Turcos are a kind of empanada full of a flavorful pork filling. A journey back through history reveals that the story of these savory-and-sweet turnovers is actually from the Sephardic Jews of Mexico who arrived from the Mediterranean in the colonial era. While numerous variations of these petite meat turnovers exist in Mexico and the US, the most interesting are turcos. Not only are they tasty but also linked by historical records to the Mexican Inquisition, the celebration of Sukkoth, a harvest festival, and Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year.
The History of Turcos
The Inquisition’s earliest evidence of the consumption of turcos dates from the early 17th century. The court documented the cultural habits, including foodways, of Jews, sometimes called conversos, who claimed to have converted to Christianity (mostly in order to escape death by fire) but who, in fact, continued to practice Judaism secretly. Their customs were a hybrid of Christian and Jewish habits. What conversos ate was evidence to identify them as crypto-Jews, and to justify sending them to their death.
On September 21, 1603, in Mexico City, prisoner of the Inquisition Sebastián Rodríguez hosted a feast at Cárcel Perpétua, which was a sort of penal residence. Prisoners could go out to conduct their business during the day but had to return every evening. Rodríguez’s party was a celebration of Sukkot, a Jewish harvest festival whose customs include building a hut outside and decorating it with natural materials.
A Feast for All
All the dishes for this feast came from Rodriguez’s home kitchen, mainly by his wife and daughter. David Gitlitz writes in Living in Silverado that Rodríguez and the other celebrants “drew their tables out into the prison courtyard under the open sky. They decorated the pillars of the corridor with willow branches and leaves that Rodríguez had purchased and arranged to be carried to the prison.”
The entire Portuguese prison community received an invite to this lavish harvest festival. Three of Rodríguez’s invitees turned down the invitation because, it was speculated, they ate only kosher foods and “everyone else … eats salt pork and is not concerned about it.” The guests who did attend then celebrated Sukkot with a banquet of turcos, pasteles, tortas, and empanadas.
Documentation of a Mexican trial which took place on September 10, 1603, also tells us about the consumption of turcos. Even if the Jewish holiday of Rosh HaShana (the New Year of the Jewish calendar) is not explicitly mentioned, we assume that turcos were made for this occasion.
Particularly when ancient customs are delicious, they live on. Today, regions nearest the Mexican border, especially Texas, embrace turcos as an integral part of New Year celebrations. Texans blend anise seeds into the dough and fill it with crispy pork, cinnamon, raisins, apple, garlic, onions, sugar, nuts, and cloves. This culinary synthesis echoes the greens and sweet-savory essence of Sephardic Rosh HaShana fare. From one New Year festivity to the next, turcos offer a tangible connection to the passage and integration of crypto-Jewish customs into contemporary American life.
Recipe by Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
Story by Gabe Gomez
Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by Dave Bryce
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