It’s wonderful to be able to learn how to cook authentic cuisine, from someone who knows how to do it really well. Even when you don’t consider yourself much of a cook! Truly combining food and travel, writer Carrie Dow learned a lot, and ate and drank really well too, during a visit to El Pueblito Cooking School in Mexico.

Chef Karla skills the most unskilled cooks at Riviera Maya’s El Pueblito Cooking School

Que delicioso!

Chef Karla flutters back and forth between the four of us in our Mexican cooking class at El Pueblito Cooking School. She transitions easily between English and Spanish depending on who’s speaking and the smile never leaves her face. However, like a kindergarten teacher, she also sees when we get distracted. When I start chatting with a classmate about 90s pop music, she reminds me to keep an eye on the pot. The tomatillos I’m boiling need to come off the flame at just the right time or they will be too mushy. That time is when the small green tomato-like veggies turn from green to yellow. 

I am not a cook. I don’t like to measure and get sidetracked easily. I tend to do other things while cooking and eventually something gets scorched and I have to order a pizza. Usually, I just skip the pretense and order the pizza. That’s why I am a bit nervous attending a cooking class, but I was promised booze so here I am.

El Pueblito, “little village” in Spanish, is a charming square block of shops, restaurants, and a quaint Catholic church in the development of Mayakoba just north of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Surrounded by four luxury resorts and a PGA golf course, Mayakoba is the perfect getaway for those seeking sun, sand, and tranquility. El Pueblito is a part of that experience by showcasing a slice of village life for guests.

Chef Karla Enciso, who runs the school, is well known in Mexico’s culinary circles. Originally from Mexico City, she has been cooking in Quintana Roo for 15 years where she oversaw the kitchens of some of Cancun’s most popular restaurants before coming to Mayakoba. She specializes in traditional Mexican dishes with fresh ingredients and attention to proper technique. However, her best quality is making the most misfit of kitchen cooks feel at ease.

We begin class with guacamole and not one, but two salsas. We use a traditional molcajete with a cute pig face on the side and smash chopped cilantro, jalapeno, and garlic with the stone tejolete (Mexican version of a mortar and pestle). When I ask how long I should smash, chef says until the garlic disappears. I thought I’d be smashing all evening, but then one slice vanishes and the rest quickly follow. I add avocados and a squeeze of a quarter-cut lime and smash some more. Once creamy I add chopped tomato and onion. With guac sufficiently smushed, a small bowl of tortilla chips appears so I can sample my hard work.

Next are two salsas or sauces, Tomato Molcajete (Red) Sauce and Green Sauce. Again I pummel chopped garlic and jalapeno in the molcajete bowl for the Red Sauce. Chef Karla says this sauce is reminiscent of Pico de Gallo as I add chunky pieces of tomato and onion. Chef Karla taste tests the sauce of my classmate and tells him he should add more cilantro and, if he dares, another jalapeno. He drops in more cilantro leaves, but declines the spicy pepper as the rest of us laugh. Miraculously, a second bowl of chips appears next to my molcajete. Next we use a food processor to puree more avocados and spices for the Green Sauce, a soupy mixture that Chef Karla says we could dip our chips in to taste test, but to also save some for the entrée. Before starting the chicken entrée, Chef Karla helps the one vegetarian in our class to start frying eggplants for her dish.  

In between all this cooking, Chef Karla’s two assistants are as busy as Santa’s elves. As soon as we finish with a bowl or utensil, one of the assistants swipes it, washes it, and returns it to us for the next dish. They also make sure our beverage glasses are NEVER empty. Starting the evening with spicy serrano margaritas, these red concoctions are a perfect blend of heat and sweet with a sugar, salt, and pepper rim and a generous dose of Patron Tequila. For those who don’t want the heat, the assistants serve lime margaritas with sea salt rims. Chef Karla also has bottles of her favorite Mexican wines decanting for our entrees.

For the most part, we cook without measuring. We chop and dice all the ingredients at our stations and are instructed to put handfuls of this and pinches of that into bowls. While we are told to use most all of the large vegetables, Chef Karla coaches us to only use small amounts of garlic, cilantro, and peppers so we can control the flavor as we go.

I am amazed how easily Chef Karla converses in Spanish to the gentleman on my right and then speaks English to me. She sometimes gets asked a question in Spanish and answers in English and vice versa. She is everywhere at once helping me to tightly roll my chicken flautas one minute and then hopping over to check the eggplant enchiladas the next. An assistant has poured her a glass of wine, but she has yet to take a sip. Our final act is topping our enchilada and flauta dishes with shredded manchego cheese.

“Are we supposed to use all the cheese?” I ask eyeing the large bowl.

“You don’t have to, but why not? “ A woman after my own heart.

Her assistants put our plates in the school’s wall ovens and we all finally have the chance to chat. Someone asks about the tortillas we used and she says the staff hand made them earlier in the day and that all of her ingredients are as locally sourced as possible. She then tells us she offers a tortilla making class for families with young children who want to participate, but aren’t yet old enough to use knives or open flame. Often, she says, the children end up on a mat on the floor, rolling tortillas one after the other. She laughs recounting how the parents freak out about their kids being on the floor, but she encourages it because the kids are more comfortable there instead of trying to stand up at counters meant for adults.

“The kids really have a great time and their parents get to not worry about what their children are up to,” she smiles.

When our dishes are done, the assistants place the hot plates at our stations. During that time Chef Karla visits each student and watches us as we spoon the remaining green sauce over the tops of the entrees. I’ve never “plated” a dish before, but she demonstrates how simple it is to drizzle the green sauce over the flautas by holding the spoon vertical and letting gravity do its thing. The light green sauce with the buttery yellow cheese on top of a shiny white plate makes it the fanciest dish I’ve ever created.

But how does it taste?

As we take our first bites of food, the room goes silent. I chase my flavorful chicken flauta with a big sip of Mexican white wine and savor the fact that I just cooked a gourmet meal. Something I couldn’t say before I walked in here.

You don’t have to be a Mayakoba guest to take a class. Visitors and residents of nearby Playa del Carmen are welcome. Guests at any Mayakoba resort can book a class through their specific resort’s concierge. Cost is approximately 65 USD per person and locals receive a discount with valid ID. — Story and photos by Carrie Dow.

Read (and print off) the recipe for Chef Karla’s Guacamole and her Green Sauce, courtesy of El Pueblito Cooking School by clicking here.

Hungry for more? See what a cooking class is like in Cambodia, and what it’s like to learn from the experts while at sea.