Pátzcuaro Watercress Salad (Ensalada de Berros)

Michoacán, the Lake Pátzcuaro region, is where this salad belongs. Berros grow where the water runs cold and clean around the highland springs, and in the Pátzcuaro markets you see them tied in wet bundles, darker and more peppery than the polite supermarket greens.

This is not a decorative salad. It is the bright thing on the table next to carnitas from Quiroga, corundas wrapped in fresh corn leaves, or grilled trucha from the lake towns. The chile serrano gives a clean bite. The white onion gets softened with lime. The avocado should be Michoacán avocado, because this state knows that fruit better than anyone. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

I learned this kind of salad from women who did not call it a recipe. They washed the berros three times, tasted the lime with salt before dressing, and added the avocado only at the end so it stayed whole. My mother wrote in her notebook, 'berros bien secos.' She was right. Wet leaves make weak salad. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.