The cuisines and ingredients of Mexico

Mexican cuisine is extremely varied and extensive, with some wonderfully exotic taste concoctions as well as down to earth food that sticks to the ribs (and hips!). The commonly-identified dishes such as tacos, tamales, ceviche and tortillas are only a small part of the intensely diverse and savory regional specialties of Mexico.

When the Spanish arrived in what is now Mexico and the surrounding lands of the North and South American continents, they found a wealth of new foods, herbs, fruits and vegetables to delight their palates - products not found or grown in other parts of the world. Some of these products included avocados, tomatos, papayas, pineapple, maize, chocolate, vanilla, chile peppers, peanuts and turkeys. Melded over the years with the products that the Spaniards and other explorers imported from abroad: spices from the Orient, olives and their oil, many nuts and grains and vegetables, Mexican cuisine has evolved into a kaleidescope of intriguing flavors.

Some of the regional specialties of Northern Mexico and North Central Mexico include:

Carne Asada (grilled meat), machaca and chorizo (reconstituted dried beef and spicy sausage), Chiles en Nogada (meat, nut and fruit stuffed chile peppers in a creamy walnut sauce), Arrachera (skirt steak marinated in oil and spices), frijoles charros or borrachos (drunken beans - savory beans cooked with beer), queso asadero and queso Chihuahua (traditional cheeses made in Northern Mexico) , Cabrito al Pastor (roast goat), tamales (cornflour dough stuffed with meat or other ingredients, wrapped in a cornhusk and steamed) and wheat flour tortillas.

Some of the regional specialties of Central and Southern Mexico include:

Sopa de Huitlacoche (corn fungus soup - a delicacy), Sopa de Hongos (wild mushroom soup with the distinctive flavor of pigweed herb), Mixiote de Pollo (spiced chicken steamed in maguey or banana leaves), mole Poblano (mole is a thick, complex sauce containing a variety of ingredients such as chiles, chocolate, ground seeds and nuts, cumin, oregano and other herbs and spices - from Puebla), Pozole (hominy soup with pork and chicken), caldo de pescado or de mariscos (fish or seafood soup - usually quite spicy), nacatamales (like regular tamales but wrapped in a banana leaf, and larger), uchepos (from Michoacan, a fresh corn tamale), Huachinango a la Veracruzana (Red Snapper in a savory tomato/olive/caper sauce), and from the Yucatan, Papatzul (tortillas stuffed with chicken and topped with a creamy, ground pumpkin seed sauce, served with hard-cooked egg)

Enjoyed everywhere:

Pastel de Tres Leches (a super moist cake soaked in 3 kinds of milk), Guacamole (avocado puree with chopped onions, tomato, chiles, lime juice), tacos of any kind with shrimp, chicken, beef; enchiladas verdes y rojos (tortillas filled with cheese or chicken in a spicy green or red sauce and topped with cream, crumbled cheese and onions), Carnitas (shredded roast or barbecued pork), frijoles refritos (beans refried with lard), Flan (Mexico's custard and equivalent of Creme Caramel).

Mexican cookbooks, recipe collections, and gourmet food products - Everything you need to make a spectacular and tasty Mexican meal.