Vida Cantina<\/a>, a modern Mexican restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Vargas grew up in Southern California where his mother, who is from Guadalajara, and his father, who is from a more rural part of the western Mexican state of Jalisco, were both police officers and together owned a taqueria.<\/p>\nFor his crema, which he makes in gallons at a time, Vargas combines a ratio of five cups of heavy cream to two cups of buttermilk to 1\/2 cup of lime juice in a sterilized container. He covers the container with cheesecloth, sets it on the counter, and lets the culture do its thickening work over the span of four days, longer during the colder New England winter. You refrigerate the crema once it\u2019s thickened to your heart\u2019s desire.<\/p>\n
Just like the cream rises to the top of a bottle of non-homogenized whole milk, the crema at the top of the container, Vargas explains, is thicker than the crema on the bottom. Both derivatives serve different purposes in the kitchen. The thinner crema is easily drizzled over fish tacos or tamales and served with all types of enchiladas. The thicker crema can be mixed into raw salads as a binder, added to masa harina to make a dough for corn cakes or dumplings for soup, or sweetened and dolloped over fruit- or chocolate-based desserts.<\/p>\n
Having a single jar of crema in your fridge will help you solve many of your condiment quandaries. Or you can just eat it with a spoon.<\/p>\n
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