|  A
lot of specialities
Every State has its specific savors : the tropical
coast is rich in fish and seafood; the hot land is rich in fruits
and vegetables.
The gastronomic adventurous will see the content
of their plates depends a lot upon the region where they are in
this country with multiple climates, every state produces different
ingredients and has its own specific gastronomy.
Here are some famous and interesting examples.
 CAMPECHE
Among the large diversity of their cooking, we can note the fish
dishes: bread, panuchos, empanadas, tamales and tacos
de cazón, the pámpano en escabèche, the
cold crab legs and the delicious papaché, bred in the mangroves.
There are different recipes of octopus, calamari and divers fish.
In summer time, you can find moro crab, prepared in many ways and
considered by many as the “king of seafood”. The shrimps
of Campeche are the best and the most popular in the country. You
can choose various dishes made with any kind of shrimps from the
giant ones to the very small called "siete barbas".
GUADALAJARA
Guadalajara is often considered
the most Mexican among all the other cities because it incarnates
the mestizaje (mixture of Spanish and Indian bloods) – At
least it is true for the food traditions. To make the pozole,
combine together dry corn and meat, bring to a boil and simmer.
The birria is a spiced and smoked lamb barbacoa,
then steamed and served with a stock.
GUERRERO
In this State, on the western coast of Mexico,
a faraway link with China gave to the local cuisine a very artistic
touch in the use of spices. This State is known for his big variety
of fish. You need to taste fresh shrimps with chiles quajillos
(prepared with a tomato sauce), or pescado a la talla,
grilled fish served with a sauce. The chilapitas could
be an excellent meal with small corn (or wheat) tortillas
and beans or pieces of chicken. On Thursday, look for the pozole
verde, soup specially served on this day, made from gourd seeds,
cacahuazintle and seafood or pork. Finally, to end a good, spiced
meal, taste the iguana tamales, cakes made from tamarind
or coconut.
MEXICO City and the vicinity
The most typical menus are the tortas in any variety, a
kind of sandwich served in a multitude of torterias.
You need to taste also these big steaks whose diameter can reach
thirty centimeters with a half a centimeter thickness, called sábanas
(sheets in English !), as well as the crepas de flor de
culabaza, which look like regular French crepes stuffed
with flowers of gourd and black huitlacoche for an exotic
note.
During the main holidays, Mexicans eat barbacoa chicken
or lamb. The preparation itself is a big event because Mexican built
a sort of oven digging a hole that is coated with hot rocks holding
ashes covered with maguey leaves (pencas) in their center
in order not to burn the container. This container looks like a
vase filled with rice water and chile, which will boil
and release vapor that will cook the chicken or lamb meat. The stock
will be eaten too and the whole dish will be served with a sauce
made from maguey pulp, chile and garlic to go with the
barbacoa. A real program ! The tlacoyos are snacks
looking like turnover corn dough, tender and flavored corn, (sometimes
blue or green corn), stuffed with diverse ingredients like flowers
of gourd or huitlacoche and grilled.
MICHOACÁN
The carnitas consist in braised or fried pork served with
corn tortillas and guacamole. Taste also the sopa tarasca,
maybe the best soup of tortillas, at least the original
one and the uchepos, succulent tamales from fresh,
non-dry corn.
On Pátzcuaro, try the
pescado blanco, white fish dipped in an egg and fried in
olive oil with garlic and try also the charales as appetizer,
small fried fish, or in soup.
In Morelia the specialty is the
enchilada de plaza, with cheese, potatoes, carots, onions
and chile and served with boiled chicken.
NORTH and CENTER of MEXICO
The variety and the size of the region are not reflected in the
cuisine since you would find everywhere grilled meat and wheat or
corn tortillas.
Grilled beef is as good as the very fresh fish from Chihuahua.
In Monterrey, taste the broiled kid (cabrito al pastor)
meaning cooked in the shepherds’ way : in barbecue. Enjoy
also the tacos al carbon (grilled with mesquite barbecue
wood), delicious grilled meat used to stuff the tortillas
and the chimichangas served with water tortillas,
very thin and stuffed with carne seca (dry meat), or machacado:
minced and sun dried beef.
In San Luis Potosi, try
the enchiladas potosinas, the tacos rojos potosinos
or the tortas of shrimp with mole pipian. You can also
taste the miel de tuna (prickly pear), and trompadas (sweet
breads). Guanajuato owns a
big diversity of typical regional dishes, as the pork legs, the
pacholas of Guanajuato
(fried ground beef meat), the empanadas of meat, the bread
of Acambaro. The most typical dish is the enchilada. The
most famous drinks are the sugar, the strawberry liquor and the
water of mezquite. Also try the cajetas de Celaya (sweets)
and the charamuscas, made from sugar.
OAXACA
 There
is a lot of local dishes. There is always panoply of tamales
and chile chipotles; taste the oblong cheese that flows
smoothly because you can’t find it anywhere else. In Oaxaca,
you can also find : molotes, chicken soup, roasted lamb,
lima beans cooked in clay pans, cactus fruits cooked in
their juice, quelites, and tlayudas, big tortillas
seasoned with a mixture of tomatoes, chile and garlic.
PUEBLA
Looking like brioches, the cemitas are tortas made from small-scooped
breads.
The Arab tacos are thin pita tortillas stuffed with grilled
pork and a yogurt sauce (jocoque), honey and sometimes olive oil
with herbs.
The sauce Mole, rich with more than three hundred varieties
is said to be the work of Dominican nun Sister Andrea de la Asuncion
who would have mixed the mulli, ground chile sauce with diverse
spices. This sauce that would date from Colombian time can be found
in the most famous Mexican preparation : the Mole Poblano,
happy mixture of two cuisines.
Taste also the chiles en nogada that are chiles
served with a creamed walnut sauce. It is the specialty of Puebla,
and it is said that it was created for Iturbide Emperor and eaten
for the celebration of the Independence war.
Looking like brioches, the cemitas are tortas
made from small-scooped breads.
The Arab tacos are thin pita tortillas stuffed
with grilled pork and a yogurt sauce (jocoque), honey and sometimes
olive oil with herbs.
The sauce Mole, rich with more than three hundred varieties
is said to be the work of Dominican nun Sister Andrea de la Asuncion
who would have mixed the mulli, ground chile sauce with diverse
spices. This sauce that would date from Colombian time can be found
in the most famous Mexican preparation: the Mole Poblano,
happy mixture of two cuisines.
Taste also the chiles en nogada that are chiles
served with a creamed walnut sauce. It is the specialty of Puebla,
and it is said that it was created for Iturbide Emperor and eaten
for the celebration of the Independence war.
TABASCO
The name of Tabasco is associated with the hot sauce, well known
and made from chile. The breakfast is composed of black
coffee, a slice of guanabana or some tamalillos
in their juice, green bananas, torrejas de yuca or crusty
totopostes. The tamales are prepared with turkey or
pork meat, seasoned with epazote or achiote, and served on a herbia
santa leaf. The tamales de hoja de chipilin are a similar
dish. You can add unlimited Tabasco sauce. Among the most popular
dishes in Tabasco, there is the pochitoque, hicotea or quao tortuga.
The animal is simmered with momo, chiles and chiplin.
The piquas, giant crawfish found only in Tabasco, are broiled with
a garlic sauce.
VERACRUZ
Veracruz, first place of landing for the Conquistadors,
maintains a strong gastronomic Spanish tradition, crossbred with
Afro Caribbean and Indian influences. The huauchinango a la
veracruzana (red snapper after the Veracruz style), boiled
or sautéed, is served with a tomato, olives, capers and vinegar
sauce.
YUCATÁN
The Mayan culture seems to have marked the Yucatán
cuisine more than the Aztec cuisine or any other one.
The sopa de lima (lime soup) is a very good illustration
: This is a soup made from chicken served with slices of fried tortillas
and lime that you can’t find anywhere else but in
Yucatán.
Taste the Cochinito pibil (suckling pig): the meat first
marinated in a mixture of spices, the recado before being wrapped
in bananas leaves and baked in an underground oven. The same recipe
exists with chicken (polio pibil).
You can also eat huevos motulenos, boiled tortillas
topped with a fried egg and smothered with ham, peas, shredded cheese
and tomato sauce. You can also be served original tortillas
stuffed with sweetened ground meat, Holland cheese, and gourd seeds,
grilled and ground with epazote (spice) and pieces of chicken
(salbutes).
The refreshing local drink that goes with all these dishes is the
pozo.
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here to display the selection of photos about
the mexican gastronomy
Lexique
What order ?
 Antojitos
: These are Mexican snacks. Whatever the name, it is always a corn
tortilla that is used as a container. The quesadillas are
made with cheese but can be stuffed with flowers of gourd, mushrooms
or potatoes. The taquitos (small tacos) are made
with meat or vegetables. The enchiladas are always adorned
with red or green, more or less hot, chile, sprinkled with shredded
cheese and cream, and then baked. The sopes are different from the
tacos only because of their shape. You have to try them
all but order them " poco picosos"... not too
hot...
Atole. It is a drink made from corn flour mixed
with water or milk and looks like porridge.
Caldo.
It is a fish or shrimp soup, specialty of Veracruz. But, for sure,
you would find more easily the caldo de pollo (chicken).
Camote.
It is the sweet potato, often proposed as candied sweet potatoes.
Cecina.
is a traditional cut of beef, sliced thin, salted and dried by the
sun. The best one is from Yecapixtla in the State of Morelos.
Cilantro.
It is an aromatic herb that is added to any salad.
Chapulines.
There are grasshoppers eaten in tacos with guacamole.
Chilaquiles.
Tortillas strips cooked in a hot sauce with chorizo, meat,
beans, onions, avocado and cheese.
Chiles.
This is one of the three elements of Mexican cuisine. There are
hundred of varieties. It can be eaten raw, fresh, cooked marinated
or as pickles. It is sweet or hot, small or big, with different
color. The more used in cuisine are the cascabel, the chipotle,
the guero, the jalapeno, the poblano,
or the serrano. Be aware of two of them: the chile
de arbol (long, thin and red) and the chile habanero
(small and yellow), these two chiles could stop your trip
!
Chiltomate.
It is a mixture of tomato sauce and chile habanero. (Good
for curing a hangover...)
Dulces.
In Mexico, the tradition of pastries comes from
Spain but it grows richer with the savor of the tropical fruits.
The names are picturesque : charamusca, trompadas, pirulis,
morelianas, alegrias, mamon, queques or birotes.
Escamoles.
They are the larvae of ants, considered like the Mexican caviar
(as expensive as the other caviar). It is said that if you eat this,
you would be a centenarian.
Frijoles.
They are black beans. It is the cure against the "turista",
the antidote of the “fire" provoked by the hot chile.
You can find it with different shades, from light red to dark black.
Guacamole.
It is a purée of avocado, seasoned with onions, green chile,
salt and a lot of lime.
Guajolote.
is the turkey; it is also called the Pavo. It is the traditional
holidays dish
Gusano de
Maguey. They could be red or white. They are the worms
from the agave plant. You could eat them in tacos with
guacamole (in April/May). It is excellent.
Guanabana.
It is a dark green fruit whose skin is covered with heart shaped
grooves. The pulp is white and the seeds are black It is a sweet
and refreshing fruit that is best in sorbet.
Huitlacoche.
It is the parasite of the corn. The Náhuatl name means "cloudy
corn " or "sleepy excrescence". In the State of Jalisco,
it is called the "Cuervo" (raven) and "Tecolote"
(crow) in the State of Michoacán,
obviously because of the shape and color of this fungus. You can
eat it, and again it is a delight, au gratin or fried with onions
and chile, square cut, with a stem of epazote
(spice).
Maguey. "And among the beauty of the nature:
the maguey. It grows on any piece of soil, is used to make paper;
its sap will make a fermented drink called the Pulque; with its
leaves, one’s could make a fabric strong enough to make clothes
and finally its root is used to prepare a rich and nourishing food.
The maguey was, alltogether, for Mexicans, food, drink, cloth and
material for writing", free translation, Guillermo Prescot.
1843.
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here to display the selection of photos about
the "maguey"
Mezcal.
It is a Spirit distilled from the maguey. It is the drink of the
Gods; it is the reason that it drives you mad. Here is a proverb
: "For every bad thing, a mezcal, for every good thing, the
same".
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here to display the selection of photos about
the "mezcal"
Mole
Verde. It is a green sauce made from green tomato and
green chile that should be served with roast pork.
Pulque.
It was the ritual drink offered to the Gods in the ceremonial acts.
Only the elderly people could get drunk. Nowadays, it is the commune
drink for people in the countryside as well as in the working class
districts. It is produced by the fermentation of the sap (aguamiel),
mixed with the juice of the fruit. In addition, the pulque is used
in making meringues and other cakes. These were sold at the doors
of the "pulquerias" (reserved for men only) to
let the husbands, bringing these sweets home, show their wife that
they were late, not because of some infidelity, but only because
of the pulque.
Nopal.
They are leaves of cactus that produces prickly pears in the Mediterranean
region. Once the spines removed, add bicarbonate to strain the cactus
and boil it; it is then used in salads. Mexico exports its nopales
to the United States and also Japan, very fond of them.
Tortilla.
It is a small corn “pancake”.
Tequila.
It is made from the agave. It is at the source of numerous cocktails
among them, the famous"Margarita". The "margaritas"
were prostitutes who were authorized to go inside some cantinas
reserved for men. They were drinking light mixtures with lemon and
a drop of tequila.
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