Chef David Sterling, photo by Eduardo Cervantes

David Sterling is a chef living and working in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. He is the owner and instructor of Los Dos Cooking School where he not only teaches, he also experiments in and researches the cuisine of the Yucatán.

Chef Sterling and I met up over email – I at my laptop in California and he at his in Mérida. When we sat down to begin this conversation, I suddenly realized how little I actually know about Yucatecan cooking. I definitely know how to eat it, but making it … only in theory. The following conversation ensued …

kimberly: The first question we always ask here at artist-at-large.com is where in the world, and why, have you traveled?

Chef Sterling: Believe it or not, my first trip outside the United States was to Mexico. I was 13 if I recall correctly, and I talked my parents into going. It was just a border town, but I was utterly enchanted, nonetheless. I had started studying Spanish in that same year, and was more than romantic about the place. I remember buying up lots of tourist junk like a sombrero and even a Pancho Villa marionette. Then when I got back home, I “acted out” Mexico! (Alright, I was a strange kid.)

My next trip out of the country was – Mexico! I visited Mexico City on two different occasions in my late teens/early 20s with two different friends. By now, the love affair was real.

Right after college, I took the mandatory “backpacking” trip through Europe (although I hated backpacks so I carried a shiny new – and heavy! – Samsonite suitcase). England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Italy – somehow I squeezed them all in. For me, the attractions were always the art, architecture and food. I can still remember many of the meals I ate. My favorite thing was to grab a bratwurst on a crispy roll with lots of mustard at the train station in Munich.

Since that time, most of my trips have been to Mexico, especially the Maya region, into Chiapas and Guatemala too, simply because the culture has always fascinated me. I also adore Spain for the obvious link to Mexico, and have traversed top, middle and bottom over several different occasions. Still more to conquer, though . . . .

kimberly: One of my favorite reasons to travel is to find new tastes and to bring those home to my own kitchen. How have your travels influenced the cooking that you do now?

Chef Sterling: I can’t say that it has exactly influenced my cooking, but it has most certainly influenced my understanding and appreciation. For instance, having experienced the culinary heritage of Spain (particularly Andalucia) helped me understand many of the foods I see here in Yucatán.

We use an ingredient mix known as alcaparrado – a blend of capers, raisins and olives – in many of our ground meat mixtures. This tradition comes straight from the Andalusians who naturally had inherited it from the Moors who ruled Andalucia for something like 600 years. Even things like garbanzo beans, sesame seeds and lentils came here via that Moor/Andalucia connection – and quite coincidentally those ingredients were here waiting for the Lebanese when they started arriving in the late 1800s. After all, where would hummus be without garbanzo beans?

So you see, it’s the cultural context, the history of food that attract me most of all, and that I seek out when I travel. To me things just taste better when I know what I’m eating!

kimberly: You have both an art school and cooking background. I really see a connection between creativity in the studio and creativity in the kitchen. But was there a time when you realized you had made the shift from one to the other? Or are you still creating in both places?

Chef Sterling: I consider myself one lucky man. I am able to do both in Mérida. The school explodes and keeps me on overdrive from October through March – our typical tourist season. Then in the summer it slows down. Quite conveniently, many of those same tourists buy property in town, do their closings and are ready to start their remodeling projects by March or April – so my summers are spent designing and renovating, which I do under the auspices of my other business, Worldstudio International. It may sound schizophrenic, but it’s how I’ve always lived. Even when I was in graduate school in Design I was supporting myself by working in a French restaurant. Besides I think I would get restless if I only did one thing or the other.

kimberly: Why did you choose Mérida as a place to settle and open a cooking school?

Chef Sterling: It’s a very long story, which I have streamlined to shorthand:
• I turned 50
• I lived 4 blocks from Ground Zero
• I had a chunk of money I wanted to invest in something other than in the shaky stock market
• I came to visit an old friend who lives in Mérida, in December of 2001
• I bought a house with the intention of renting or “flipping” it
• I fell in love with Mérida during the 14 months of renovation
• I took a sabbatical from my business in New York in order to experience life here for a while
• I had been developing a line of Mexican gourmet food products and decided to continue that here
• I opened the cooking school just 6 months after moving here as a spin-off of the product concept
• I never looked back.

As it turns out, the cooking school was a smart move because – while there are many “culinary adventure destinations” in Europe (Tuscany, Provence, etc. as some examples) and even in Mexico – there was no such school in Yucatán. I saw a market niche and I jumped in!

kimberly: Many people don’t know that there are many variations on a theme in Mexican regional cooking, that it’s not all tacos with chips and guacamole, or rice and beans. Is there any one flavor or style of cooking that defines a Yucatecan dish?

Chef Sterling: I always tell my students that for me, the primary flavor essence of Yucatán is smoke. We char tomatoes, onions, chiles right in the fire before crushing or grinding them into a sauce, which gives dishes a smoky flavor. Our most famous sausage, the longaniza, is smoked. There is a whole pueblo near here that is famous for its fabulous smoked meats. Some of our best meat dishes are grilled over wood or charcoal, which naturally results in that wonderful smoky flavor. And our signature pibil dishes are cooked in sealed underground pits where steam and smoke permeate the foods.

kimberly: Does the cooking of Mérida differ at all from the cooking in other parts of the peninsula?

Chef Sterling: If we are speaking of the culinary techniques and the ingredients, there are more similarities than differences in the cooking. However, if we are speaking of specific dishes, other parts of the peninsula and especially in the hundreds of pueblos throughout the countryside have dishes that you will never find in Mérida. Maize dumplings in squash soup, spit roasted quail, crab stew are just a few of the delicacies that make it worthwhile to travel to points beyond the city.

Thanks for making me think of this, because it just occurred to me that actually the countryside is richer, culinarily speaking, since they have an array of those exotic dishes I mentioned as well as the old standards you will find in Mérida.

kimberly: Where is your favorite market?

Chef Sterling: In the whole world? In Mexico? Or in Mérida? Why don’t I answer all three? I adore the Food Halls of Harrod’s in London. I want to move in! In all of Mexico the most lovely market is in Guanajuato. The building itself was designed by Gustav Eiffel and is a little masterpiece. And in Mérida it would naturally be the crazy Lucas de Gálvez, where the shoe repair man lays out new soles right next to stacks of fresh tortillas!

kimberly: Are the locals really into cooking and food? Do they look at it as an art, something beyond food as fuel and getting through the day?

Chef Sterling: While I love all things food and gourmet, very few locals really have caught that particularly Western “foodie” illness. Unless you are an abuelita (granny) or are employed in the food service industry, you probably don’t do much cooking. Nonetheless, almost every local takes Yucatecan food very seriously and will tell you which cochinita pibil is the best, where they had their most memorable poc chuc, and so on. And even sophisticated world travelers who are Yucatecan will wax poetic about some queso relleno, and argue vehemently over nuances concerning pavo del monte or pavo del patio (wild versus domesticated turkey).

kimberly: Meat seems to play an important role in the day to day menus of the area …

Chef Sterling: I think it is quite ironic that before the arrival of Europeans, the Maya were mostly vegetarians. I hesitate to use that word because it implies a choice, a political platform, or some kind of religious idea. For them, it was just the way things were. Animal proteins were hard to come by, so they enjoyed them only irregularly. Post-conquest, domesticated animals became more plentiful, and meat rose in popularity. Nowadays, it is only in “upscale” or “international” style restaurants where you will ever get a side dish of broccoli or some other vegetable. Most of my local friends avoid vegetables like the plague!

kimberly: Does the environment affect the way cooking is done? It can get incredibly hot in Mérida, and I can’t imagine cooking in a kitchen during the day …

Chef Sterling: Most typical abuelitas or mamas cook early in the morning, and finish by around 1pm, which is the time for the main family meal. In that way, the cooking is done earlier in the day when it is naturally cooler. And since dinner is usually leftovers (or takeout food) cooking isn’t done much after midday. Another important impact of the climate is that, in the pueblos or simply among poorer people, refrigeration is still scarce, so you must purchase ingredients for your meal every day. It sounds like drudgery, but at least it means you are eating fresher foods.

kimberly: What is your favorite Yucatecan dish to order when eating out in a restaurant?

Chef Sterling: Hands down the Sir Frances Drake seafood salad at La Pigua. Silly name; fabulous dish! It is a mixture of just about everything from the sea it seems – squid, octopus, conch, whitefish – along with carrots, onion, cilantro and an indescribable dressing that I am trying to replicate (note I did not say copy!).

kimberly: How do you feel about desserts? Does chocolate or honey play a role in your kitchen?

Chef Sterling: Chocolate especially plays an important role in my classes. You know that this is chocolate region. The Maya were major producers and merchants of chocolate, which they distributed all over Mesoamerica. We have excellent Criollo chocolate here, which comes to us from our sister state of Tabasco. So in our classes we take advantage of that and make a chocolate ice cream, chocolate/Kahlua flan, even chocolate skulls during our Day of the Dead ceremonies. Ironically, locals don’t use chocolate very much in desserts, I suppose because traditionally it was used as a beverage rather than as something to eat. And as for honey, we don’t use it much in our classes, but Los Dos is just now launching two new Yucatecan honeys, both of which are organic and of superior quality.

kimberly: Have you developed any recipes using Xtabentún?

Chef Sterling: I serve Xtabentún at the end of every meal with our students. I haven’t cooked with it yet, but you can! The chef at Hacienda Xcanatún makes a fabulous Xtabentún glaze for his duck.

Sikil P’aak, photo by Eduardo Cervantes

kimberly: Do you have a favorite Yucatecan dish that you like to make for your family or friends when they come to visit?

Chef Sterling: People quickly become addicted to my sikil p’aak. This is a delectable dip featuring toasted squash seeds and charred tomatoes. You eat it with crispy tortilla chips, and the combined flavors of the squash seeds and maize transports you to pre-Classic times . . .

kimberly: What is the one thing that should not be missed by someone visiting the Yucatan or more specifically, Mérida?

Chef Sterling: For this I must be very specific: The cemetery at Hoctún at twilight on 2 November. This is the final day of our Hanál Pixán celebrations, and local Maya villagers stream into the cemetery carrying candles, flowers and food offerings which they place on colorfully decorated tombs. Local women sing haunting songs, a short mass is given, someone plays the guitar. Hanál Pixán is a fantastic time to visit Mérida. It is kind of a cross between our Memorial Day and Halloween, and coincides with the more well-known Mexican “Day of the Dead” holiday. In Yucatán, the spirits of ancestors return to earth, you revere them and remember them – and give them lots of food to eat! Be sure to try the giant tamal known as mucbilpollo while you are here for Hanál Pixán.

kimberly: What do you love most about living in Mérida?

Chef Sterling: Without hesitation, the people. They are charming, polite and gentle. (Except behind the steering wheel of a car!)

kimberly: How is your Spanish, or maybe, how is your Mayan?

Chef Sterling: I would say my Spanish is very good, but it is frustrating for me to admit to myself that I will never be bilingual. My Mayan is restricted to food words and dirty words. Sometimes the two intersect!

kimberly: Do you have a favorite word in Mayan?

Chef Sterling: The word xik always makes me laugh! It means “arm pit”. And the reason it makes me laugh is that it is pronounced just like the French word chic, so it is a greatly ironic word for us. There is a clever company here that makes Spanish/Maya slang T-shirts, and it is called “Maya Xik”. Obviously the owners “got” the doble entendre.

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Students at the school, photos by Andrei Pasternak

Los Dos Cooking School is located in the heart of Mérida and offers classes that will fit almost anyone’s touring schedule. It is the first school in Mérida that focuses on the cuisine of the Yucatán and has been written up in Condé Naste Traveler, Gourmet, and Travel + Leisure. Chef Sterling opens his home to his students, as classes are taught in his own kitchen. Here you will learn about the cooking of the Yucatán and the cultural influences of the Maya and the peoples who have come to populate the area.  Chef Sterling offers a variety of classes and workshops and many of them also include trips to the colorful Mérida market to experience the local shopping as well as interesting sites around the city of Mérida.

Check out the Los Dos website for more information!

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Tags: chef, cooking school, los dos, Merida, yucatan