Brits Try 3 Levels of Mexican Food with a Michelin Star Chef

TL;DR

Michelin-starred chef Santiago Lustra teaches two British home cooks three levels of Mexican cuisine, from quesadillas to langoustine tacos using local British ingredients.

Key Points

• 1.Chef Santiago Lustra runs Coле in London, a Michelin-starred restaurant ranked in the world's top 50. His approach blends authentic Mexican technique with locally sourced British and Scottish produce like rhubarb, sea buckthorn, and hemp seeds.
• 2.The Level 1 dish is a 'salsa borracha' — a drunk sauce — made with rhubarb and hemp seeds. Two dried Mexican chilies are used: cascabel for flavor and earthy texture, and árbol for heat, balanced with brown sugar and mezcal.
• 3.Dry-toasting without oil is a key Mexican technique that intensifies flavor. Rhubarb is charred in a dry pan and chilies are crisped before being ground in a molcajete, creating a nutty, smoky, tart, and creamy sauce unlike anything the British hosts had tasted.
• 4.The Level 2 comfort food is traditional blue corn masa quesadillas, folded rather than round. Santiago uses fresh blue corn masa from Oaxaca nixtamalized with calcium hydroxide, stone-ground in the restaurant, though he notes Masarina flour is a good home-cook substitute.
• 5.Quesadillas are filled with a blend of fresh and dry mozzarella substituting for traditional Oaxacan string cheese. The technique involves folding, pressing to release whey, and watching for a slight puff to know the inside is cooked — all served with the drunk salsa and spring flowers.
• 6.The Michelin-star Level 3 dish is langoustine tacos on sourdough flatbreads, finished with Scottish sea buckthorn berry reduction. Langoustine heads are injected with sea buckthorn juice so diners squeeze them like a lime — replacing the traditional citrus with a hyper-local foraged Scottish berry.
• 7.All three levels are eaten by hand, which Santiago considers essential to Mexican food culture. One British host called it 'the best Mexican food I've eaten,' noting that pairing Mexican technique with peak British seasonal ingredients finally made Mexican cuisine make sense in the UK.