Cuisines
Mexican Cuisine
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The cooking traditions of Mexico, rooted in Mesoamerican staples domesticated over several thousand years, maize, beans and chili pepper chief among them, and reshaped from the 16th century onward by Spanish colonial ingredients including wheat, pork, dairy and citrus. Regional cuisines are pronounced: Oaxaca is known for its complex mole sauces, Yucatan for achiote-based marinades reflecting Maya foodways, and the north for wheat-flour tortillas and grilled beef in place of the maize-based south. Traditional Mexican cuisine, focused on the state of Michoacan, was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2010.
Facts
Signature TechniqueNixtamalization of maize for masa, dried chile sauce making for moles and adobos, and open flame grilling are hallmark techniques. 1 Origin RegionMesoamerica and modern Mexico, rooted in indigenous Aztec and Maya foodways blended with Spanish colonial influence after 1521. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Expresses Tradition
Features Dish
Uses Ingredient
Cacao, Ingredients Cacao is a Mesoamerican staple carried into Mexican cuisine, most visibly in mole sauces.
Sources
1. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee, Scribner, 2004technique discussion: nixtamalization
1. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee, Scribner, 2004Expresses Tradition: Cacao Fermentation and Chocolate Making, ch. on chocolate
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Expresses Tradition: Nixtamalization, s.v. Mexican CuisineView the Source The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014entry: Mexico
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009Uses Ingredient: Maize, entry: Maize
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009Uses Ingredient: Chili Pepper, entry: Chilli
Theobroma Cacao (Wikipedia)
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