Who likes to remember their kitchen failures? A kitchen disaster - the roast that catches on fire in the oven, the cake made with two cups of salt instead of two cups of sugar - can gain the status of legend, improving with the telling and retelling. But a mere failure remains somehow unmentionable. What's legendary about puddings that won't set, a stew that isn't quite right, or scorched rice?
One of my messier failures came about when I tried to make a surprise treat for a friend's wedding. I convinced myself I could make dulces de lima, candied limes filled with coconut cream. I used the recipe in Patricia Quintana's lovely Mexico's Feasts of Life.
I hollowed out twenty-four limes, boiled them, and soaked them in a concoction of ash and water for three days (yes, that was a part of the recipe). Then I boiled them again in a colored sugar syrup. The end result resembled something you find in a forgotten container in the refrigerator: green, grey, and mushy!
I should have stayed with something simple, like this recipe for cocada, a baked coconut custard. This recipe comes from a Mexican dessert cookbook, Reposteria Mexicana, one of a series called "El arte de la buena cocina," published by Promexa. An identical recipe appears in Guadalupe Rivera's Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo.
The mixture should be the consistency of pudding. Pour into an ovenproof glass or ceramic dish, and bake until the top is pale gold. Choosing and cracking a fresh coconut: Fresh coconuts should give a satisfying slosh when shaken--this means they are full of coconut water (not the same thing as coconut milk!).
At home, use an ice pick or screwdriver to poke out two of the coconut's eyes. Strain the coconut water through a sieve and into a container. Save it in the refrigerator for another recipe. Bake the coconut in a 400 oven for ten to fifteen minutes. Wrap the baked coconut in a towel, and tap it with a hammer all over. This loosens the meat from the shell. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape off the brown skin before grating the meat.