Dont´drool, please...

[Jesus]

... after all is YOUR keyboard and monitor, but I don´t want to have misunderstandings due to your inability to read the forum (and maybe your job's texts) after this.
I will try to put pictures now and then of mexican food, for those of you who haven´t tried this "exotic" dishes.
As per my lawyer faint suggestion, I will try to add something in the picture for you to have an idea of the size in case of fruit or "strange" staples.
First one: Tamales (singular is Tamal, not tamale).
Mexico has a strong tie with maize, it is used in all imaginable forms, from tortilla, to corn soup (pozole), to sopes and gorditas, passing through quesadillas, tlacoyos, even hot drinks (Atole), colds drinks (tejate, pozol) and the tamal.

The tamal is a dough made of maize paste (nixtamal) beaten for long time with some lard and water. You take some dry corn shucks (I had to look for the translated name on this. hehe) and smear the dough on them generously and in the middle put something you like: chicken (green, red or mole salsa), pork, queso con rajas, even pineapple or other sweet (or make the dough sweet completely) and believe it or not, you can have one special flavor of tamal: Elote (corn), you wrap the resulting dough with the corn shucks and tie them with a small string taken also from the shucks. Then steam boil it for several hours and voila, you got tamales.
You should eat them hot.

I found an interesting site devoted to the Tamal in English for your pleasure: http://www.sonofthesouth.net/tamales/

Buen Provecho

[Jesus]

I don´t know in the PdC area, but in Central Mexico you can find a variety of tortillas with a different color (I will try to find some of different size for you next time), the maize has that color in the begining so the result is strange.
Maiz azul, (blue corn) wich by my standards is green (look at the picture) tastes sweeter and if you have it "corn on the cob" style you don´t put mayonaise nor white cheese, just put some limón and chile and there you go.

This corn is also used to prepare tortillas, they are coarser and the flavour is a little bit different (but not sweet), they are more difficult to handle for tacos, but if they are thick you can enjoy a nice meal.

Here is a sample, a simple way to enjoy: tortilla azul (verde), some avocado and Oaxaca cheese. Is a very tasty experience.

Buen Provecho.

[Loree]

I am loving this thread already!!

[TnJ]

Yum!! I'll take an order to go please!!

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by TnJ

Yum!! I'll take an order to go please!!

No problem, Snail Mexican Mail or DHL?

[Dallas91]

Originally Posted by Jesus

No problem, Snail Mexican Mail or DHL?

Sending them snail mail may have it arrive with the fillings being the same colour as the tortilla

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by Dallas91

Sending them snail mail may have it arrive with the fillings being the same colour as the tortilla

'xactly,
Nice combination, he?

[Jesus]

In the state of Oaxaca they have a special tortilla, ingredients are almost the same but they cook the tortillas and then they pile them up and wait for customers. Doesn't sound that different right?

Well, they stack them and have them cool to the point of the tortillas being hard. When a customer wants a tlayuda, they would smear some frijoles refritos, put some recado, col, salsa, cecina (salted pork) and queso blanco, fold it and warm it on the coals. Sounds like a taco, but just look at the pictures for the size of it. It doesn´t fit the long plate where they are served. Cost a mere $35 pesos each. Can be the equivalent of 4 or 5 tacos.

This week I´m fortunate to have a small Oaxaca fair near my house and they have all kind of food from that state, yesterday I had some enchiladas de mole, mmmmhhh, yummmy.

[CaroleLB]

WOW!!!

Love it Jesus... keep it coming!

[Jesus]

This corn soup is nothing you have had before if you haven´t been to Mexico. The flavor is not sweet as the corn grown in this part of the world is different than the yellow variety more normal in the USA and Canada.

The peculiarity of the corn used is that it opens (flowers) like pop-corn, but in a stew.

The basic ingredientes are Maiz Cacahuazintle (this is a variety with the kernels bigger and whiter than average, hominy is very close) you get this one dry and already off the cob; some lye or lime to prepare the corn; a pig skull with some other meat like the loin; oregano for serving.

Look here for a way to prepare the kernels
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/pozole.htm
and also a recipe very close to the traditional ones I have seen. Be aware that each region of the country has it´s own version, sometimes is green, other times it has more ingredients or maybe spicy from the begining.

This soup need long hours of boiling otherwise the kernels will be hard and the broth won't be tastefull. Even if you don´t want to eat the meat you need the pig skull to boil along for a tastier soup.

Lot of people can make Pozole, but only the seasoned cooks have the magic touch so I´m always looking for new horizonts with a good cook.

At the table you are free to put the garnish of your liking and it changes also with the region of the country. You may find: lettuce, sliced radish, avocado, chicharron, Tostadas (fried tortilla), cabagge, different kinds of chiles, but the one thing that can never miss is the limón.
Buen Provecho.

[rizan22]

Hey, no fair to do this to me!

[Jesus]

This is the most typical and a little exotic staple you will find in most of the places you visit in Mexico. The origin is not Aztec nor Maya, though.

In any little town you will find a taqueria offering Tacos al Pastor, you will notice immediately as they put the vertical roticery at the entrance of the restaurant to attract the clientèle.
Traditionally the roticery would be layered with charcoal brickets and that heat is responsible for slow-cooking the meat. Nowadays the use of gas and refractary bricks is necesary due to the volume of tacos needed. The meat is usually marinated pork, with the achiote paste one of the main ingredients, which gives the meat an orange-redish look, but it depends solely on the cook preparing the meat. The meat rotates slowly and as each section is cooked the "taquero" will slice a thin portion out of the "trompo" (stack of meat) and put it on the tortilla.

A little bit back in time for the origins of this Mexican specialty. In the end of the 19th century a family from Lebanon came to Mexico and brought their Kebab style tradition, here after many many years and cooks the recipy was transformed from lamb meat to pork, and adding the achiote marinade and topping the transformation with a chunk of fresh pineapple at the top of the roticery to add a touch of tropical flavor, another Mexicanization of the long almost-forgotten recipe (if you want the original one, try the Tacos Arabes, no marinade no pineapple).

Pineapple? you would ask, well, yes, its flavor combines very well and its sweetness will balance the fierceness of the hot salsa you will have your taco smeared with. Some skilled taqueros will flip the pineapple on the tortilla with a flip of the wrist making it a show like the Japanese Teriyaki chefs.

One special note: in Mexico we put Limón (lime for you) in almost all of our food, its acid flavor will merge so nice with the meat that you will wonder why you don´t have this at home daily!!!

Another special note: Salsas. This is a topic not to be missed, in Mexico salsas are usually hot and very spicy no matter what the guy in the next table tells you, or if the cook says it´s mild, NEVER believe them. First you should put A drop in your food to measure the hoteness of the salsa. The color has nothing to do, nor the size of the chile pepers, there are some red ones so small that they look like toy chiles, but are really powerfull. In a good taqueria you will have at least two different kind of salsas: roja (red) y verde (green), the color depends on which chiles were used. If you only find one kind of salsa it means that you arrived very late and the favorite of the cliente is gone or you got a so-so taqueria. Some places carry the salsa verde con aguacate (avocado) but don´t think that it will be safe because you like guacamole, it can be as fierce as the other salsas.
Remeber, always try a drop of each salsa before putting a spoon full of it in your taco.
Buen provecho.

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by rizan22

Hey, no fair to do this to me!

Life is not fair.

Ahh, you are going on a trip to Barbados????? ahhh, then...

Yesterday I had the enchiladas de mole, today a tlayuda de cecina, and tomorrow, mhhh, lets see....:p

[Sol]

OMG! Yum!!! Jesus all of the the food pictures that you posted have me drooling!! A tlacoyo is similar to a tostada or a chalupa, right? They are delicious. We traveled to Oaxaca City this winter...dang we ate so well. One day, we had lunch at the mercado. It was gourmet food!

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by Sol

OMG! Yum!!! Jesus all of the the food pictures that you posted have me drooling!! A tlacoyo is similar to a tostada or a chalupa, right? They are delicious. We traveled to Oaxaca City this winter...dang we ate so well. One day, we had lunch at the mercado. It was gourmet food!

Bad quality pictures but the idea is to get you drooling, but please don´t do it over the keyboard.
Nope, tlacoyo is completely different from tostada. Tlacoyo is the obese cousin of the tortilla, and more the brother of the gordita or sope. Tlacoyos have habas (botany- fava or broad bean ) or frijol inside, they are made with the same masa (dough) but are thicker and in the middle will have haba paste or frijoles. You eat them alone or you can open them and add some salsa and fresh cheese.
Chalupas are (according to me) similar to huaraches. A long version of the tortilla, a bit thicker and oval shaped, like a sandal. You put some beans and cheese and bathe them in salsa.
Tostadas, are just fried or toasted tortillas. You put something on top of them, usually frijoles, lechuga, pollo/pata/tinga/etc, salsa and sprinkle all this with fresh white cheese.
And I was to mention it, but forgot. If you go to Oaxaca city, don´t even think of eating at a restaurant, go to the market just like Sol said. The experience is overwelming. You find all the stands very close from each other and can have a 5 course meal by touring the market. Hot real chocolate handmade and a fresh loaf of bread is something you won´t find in a fancy restaurant. Next stand is the lady selling handmade tortillas suaves or tlayudas; next stop is the guy selling fresh quesillo oaxaca, so fresh it doesn´t need refrigeration for several days. A fast dash for the guy selling avocados then go for the cecina, the butcher is willing to grill some for you if you want.
Or if you are lazy you can just sit at a fonda (small family owned restaurant) and have all of the above in one sitting, plus some enchiladas de mole or pollo en mole.
Ouch, is almost midnigh and I need to have a little snack... be back tomorrow.