Real Mexican Food – South of the Border
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The food in Mexico may not be exactly what you expect.
Everyone in the US has spent many enjoyable meals in the local
Mexican restaurants in their town or city, but if you live in
Mexico or make an extended visit, you'll find some delightfully
tasty dishes you never experienced back home.
As you would expect, the national cuisine is flavorful, colorful,
and contains lots of spices. If you're adventurous and willing
to take part in the local culture, you'll find many dishes that
never make their way into cafés up north, and you'll enjoy
experimenting with new tastes and ingredients.
Many of the items you'll find in grocery stores and in restaurants
are an ingenious combination of the original Aztec and Maya ingredients
of corn, chilies, squash and beans, usually with a Spanish twist.
Many of the foods we now consider staples in our own households
in the US, Canada and Europe were originally found in the land
that became Mexico and Central America.
You'll notice many differences in the way food is prepared –
sometimes an item that you think you know will be different in
Mexico. For instance, quesadillas, a flour or corn tortilla filled
with cheese, may have cheddar or jack cheese when found in a US
restaurant, but in Mexico it is likely to be filled with a soft
farmer's cheese like Queso Fresco. You can find this cheese in
some larger US groceries if you'd like to see what it's like.
Add some shredded pork or chicken and a chili sauce, for a special
treat.
If you find yourself in the Mexican interior, or if you are just
more adventurous than most tourists, you might find dishes made
the way the original people of the area cooked, before the Spanish
conquest. If you look hard, you might be able to taste such unusual
ingredients as rattlesnake, monkey, lizard and even some kinds
of insects. These dishes are unlikely to be found in the more
popular tourist hot-spots like Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, and
are not for the faint of heart.
Just like in the United States, the food changes from one area
to the next. The culture of Mexico is diverse and interesting,
and the food reflects the differences in climate, culture and
tastes.
One item you'll find served in many Mexican restaurants and homes
is the traditional enchilada. This dish is made from a corn tortilla
(often hand-made on the spot) that has been briefly softened in
hot oil and then dipped in enchilada sauce. The tortillas are
then filled with a variety of ingredients, such as chicken, vegetables,
pork or beef, and even eggs or bananas. In some areas a filling
made of potatoes and cheese is popular.
After being rolled up they are placed together in a dish, and
more sauce is spooned on top, along with other ingredients like
cheese, onions and olives. The sauce is almost always spicy, and
will contain the traditional chili peppers and other seasonings.
Mole sauce, made with chili peppers, ground nuts or seeds, and
unsweetened chocolate is also common and worth trying.
Another very simple dish you may find in your travels is the
"sope", a traditional dish originating in the city of
Guadalajara, Jalisco. It is considered a snack or "street
food" in Mexico.
Sopes are made by placing refried beans and crumbled cheese,
onions, red or green salsa and sour cream on top of fried masa.
Masa is the specially prepared ground corn that is also used to
make the thinner tortillas that most of us are familiar with.
Another item you'll find in some areas of Mexico, but which is
rarely on a US menu, is chilorio, a pork dish popular in the Mexican
State of Sinaloa. This dish can be prepared in a number of different
ways, but most recipes include tender pork that is fried in a
chili sauce. To make the pork tender it is slowly simmered for
hours. It is then broken into small pieces and fried in lard,
and then cooked again in chili sauce. The ingredients in the sauce
usually include onions, cumin and garlic.
If you have a chance to live in Mexico or visit for an extended
time, be sure to sample the varied and delicious traditional dishes.
Visit the markets and experience the incredible variety of vegetables,
spices and meats that make up the traditional Mexican cuisine.
You'll discover that this nation has far more to offer in the
way of variety and tastes than you'll ever find in a Mexican restaurant
back home in the States.
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