Although his sight and hearing failed him, Isaac Jiménez’s memory was still sharp. One afternoon in 2012, at his hacienda in Santiago Matatlán, the self-proclaimed mezcal capital of the world, ninety-two-year-old Don Isaac recalled as he rocked back and forth in his favorite old wooden chair: “When you ask me about the origins of mezcal de pechuga, I can’t take you beyond 1930 “, he confesses apologizing, and then continues; “It was then that Ramón Sánchez arrived with his family in Matatlán.”
Mezcal, of course, is the agave-based spirit, distilled in many regions of Mexico. The southern state of Oaxaca is where most of it is produced. Traditionally, a ton or more of the plant’s carb-rich hearts or pineapples are baked in a buried, sealed oven over firewood and stones, after which, now hopefully, sweet like sugar, they are mashed up with a beast of burden. or by hand. a wooden mallet, then naturally fermented using environmental yeasts and the addition of only water, before being distilled in copper stills or stills, or clay pot arrangements. There are countless means of production and tools of the trade, but the above sums up the basics.
My effort to know the history of mezcal de pechuga, and to a lesser extent catalog variations of its recipe, leads me to Don Isaac, whose grandfather arrived in Matatlán in 1870. Without a doubt, there are several myths and legends about its origin, in at least as many as there are regarding the first time that an Oaxacan infused mezcal with “the worm”; a larva known as a worm.
Those who have the impression that the breast mezcal contains only the essence of the chicken breast, which when raw has been suspended inside an alembic over which the steam produced from the fermented baked agave has passed, know only a part of history. The formulations, more in the nature of recipes, may require wild turkey breast (turkey) or clean whole poultry meat, rabbit leg, venison or iguana, or no protein, in any case with or without fruits and / or herbs and spices. integrated in the distillation process.
Pechuga’s first appearance in Santiago Matatlán
“I was about 10 years old, so it must have been around 1930 when a palenquero named Ramón Sánchez put down roots in the town, apparently coming from Río Seco, or at least that’s what he told everyone,” Don Isaac recalled. At that time, Río Seco would be days from Matalán on foot or by mule or horse. It is near the junction of what are now the districts of Tlacolula, Ejutla and Miahuatlán. Each of the three is known as agave growing country. And so, the inhabitants of Río Seco made mezcal.
“Then, in 1938, a guy named Chuy Rasgado came to Matatlán,” Don Isaac continued. “One day he appeared at a local farm where I played with my bandmates.”
In Oaxaca, as in other parts of Mexico, there has been a long tradition of playing the band, woodwinds, and percussion, and mastery begins at an early age. Young Isaac learned to play the alto saxophone and eventually became a member of a band. He and his fellow musicians occasionally played at a well-known hacienda owned by a family of Spanish aristocrats.
The day Rasgado went to the hacienda, he had no instrument in hand. But he asked if he could hang out with Isaac and his fellow musicians and contribute in some way. The band rejected the overture as there was no indication at the time how it could help. Finally, after subsequent failed attempts to integrate into the wider Matatlán, Rasgado disappeared.
One morning Isaac and his mother, Felipa Arrazola, traveled to San Pablo Mitla to buy supplies. They met Rasgado. Given that Isaac had now become an accepted part of the region’s music scene, and the two of them had to stay in Mitla for at least one night due to the distance they had to travel to get there, it was easy for him and his mother. find accommodation. . That first night, Isaac and his mother happened upon Rasgado drinking in a canteen and playing music; but not just any music. I was playing with bottles; glass bottles of different sizes, shapes and neck openings, thus obtaining different shades. He used both his breath and a makeshift drumstick to create different sounds. He played melodies reminiscent of the music of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, near the Pacific coast of Oaxaca.
At the end of the set, Isaac and his mother took the opportunity to speak with Rasgado, Isaac now clearly humiliated by someone who had been made clear to him was a true multi-faceted talent that he and the other members of the band had rejected weeks earlier. At the time, Isaac was learning to read music. During the conversation with Rasgado Isaac, he realized that he was in the company of a true teacher, a musician who played more than bottles. Isaac recognized that there was an opportunity for him to improve his own musical skills and at the same time have someone in the city, that is, Matatlán, who could tutor others. Rasgado accepted the invitation to return to Matatlán, and there he began to teach and play, not only bottles, but also guitar, trumpet, saxophone and a couple of other traditional instruments.
Ramón Sánchez, that palenquero supposedly from Río Seco, quickly found out about Chuy Rasgado and the work he was doing within the Matatlán community of musicians. He decided to host a special reception in his honor. During the festivities, Sánchez gave Rasgado a large bottle of breast mezcal. Others at the event also drank the brisket, many for the first time. Before this time, while Sanchez had shared his brisket with a few, no one really noticed the unique flavor nuance, and if they did, they didn’t ask about it. The cat came out of the bag and the breast mezcal was born, at least for the wide public consumption and in this region. Perhaps most importantly, it has been elevated to the category of spirit for special occasions.
No one knows for sure if the inhabitants of Río Seco had been making breast mezcal, if Sánchez was the only palenquero with that recipe, or if he prepared it for the first time after his arrival in Matatlán. We know two things: from the day Rasgado was first awarded the honor of receiving mezcal de pechuga, the breast has been served in many Oaxacan towns and villages at special festivals; and there are several formulations of the drink.
Epilogue to Chuy Rasgado and Ramón Sánchez
In 1940 General Lázaro Cárdenas traveled to Mitla. Although there were still no paved roads in the town or leading to it, General Cárdenas rode there to inaugurate the arrival of electricity. It would take another 19 years for the power lines to reach Santiago Matatlán.
By then Rasgado had become a well-known and respected musician in both Matatlán and Mitla (and eventually throughout the state and beyond). The mayor of Mitla invited him to play for General Cárdenas during one of the celebratory dinners. Torn did not dress up to act. He played a brief first set. No one applauded. For the second set he was part of a trio, and in the end the group received a bit of praise. For the third and final set, Rasgado led the local philharmonic orchestra in four songs, decked out in formal wear, an outfit traditionally worn by band leaders. General Cárdenas called him to the box where he and the other dignitaries were sitting, to congratulate him. Perhaps the clothes served as the inspiration for an exceptional final performance. Rasgado was known to back down some, so perhaps at the end of the night a slight intoxication had contributed to his excellence.
Three or four months later, Chuy Rasgado disappeared again, this time never to return to the region. It is said that he died in the Mixe district of Oaxaca.
Ramón Sánchez continued to make small batches of mezcal, including breast, for his own use and to give to others who wanted it for the holidays. None of their progeny became palenqueros. During that time there was a generalized perception that making mezcal was not a dignified profession, like leading the life of a musician. In Don Isaac’s case, he paid little or no attention to public sentiment and continued to excel in both vocations.
Oaxacan Mezcal from Pechuga Today
According to Don Isaac’s son Enrique Jiménez, a chemical engineer and palenquero in his own right, authentic breast mezcal is produced by placing a specific amount of chopped seasonal fruit in a copper alembic (the only type of alembic that young Jiménez knows about). use). ) along with previously distilled mezcal (therefore in preparation for a third distillation), with a chicken or turkey breast hanging inside the apparatus. If brisket is used, without fruits or other additions, naturally it is legitimately considered brisket mezcal; And if herbs and / or spices are added, with or without fruit, it’s still considered the real deal. If no protein is used, the brandy is best considered a fruity mezcal. That is the term used by Manuel Méndez, a palenquero from nearby San Dionsio Ocotepec who inserts five fruits plus sugar cane. On the other hand, in San Baltazar Chichicapam, on the San Dionisio highway, Fortunato Hernández calls his formulation of pineapple mezcal mezcal de piña. Rodolfo López Sosa in San Juan del Río uses only turkey breast and calls it turkey breast.
At least one owner and exporter of an Oaxacan brand of mezcal instructs its producers to use rabbit feet instead of poultry breast. A palenquero in the state of Michoacán uses chicken breast, venison and a selection of spices, a recipe that his wife keeps very closely. One incarnation requires placing 200 liters of mezcal in a traditional 300 liter copper container, part of the alembic, along with 100 liters of diced fruit, with the chicken or turkey breast hanging inside the top of the alembic bell. . This yields about 120 liters of breast mezcal, if the protein is omitted in the formulation, while the spicy and / or fruity flavor will surely prevail, the brandy tends to lack a certain smell created by meat, poultry or not.
A second broad category of breast mezcal requires adding the fruit and / or spice to the alembic during the first or second distillation, along with mezcal and / or tepache (the fermented liquid) and / or bagasse (fermented, ground fiber).
In both cases, the breast mezcal is clear, since regardless of the ingredients that are inserted into the pot at the bottom of the alembic, be it copper or clay, a final distillation occurs that results in a colorless brandy. These are the two variations of brisket that are often highly coveted and, in fact, served in many initiation rite celebrations in typically rural Oaxaca, such as weddings, quinceañera, christenings, etc., a tradition that has endured from about 1940, if not earlier.
A third classification of breast mezcal is simply mezcal blanco (transparent, unaged) with a piece of sugar cane or baked agave that is inserted into the bottle before sealing it in a short time, altering the color to amber. Another consists of white mezcal that has been infused with fruits and / or herbs and spices, then filtered before bottling. It is doubtful that chicken, turkey, or any other meat was used in the distillation process, regardless of rendering. The liqueurs of this third category are not properly called mezcal de pechuga.
Unanswered historical questions about Mezcal de Pechuga
The questions that remain unanswered, at least in its entirety, are precisely why, where and when that first palenquero decided to use a chicken or turkey breast in addition to the baked agave, to produce his mezcal.