July 31, 2023 • 30 mins
The types and treatments of corn used to create masa make all the difference between colorful tortillas, tender tamales, and crisp tostadas. At the Wynn Las Vegas’s Casa Playa restaurant, Executive Chef Sarah Thompson developed a masa program to help deliver that delicious cuisine at Vegas scale. In this sponsored interview, Anney and Lauren chat with her about all the nerdy aspects of bringing her menu together.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren vogel Baum, and today we have an
episode for you that is an interview from Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, because we got to go to Las Vegas, me,
Lauren and super producer Andrew because the Wind Resort invited
us to come and check out their new studio, check
out their new restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, yeah, they write, They like flew us out and
had us stay with them and had us like eat
and drink as much as we possibly could, and then
interview some of the humans who are running different aspects
of their food and beverage programs. And specifically they wanted
to do this because they teamed up with this company
(00:54):
called Blue Wire to build a podcast studio at the
Wind Resort. And that studio is very fancy.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It really really is.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
So.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I I have been, as I've said before previously, I
think I've been to Las Vegas several several times. I've
been to the Wind.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It was my first. I that was I was very
confused the whole time.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, I felt like your your tour guide, and it
was a lovely like, oh, let's go do this, let's
go do this. It was terrific, highly recommend Also, like
there was a part of me that was hoping to
make my ex boyfriend jealous. That's okay, because he loves
Las Vegas. He's the one who introduced me to the
wind Resorts, his favorite place. Well, anyway, we all do
(01:43):
things for a variety of reasons, right, That's true, we do.
But I I the Win is a very lovely hotel,
and it does have like it how's like this carousel
flowers thing. It has all this stuff. But I remember
you and Andrew we kind of part hearted ways, and
I was like, I'm going to go find this studio.
I'm kind of a I'm the person who is like,
(02:06):
what if we get lost, let me go ahead and
find it, so we don't like miss it. Sure, So
I went to go find it, and when I saw it,
I sent a picture this podcast studio to both of you, like, whoa,
this is very very nice.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah. Yeah, because, like I mean, especially after like for
the past three years, like Annie's been in her closet
and I've been in various like like ramshackle like like
kind of kind of duct taped together homes home studios. Uh,
And so we show up and it's not just a
podcast studio, it's a video studio, and they have multiple
(02:43):
cameras and monitors and and like you can you can
do little like like fly ins from these cameras that
are suspended from that and there's so many lights and
they have like our logo up behind us. And the
team was super professional, not that super produced users Andrew
and Dylan are not, but like just the whole thing
(03:04):
was very very lovely.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, they were. They were a really great team.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And I think that you know, when you're going into
a new situation Lauren and I are used to in
these past couple of years, coming from often for me
like in my pajamas from.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
My closet, You don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It's not a given, unfortunately that a team you're working
with will be kind or patient. But they really were.
They really were, And I really appreciated how they would
laugh at like your random.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Expltives which get cut out of this show, yes, and
just kind of our general goofiness but also our our
specific brand.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Of nerdiness and science and history around food. It was
just really nice, like they were really and at one
I had something like on my lip it was blue glitter,
which we'll talk about in another episode. Uh huh, blue
glitter substance, we'll talk about it. But they were just
(04:11):
looking out and they're like, let's get this, make sure
you know that it's there. We don't want to embarrass
you like all that stuff. It was just it was
a good experience.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It was it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, it really was. And I mean in okay, so
the Wind and Blue Wire sponsored the trip, but right, genuinely,
it was like a pleasure to get to go to
go use the studio and to go to these like
lovely experiential restaurants and bars and try all of these
like weird cool things that they're doing, and then talk
(04:41):
to some of the people that are responsible for that.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, and just to hear their passionate about it. I
always feel kind of trite when I say something like that,
but it's true, like they were just very excited about
what they were doing. They'd clearly put a lot of
thought into what they were doing, and also oh collaboratively,
how what they were doing impacted what other people were
(05:06):
doing in terms of like cocktails that can be provided
and foods that can be provided. It was just really
fascinating to hear to have these interviews separately, but to
hear how they all kind of wove together to make
these menus that are really vibrant and interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh yeah, and yeah. So we're we're going to share
a few of these interviews throughout the rest of the year,
but our first one here today is with the executive
chef of one of the Wind Resorts restaurants called Kasaplia.
It's a coastal Mexican kind of theme and it is
also the first place that we ate when we got
(05:50):
to Vegas.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
True, and it was eight pm Vegas times, so it
was like eleven pm LT time, but it was so good,
and I know we posted some videos on social media,
but we had just done that episode of Marrigolds and
the restaurant was just like a very visually stunning decked
out Amergolds.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, it was a.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Marigold theme and they had marri Gold cocktails and just
all of this, oh man and uh and yeah, and
a lot of a lot of the things that we tried,
we've talked about on the show before or or or
touched on in various ways, and then we got to
really explore all of that with the chef, Sarah in
(06:34):
this interview. So and I will say it might have
been that we were all like jet lagged and completely
loopy and mildly starving, but that was one of the
best meals I've had, like kind of period like you
(06:54):
can end the sentence there and it is true. So
it was delicious and we were so full, but we
wanted so much more. And then the very kind weight
staff bradas dessert.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
We were like, no, we're full possibly and they were like, okay,
but here really.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And then we were like, all right, I guess so
I found some room ultimately.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, So so yeah, thank you so so much to
the Wind Resort for for this opportunity. And uh, I
guess we will let former Annie and Lauren take it away.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But before we do that, let us pause for a
quick break for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And we're back.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Thank you sponsor. So let's get into this interview that
we did.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
There, this is the Savor Podcast and we are coming
to you from the Wind Resort Blue Wire Studios. I'm
Lauren Vogelbaum, I'm Annie Reece, and we are here today
with chef Sarah Thompson. Yes, so we're going to have
a completely natural human conversation, and we like to start
these things out by with just a nice, simple HI.
(08:25):
Who are you?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Hi? As you said, I am Sarah Thompson. I'm the
chef at Castle Plaia, which is a coastal Mexican restaurant
in the Encore or Wind Resort.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And okay, so, so you have coastal Mexican cuisine there.
Could you talk a little bit about how you got
into Mexican cuisine and how you've learned about it.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I kind of got into it by chance. Honestly. I
was working in New York and the restaurant that I
was working for was closing, and a friend of mine
came in one of our last days and was like, Hey,
I just started working at this place called Cosme. We're
looking for a new sus chef. Do you want to come?
And I went, and I trailed, and I absolutely loved it.
When you're a young Chaffielle and culinary professional growing, you
(09:08):
have fewer and fewer experiences where everything you see is new.
Like I had never tried a fresh tortilla before, I'd
never worked with chili's, I had never seen or like
even thought of any of the techniques that we were doing,
and I was just changed. I was like, I need
to be here. I need to learn all of this.
I need to all kinds of blazing in see the
Mexican cuisine. And I loved it and it's really shaped
(09:31):
my career and shaped how I think about food and
it was just a really eye opening experience and I
absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Heck yeah, yeah. It can be such a such a
different palette of flavors to play.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
With, indeed. And one thing that's really cool and I
always have to tell people, especially if you have a
like classic French background, forget everything. You know, like you
want to burn things, you want to toast things and
fry things and do things that you never thought that
you would do with food. But it's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Along those lines.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So one of the things that Casapply is doing and
that you're doing there is a home masa program. Yes,
and we've talked before on the show a bit about
what masa is and needtimalization, but could you give us
like a quick rundown of that and like, yeah, like
like what masa is and like furthermore, like what it
means to you?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Well, masa just means dough. So just simply speaking at
dough and you'll see it a lot in Mexican, in
Central and South American cuisines, and masa is formed when
you put the corn through the process of nix to
mal as you guys said, which is when you change
the pH of the water. We use calcium hydroxide, but
you can use lime, you can use ash, you can
(10:41):
use many different things. And this changes the chemical composition
of the corn and allows it to break down, brings
out essential nutrients in the corn, and allows us to
mill it into masa, which is just a magical product
for me. We are in Las Vegas, obviously we're not
in Mexico, so we really wanted to show, okase, all
of the Mexican ingredients that we work with, and corn
(11:04):
chilis are just two of the ingredients that are really
just the backbones of Mexican cuisine. When you think about
Mexican cuisine, the first thing people think of is usually
just tacos. What do you need to make a taco?
You need a tortilla, and you need you know, masa
and niximol to make all of that happen.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, could we could we get a little bit nerdy
about the kinds of corn that you're because you have
like what like nine heirloom varieties that y'all work with.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
We have so we have six different heirlom varieties, but
we have a few different colors that go in it,
so like you know, we have like an orange, and
then we have a blood orange and a naval orange
and a karracarra orange like kind of like that. Like so, like,
we have one varietal that we really like using because
it makes a beautiful tortilla called bolita and it just
refers to the shape of the corn as a little ball, uh.
(11:49):
And we have Bolita a mario so yellow, Bolita azul
and these varieties we found make just beautiful tortillas. They
make really like plump, hydrated masa, and it's just one
of the things that we, you know, want to showcase here.
Another varietal we have is called chal canyo, which is
my personal favorite. Okay. It is actually really interesting because
(12:09):
I love like Wahawkan food and chal canyo is a
type of corn that dries really well. So I was like, great,
We're definitely going to use this to make all of
our tostadas. But it turns out las Vegas is just
really dry, so it's really easy to make dostatas out
of anything. When you're in a more humid environment like
the Northeast where I come from. Uh, it is like
a little bit more important to use these different rietals
(12:31):
for different things.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah. Uh, and you have different processes that you that
you use to treat it. It's not like a one
size fits all thing because you're you are doing tostadas
and you're doing tortillas and you're doing tamalis exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah. So when you're milling corn, you want to mill
it for different things. Uh, the finer you mill it,
the you know, the dough is more and more so
force hertillas. But if you're gonna fry it, you actually
don't want to millet as fine because you don't want
all of that oil to seep into the toast to topo.
So well, with different corn, we'll nix toalize like usually
(13:04):
just two different colors a day. We'll choose one that
we're going to use for the tosadas, and we'll use
one that we're going to use for tortillas, and we'll
separate them to make sure that they're being used for
the right process.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
And you guys go through.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Crazy volume right, like it's insane. I'm like I am
blown away. I'm like, you're cooking how much corn? And
I look at the numbers and I'm like, oh, yeah,
we're gonna need all that huh yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So right, like how do you how do you manage
that for something as hands on and I mean I imagine
like like finicky and specific as Masa.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Well, once we figured out our recipe and our milling
and all of that, we got a lot of those
kinks out before we open the restaurant and it was
a huge learning process.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
You know, the water has a huge impact. How much
water you used to cook with it? Coming from New York,
we had the hardest time figuring out the Masa recipe,
and it turns out it was the water. So we
had to get a huge filtration system put on in
the back where we do all of our milling, so
the corn would have a certain you know, certain things
in it to make sure we could actually use it
(14:10):
to nximalize the corn, which is just insane. Like you
think about New York bagels, like why are they so special?
It's the water, like plasa. Yeah, So we got a
lot of those kinks out and now we have a
you know, a well oiled machine, and I have three
to four people every day just dedicated to this MASSA program.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Wow, do you have the numbers in your head, like
like like how many people you have on staff? How
many seats you have coming through every night?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So right now is a little bit limited because our
loungerry is closed, But when we're doing full capacity, we
can do up to about five hundred covers. We don't
hit five hundred covers every day, but we can do it.
It's a little bit rough, but like we can do
it sure. And when we're doing that volume, like four
five hundred covers a night, we'll go through about eighty
kilos of MASA a day. All right, no big deal?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah yeah, no big, no big I'm trying to picture
that and I'm having a hard time.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Is there is there anything about this process that you've
been you've been kind of teaching yourself. Has has anything
really surprised you?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean, honestly, this whole process is surprising. Like the
more you read about it and the more that you
learn and you get your hands on stuff, the like
more and more special it is. Uh, like where we're
getting our corn from the from these small farms in
Mexico and you know how we get it here, and
like this whole process is just so thoughtful and so
(15:39):
like personal, and like it's also super unique to any
restaurant here in Vegas, Like no one else on the
Strip is going through this much corn. It has this process.
So it's just really cool to be a part of
it all because, like I said, it's just so important
to you know, Mexican cuisine and you know what we're
trying to represent here.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, is there anything that you feel like you're still learning?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean, the environment honestly changes everything. Like we had
actually a week a week or two that it was
like mine soon season and the air was just so humid,
which is again shocking, but like how we were processing
our masca, I was like we had to change it.
We had to change how much water we put in it,
we had to change how much water we cooked in it,
because like the air just changed it. So it's like
(16:23):
it's really interesting that, like you know, every day is
like even though you're like I have this recipe, I
have it like this, you really have to work with
like all of your surroundings, and I feel like that's
what I've been learning the most, like how to adapt
and how to you know, work within the environment that
we're in.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's it. Do is a living
thing always, even if you're not actively using a yeast
or something like that, that it's still like so dependent
upon the environment. I guess, uh, just to or actually
we have a little bit of time. You have so
many kinds of Molley on your menu. I didn't I
didn't include this in the preview questions. Can we just
(16:59):
have a conversation about molay right now?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, I would love to. I mean what about it?
I mean I love Molay. I mean so good.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yes, whatever you would like to offer. Okay, So what's
on your menu right now? And what are the differences
between these kinds of sauces because I feel like in
the States we mostly get just like just like this
idea of a chocolate mole. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And I feel like you need to forget that mole
is Mexican chocolate sauce. Chocolate is just one of the
thirty forty ingredients in there, and the chocolate used to
balance out the other ingredients that will roast will char
they'll get to get out any of like the bitter
flavorers of the chilis or any of the other ingredients. So,
(17:41):
speaking of Mexican chocolate sauce, our mole de la cass
house molet does have a little bit of chocolate in it,
again not Mexican chocolate sauce. But so what we do
with that, which is really special, We actually cook it
for about five or six days, so we really want
to develop the flavor and all of those chilies. And
it's a mix between a mole rojo and a moleg
So molay rojo is like what you think of when
(18:02):
you have like chicken molet. Let's say, it's like the
most typical form of molay here in the US. And
so we take the chilies like the cohio's, the enchos,
and we roast them off to get like a nice
sweet flavor out of it. And then we also take
some chili, it's just a small amount, and we burn
them and we cook all of these together, and molay
nagra is much richer. You'll typically have it at the
end of the meal a cereal like a plantain, and
(18:25):
it's like not like a dessert it's kind of like
a dessert, but you burn all of the chilies and
the ingredients and then you add, you know, like I said,
plantain and raisins and other ingredients to bring out the
sweetness and balance it out. So we take both of
these techniques and kind of put it together, and we'll
cook it for about, like I said, five or six days,
and we'll come in every day and we'll take the
paste that we made and just fry it off and
(18:46):
bring out more and more fragrant notes of the chilies
and the tomatoes and the nuts, and it's just really
really special. Yeah, I really like making that one, and
it's a huge process, but yeah, you taste it. And
you know, another cool molle that we have on our
menu is molee blanco, which is actually not one of
(19:07):
the seven traditional moles of wojaka Uh. You know, we
have the yellow moley, the green mole, and you know
a bunch of other types, but this one is actually
known as a wedding mole. So like in Mexican culture,
when you get married, like your mom or your abuela
will make molet for you. But if you're the bride
and you're wearing a white dress. You do not want
to ruin your dress, so you have a white molet,
(19:29):
so you if you get it on yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Should you spill when you're spilled exactly.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
So you know, there's a lot of you know, survesas
being thrown around. You never know what's going to happen.
It's we typically served with chicken. We serve ours with
my attacking mushroom and you know, toasted pineanuts and truffle.
So you know, we really want to use again a
bunch of like traditional techniques, but really make it our
own with all of the ingredients that we have around
(19:55):
us as well. So it's fun.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah. Uh, there's a one of your cocktails has a
Molai syrup in it. The yeah, the old fashioned. Do
you How involved are you with Marianna when you're creating
that cock We.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Will collaborate, and we collaborate more on ingredients than we
do like like we'll talk and if we're doing like
we'll do a lot of like you know, dinners or
we'll have like events that we'll do together and we'll
collaborate a little bit more. And she was a big
part of the tastings when we're opening the restaurant. But
when we do like one off changes here and there,
we don't collaborate as much other than like, you know, hey,
(20:31):
I want to use this ingredient, can you help me
get this in or you know, something different like that.
But unfortunately we don't collaborate too too much on that
aspect of it. But it is, you know, an important
part of you know, the whole experience.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We have a little bit more of this interview for you,
but first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, and
back to the interview. Is there anything that you are
(21:09):
very excited about coming up in the future that you
want to give us a little preview of.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh boy, Oh sorry, yes, but I don't know how
much I can talk about. Oh and I know, I know.
I mean, there's just like a lot of really exciting
things on the horizon here, and you know, I am
super excited for all of the like ingredients that are
coming into season for the summer. I'm super excited for
you know. Just like I said, there's just like a
lot a lot of stuff in the works, and I
(21:36):
feel like you're going to see a lot more castle
ply It in the future. And I'm very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, us too. I've been hogging the microphone. Annie, do
you have Do you have anything that you want to
that you want to ask?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You know, we we got to eat at your your
restaurant last night.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We loved it. Thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It's so delightful.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yes, I mean, I guess is there any anything you
we haven't asked that you would like to talk about.
I'm gonna put the work on you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Oh boy. I mean we could just like talk about
corn some more and how much we love it. One
thing actually that is super cool about tortillas and massa,
which we haven't really touched on, is I feel like
tortillas sometimes have like a bad rap as being like,
oh I don't want to have it, like I don't
have carbs or this or that. But when you take
a true like corn tortilla that has gone through the
(22:27):
process of nixamol, it is actually a superfood. It is
so good for you, Like it is better for you
than the lettuce wrap that you think you want to have.
It is high and nyasin or vitamin B three is
it When you go through the process of nixamol, it
converts all of the unsoluble fibers and the corn to
soluble fibers, adding the calcium hydroxide as calcium to it,
(22:49):
and it is just super good for you and people
don't think about that. Yeah, And also like, please know
this corn is not the sweet American corn that you're
gonna find in your grocery store. This is some very
specificitols of like heirloom corn from Whaka, but super special
and magical, like you know thing that we're doing. And
I just want people to know that, like tortillas are
(23:10):
good for you or.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Uh yeah, or okay, I'm maybe talking a little bit
about one of the other treatments of corn that we
got to see on your menu Squit Days. You're doing
one with the dungenese crab right now. Could you tell
us about about that process, because that's going into a
different corn situation.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So that dish also is really cool because we're getting
this amazing fresh whilakoce from Wahaka as well, so we
wanted to Obviously it's Corniski Days. You know, you'll find
that on the streets of Mexico City everywhere. I love it.
I mean, it's one of my favorites in the sweetness
of the corn and the sweetness of the dungeness crab
(23:52):
and then the earthiness of this beautiful wi lacoce really
come together and you know, you brighten it up with
a little bit of lime, and it's just like a
really nice way to elevate a really classic dish. Like
you know, just you can always get corn with you know,
some mayonnaise and some lime, but like the addition of
the crab and like the beautiful Wi la cooce really
sets it apart from you know, the other dishes out there.
(24:16):
I think another thing that you guys were talking about
that you got last night is our your summer squash
to mall. Yes, that is actually my favorite thing on
the menu. And it's actually naturally vegan too. So typically
when you make Tamal's this with whipped lard and you know,
you fold in your massa some water and whatever other
ingredient that you want, but we actually use whipped coconut
oil and the molee that we put on top has
(24:38):
a little bit of coconut milk in it as well,
and it works the same way as the lard wood,
and you know, makes a really nice fluffy light to
mal which is really nice.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Lovely, it really genuinely was you were talking about these
small wahawcken farms that you're getting some of these how
did you make those connections? How did you find these
these places to to source this stuff from.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So not to just like shamelessly plug a brand, but
we're working with this company exclusively here called Macienda, and
we worked with them. I worked with them in New
York at Cosme. Cosmo is actually the first restaurant in
the US to use this company, and you know, it's
a super important part of this company's growth and they're really,
I think the best company out there for this product.
(25:25):
And they also do a really good job at making
uh Massa more accessible for home use. They also they
have a lot of you know, products like masaharina and
stuff like that that you can use at your home.
But what they do which is super super special is
they travel throughout Wahaka in other areas, but mostly Wahaka
because that's where the corn grows, and they'll go and
they'll buy all of the corn from a lot. And
(25:48):
this is great because not only do we get all
of the corn, but all of this money is going
back into the community. All of this money is going
to this family so they can continue to harvest this corn.
They can get more equipment to you know, make this
process faster. They can give these resources to other farms,
and also like by word of mouth, reread the word
to the other farmers and other peers that this company
(26:09):
exists and you know, there's a market for it here,
and like they're willing to put everything forward for these
small farmers. So it really is great because it goes
back to the community, it goes back to you know,
the roots, and we're able to get this amazing product.
But also like people are able to support their families
in a way that they might not have been able
(26:30):
to so much so before, which is really really special.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, absolutely, and writing and getting that cuisine out and
it's such a it's such an amazing cuisine. Is such
an amazing common language that that humans have. We don't
have a lot of ways to share our cultures so
immediately and like viscerally with each other, but like you can,
you can taste it them all like that and it
can transport you absolutely into someone else's world and like
(26:55):
this is oh, this this is what your world tastes
like like this is where you're from.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Glad, I'm glad you enjoyed it oh so much.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I yeah know. We kept having these moments where we
would just stop. We would take a bite of food
and just stop and go like what did we do
to deserve this?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Like why, thank you so much for so nice. Please
come back tonight. There's so much more for you to try.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
We did.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It was really hard to not order one of everything.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Well, I said, you can come back. We're here. Tortillas
are waiting for you.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yes, yes they are. Well, thank you so so so
much for being here. It's been such a good conversation.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
This has been so fun. Guys, like, thank you for
having me on.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, any anytime, feel free to come to Atlanta.
We'll show you around.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yes, do it. I've been to Atlanta in a second
soo food scene.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
There is also doing just okay.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Yeah I heard that. There's like a lot of good
stuff coming like popping off.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Like genuinely, yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
We I love.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Annie has a list, an extremely detailed mapped out list,
and it's it's very it's it's hard, like I mean
like it's difficult, Like I'm like, you need to book
like about two weeks to get us through, to get
you through our food program.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I don't know if I can get that much time off,
but weekend here were Yeah all right, well, thank you
so much, guys, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And that brings us to the end of the first
of several interviews you will hear from us from our
trips to Las Vegas. I'm very excited for what we
do next. I'm already kind of planning some things, maybe
planning going back to fly up.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, it was so good. It was such a good conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
She just was like new it's like metas on our
NERD signs.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I want to hang out
with her more.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
She was awesome. If you're listening, we loved you. Love
what you do. So yes. And also I have a
friend who's going to Las Vegas right now, and I
definitely was like maybe.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Lacha, yeah yeah, tell him any sentia.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yes, we're finally becoming a name. Yes, well, listeners, I
know that we would love to hear from you. If
you have any recommendations about places we should go next
time we're in Vegas, and of course, if you want
any recommendations from us. We can get that for you too.
(29:29):
Oh yeah. In the meantime, you can email us at
hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard and the kind staff at Blue Wire. Thanks
(29:56):
to you for listening, and we hope that lots more
good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to save our protection of iHeartRadio. I'm
Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren vogel Baum, and today we have an
episode for you that is an interview from Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, because we got to go to Las Vegas, me,
Lauren and super producer Andrew because the Wind Resort invited
us to come and check out their new studio, check
out their new restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, yeah, they write, They like flew us out and
had us stay with them and had us like eat
and drink as much as we possibly could, and then
interview some of the humans who are running different aspects
of their food and beverage programs. And specifically they wanted
to do this because they teamed up with this company
(00:54):
called Blue Wire to build a podcast studio at the
Wind Resort. And that studio is very fancy.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It really really is.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
So.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I I have been, as I've said before previously, I
think I've been to Las Vegas several several times. I've
been to the Wind.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It was my first. I that was I was very
confused the whole time.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, I felt like your your tour guide, and it
was a lovely like, oh, let's go do this, let's
go do this. It was terrific, highly recommend Also, like
there was a part of me that was hoping to
make my ex boyfriend jealous. That's okay, because he loves
Las Vegas. He's the one who introduced me to the
wind Resorts, his favorite place. Well, anyway, we all do
(01:43):
things for a variety of reasons, right, That's true, we do.
But I I the Win is a very lovely hotel,
and it does have like it how's like this carousel
flowers thing. It has all this stuff. But I remember
you and Andrew we kind of part hearted ways, and
I was like, I'm going to go find this studio.
I'm kind of a I'm the person who is like,
(02:06):
what if we get lost, let me go ahead and
find it, so we don't like miss it. Sure, So
I went to go find it, and when I saw it,
I sent a picture this podcast studio to both of you, like, whoa,
this is very very nice.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah. Yeah, because, like I mean, especially after like for
the past three years, like Annie's been in her closet
and I've been in various like like ramshackle like like
kind of kind of duct taped together homes home studios. Uh,
And so we show up and it's not just a
podcast studio, it's a video studio, and they have multiple
(02:43):
cameras and monitors and and like you can you can
do little like like fly ins from these cameras that
are suspended from that and there's so many lights and
they have like our logo up behind us. And the
team was super professional, not that super produced users Andrew
and Dylan are not, but like just the whole thing
(03:04):
was very very lovely.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, they were. They were a really great team.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And I think that you know, when you're going into
a new situation Lauren and I are used to in
these past couple of years, coming from often for me
like in my pajamas from.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
My closet, You don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It's not a given, unfortunately that a team you're working
with will be kind or patient. But they really were.
They really were, And I really appreciated how they would
laugh at like your random.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Expltives which get cut out of this show, yes, and
just kind of our general goofiness but also our our
specific brand.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Of nerdiness and science and history around food. It was
just really nice, like they were really and at one
I had something like on my lip it was blue glitter,
which we'll talk about in another episode. Uh huh, blue
glitter substance, we'll talk about it. But they were just
(04:11):
looking out and they're like, let's get this, make sure
you know that it's there. We don't want to embarrass
you like all that stuff. It was just it was
a good experience.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It was it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, it really was. And I mean in okay, so
the Wind and Blue Wire sponsored the trip, but right, genuinely,
it was like a pleasure to get to go to
go use the studio and to go to these like
lovely experiential restaurants and bars and try all of these
like weird cool things that they're doing, and then talk
(04:41):
to some of the people that are responsible for that.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, and just to hear their passionate about it. I
always feel kind of trite when I say something like that,
but it's true, like they were just very excited about
what they were doing. They'd clearly put a lot of
thought into what they were doing, and also oh collaboratively,
how what they were doing impacted what other people were
(05:06):
doing in terms of like cocktails that can be provided
and foods that can be provided. It was just really
fascinating to hear to have these interviews separately, but to
hear how they all kind of wove together to make
these menus that are really vibrant and interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh yeah, and yeah. So we're we're going to share
a few of these interviews throughout the rest of the year,
but our first one here today is with the executive
chef of one of the Wind Resorts restaurants called Kasaplia.
It's a coastal Mexican kind of theme and it is
also the first place that we ate when we got
(05:50):
to Vegas.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
True, and it was eight pm Vegas times, so it
was like eleven pm LT time, but it was so good,
and I know we posted some videos on social media,
but we had just done that episode of Marrigolds and
the restaurant was just like a very visually stunning decked
out Amergolds.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, it was a.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Marigold theme and they had marri Gold cocktails and just
all of this, oh man and uh and yeah, and
a lot of a lot of the things that we tried,
we've talked about on the show before or or or
touched on in various ways, and then we got to
really explore all of that with the chef, Sarah in
(06:34):
this interview. So and I will say it might have
been that we were all like jet lagged and completely
loopy and mildly starving, but that was one of the
best meals I've had, like kind of period like you
(06:54):
can end the sentence there and it is true. So
it was delicious and we were so full, but we
wanted so much more. And then the very kind weight
staff bradas dessert.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
We were like, no, we're full possibly and they were like, okay,
but here really.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And then we were like, all right, I guess so
I found some room ultimately.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, So so yeah, thank you so so much to
the Wind Resort for for this opportunity. And uh, I
guess we will let former Annie and Lauren take it away.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But before we do that, let us pause for a
quick break for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And we're back.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Thank you sponsor. So let's get into this interview that
we did.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
There, this is the Savor Podcast and we are coming
to you from the Wind Resort Blue Wire Studios. I'm
Lauren Vogelbaum, I'm Annie Reece, and we are here today
with chef Sarah Thompson. Yes, so we're going to have
a completely natural human conversation, and we like to start
these things out by with just a nice, simple HI.
(08:25):
Who are you?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Hi? As you said, I am Sarah Thompson. I'm the
chef at Castle Plaia, which is a coastal Mexican restaurant
in the Encore or Wind Resort.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And okay, so, so you have coastal Mexican cuisine there.
Could you talk a little bit about how you got
into Mexican cuisine and how you've learned about it.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I kind of got into it by chance. Honestly. I
was working in New York and the restaurant that I
was working for was closing, and a friend of mine
came in one of our last days and was like, Hey,
I just started working at this place called Cosme. We're
looking for a new sus chef. Do you want to come?
And I went, and I trailed, and I absolutely loved it.
When you're a young Chaffielle and culinary professional growing, you
(09:08):
have fewer and fewer experiences where everything you see is new.
Like I had never tried a fresh tortilla before, I'd
never worked with chili's, I had never seen or like
even thought of any of the techniques that we were doing,
and I was just changed. I was like, I need
to be here. I need to learn all of this.
I need to all kinds of blazing in see the
Mexican cuisine. And I loved it and it's really shaped
(09:31):
my career and shaped how I think about food and
it was just a really eye opening experience and I
absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Heck yeah, yeah. It can be such a such a
different palette of flavors to play.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
With, indeed. And one thing that's really cool and I
always have to tell people, especially if you have a
like classic French background, forget everything. You know, like you
want to burn things, you want to toast things and
fry things and do things that you never thought that
you would do with food. But it's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Along those lines.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So one of the things that Casapply is doing and
that you're doing there is a home masa program. Yes,
and we've talked before on the show a bit about
what masa is and needtimalization, but could you give us
like a quick rundown of that and like, yeah, like
like what masa is and like furthermore, like what it
means to you?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Well, masa just means dough. So just simply speaking at
dough and you'll see it a lot in Mexican, in
Central and South American cuisines, and masa is formed when
you put the corn through the process of nix to
mal as you guys said, which is when you change
the pH of the water. We use calcium hydroxide, but
you can use lime, you can use ash, you can
(10:41):
use many different things. And this changes the chemical composition
of the corn and allows it to break down, brings
out essential nutrients in the corn, and allows us to
mill it into masa, which is just a magical product
for me. We are in Las Vegas, obviously we're not
in Mexico, so we really wanted to show, okase, all
of the Mexican ingredients that we work with, and corn
(11:04):
chilis are just two of the ingredients that are really
just the backbones of Mexican cuisine. When you think about
Mexican cuisine, the first thing people think of is usually
just tacos. What do you need to make a taco?
You need a tortilla, and you need you know, masa
and niximol to make all of that happen.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, could we could we get a little bit nerdy
about the kinds of corn that you're because you have
like what like nine heirloom varieties that y'all work with.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
We have so we have six different heirlom varieties, but
we have a few different colors that go in it,
so like you know, we have like an orange, and
then we have a blood orange and a naval orange
and a karracarra orange like kind of like that. Like so, like,
we have one varietal that we really like using because
it makes a beautiful tortilla called bolita and it just
refers to the shape of the corn as a little ball, uh.
(11:49):
And we have Bolita a mario so yellow, Bolita azul
and these varieties we found make just beautiful tortillas. They
make really like plump, hydrated masa, and it's just one
of the things that we, you know, want to showcase here.
Another varietal we have is called chal canyo, which is
my personal favorite. Okay. It is actually really interesting because
(12:09):
I love like Wahawkan food and chal canyo is a
type of corn that dries really well. So I was like, great,
We're definitely going to use this to make all of
our tostadas. But it turns out las Vegas is just
really dry, so it's really easy to make dostatas out
of anything. When you're in a more humid environment like
the Northeast where I come from. Uh, it is like
a little bit more important to use these different rietals
(12:31):
for different things.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah. Uh, and you have different processes that you that
you use to treat it. It's not like a one
size fits all thing because you're you are doing tostadas
and you're doing tortillas and you're doing tamalis exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah. So when you're milling corn, you want to mill
it for different things. Uh, the finer you mill it,
the you know, the dough is more and more so
force hertillas. But if you're gonna fry it, you actually
don't want to millet as fine because you don't want
all of that oil to seep into the toast to topo.
So well, with different corn, we'll nix toalize like usually
(13:04):
just two different colors a day. We'll choose one that
we're going to use for the tosadas, and we'll use
one that we're going to use for tortillas, and we'll
separate them to make sure that they're being used for
the right process.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
And you guys go through.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Crazy volume right, like it's insane. I'm like I am
blown away. I'm like, you're cooking how much corn? And
I look at the numbers and I'm like, oh, yeah,
we're gonna need all that huh yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So right, like how do you how do you manage
that for something as hands on and I mean I imagine
like like finicky and specific as Masa.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Well, once we figured out our recipe and our milling
and all of that, we got a lot of those
kinks out before we open the restaurant and it was
a huge learning process.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
You know, the water has a huge impact. How much
water you used to cook with it? Coming from New York,
we had the hardest time figuring out the Masa recipe,
and it turns out it was the water. So we
had to get a huge filtration system put on in
the back where we do all of our milling, so
the corn would have a certain you know, certain things
in it to make sure we could actually use it
(14:10):
to nximalize the corn, which is just insane. Like you
think about New York bagels, like why are they so special?
It's the water, like plasa. Yeah, So we got a
lot of those kinks out and now we have a
you know, a well oiled machine, and I have three
to four people every day just dedicated to this MASSA program.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Wow, do you have the numbers in your head, like
like like how many people you have on staff? How
many seats you have coming through every night?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So right now is a little bit limited because our
loungerry is closed, But when we're doing full capacity, we
can do up to about five hundred covers. We don't
hit five hundred covers every day, but we can do it.
It's a little bit rough, but like we can do
it sure. And when we're doing that volume, like four
five hundred covers a night, we'll go through about eighty
kilos of MASA a day. All right, no big deal?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah yeah, no big, no big I'm trying to picture
that and I'm having a hard time.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Is there is there anything about this process that you've
been you've been kind of teaching yourself. Has has anything
really surprised you?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean, honestly, this whole process is surprising. Like the
more you read about it and the more that you
learn and you get your hands on stuff, the like
more and more special it is. Uh, like where we're
getting our corn from the from these small farms in
Mexico and you know how we get it here, and
like this whole process is just so thoughtful and so
(15:39):
like personal, and like it's also super unique to any
restaurant here in Vegas, Like no one else on the
Strip is going through this much corn. It has this process.
So it's just really cool to be a part of
it all because, like I said, it's just so important
to you know, Mexican cuisine and you know what we're
trying to represent here.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, is there anything that you feel like you're still learning?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean, the environment honestly changes everything. Like we had
actually a week a week or two that it was
like mine soon season and the air was just so humid,
which is again shocking, but like how we were processing
our masca, I was like we had to change it.
We had to change how much water we put in it,
we had to change how much water we cooked in it,
because like the air just changed it. So it's like
(16:23):
it's really interesting that, like you know, every day is
like even though you're like I have this recipe, I
have it like this, you really have to work with
like all of your surroundings, and I feel like that's
what I've been learning the most, like how to adapt
and how to you know, work within the environment that
we're in.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's it. Do is a living
thing always, even if you're not actively using a yeast
or something like that, that it's still like so dependent
upon the environment. I guess, uh, just to or actually
we have a little bit of time. You have so
many kinds of Molley on your menu. I didn't I
didn't include this in the preview questions. Can we just
(16:59):
have a conversation about molay right now?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, I would love to. I mean what about it?
I mean I love Molay. I mean so good.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yes, whatever you would like to offer. Okay, So what's
on your menu right now? And what are the differences
between these kinds of sauces because I feel like in
the States we mostly get just like just like this
idea of a chocolate mole. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And I feel like you need to forget that mole
is Mexican chocolate sauce. Chocolate is just one of the
thirty forty ingredients in there, and the chocolate used to
balance out the other ingredients that will roast will char
they'll get to get out any of like the bitter
flavorers of the chilis or any of the other ingredients. So,
(17:41):
speaking of Mexican chocolate sauce, our mole de la cass
house molet does have a little bit of chocolate in it,
again not Mexican chocolate sauce. But so what we do
with that, which is really special, We actually cook it
for about five or six days, so we really want
to develop the flavor and all of those chilies. And
it's a mix between a mole rojo and a moleg
So molay rojo is like what you think of when
(18:02):
you have like chicken molet. Let's say, it's like the
most typical form of molay here in the US. And
so we take the chilies like the cohio's, the enchos,
and we roast them off to get like a nice
sweet flavor out of it. And then we also take
some chili, it's just a small amount, and we burn
them and we cook all of these together, and molay
nagra is much richer. You'll typically have it at the
end of the meal a cereal like a plantain, and
(18:25):
it's like not like a dessert it's kind of like
a dessert, but you burn all of the chilies and
the ingredients and then you add, you know, like I said,
plantain and raisins and other ingredients to bring out the
sweetness and balance it out. So we take both of
these techniques and kind of put it together, and we'll
cook it for about, like I said, five or six days,
and we'll come in every day and we'll take the
paste that we made and just fry it off and
(18:46):
bring out more and more fragrant notes of the chilies
and the tomatoes and the nuts, and it's just really
really special. Yeah, I really like making that one, and
it's a huge process, but yeah, you taste it. And
you know, another cool molle that we have on our
menu is molee blanco, which is actually not one of
(19:07):
the seven traditional moles of wojaka Uh. You know, we
have the yellow moley, the green mole, and you know
a bunch of other types, but this one is actually
known as a wedding mole. So like in Mexican culture,
when you get married, like your mom or your abuela
will make molet for you. But if you're the bride
and you're wearing a white dress. You do not want
to ruin your dress, so you have a white molet,
(19:29):
so you if you get it on yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Should you spill when you're spilled exactly.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
So you know, there's a lot of you know, survesas
being thrown around. You never know what's going to happen.
It's we typically served with chicken. We serve ours with
my attacking mushroom and you know, toasted pineanuts and truffle.
So you know, we really want to use again a
bunch of like traditional techniques, but really make it our
own with all of the ingredients that we have around
(19:55):
us as well. So it's fun.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah. Uh, there's a one of your cocktails has a
Molai syrup in it. The yeah, the old fashioned. Do
you How involved are you with Marianna when you're creating
that cock We.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Will collaborate, and we collaborate more on ingredients than we
do like like we'll talk and if we're doing like
we'll do a lot of like you know, dinners or
we'll have like events that we'll do together and we'll
collaborate a little bit more. And she was a big
part of the tastings when we're opening the restaurant. But
when we do like one off changes here and there,
we don't collaborate as much other than like, you know, hey,
(20:31):
I want to use this ingredient, can you help me
get this in or you know, something different like that.
But unfortunately we don't collaborate too too much on that
aspect of it. But it is, you know, an important
part of you know, the whole experience.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We have a little bit more of this interview for you,
but first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, and
back to the interview. Is there anything that you are
(21:09):
very excited about coming up in the future that you
want to give us a little preview of.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh boy, Oh sorry, yes, but I don't know how
much I can talk about. Oh and I know, I know.
I mean, there's just like a lot of really exciting
things on the horizon here, and you know, I am
super excited for all of the like ingredients that are
coming into season for the summer. I'm super excited for
you know. Just like I said, there's just like a
lot a lot of stuff in the works, and I
(21:36):
feel like you're going to see a lot more castle
ply It in the future. And I'm very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, us too. I've been hogging the microphone. Annie, do
you have Do you have anything that you want to
that you want to ask?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You know, we we got to eat at your your
restaurant last night.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We loved it. Thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It's so delightful.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yes, I mean, I guess is there any anything you
we haven't asked that you would like to talk about.
I'm gonna put the work on you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Oh boy. I mean we could just like talk about
corn some more and how much we love it. One
thing actually that is super cool about tortillas and massa,
which we haven't really touched on, is I feel like
tortillas sometimes have like a bad rap as being like,
oh I don't want to have it, like I don't
have carbs or this or that. But when you take
a true like corn tortilla that has gone through the
(22:27):
process of nixamol, it is actually a superfood. It is
so good for you, Like it is better for you
than the lettuce wrap that you think you want to have.
It is high and nyasin or vitamin B three is
it When you go through the process of nixamol, it
converts all of the unsoluble fibers and the corn to
soluble fibers, adding the calcium hydroxide as calcium to it,
(22:49):
and it is just super good for you and people
don't think about that. Yeah, And also like, please know
this corn is not the sweet American corn that you're
gonna find in your grocery store. This is some very
specificitols of like heirloom corn from Whaka, but super special
and magical, like you know thing that we're doing. And
I just want people to know that, like tortillas are
(23:10):
good for you or.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Uh yeah, or okay, I'm maybe talking a little bit
about one of the other treatments of corn that we
got to see on your menu Squit Days. You're doing
one with the dungenese crab right now. Could you tell
us about about that process, because that's going into a
different corn situation.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So that dish also is really cool because we're getting
this amazing fresh whilakoce from Wahaka as well, so we
wanted to Obviously it's Corniski Days. You know, you'll find
that on the streets of Mexico City everywhere. I love it.
I mean, it's one of my favorites in the sweetness
of the corn and the sweetness of the dungeness crab
(23:52):
and then the earthiness of this beautiful wi lacoce really
come together and you know, you brighten it up with
a little bit of lime, and it's just like a
really nice way to elevate a really classic dish. Like
you know, just you can always get corn with you know,
some mayonnaise and some lime, but like the addition of
the crab and like the beautiful Wi la cooce really
sets it apart from you know, the other dishes out there.
(24:16):
I think another thing that you guys were talking about
that you got last night is our your summer squash
to mall. Yes, that is actually my favorite thing on
the menu. And it's actually naturally vegan too. So typically
when you make Tamal's this with whipped lard and you know,
you fold in your massa some water and whatever other
ingredient that you want, but we actually use whipped coconut
oil and the molee that we put on top has
(24:38):
a little bit of coconut milk in it as well,
and it works the same way as the lard wood,
and you know, makes a really nice fluffy light to
mal which is really nice.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Lovely, it really genuinely was you were talking about these
small wahawcken farms that you're getting some of these how
did you make those connections? How did you find these
these places to to source this stuff from.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So not to just like shamelessly plug a brand, but
we're working with this company exclusively here called Macienda, and
we worked with them. I worked with them in New
York at Cosme. Cosmo is actually the first restaurant in
the US to use this company, and you know, it's
a super important part of this company's growth and they're really,
I think the best company out there for this product.
(25:25):
And they also do a really good job at making
uh Massa more accessible for home use. They also they
have a lot of you know, products like masaharina and
stuff like that that you can use at your home.
But what they do which is super super special is
they travel throughout Wahaka in other areas, but mostly Wahaka
because that's where the corn grows, and they'll go and
they'll buy all of the corn from a lot. And
(25:48):
this is great because not only do we get all
of the corn, but all of this money is going
back into the community. All of this money is going
to this family so they can continue to harvest this corn.
They can get more equipment to you know, make this
process faster. They can give these resources to other farms,
and also like by word of mouth, reread the word
to the other farmers and other peers that this company
(26:09):
exists and you know, there's a market for it here,
and like they're willing to put everything forward for these
small farmers. So it really is great because it goes
back to the community, it goes back to you know,
the roots, and we're able to get this amazing product.
But also like people are able to support their families
in a way that they might not have been able
(26:30):
to so much so before, which is really really special.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, absolutely, and writing and getting that cuisine out and
it's such a it's such an amazing cuisine. Is such
an amazing common language that that humans have. We don't
have a lot of ways to share our cultures so
immediately and like viscerally with each other, but like you can,
you can taste it them all like that and it
can transport you absolutely into someone else's world and like
(26:55):
this is oh, this this is what your world tastes
like like this is where you're from.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Glad, I'm glad you enjoyed it oh so much.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I yeah know. We kept having these moments where we
would just stop. We would take a bite of food
and just stop and go like what did we do
to deserve this?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Like why, thank you so much for so nice. Please
come back tonight. There's so much more for you to try.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
We did.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It was really hard to not order one of everything.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Well, I said, you can come back. We're here. Tortillas
are waiting for you.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yes, yes they are. Well, thank you so so so
much for being here. It's been such a good conversation.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
This has been so fun. Guys, like, thank you for
having me on.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, any anytime, feel free to come to Atlanta.
We'll show you around.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yes, do it. I've been to Atlanta in a second
soo food scene.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
There is also doing just okay.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Yeah I heard that. There's like a lot of good
stuff coming like popping off.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Like genuinely, yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
We I love.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Annie has a list, an extremely detailed mapped out list,
and it's it's very it's it's hard, like I mean
like it's difficult, Like I'm like, you need to book
like about two weeks to get us through, to get
you through our food program.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I don't know if I can get that much time off,
but weekend here were Yeah all right, well, thank you
so much, guys, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And that brings us to the end of the first
of several interviews you will hear from us from our
trips to Las Vegas. I'm very excited for what we
do next. I'm already kind of planning some things, maybe
planning going back to fly up.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, it was so good. It was such a good conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
She just was like new it's like metas on our
NERD signs.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I want to hang out
with her more.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
She was awesome. If you're listening, we loved you. Love
what you do. So yes. And also I have a
friend who's going to Las Vegas right now, and I
definitely was like maybe.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Lacha, yeah yeah, tell him any sentia.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yes, we're finally becoming a name. Yes, well, listeners, I
know that we would love to hear from you. If
you have any recommendations about places we should go next
time we're in Vegas, and of course, if you want
any recommendations from us. We can get that for you too.
(29:29):
Oh yeah. In the meantime, you can email us at
hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard and the kind staff at Blue Wire. Thanks
(29:56):
to you for listening, and we hope that lots more
good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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