little later. All these dishes are essentially the same and differ only in minor ways (although the purists will likely hang me for this). The main difference between the Tolucan huarache and the others is the use of maiz martajado instead of the finer ground masa typically used.

The huarache sandal whose sole is the inspiration for the name

Huaraches de Toluca

Gorditas can also be made using masa martajado; as can the itacate of Tepoztlán. The itacate as shown in the image below (right) are triángulos de masa de maíz amartajada con manteca y queso. That is the other main difference between tortillas and the tostada de Arriero. This masa tends to have lard mixed with it (similarly to tamale dough). Masa for tamales tends to be more coarsely ground than that for tortillas (although more finely ground than that of maiz martajado) but the giant tamal of the Huasteca, known as a zacahuil, is made from maiz martajado.

Gorditas
The itacate of Tepoztlán

The zacahuil is a large banana leaf wrapped tamale from the regions of the Huasteca down into Yucatan and has its own creation legend. During the reign of the Mexica Tlatoani Moctezuma (from 1440 to 1469 AD) the Huaxteca region (1) was subjugated by the Azteca and placed under the management of a cacique (2) by the name of Quimichtlin. His function was to collect tributes to send them to Tenochtitlán to appease the demands of the Mexica. Quimichtlin abused his power to excess and included the sexual abuse of young women and virgins. This of course incensed the people who unfortunately could do nothing for fear of drawing violent Mexica reprisals. This was soon to change due to the actions of the Tarascan people of Michoacan. The Tarascans (3), much like the Tlaxcallans, hated the Mexica with a passion and fought with them for over 100 years. The Mexica were never able to subjugate them. The luck of Quimichtlin was to run out after the Mexica suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of these Purepechan warriors and the Huastecos used this as impetus to punish him. Quimichtlin was quickly apprehended, killed, skinned, seasoned with chile  and wrapped in maiz martajada and banana leaves. This human tamal was then lowered into an underground earth oven (4) and cooked overnight. The tamal was shared out amongst the women and girls that he violated so they could cleanse their sullied honour. It has been said that only after being evangelised into Christianity by the friars who arrived post conquest that the people substituted out the human meat for that of other animals such as turkey and wild boar (5).

  1. Puebla, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and the northern zone of Veracruz.
  2. A regional indigenous leader of a specific indigenous group. In the post-independence period in Mexico, the term retained its meaning of “indigenous” leaders, but also took on a more general usage of a “local” or “regional” leader.
  3. “Tarascan” is a Spanish name, they called themselves Purepecha. The Tarascan people had established themselves in Michoacán by the 12th century A.D. Their exact origin remains unknown. The Tarascans flourished from 1100 A.D. to 1530 A.D.  The centre of the Tarascan Empire was Lake Patzcuaro and the nearby site of Tzintzuntzan.
  4. Known as a “pib”
  5. This kind of sounds like Spanish bullshit to me. There is no stretch of the imagination to think that they made this dish prior to the Spanish arrival and that they used the meat native to the area, that of the guajolote (turkey)
The zacahuil.
As you can see, much larger than the average tamal.
You’d only need a slightly larger one to fit Quimichtlin in
(although I think if you deboned him properly you’d likely fit him in this one)

Other uses of maiz martajado

The process has come up in some of my previous Posts.

I have written of Atole de Grano which is a “lumpy” atole made with masa that has been only partially ground and contains a mix of smooth masa with soft lumps of unground (or only partially ground) nixtamalized maiz. Atole de granillo is an atole made from dried corn (1) which is ground roughly to produce a mixture of powder and chunks and then processed into a lumpy atole.

  1. in this case the white cacahuazintle typically used to make masa – and atole, and pozole – and not the blue varieties as noted above
Preparing for atole de granillo
The atole.

Totomoxtle (and the Tamal)

Cenizas de Maíz, maíz azúl martajado & una mezcla de chiles.
Corn ashes, martajado blue corn & a mix of chilies.
Martajado = “pounded”
martajar : TRANSITIVE VERB (general) (Mexico) : to pound; i.e. Tueste las semillas y martájelas antes de utilizarlas. “Roast the seeds and then pound them before using them”.

Papaloquelite : The Butterfly Herb* (salsa recipe included)

“Martajar” is another culinary term unique to Mexican cookery. It means to roughly grind (also pound or smash) the ingredient, usually in the prehispanic Mexican blender known as the molcajete as shown in the picture above.

Frutos de Cactus : Garambullo

*NOTES* frijoles quebrados often refers to a type of soup made from frijoles martajados (from martajar – the action of breaking or grinding a food – in this case beans – traditionally using a metate or molcajete). The beans are then seasoned with dried chile, onion , garlic , avocado leaves and cumin. The beans are broken into chunks and not ground into a powder.

Frijoles quebrado
Image by Artesania Mi Casa via facebook

References

  • S. L. Cline, Colonial Culhuacan, 1580-1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986)
  • Hayes, E.H., Fullagar, R., Field, J.H. et al. 65,000-years of continuous grinding stone use at Madjedbebe, Northern Australia. Sci Rep 12, 11747 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15174-x
  • Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992
  • James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001)
  • Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 92v. col. 1.
  • Fráncisco Emilio de los Ríos Hernández (1999) Nahuatlismos en el habla de La Laguna : Programa Cultural Enlace Lagunero
  • Rémi Siméon, Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1988)
  • WRIGHT, K. (1991). THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF GROUND STONE ASSEMBLAGES IN LATE PLEISTOCENE SOUTHWEST ASIA. Paléorient, 17(1), 19–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41492435

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