Although his sight and hearing were failing, Isaac Jiménez’s memory was still sharp. One afternoon in 2012, at his ranch in Santiago Matatlán, the self-proclaimed mezcal capital of the world, ninety-two-year-old Don Isaac recalled as he rocked in his favorite old, rickety wooden chair: “When you ask me about the origins of brisket mezcal, I can’t take you past 1930,” he confesses apologetically, 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 it is most produced. Traditionally, a ton or more of the plant’s carbohydrate-rich hearts or pineapples are baked in a sealed oven, buried over firewood and rocks, after which, now hopefully sweet as sugar, they are crushed using a beast of burden or hand using a wooden mallet, then naturally fermented using environmental yeasts and added only water, before being distilled in copper pot stills or pot stills, or clay pot arrangements. There are countless means of production and tools of the trade, but the above sums up the basics.
My determination to know the history of mezcal de brisket, and to a lesser extent to catalog variations of its recipe, lead me to don Isaac, whose grandfather arrived in Matatlán in 1870. Without a doubt, there are several myths and legends regarding its origin, at least as many as there are regarding the first time that an Oaxacan mezcal infused with “la lombriz”; a larva known as a worm.
Those who are under the impression that mezcal de pechuga contains only the essence of chicken breast, which when raw has been suspended inside an alembic through which the steam produced by the fermented baked agave has passed, know only a part of history Formulations, more in the nature of recipes, may call for whole clean wild turkey breast or poultry, rabbit leg, venison or iguana meat, or no protein at all, in either case with or without fruit and/or herbs and spices. integrated in the distillation process.
First appearance of Pechuga in Santiago Matatlán
“I was about 10 years old, so it must have been around 1930 when a palenquero named Ramón Sánchez, apparently from Río Seco, took root in the town, or at least that’s what he told everyone,” remembers Don Isaac. At that time Río Seco would have been days away from Matalán on foot or by mule or horse. It is near the crossroads of what are now the districts of Tlacolula, Ejutla, and Miahuatlán. Each of the three is known as an agave producing country. And so the residents of Río Seco made mezcal.
“So in 1938, a guy named Chuy Rasgado came to Matatlán,” Don Isaac continued. “One day he showed up at a local ranch where I was playing with my bandmates.”
In Oaxaca, as in other parts of Mexico, there has been a long tradition of playing band, wind, and percussion instruments, mastery of which 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 played occasionally at a well-known hacienda owned by a family of Spanish aristocrats.
The day Rasgado went to the hacienda, he had no instrument in his 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 of how he could help. Eventually, after subsequent failed attempts to integrate into a larger Matatlán, Rasgado disappeared.
One morning Isaac and his mother, Felipa Arrazola, traveled to San Pablo Mitla to buy groceries. They met Torn. Since Isaac had now become an accepted part of the region’s music scene, and the two 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 chanced upon Rasgado drinking in a bar and playing music; but not just any music. He was playing with the bottles; glass bottles of different sizes, shapes and necks, thus giving 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 Torn, Isaac now clearly humiliated by someone who had become clear to him was a true multi-faceted talent whom he and the other band members had rejected weeks before. At the time, Isaac was learning to read music. In the course of his conversation with Rasgado, Isaac realized that he was in the company of a true master, a musician who played more than just bottles. Isaac recognized that there was an opportunity for him to improve his own musical skills and, at the same time, have someone in town, 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 met Chuy Rasgado and the work he was doing within the Matatlán community of musicians. He decided to have a special reception in his honor. During the festivities, Sánchez presented Rasgado with a large bottle of mezcal de pechuga. 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 was out of the bag, and the breast mezcal was born, at least for wide consumption by the public and in this region. Perhaps most importantly, he had risen to the status of a spirit for special occasions.
No one knows for sure if the people of Río Seco had been making mezcal from the breast, if Sánchez was the only palenquero with such a recipe, or if he actually prepared it for the first time after his arrival in Matatlán. Two things we do know: Since that day Rasgado was first given the honor of receiving brisket mezcal, brisket has been served in many Oaxacan towns and villages at special fiestas; and there are several formulations of the drink.
Epilogue to Chuy Rasgado & 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 nonetheless rode there to inaugurate the arrival of electricity. It would take another 19 years for power lines to reach Santiago Matatlán.
By this time, 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 celebration dinners. Rasgado did not dress to act. He played a brief first set. Nobody applauded. For the second set he was part of a trio, and at its conclusion some praise was bestowed on the group. For the third and final set, Rasgado led the local philharmonic orchestra on four songs, dressed in formal wear, a suit traditionally worn by band leaders. General Cárdenas called him to the box where he and his other dignitaries were sitting, to congratulate him. Perhaps the clothes provided the inspiration for an outstanding final performance. Rasgado was known to drink some, so perhaps a slight drunkenness at the end of the night 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 brisket, for his own use and to provide to others who wanted it for parties. None of his offspring became palenqueros. During that time there was a widespread perception that making mezcal was not a worthy trade, much 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 Breast Mezcal Today
According to Don Isaac’s son, Enrique Jiménez, a chemical engineer and palenquero in his own right, authentic mezcal de pechuga is produced by placing a specific amount of chopped seasonal fruit in a copper alembic (the only type the young Jiménez still knows how to use). ). ) along with previously distilled mezcal (thus in preparation for a third distillation), with a filled chicken or turkey breast hanging inside the apparatus. If chicken breast is used, without fruits or other additions, it is naturally considered breast mezcal; and if herbs and/or spices are added, with or without fruit, it is still considered the real deal. If no protein is used, the spirit is more appropriately considered fruity mezcal. That is the term used by Manuel Méndez, a palenquero in nearby San Dionsio Ocotepec who inserts five fruits plus sugar cane. On the other hand, in San Baltazar Chichicapam, along the San Dionisio highway, Fortunato Hernández calls his pineapple mezcal formulation pineapple mezcal. Rodolfo López Sosa in San Juan del Río uses only turkey breast and calls it turkey breast.
At least one owner and exporter of a brand of Oaxacan mezcal instructs its producer(s) to use rabbit leg instead of poultry breast. A palenquero from the state of Michoacán uses chicken breast, venison and a selection of spices, a recipe that his wife jealously guards. One incarnation requires placing 200 liters of mezcal in a traditional 300-liter copper vessel, part of the still, along with 100 liters of chopped fruit, with the chicken or turkey breast hanging inside the top bell of the still. This yields about 120 liters of brisket mezcal. If protein is omitted from the formulation, while the spice and/or fruit of the flavor will surely prevail, the spirit tends to lack a certain nose created by the meat, poultry or another way.
A second broad category of mezcal de pechuga requires adding the fruit and/or spice to the still during the first or second distillation, along with mezcal and/or tepache (the fermented liquid) and/or bagasse (crushed and fermented fiber).
In these two cases, the breast mezcal is clear, since regardless of the ingredients that are introduced at the bottom of the still, be it copper or clay, a final distillation occurs that results in a colorless liquor. These are the two variations of brisket that are often highly coveted and, in fact, are served at many initiation rite celebrations in typical rural Oaxaca, such as weddings, fifteen years, baptisms, etc., a tradition that has lasted since about 1940, if not earlier.
A third classification of mezcal de pechuga is simply white mezcal (clear, unaged) with a piece of sugar cane or baked agave that is inserted into the bottle before it is sealed in a short time altering the color to amber. Another consists of white mezcal infused with fruits and/or herbs and spices, then filtered before being bottled. It is doubtful whether chicken, turkey, or any other meat was used in the distillation process, regardless of representation. The spirits of this third category are not properly called mezcal de pechuga.
Unanswered historical questions about breast mezcal
The questions that remain unanswered, at least in their 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.