MARKETS : El Warehouse Latino

Valley Food Warehouse, 14530 Nordhoff St., Panorama City, (818) 891-9939. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

When the Valley Food Warehouse opened four years ago, it was primarily stocked with all the familiar necessities of Mexican cooking, from refrigerated nixtamal to queso anejo. But as you poke around the shelves these days, you also find iridescent green Guatemalan salsa picante , thick Central American-style cream, frozen vegetables from El Salvador, Belizean papaya jam, a delicious Cuban-style marinade (made in Florida) called mojo criollo , and pisco-- the famous Peruvian brandy used in pisco sours. From Colombian corn-cake mix to Honduran beer, this market stocks the most eclectic assortment of Latin foods in the San Fernando Valley.

The Thaler family, owners of the warehouse, had originally patterned this store (located in a former Lucky’s) after their other three markets in East and Southeast Los Angeles, all of which serve a Mexican clientele. It didn’t take long to discover that their Valley customers were more diverse. “After we opened we’d get requests for all kinds of Latin American items,” Richard Thaler says. “So we started to experiment by stocking all sorts of Central and South American products, and we watched what moved off the shelves.”

Niche marketing isn’t new to the Thalers. Their first store, a small general market, opened in Lincoln Heights in 1949. Back then the neighborhood had a mixture of Jewish and Mexican families. The family watched as the area started to change, and in the ‘60s, when most Mexican markets were tiny carnecerias , the family built Big Buy, one of the first supermarkets geared to the Mexican public. (It was Thaler Sr., his son says, who pioneered the sale of warm, fresh tortillas when other supermarkets sold nothing but the refrigerated variety.) Big Buy was then followed by City Foods in Huntington Park, Farm Boys in Walnut Park and Maywood Farms in Maywood.

With its unpacked boxes of goods neatly stacked high on top of every shelf, its displays at the end of every aisle, and its fruit and vegetable bins rimmed with cartons overflowing with produce, Valley Food Warehouse really does give the feeling of a bounteously filled warehouse. At the front door, pick up one of the bilingual flyers announcing weekly specials from chuletas de puerco (pork chops) to paper towels. Then grab a cart and wheel past the pinatas down Aisle 9 with its wild assortment of Latin condiments, convenience foods and drink mixes. This is a shopping experience some might call totally awesome.

SHOPPING LIST

CONDIMENTS

* Salsas picantes : Hot sauce devotees will find the regional diversity of the store’s salsa picante selection impressive. These include El Yucateco-brand salsa habanera , a bright-green liquid based on green and fiery habanero chiles. The same company also makes a red habanero sauce. Those sauces are fairly easy to obtain at most Latin markets, but on sale (at four for $1) I found a more unusual Guatemalan green sauce, Ana Belly-brand Extra Salsa Picante, with an appealing musty-herbal flavor.

From the state of Sinaloa there’s Guaca-Maya, a deep orange-brown sauce with a winey aroma, made from cora peppers. Fresh pequin peppers generate the earthy heat--somewhat in the style of the Tapatio-brand sauce that you can find in most supermarkets--in Salsa Picante De la Viuda, which comes from Chapala in the state of Jalisco. The earthy orange color of Salsa Huichol is due to cascabel chiles, which the label claims are grown at the top of Nayar Mountain near Tepic; this is a fairly mild sauce, with a spicy aroma something like turmeric. Tulpetlac is the home of La Costena, a sauce based on serrano and jalapeno peppers that resembles a full-flavored Tabasco. Sun Sun salsa, made from aged cayenne peppers and labeled “hot salsa Luisiana salsa puro del golfo ,” is also in the vinegary Tabasco style.

* Peruvian chiles and chile pastes: A few feet down from the salsa picante section beneath the prepared moles is a collection of Peruvian chiles and easy-to-use chile pastes. These include whole mild red rocoto peppers, and rocoto pepper paste. The spicier Peruvian yellow pepper paste called aji amarillo is used in such well-known dishes as Huancayo-style potatoes ( papas Huancainas ) . The even hotter red panca peppers also come in paste form. All these products are used for cooking rather than as a condiment.

* Recados : In the marketplaces of Southeastern Mexico and throughout parts of Central America you find women sitting behind earth-colored mounds of spice pastes known as recados. These pre-blended seasoning mixtures are characteristic flavorings of the Mayan lands, in particular Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala.

Two of the pastes most commonly seen in our markets are the Achiote Condimentado (annatto seed paste) and a deep-green recado labeled Condimento Para Bistek. The warehouse carries the “La Perla”-brand recados imported from La Perla Yucatecan restaurant in Merida.

Annatto paste is usually mixed with jugo de naranja agria --the juice of sour Seville oranges--and smeared over roasts and chickens in a thick mass, then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an outdoor pit or pib --the name “ en pibil “ is given to such Yucatecan-style dishes.

The second recado , a deep-green--almost black--paste of allspice, garlic, black pepper, onions and other seasonings, is the base for escabeche dishes. For escabeche , chicken or turkey is braised and then coated with the seasoning paste and fried. The braising broth is simmered with pickled onions and poured over the meat before it is served. The label also recommends this recado as a flavoring for pork and chicken and for seasoning bistek de cazuela --or braised beefsteak.

* Marinating sauces: The store’s varied collection of marinades include the La Lechonera and Kirby brands of mojo criollo (Spanish barbecue sauce). There is also Adelita fajitas marinade made here in Los Angeles and Naranja Agria marinade made by Chez Alberto in Hialeah, Fla. All are reasonably good but are greatly improved with the addition of a little fresh crushed garlic.

DAIRY GOODS

* Cremas , or cultured creams, are often called sour cream, but because they have a higher butterfat content, they behave differently from their American-style counterparts. Cremas won’t curdle when heated, as ordinary sour creams will. Many Latin American cookbooks assume these cremas are difficult to find and suggest making a homemade version by clabbering whipping cream with buttermilk or active yogurt cultures. But at the warehouse you’ll find more than half a dozen crema varieties. These include Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran and generic Central American styles made by Noche Buena, Ariza, Cotija, Cacique and Cre-Mex. Though all serve the same purpose as a topping or sauce enrichment, each has its own subtle character.

* Ariza-brand crema Centro Americana : Ariza’s label directs you to “shake well,” but I doubt that shaking would have any effect on this ultra-thick spoonable crema. To be sure it is uniformly blended, you need to stir it with a long-handled spoon. Its smooth flavor has a latent tang that develops as a second taste. This is the crema I’d choose to mix with fresh berries and to spread on tea-time scones. On lightly toasted bread, it is wonderful topped with sliced smoked salmon. Spoon it over baked potatoes or use it in any sort of cream sauce.

* Cotija-brand crema de Guatemala : Though it has less dimension than the Centro Americana crema , I preferred the more pronounced tanginess of this slightly thinner crema on marinated grilled pork with tortillas and crema .

* Jocoque : This thick, almost cheese-like cultured product is especially prevalent throughout the dairy lands of Central Mexico. In that part of the country, it is made with the cream that floats to the top of unpasteurized milk. As it clabbers in clay pots, jocoque develops a sharper flavor and fresh milk is usually added to thin it.

The California-made Cre-Mex-brand jocoque that I bought at the warehouse is, of course, made from pasteurized milk and cream and thus not quite authentic (although you’ll find similar products in supermarkets in Mexico). Nevertheless it is so marvelous spooned right from the container it’s difficult to resist taking more than just a lick from the spoon.

The cream-cheese flavor of Jocoque is versatile: For breakfast it’s eaten alongside beans or served plain with sugar added. It may also be mixed with ground meat for chiles rellenos and used to top such antojitos as tostadas and enchiladas.

* Queso Chihuahua : Mexican cooks put this vaguely Cheddar-like regional cheese into the category of “melting” cheeses, along with asadero and enchilado. It’s also called queso Menonita in its home region of Chihuahua because it is made by the large German-speaking Mennonite population. Made by El Mexicano, this California version is mild, slightly tangy and perfect for queso fundido (melted cheese dip), or for filling enchiladas or chiles rellenos. It is rather uninteresting, though, when eaten cold.

* Cuajada : Made by a company called El Centro Americano in San Jose, Calif., this is the queso fresco of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Fist-sized and football-shaped, this mild, fresh whole-milk cheese is eaten either cold or at room temperature.

Copeland Marks, in his book “False Tongues and Sunday Bread,” describes the making of cuajada in the village of Jalapa, Guatemala. Fresh milk is mixed with rennet ( cuajo ) and clabbered for about eight hours. The curds are scooped out and put in heavy cloth bags to drain off the whey. Then the dry curds are kneaded with salt and thinly coated with cream before a final pressing in small wooden frames.

The resulting cheese, rather like farmer cheese with a creamy, slightly salty flavor, is moist yet firm enough to be crumbled over beans, salads or diced avocado. A favorite way to eat cuajada in El Salvador is on Central American-style tostadas--small tortillas spread with cooked beans. Cuajada is also folded into just-baked (or reheated) tortillas, but it is never melted.

TAKE-OUT FOODS

The take-out department, dubbed Cocina El Pueblito or Village Kitchen, has always sold wonderful home-style Mexican dishes such as cocido , barbacoa and shrimp ceviche, but now you can also get a cheese-filled Salvadoran pupusa grilled on the spot.

There is also chile colorado , chile verde and pollo deshebrada (shredded chicken in sauce), all ready to fold into warm tortillas or to serve over rice. The chiles rellenos , filled with a well-seasoned ground pork mixture, are dipped in a light egg batter and fried. These aren’t sauced until you buy them, so they don’t get soggy. You can also ask to take them home with sauce on the side.

In the morning, this cocina also sells the hot, slightly thick corn-based drinks called atoles. These filling drinks come in champurrado (chocolate), mango, coconut, pineapple and avena (oatmeal) flavors.

MISCELLANEOUS GOODS

* Nopalitos: If you buy them whole, fresh cactus paddles require lots of preparation, beginning with the prickly job of removing their thorns. The warehouse produce section features fresh, pan-ready nopalitos, de-thorned, diced and packed in plastic bags. Although you can buy pre-cooked nopalitos in jars and cans, the fresh ones are superior. Nopalitos are worth getting to know as a delicious salad dressed with a vinaigrette and topped with a sprinkling of cotija cheese and diced tomato. Cooked nopalitos are also added to meat stews, soups and scrambled eggs.

The diced cactus paddles should be boiled in plenty of salted water for about 15 to 20 minutes until they no longer exude any thick, slimy juice. Drain well and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

* Chipilin: This Central American vegetable is a leafy green that most frequently turns up in chicken with rice soup. It is never sold fresh in this country but you can buy it frozen in plastic bags.

* Canned black beans: There are several varieties of ready-to-eat black beans, including Lo-Zano-brand Frijoles Negros Volteados from Guatemala. Guatemalan black beans are served two ways: as a soft puree, or fried down to a soft paste that can be cut with a knife. Frijoles volteados, the latter style, are eaten at almost every meal, including breakfast, or as a dip with toasted tortilla triangles.

The warehouse also carries several brands of Cuban criollo- style beans simmered with onions, bell peppers and seasonings. The several brands sold here include Ancel, La Lechonera, Conchita and Kirby, all made in Florida. Though they’re not prepared exactly the same way, these beans could substitute for Yucatecan-style black beans.

* Masarepa or ricarepa : This finely ground pre-cooked white cornmeal is used to make instant corn dough for arepas, the Colombian corn cakes. Its many other uses include Central and South American tamales and bunuelos. Goya brand gives several recipes on its package including one for empanadas. The recipe calls for patting the dough into thin rounds and folding it over to enclose a slice of cheese before grilling.

MEATS

The long butcher counter at the warehouse offers meat cut to order as well as meats pre-cut in the Latin style. Skirt steak is thinly sliced for carne asada. Thin steak marinated in a chile-vinegar marinade is called adobada de res. There are also thin slices of chimoro (beef shank) to make rich beef stocks and soups. And the cases are well stocked with pork tails and feet, and with kidneys and other innards.

An item worth noting are trozitos de puerco , or pork pieces. These can be used for carnitas and any kind of chile or stewed dishes, such as the pork adobado recipe below. The warehouse also makes its own bulk chorizo. This skinless sausage meat, flavored with herbs and chile, is only slightly spicy and very good for scrambling up with eggs, mixing with ground beef for spicy hamburgers, or using in quick, soft tacos, enchiladas and burritos.

I experimented with the achiote condimentado, described above, to make this stewed pork in adobado sauce. The recado contains black pepper but no chile. I suggest adding a dash of salsa picante for diners who want a touch of chile heat.

LINDA’S PORK ADOBADO

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons La Perla Achiote Condimentado (spiced annatto seed paste)

1 1/4 cups unsalted chicken broth or broth made by simmering pork bones and scraps with 2 1/2 cups water

1 medium clove garlic, pressed

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound lean pork, cut in chunks

Salsa picante or hot pepper sauce, optional

5 cups boiled white or brown rice, for garnish

Lemon wedges, pickled jalapeno chiles and olives for garnish

Warm tortillas

Place condimentado in small bowl. Using about 1/4 cup broth, add 2 teaspoons liquid to paste and mash with fork. Add tiny amounts of broth while mashing until mixture is homogenous. Blend in garlic, vinegar and salt and remaining broth. Place pork in large glass baking dish and pour broth mixture over. Marinate 2 hours or up to 10 hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring pork and marinade to boil in heavy saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 1 1/2 hours or until meat breaks apart easily with fork.

With slotted spoon, remove meat from sauce and simmer sauce, uncovered, until reduced to 1 cup. Return meat to sauce and cook, stirring, about 5 minutes. Sauce will be fairly thin but will thicken on standing. Taste and add salsa picante if more heat is desired.

Refrigerate overnight for best flavor, then reheat before serving. Serve meat and sauce with salsa and rice, and garnish each serving with lemon wedge, chiles and olives. Serve with warm tortillas. Makes 4 servings.

GRILLED MARINATED MEAT WITH TORTILLAS AND CREMA

1 to 1 1/3 pounds boneless chicken or pork, cut in strips

1 cup mojo criollo marinade

1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

Vegetable or olive oil

Warm corn or flour tortillas

2/3 cup crema mexicana or jocoque

2 ripe tomatoes, diced

1 small red onion, slivered

Chopped cilantro

Place chicken in glass dish and pour on marinade. Stir in garlic. Allow meat to marinate 2 to 6 hours. Remove meat with slotted spoon and place on double thickness of paper towels.

Heat 1 inch of oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken pieces and fry until done, turning once to brown both sides. Serve hot with tortillas and let diners help themselves to crema, tomatoes, red onion and cilantro. Roll meat and garnishes in tortilla to eat. Makes 4 servings.