ADOBO

Cup of Yum
1. Set the dried chiles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Cover the bowl and let them rehydrate. Meanwhile, if you're using the whole spices, toast them over medium-high heat in a dry pan until fragrant, then move them to a mortar and pestle. Now set the quarters of white onion and the unpeeled garlic in the pan to sear. You want both cut sides of the onion to blacken, and char marks on all sides of the garlic cloves.
2. Peel the garlic and set inside the mortar and pestle. Add a healthy pinch of salt, about 1 teaspoon. Grind all this into a paste. Add the lime juice or vinegar and use it to clean the mortar as you move the mixture to the bowl of a blender.
3. Add the chiles to the blender bowl, too. Roughly chop the onion and add it to the blender. Pour in water or broth and start blending. You want a puree about the thickness of barbecue sauce or house paint.
4. OPTIONAL STEP: Push the adobo through a fine-meshed strainer to remove bits of seed and skin from the chiles, which are not digestible.
5. BLENDER METHOD: If you don't have a mortar and pestle, use ground spices and skip the toasting. Add all ingredients to a blender and puree.

MIXIOTES

1. You'll likely have more adobo than you need; it keeps for weeks in the fridge. Coat the meat with some adobo and put this in a covered container for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days. I prefer a full day.
2. When you are ready to make the bundles, soak the pieces of parchment paper for 10 minutes or so. Use this time to take the meat out of the fridge and chop vegetables.
3. Set some foil in a bowl. Set 2 pieces of wet parchment paper inside that. Divvy up the adobo-coated meat into 6 portions, and put a portion in the open bundle. Add some of the potatoes, nopales and mushrooms to the bundle. Sprinkle a little salt over it all. Add an avocado or bay leaf or two. Fold up the parchment paper into a bundle, and tie it off with twine or a twist tie. Fold the foil over the bundle to double seal it. Repeat with the remaining bundles.
4. Set a steamer insert into a large, lidded pot. Fill water up to the level of the steamer insert and set the temperature to high. Arrange the bundles on the steamer, cover the pot and steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Carefully remove the bundles and set them on a board. Remove the foil and set each parchment bundle on a plate. Let your guests open them at the table. Serve with hot corn tortillas.