Mexican Rice

On May 5, 1862, a Mexican army of two thousand men under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated a French expeditionary force of six thousand at the Battle of Puebla — one of the most improbable military victories of the nineteenth century, and the origin of the holiday that the United States celebrates with far more enthusiasm than Mexico itself. What is less celebrated is what the Mexican soldiers ate in the weeks before the battle, sustained by the civilian population of Puebla who fed them from their own kitchens. The cooks of Puebla prepared their rice — the red rice that is distinctly Poblano, cooked in a tomato broth enriched with chicken fat, colored as deeply as brick — in enormous clay pots over outdoor fires, feeding hundreds of soldiers at a time. The recipe had been unchanged since the colonial period: dry-toast the rice in lard, add the tomatoes and garlic cooked down to a paste, cover with broth, and leave entirely alone. Do not stir. Do not lift the lid. Trust the process. General Zaragoza reportedly ate two portions the morning of the battle. The French, who had brought their own field kitchen but found that their provisions had been spoiled in transit, ate nothing at all. This may not have been the decisive factor, but it certainly did not help.