Grupo Mayan Gourmet Life

Undoubtedly, eating is one of the greatest pleasures. Italian cuisine is considered a prime example for a ‘perfecto’ cuisine and is imitated all over the world. Many non-Italians identify Italian cooking with a few of its most popular dishes like pizza, spaghetti, tiramisu and classic Italian recipes for pasta, lasagna, gnocchi, risotto, polenta, and many more.

For connoisseurs of Italian food, Grupo Mayan has two excellent gourmet options, the Tramonto and Il Forno Di Gio restaurants.

Imagine you are having a good time with your family and friends, feeling absorbed by the environment; violin players performing music and the scents of the delicious aroma of pizza from our wood-fire brick ovens, crunchy fried squids, cheese raviolis and exquisite pastas. At the Grupo Mayan resorts we take care of all of our clients’ tastes, so you will find vegetarian dishes as well, and for those who enjoy a good rib-eye steak, special meat cuts are included in the menus.

What about the wine? This is a paramount part of a good Italian meal. At the Grupo Mayan Resorts you will find a variety of wines - red, sparkling, white wine, and chianti, once the first and very often, the only name that springs to mind when mentioning Italian wine.

Cheese plays a pivotal role in the Italian eating experience. Not only is it served on its own or accompanied by fruit or perhaps a drizzle of honey as a dessert course, but it is influential in a great many other parts of the meal. Buffalo mozzarella can add its creamy texture to a plate of cured meats as antipasti, while the more humble variety made from cow’s milk tops parmigiano or pecorino romano, may well accompany pasta or risotto; the same goes for ricotta in a dish of ravioli or cannelloni. And well, mascarpone is synonymous with tiramisu.

Finally you cannot say that you visited an Italian restaurant if you do not taste the famous tiramisu dessert. Italians have taken the combination of coffee, cream, biscuits, mascarpone, cocoa and coffee liquor and turned it into one of their most celebrated desserts, which translates as “pull me up”.

There is no excuse. The next time you visit one of the Grupo Mayan Resorts, let yourself be spoiled by these magic recipes of the Italian cuisine. And Buon Appetito at the Grupo Mayan Resorts!

Tortilla is considered “Mexico’s bread” ever since the Aztec culture until present times. Their main ingredient is the vegetable called maiz - often called “corn” in the United States. The word “tortilla” comes from Latin and it means “small bread torta”. They have been around for centuries and were originally grilled on a “comal” - earthen utensil like a flat pan. It is considered to be nutritious and healthy, as it contains proteins that supply energy.

There are many dishes where the principal ingredient is the tortilla and at the Grupo Mayan Grand Mayan Resorts, you will be able to experience their unique flavor that you will never forget.

For example, you can try the famous “Tacos”, which are quite different from the ones commonly known in other parts of the world; where the tortilla is stuffed with chicken, meat or pork, cheese and cream. Another dish made with tortillas is “Chilaquiles”; where thin fried strips of tortilla are coated with sauce and cooked in an oven. As topping, you put cheese, chopped onion and cream. Delicious!

At any of the Grupo Mayan restaurants you can taste as well, a great variety of “Quesadillas”. The tortilla is folded and filled with exotic stews like huitlacoche, flor de calabaza, cheese, chicharrón, requesón, etc; and then fried in hot oil. The “Enchiladas” are rolled tortillas with chicken or cheese fillings, then coated with sauce and cooked in an oven.

One of the most delicious and famous dishes in Mexico is the “Tortilla Soup”, prepared by the Grupo Mayan chefs. It is traditionally made with beef or chicken stock and often includes tomatoes, onion, garlic and the Mexican aromatic herb epazote. It is served with ingredients such as cheese, avocado, cilantro, chile ancho sausage and lime. The consistent elements in it are the tortilla strips. The soup is served by either pouring the soup over tortilla fragments or serving the soup – caldillo, and adding them as a garnish.

Overall, the tortilla is an ingredient for a meal that you can eat anytime during the year with any type of food. As you can see, it can be prepared in many different ways.

Next time you visit any Grupo Mayan Resort, take the chance to taste any of these Mexican dishes and rejoice with this amazing Mexican cuisine folklore.

A classic dish that reunites people is fondue. This is a Swiss communal dish, say the Grupo Mayan culinary experts, in which cheese and wine are melted and eaten with bread – preferably baguettes cut into small cubes. Fondue means in French “melted”.

The first thing you need to get to prepare this traditional dish are the proper utensils. A fondue pot made out of heavy earthenware, ceramic or iron, usually named “caquelon”. It needs to be placed over tray with a small burner containing alcohol that can be adjusted with a diffuser. Specialized long forks are needed as well to dip bread over the semi-liquid melted cheese mixture.

There is an etiquette to be followed when eating fondue say the Grupo Mayan Resorts food and beverage experts. Due to its communal nature, certain guidelines need to be respected, such as not touching the forks metal with your tongue and lips – this is considered to be improper as well as dangerous as you could get burned, a dipped piece of bread cannot be returned to the pot, et cetera.

There are more current variations like using different meats to simmer in broth, or not very soft vegetables instead of bread, as well as melting chocolate to dip in it fruits or marshmallows as dessert. The pots are different, but the fun is the same.

There are many different types of fondue made out of cheese, although the most common fondue recipe is made out of melted Gruyere and Emmenthal cheeses diluted with dry white wine. A tip is to rub a garlic clove over the inside of the “caquelon”, then pour in the wine and the cheese to slowly melt it by using a wooden spoon. It must be stirred continuously from left to right without using enfolding movements.

In modern times, say the Grupo Mayan food experts, Kirsch can be added to help in obtaining the texture needed, as well as combining other cheeses with the base mixture already mentioned and whenever it is needed, a very small amount of cornstarch can be added, as long as it does not come in between the cheeses flavor. The mixture needs to be kept at a warm temperature to keep the fondue smooth.

When it is ready, it is time to get a good place around the pot, spear your bread with your fondue fork and enjoy this culinary delicatessen. The Grupo Mayan Resorts experts are certain that you will enjoy this experience.

The Grupo Mayan culinary experts know that the Blue Agave Cactus, the plant that epitomizes Mexico’s countryside, is the source of Tequila, a 100 % Mexican brew that distills the history and legends that are a major part of our culture. Today, Tequila’s fame has extended past Mexico borders and has positioned itself as world-class liquor.

According to tales told by the ancients says the Grupo Mayan Resorts food and beverage experts, Tequila was discovered when lightening struck an agave plant, splitting it wide open and heating the very heart of the plant. The local natives noted an aromatic nectar pouring out of the plant, fearful, but full of reverence for this gift from the gods. This sacred liquid was drunk from that day on only by priests, the elders and warriors.

When you visit one of the Grupo Mayan Resorts, remember to ask for good aged Tequila as an appetizer before enjoying an excellent meal or try some delicious Margaritas in a variety of flavours: tamarind, jicama, hibiscus flower (Jamaica), cucumber, cinnamon, mandarin, chocolate, prickly pear, mango, strawberry or with Mayan Xtabentún liquor.

Tequila as well, say the Grupo Mayan culinary professionals, can be utilized for cooking Mexican specialties, such as tequila mousse, shrimps, pasta and crepes with sauces made by adding tequila, chicken and salmon marinades, etc. There are many recipes that can be paired with your favorite tequila drinks.

But if you want the authentic Mexican experience, ask for the Grupo Mayan bartenders to serve your tequila straight up, with a chaser of famous sangrita - the traditional Mexican aperitif, and, above it all, do not forget these simple steps:

1. Place a pinch of salt in your mouth to stimulate salivation and prepare your palate for the strong taste of Tequila.
2. Take a sip of Tequila and hold it for a second between your lips and the tip of your tongue to get the full impact of the flavour.
3. Accompany that slight sensation of heat moving up your throat with a few drops of lime juice and a sip of sangrita.

One of the most important tasks that you may have to consider when dining on gourmet foods is which wine goes with what food.  Grupo Mayan food experts can help you to make the right choice to make your gourmet dining an experience that you will not soon forget.

Most people are afraid of choosing the wrong wine.  To avoid this situation, you should consider some tips.  White wines can be best with veal and salmon.  White wines do not go well with spicy foods or most Chinese foods.  Pinot Grigio does not go well with tomatoes or spicy foods.  If you are looking for the right wine to go with veal, shrimp, and turkey, Riesling is a dry wine that goes well with these foods.  However, any sweet dishes do not go well with this wine.

Donít you wish that on the back of every menu there was a guide for choosing a wine?  Some places have begun to do this but not very many.  Red wines go well with pizzas, pasta, lasagna and lemon chicken.  A red wine can also be used with chocolates, roast lamb, steak, and duck.  For those who enjoy barbeque, you can also use a red wine.  Sweet foods do not go well with red wines as well.

Wine should be served chilled and in the appropriate glass.  Grupo Mayan food experts have the right equipment to allow you the best experience with your wine.  If you are drinking wine at home, do not have the right glass, you should try to use the one that is closest in size.  The reason for using different types of glasses is that the design can help emphasize the full aromas and taste.  Using the wrong glass can affect the wineís ability to enhance your gourmet experience.

Grupo Mayan experts recommend caution when opening wines, as they can be messy especially the red wine.  To begin, one should begin with a small amount of wine and work up to larger servings.  A white wine should be three ounces, red wines should be four or five ounces, and spirits should be about one ounce.  The smaller the serving of wine, the more likely you and your guest can savor the flavors of the wine.

Choosing a wine is best left up to experts who have a greater amount of experience.  Grupo Mayan wine experts can help you to choose the perfect wine when dining.

Our culinary experts at Grupo Mayan’s Mayan Resorts consistently hear positive feedback from food cooked in a wood burning oven. It is no mystery that food cooked by wood fire seems to have a certain extra something in the flavoring, that certain something that makes it taste better. This is something very apparent to Grupo Mayan timeshare culinary directors.

A number of the gourmet restaurants at Grupo Mayan Resorts, like Il Forno Di Gio, Havana Moon, and some Pool Snack bars, have been equipped with wood-burning clay ovens. These are usually visible to guests, so it adds more than just taste to your food. The oven really is a piece of art. It is covered in tile patterns that give it aesthetic appeal. Children, and other guests alike, frequent the area that allows you to see the chef and his rustic contraption preparing the fine food.

The oven is a large clay dome, with storage space underneath it for the firewood, and above, a chimney that goes high up through the ceiling to vent the fumes produced whilst cooking. Controlling the temperature is key to ensuring that the food tastes delicious. Once the fire is going inside the dome, they have to let it die down to the right temperature and try their best to keep it at that temperature to cook meals. The experienced Grupo Mayan’s Mayan Resorts chefs use the palm of their hands as a thermometer. About three to five seconds is how long they hold the palm of their hand at the entrance to the oven before having to pull it away. If the time gets too long it means that the fire is too weak and they need to kick it up. If the fire is too hot, the chefs cool the oven a bit. It definitely takes some experience to be able to control the temperature.

The addition of such a piece of equipment immediately makes Grupo Mayans Resorts restaurants more appealing. Offering wood fired meals is really a treat to most palettes. Pizzas are definitely the most popular items requested with the wood oven, but there are a number of other recipes that guests can enjoy, like hamburgers, chicken, crepes, beef skewers, freshly baked bread and the list goes on. A wood fired meal at one of Grupo Mayans restaurants (at Acapulco, Los Cabos, and all our other locations) is definitely a must.

The Italian people have made many contributions to the field of cuisine.  Some of the most recognized include the pasta, tomatoes, cheese, and pizza.  Today, pasta is a mainstay of many cultures around the globe.  However, pasta has not always existed in the form it does today.  Grupo Mayan chefs are very adept at using different forms of pasta to create culinary gourmet experiences.

One myth about pasta is that it was discovered by Marco Polo and brought back from China.  During the eighth century, Arabs invasions would affect many parts of southern Italy and would affect the cuisine as well.  Dried noodle-like pasta would become commonplace during this time.  Dried pasta became very popular because of its long shelf life and it could be used on sea voyages.  Pasta takes a long time to produce, often taking up most of the day for Italian chefs.  Even today with new technologies available, Grupo Mayan chefs believe handmade pasta is best for creating a gourmet experience.

One key item that would revolutionize the way pasta was prepared is the tomato.  Tomatoes were brought back from the new world but they did not catch on in Europe because many thought the tomato was poisonous.  The tomato is part of the deadly nightshade family, so the belief that tomatoes were dangerous was not unusual.  In the mid 1800s, tomatoes were finally added to pasta and a new era in culinary cuisine was born.

Pasta comes in over 300 shapes and varieties in Italy.  Shapes can include the bow tie, tubes, tennis rackets, and many others.  To find authentic Italian pasta, the package will reveal the ingredients used.  Italian law requires the use of 100% durum semolina flour.  This flour is produced from the hardy wheat grown in Italy even today.  However, so high is the demand for authentic Italian pasta that the country imports an enormous amount of Semolina wheat.

Grupo Mayan chefs make fresh pasta that will be the centerpiece of the Italian gourmet experience.  Fresh pasta reveals the love and concern for the cuisine versus the use of prepared dry pastas.  Grupo Mayan chefs recommend that you choose only pastas that have been made from semolina flour if you are trying to create your own gourmet Italian dish.  The pasta should be rough because smooth pastas do not hold sauces.  Pasta should be compact and heavy.  Avoid using mass produced pastas if you hope to recreate the culinary and gourmet experience produced by master chefs.

Cheese has existed in some form for over eight thousand years.  Cheese is a popular product that is used by many top chefs to create a gourmet experience.  Cheese is considered a staple of the Italian people and many other cultures around the world.  Grupo Mayan chefs can use cheese to create some of the most unusual and unique flavored gourmet foods.

Cheese provides people with a great way to preserve the nutritional values of milk and it taste very good.  Cheese is a favorite of many cultures and it spread quickly after the Roman Empire embraced it.  When the Roman Empire collapsed, the technique for creating cheese became isolated in different areas.  Each region experimented with the process and many new forms of cheese were developed.  In the dark ages, the importance of cheese began to fade as many people began to believe cheese was unhealthy.

Many different types of cheese exist that come from all over the world.  Blue, cheddar, Feta, Fontina, goat, Mascarpone, Swiss, and vegetarian cheeses are just a few of the many varieties of cheese that a Grupo Mayan chef can utilized in gourmet foods.  No matter what type of gourmet food is being prepared, cheese can make it better.  Chefs have learned that cheese can come in many flavors from mile, buttery, spicy, rich, creamy, sharp, salty, or subtle.  The texture that cheese comes in can help to create special textures in a gourmet experience.

One example of cheeseís importance can be seen in Greek cuisine.  Greeks often hand make their cheeses.  Some of these cheeses include Feta, Manouri, Metsovone, Anthotyro, and Frescos are just a few of the cheese that are included in traditional Greek gourmet dishes.  Industrialization affected the production of cheese during the 19th century.  Unfortunately, some of the more flavorful cheeses were ignored in the production done until the 20th century when new techniques allowed the production of many types of cheese.

The best cheeses can be found in gourmet foods and are often required to be handmade.  The Italian pizza is one such delicacy that can be strongly influenced by the type of cheese being used.   Grupo Mayan chefs understand the intricacies of fine cheese and know how to combine it with other foods to create dishes that are unique and unusual.  Cheese is a integral part of producing true gourmet experiences.

Most people do not think of pizza when you hear the word gourmet.  However, you would be wrong not to consider the pizza as a part of the Italian gourmet experience.  Italy has two items that every country recognizes, the pizza and pasta.  Pizza has come a long way from its humble origins and today there are a great many versions.

You may have thought you have had a pizza before, but unless you have had an Italian pizza, you have just had a pizza.  Italian pizza is truly a gourmet experience unlike the popular versions you find all over the rest of the world.  In the US, there are two types of pizza.  The first is the Chicago thick and cheesy style.  The other is the more traditional New York thin and crispy style.

Pizza can trace its origins back to the Greeks and Phoenicians who took a seasoned flatbread made of flour and water and then flavoring with different herbs.  The Greeks used the pizza as an edible plate for other foods such as stews or broths.  During the middle ages, the pizza began to look more as it does today.  Peasants used the pizza as a staple in their diet and added whatever ingredients were around to the pizza.  Olive oil and herbs were the most common additions.  Cheese made a dramatic addition to pizza and while many types of cheese may be found on pizza, the mozzarella cheese was the first.

Grupo Mayan chefs use the tomato as the early Italian chefs did with the pizza.  The tomato is one of the most important ingredients in a true Italian gourmet pizza experience.  Choosing the right tomato is important to the final productsí taste.  After Queen Margherita tried a pizza in 1889 and loved it, the pizza began to show itself in royal and noble houses across the continent.

Although the pizza has evolved and eventually many different types of meats and vegetables would be added to it, Grupo Mayan chefs can create the traditional Italian pizza that takes advantages of herbs and spices.  How the pizza is cooked plays an important role in the final gourmet product.  A wood burning stone is the only type that will produce the right amount of heat necessary to combine the ingredients into the culinary delight it should be.

If you have the opportunity to try the Italian pizza, you will be able to enjoy a wonderful and exotic gourmet experience that you will remember for a long time.  Be warned.  After trying the authentic Italian pizza, you may no longer enjoy the other less tasty versions.

If you have the opportunity to try some of the gourmet Caribbean food, you should jump at the chance.  Grupo Maya chefs are very knowledgeable in many different types of foods in the Caribbean.  The Caribbean gourmet experience will truly surprise you.

Caribbean cuisine has been influenced by a number of different factors just as the Caribbean Islands have been affected by the many different peoples that have visited and settled there.  Arawak Indians used to cook meat on thin green strips of wood.  This allowed the meat to absorb the flavors of the wood.  Today, the word barbeque comes from this early cooking method.  Carib Indians loved spices and used many in everything they cooked.  Hot peppers, lemons, limes, are just a few of their favorite ingredients.  Carib Indians are credited with the first spicy pot stew that is still a favorite today.  Grupo Mayan chefs make this stew as the early Caribs did, with varying spices, no two dishes is every alike.

During the time when African slaves were predominant on the island, cuisine changed as slaves found new ways to meld current foods with African favorites.  Some of the items introduced at this time included okra, salt fish, pudding and souse, and mangoes.  The traditional of cooking spicy pork over hot coals was carried to the Caribbean Islands.  The technique is referred today as ëjerk.í  Perhaps you have heard of it as beef jerky.  The technique is still very much popular today.

Chinese visitors introduced rice and mustard to the Caribbean cuisine.  Spanish explorers introduced the orange, lime, ginger, figs, sugar cane, coconuts, and so much more to the island.  Caribbean locals introduced many of these flavors into their foods over the next hundred years.  The US has influenced Caribbean cuisine with the introduction of beans, corn, potatoes, and chili pepper.  Try a conch fritter and see if you can tell how this Caribbean food has been influenced.

Caribbean gourmet foods have been influenced by so many other cultures including flavors from Africa, China, Spain, France, India, Britain, Portugal, and Mexico.  However, no matter what flavors other cultures and countries have introduced, Caribbean gourmet food is unlike any other.
Grupo Mayan chefs can create a gourmet experience that you will enjoy and never forget.  Caribbean foods can be very delicate and very robust.  The flavors will tantalize your taste buds and present you with subtle flavors that will build slowly and then explode upon your palette.