Mexican Food

Talking about mexican food is much more than chili, tacos and tequila. While chili, tacos and tequila are truly a deep Mexico’s icon; its traditions, flavors and costumes goes far beyond.

Mexico has a territory of nearly 2 million square kms (1,923.040 kms^2) and a history of more than 700 years, starting long time before 1325, official foundation year for the Aztec Empire, ruled by the Mexicas. (read as ‘Maesheecas’). This vast territory encloses, as it could be expected, a great variety of environment, flora and fauna. Climate range goes from the deserts and forests to sunny beaches, some with warm and others with cold water. Thise climatic variation, vast range of flora and fauna, long history and huge territory has developed a rich cultural and gastronomic tradition which Mexico is proud of.

At this Blog we will be making a magic travel from the northern "cabrito" to the southern "cochinita" and from the famous eastern "veracruz coffee" to the western "pozole", discovering the magic, enchants, traditions and flavors of the Mexican Food. I won't rewrite the recipes and history you can find at other sites. I'll give you some references to that sites and I'll talk about the facts you'll find when you go to Mexico. So you'll learn a little bit of mexican history and traditions and a lot of current stuff going on up there in Mexico.

You can navigate the blog through the index located on the right top or with the blog file located on the bottom right of this mexican food page.

TEX-MEX FOOD

TEX-MEX and Mexican Food are many times used indifferently and/or mistaken one for the other. However, there are clear differences between them. Tex Mex food took its roots from Mexican Food but added different elements alongtime from other cuisines like Spanish, Southern-USA and northern Mexico. Tex-Mex at its present form has added some other industrialized elements from a nostalgic growing mexican population in Southern United States, who demanded something alike Mexican Food.

Although the term "TEX-MEX" was first applied to American influenced "Mexican Food" in the 1940's, the history of this food goes back to the mission era, when spanish and mexican food elements were combined in the northern part of New Spain, Texas.

On the other hand, the term Tex Mex was formerly applied as a nickname for the Texas-Mexican Railway, in 1875.

From the 1800's to date, a lot of elements have been added to TEX-MEX food.

1800's - Blend of Spanish and Mexican elements in Texas were added.
1900's - Americanized elements like yellow melted cheese, corn-chips and taco shells were added.

There is a lot of Tex-Mex inventions who are well known around the world as "Mexican Food". However, in most cases you won't be able to find those inventions in Mexico. Some of them are: chili con carne, chili con queso, chili gravy, fajitas, taco shells, nachos and burritos. All of them are Tex-Mex foods and in many cases they are hard to find in Mexico or not available at all.

We are not saying that Mexican Food or Tex-Mex Food is better or worse. We simply want to emphasize they are different. And we want to show you what is really mexican. This way, when you visit Mexico, you won't feel disspointed because you order your "Chili con Carne" and they give you a strange look asking "What is that?"

For more reference, visit Tex-Mex Cuisine at Wikipedia and the Mexican Food Timeline website.

Corn and Esquites

Corn on the cob and esquites, mmmmhhh! We are getting into "the domain of real sabor" (real flavor), as Tony Cohan said in his book "On Mexican Time", which I really recommend you to read. And as you are probably aware, Mexico is slathered with churches, mainly catholic ones. Well, It is a real tradition in the cold winter nights, when you have acomplish with your catholic dutties and you are just leaving the church, to eat Corns at its Cob or Esquites. Nothing compares with the aromatic scent perceived out of the church when somebody is just there selling esquites for you.

Corns are served with chilli, lemon and mayonaisse, although sometimes the mayo is changed for cream and cheese. Either way they are deliciuos, and simple to prepare. Give them a try !

Now, esquites are a little more complicated to prepare. For esquites, you just use the corn kernels, not the cob. The kernels are mixed with aromatic herbs (here is where the scent comes from), chilli, lemon and salt. They are served on a cup and on top of it, it's added the same ingredients as in the cobs; chilli, lemon and mayonaisse. Delicious !

You can see a picture of the mexican way to eat the corn here. Enjoy your favourite mexican food.

Chicharrón with Cueritos

Chicharrón with Cueritos. All right, all right... I couldn't find the exact translation for this delicacy, so I'll call them chicharrones with pork skin. I sadly found the next translation at some dictionaries: "Residue of hogs' fat". It's the poorest way to describe it. What I really liked was the ample definition I found at Wikipedia, even in English and Spanish. Whether you could preffer to read the definition in English, I really encourage you to have a look at the spanish description where you can find a picture of the mexican chicharron. And for those who doesn't want to bother themselves going to those links, I just say the following 3 facts:

1) The mexican chicharrón is basically made with the skin pork, not the fat (although we have a different variation called pressed chicharron, which is made mainly with fine chopped pork -residues, say others-)

2) Chicharron is prepared slightly different at diverse regions of the planet with singular names: United States: pork rind and cracklings; Canada: scrunchions; United Kingdom: pork crackling and pork scratching; France: gratons; Serbia cvarci; and Philippines: chicharon.

3) Chicharron is widespread in Latin America at countries like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina and the island of Utila. At those places is eaten as snack and with different dishes like cachapas, arepas, popusas, tacos and gorditas.

Now lets get to the point: How is it sold in Mexico. It is sold in a very particular vehicle, whcih you can find at fairies, outside of a church or at some parks. This vehicle is a work pushing bike with three wheels in which it's addapted a sort of display cabinet and then the chicharron is served with the cueritos. But hey! I haven't explain yet what the cueritos are ! Well, as you can imagine, is pork skin ( same as chicharron), but instead of been fried, the cueritos are prepared in brine (water saturated or nearly saturated with salt).

The chicharron with cueritos is usually served with tomato, avocado, lettuce, cream and spicy sauce. Once again, I invite you to visit the definition at wikipedia to see a picture of the mexican chicharrón. I'm really having the appetite for it ! Don't you?

Have a delicious day enjoying your favorite mexican food. And don't forget to make a spare part to share with us !

Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Condensed Milk

• Sweet Potatoes and bananas with condensed milk. Now you are getting into the mexican contemporary traditional food. At any Mexican suburb or even at any town you are in Mexico you'll hear a sound that could remind you that of a train. That whistle will tell you is already dinner time. Normally, sweet potatos and bananas are sold in the cold winter nights. ( Just a note, by the way. In Mexico the main meal is eaten between 2.00 and 4.00 pm, and the dinner, although is not very light, is not the main meal of the day.) So you can go out to the street and ask for your favorite, which could be the sweet potato or the banana. Now, they are brought in a well closed trolley with draws for the bananas and the sweet potatoes. This trolley is filled with coal. Therefore, the bananas and sweet potatos are cooked by steam and heat. And the whistle you heard is exactly the same as in a steam train. It's produced by burning coal. They will be served with condensed milk. Now you are done. Just get back into your place, heat up your milk and enjoy !

LOOK AT THIS FANTASTIC BLOG to see a picture of the famous sweet potato trolley (carrito de camotes) and if you have a good spanish understanding, you'll find an excellent sample of the collquial and fine mexican double sense.

Tamales

Lets talk about the daily breakfast for thousands of Mexicans: the delicious TAMALES. But hang on ! wait a moment ! When we talk about tamales, we have to talk about Atoles as well. This is turning very interesting. Here we go ! Just imagine you're now in México City... more than 20 million people in the same city... no time for breakfast... Of course you are plenty of choices: fast food, good restaurants, etc. Now, just to have you in the right picture, one more thing: Mexico City is located in the northern temperate zone of the planet. So, is not cold, not warm, just the perfect weather. Of course there are variations according with the season, but the weather there is normally beautiful. Let's back to the point. Nevertheless, a normal morning in Mexico City is a little cold all along the year. Then, you'll be looking for something warm. And of course, something with enough energy to keep you going the whole day. Remember, when you live in a city with more than 20 million people and the commute average is about 2 hours a day, you have no much time to eat. And then, just in the gate of your office or in the corner where you get out of your bus is a trolley with delicious, warm and energetic tamales and atole... mmmh!

But let me told you what are the tamales and atole. As you probably already know, mexican diet have been based on corn from hundreds of years. Tamales is a mix of corn flour with animal lard and water, then filled with pork, chicken or chilli with cheese. That mix could be wrapped either in corn or banana leaves and steamed for hours. The corn wrapped tamales are the "common" ones and the banana leaf wrapped are known as "chiapanecos" or "veracruzanos" (named after the mexican Chiapas and Veracruz states) or simply as "banana leaf" tamales. Atole is a mix of milk, wheat flour, fruit or syrup and species. The most common flavors are strawberry, chocolate (with a little variation sometimes known as "champurrado" instead of atole, but this is made with corn flour) and cajeta (burn milk)

Visit this link to see two beautiful pictures of the typical "tamales y atole" stall and trolley. There you'll find a brief description of the "Atole Fair".

Finally, if you live in Melbourne or at the surrounding suburbs, you can enjoy authentic tamales and atole by visiting our websites at www.tastytamales.com.au and www.cualli.com.au

Tacos in a Basket

• Tacos in a Basket. This special kind of tacos are sold in a very particular way. They are carried in a bike holding a basket with tacos in there. Then, when the cyclist-trader finds a good spot, he stands there and starts the selling. Normally, a good spot for the tacos in a basket could be outside of a building under construction or outside of an office complex. Tacos in a basket are normally small and a normal person could have about three or more. They come with different fillings like potato, beans and beef. Those are the normal ones, although you can find them with other fillings.

Tacos in a basket are known "sweated tacos" (Tacos sudados) as well because they are steamed when prepared. If you want to make them CLICK HERE to find a good recipe. Give it a try and don't forget to share with us.