For The San Diego Union-Tribune
One of the greatest gifts of living in San Diego is our connection to Mexico just across the border — even in these tumultuous times. It goes beyond mere proximity. Itap the melding of cultures: food, the arts, language.
Few understand that better than chef Claudette Zepeda. A border kid herself, she’s just released her first cookbook, (Clarkson Potter, $35).
In “Cooking the Borderlands,” Zepeda takes readers beyond the San Diego/Tijuana/Baja border, also sharing her knowledge of food in the border cities going east through Arizona all the way through Texas.
“The borderlands is one of the most talked about topics as a point of contention,” Zepeda said. “So I wanted to write about the borderlands that I know and love, because I don’t think that it is ever talked about in the American narrative as a beautiful thing. I wanted to change the narrative. The border that I know and love is fluid, is welcoming, is delicious, and itap ever changing because humanity is not standing still. We’re moving forward and lots of new faces and languages and ingredients are hitting our borders, which inevitably changes the landscape of that area. So I wanted to write a beautiful love letter toit.”
Zepeda considers herself a culinary anthropologist. She’s a first generation Mexican American, born in San Diego, raised in both Tijuana and later in San Diego — who also spent several months a year in Guadalajara in her auntap restaurant, absorbing her auntap hospitality mentality.
“I had a foot in each country,” she said.
Zepeda starts her book with a narrative of her family and their history in Mexico, then foundational recipes of border cuisine — what she calls “sobremesa,” or the recipes that can be found on the table daily. The first, of course, is corn tortillas, and she surprised me with an unexpected ingredient — tomatillo husk water, that she said is one of the oldest pueblo tricks grandmothers have been doing. I’ve been making tortillas for decades and wish I’d heard of this, since it conditions the masa harina and makes the tortillas softer, more pliable and puff really beautifully.
“Itap really the ingenuity of the matriarchs of Mexico that saw something happen in a chemical reaction,” she said. “They were the original chemists.”
So save your tomatillo leaves in the freezer and make husk water for other doughs, too.
That first chapter continues, sharing recipes for beans, rice and a wide range of salsas. Then comes the second chapter, dedicated to her family’s — really the matriarch’s — much loved dishes. Chicken sopes, her mom’s meatballs, creamy tomatillo enchiladas and even the Zepeda family birria all get the spotlight. From there, she gives us the lowdown on California borderlands’ delicacies, from Tijuana and Ensenada to Mexicali, Calexico and Tecate.
Then she takes us east with chapters on Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas — basically the home of Tex-Mex fare.
The recipes are sumptuous and beautifully photographed. Some, you’ll find, pay homage to the influence Chinese immigrants to Mexico have played — like Pollo a la Naranja, or Orange Chicken with Chamoy, and Cantonese-Mexican Chop Suey. And American culture has had its influence. Zepeda shares Dogos — bacon-wrapped hot dogs served in a bun with salsa fresca and Zepeda’s bacon-shallot crunch.
Many have multiple steps and reference other recipes, like salsas, but don’t let that give you pause. They all are eminently doable for home cooks with a passion for Mexican food. I’ve chosen three to showcase here that are shorter but no less tasty. All are loved by Zepeda, who is not just a great chef but also a terrific storyteller in the context of exploring these regions and sharing the importance of the foods to her and the people who live in the borderlands.
We’ll start with her Dried Shrimp Aguachile, a dish thatap like a salad with shrimp and vegetables that have been marinated in blended citrus juice, serrano peppers and kosher salt. Dried shrimp, you say? OK, yes, they’re salty, but in subtropical Mexico, the salt and acid is necessary to stay hydrated when summer heat hits. The trick, said Zepeda, is to find good-quality dried shrimp.
“Fresh dried shrimp, it has to be soft and pliable. It should still have some sort of give and chewiness,” she explained. “The texture should not be hard and stale. You should still be able to sink into it. So I like a large, dried shrimp, like a 10-15, which means 10 to 15 shrimp equals a pound, so they’re plump.”
You should be able to find them at local Mexican markets like Northgate and Pancho Villa, she added.
The dish itself is easy to make, although you also need to clean the shrimp. Zepeda wants you to give the shrimp and vegetables plenty of time to marinate — at least a couple of hours, optimally four. So make it in the morning to serve for lunch. That gives the salinity and citrus juices time to marry and create the flavors that highlight the dish. Then serve with thin, crispy store-bought tostadas raspadas and a little mayo. Tostadas raspadas (literally, “scraped tostadas”) have a layer of masa scraped off during the cooking process, which renders them extra light and crunchy.
Next is the recipe for something that will make everyone’s summer party hum: Hussong’s Cantina Margarita. If you’ve been to a Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada or Las Vegas, you know this drink — so you’re welcome. This isn’t any old margarita. What distinguishes it, said Zepeda, is a key ingredient: damiana liqueur. Itap a Mexican liqueur made from the damiana plant and gives the drink what Zepeda described as an herbaceous, woodsy flavor. You’ll use that instead of triple sec or other orange liqueur, but if you can’t find it, Zepeda gave her blessing to go with Cointreau or another orange liqueur.
Making it, of course, is pretty simple. Rub lime wedges over the rims of your glasses, then dip the rims in coarse sea salt. Pour tequila, liqueur and lime juice into a large cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake shake shake until the liquid is ice cold, the shaker is frosty, and you hear less ice rattling around. Fill the glasses with fresh ice and strain the drink into the glasses. Garnish with a lime peel.
Finally, a little sweet: Jamoncillo. Itap a delightful, caramelized milk fudge made with goat milk, pecans, sugar, vanilla extract and baking soda.
This is a sweet that Zepeda writes is found at every corner store and mercado in Sonora. Milk is unusual but not for that part of the country, with its ranches filled with herds of dairy cows. Today, Jamoncillo is considered a holiday treat.
This is one of those candies that don’t require a candy thermometer or other intimidating gadgets. And because it is supposed to have a crystalized texture, you don’t need to worry that you’ve overcooked it. But, you do want it to cook to a deep amber color with the consistency of caramel.
Now, you have choices — cow’s milk or goatap milk and pecans or pine nuts. If budget is the issue, go with cow’s milk and pecans. I’m partial to the tang of goatap milk but I love both pecans and pine nuts (maybe use both?).
You’ll toast whatever nuts you choose, then set them aside to mix together the milk, sugar and vanilla in a heavy pot and gradually bring to a boil. Then add the baking soda and whisk it in. Simmer and stir periodically so the mixture doesn’t scorch the bottom of the pan. Once it hits that amber color and caramel texture, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the nuts. It’ll set quickly so be ready with a greased spoon or scoop to drop coin-sized mounds of a wax paper-lined sheet pan. Don’t try handling it before it cools — and then you can rub some butter on your hands and roll into 1-inch balls. You can wrap each individually in cellophane or wax paper. Don’t refrigerate them. Instead, store in an airlock container.
Dried Shrimp Aguachile
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 pound large dried shrimp, cleaned (see Note)
4 green onions (green and white parts), thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 Persian cucumbers, diced small
1/2 bunch cilantro, minced
Juice of 8 limes (about 1 cup)
Juice of 4 lemons (about 1 cup)
2 serrano peppers, stemmed and seeded (for more spice, use habaneros)
Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For serving/garnishes:
1/2 medium red onion, julienned
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Coarse sea salt
Tostadas raspadas (store-bought)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
DIRECTIONS
1: Clean the dried shrimp by removing the heads, and do your best to remove the thin shells, reserving the body meat. Discard the heads and shells. Mince the shrimp meat with a sharp knife, or use a food processor. Add the dried shrimp to a medium bowl with thesliced green onions, cucumbers, and cilantro.
2: Make the aguachile liquid: In a blender, combine the lemon and lime juices with the serrano pepper. Blend until smooth and season with kosher salt to taste. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.
3: Pour 1/2 cup of the aguachile liquid over the shrimp and vegetables and toss to coat. Taste and adjust salt if needed.
4: Spread the shrimp mixture on a large serving platter. Pour the rest of the aguachile liquid over the whole platter. Garnish with red onion, fresh cilantro leaves and more salt. Serve the aguachile with tostadas and a small bowl of mayonnaise to spread on the raspadas before enjoying.
Note: Finding good-quality dried shrimp is a skill in its own right. When I’m shopping for them, I check to make sure the color is still a vibrant orange, and the shrimp are still slightly chewy — they should bend when pressed against, instead of cracking. Plenty of Mexican and Asian markets will have dried shrimp, but Mexican mercados have the large orange variety that I don’t normally see elsewhere. If all else fails, you can buy them online.
Hussong’s Cantina Margarita
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 cup coarse sea salt
1 Key lime, quartered, to rim glasses
4 ounces blanco Tequila
4 ounces damiana liqueur (see Note)
4 ounces Key lime juice (from about 10 limes)
Ice cubes, for serving
4 slices of lime peel, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
1: Pour the salt onto a small plate. Rub the lime wedges over the rims of 4 small rocks glasses; then dip the rims in the salt.
2: Pour the tequila, liqueur, and lime juice into a large cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice cubes and cover it with the lid. Shake the ingredients aggressively until the liquid is ice-cold, the shaker is frosty on the outside, and you hear less ice rattling around, about 1 minute.
3: Fill the glasses with fresh ice and strain the drink into the glasses. Garnish each glass with a lime peel right on top of the ice.
Note: I was able to find damiana liqueur for sale locally on a grocery delivery app, as well as online. I highly recommend it so you can make the real thing, but in a rush, Cointreau, or another orange liqueur, will work fine.
Jamoncillo
Makes about 2 dozen pieces of fudge
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup pine nuts or pecans
2 cups goat milk or whole cow milk
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Butter, for greasing
DIRECTIONS
1: Toast the pine nuts or pecans in a dry pan over medium heat until golden brown and you begin to smell the nuts. Chop and set aside near the stovetop.
2: Line a tray or baking sheet with wax paper and set aside near the stovetop.
3: In a medium heavy pot, combine the milk, sugar, and vanilla. Stir just to incorporate the ingredients. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil.
4: Once the mixture starts to boil, add in the baking soda and whisk to incorporate. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture come to a simmer, stirring periodically so that the bottom does not scorch. The mixture will begin to darken and become thicker. The timing can vary greatly, depending on many external factors (including temperature and altitude), but color is most important here, so keep an eye on it. When the mixture is deep amber-colored and has thickened to the consistency of a caramel sauce, remove it from the heat.
5: Using a wooden spoon, stir the pine nuts or pecans into the caramel. It will start to crystalize and set into a fudge very quickly, no more than 5 minutes. Use a lightly greased (pan spray is great) spoon to scoop coin-sized mounds and drop them on the prepared wax paper to cool.
6: Once the fudge is cool enough to handle, rub a small amount of butter on your hands and roll the fudge into 1-inch balls. Wrap each piece of fudge in cellophane or wax paper.
Note: When making the fudge, after the mixture reaches a boil, make sure you stir intermittently to prevent scorching or burning.
Recipes reprinted with permission from “Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States” by Claudette Zepeda (Copyright 2026 by Claudette Zepeda). Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
