Mexican Food Site
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A Franco-Mexican cocktail for Cinco de Mayo
What better way to commemorate the triumph of Mexican identity over French imperialist aggression than with a “tequila margarita”, that most Mexican of cocktails, which blends the utterly Mexican tequila with the very French Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier?

An insectivore in Oaxaca
Oaxaca's famed gastronomy is complex and varied, and the cooking and eating of insects dates back to pre-hispanic times: grasshoppers, caterpillars and ants' eggs are some of the local specialities.

An insectivore in Oaxaca
Oaxaca´s famed gastronomy is complex and varied, and the cooking and eating of insects dates back to pre-hispanic times: grasshoppers, caterpillars and ants´ eggs are some of the local specialities.

Antojitos, the street food of Mexico
The actual meaning of the word “antojitos” is sudden cravings or hankerings, but it is used to describe delicious Mexican snacks, based on corn tortillas, which are enjoyed in Mexico throughout the day; they are typical of Mexican street and market food, and a real gastronomic adventure and treat.

Avocado, pear of the Indies
The Aztecs’ ahuacatl has become the avocado but the name bestowed upon it by the Spanish conquistadores was both more romantic and more evocative: pera de las Indias, pear of the Indies, illustrating its shape and what must have seemed, in the sixteenth century, an exotic and outlandish provenance

Breakfast in Mexico
Mexicans tend to “break the fast” in the early morning with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee spiked with cinnamon and a “pán dulce”, but as the morning progresses, appetites are kindled and it is time for the “desayuno”.

Breakfast in Mexico - Bricklayer's eggs
Huevos del albañil are a typical, traditional breakfast throughout the country, although a popular variation is to toss some stale tortillas into the sauce to make green “chilaquiles” which serve as a bed for the eggs.

Cajeta - sweet, sickly and hopelessly calorific
Cajeta is a delectable, fabulously calorific, caramelised goat's milk concoction, as Mexican as you can get, and while it may not benefit the waistline, its intensely deep, comforting sweetness is undoubtedly soothing to the soul!

Cajeta - sweet, sickly and hopelessly calorific
Cajeta is a delectable, utterly addictive, caramelised goat´s milk concoction, as Mexican as you can get, and while it may not benefit the waistline, its intensely deep, comforting sweetness is undoubtedly soothing to the soul!

Capirotada - a pudding for Easter
Semana Santa, Holy Week, and Pascua, Easter, are marked by widespread celebrations, festivities and rejoicing in Mexico and while this period is in essence a religious festival, it is also tremendous fun, with a decidedly carnival atmosphere. Capirotada is a traditional Lent and Easter dish.

Capirotada - a pudding for Easter
Semana Santa, Holy Week, and Pascua, Easter, are marked by widespread celebrations, festivities and rejoicing in Mexico and while this period is in essence a religious festival, it is also tremendous fun, with a decidedly carnival atmosphere. Capirotada is a traditional Lent and Easter dish.

Celebrate 5 de Mayo with a fajitas fiesta
5 de Mayo, 5 May, is a date dear to Mexican hearts and a cause for celebrations, fiestas and general jollity, especially in Puebla, where a memorable battle was once fought. No specific dishes are served on 5 de Mayo but fajitas are real fiesta food and an appropriate way to mark the occasion.

Christmas in Mexico - Christmas Eve Salad
Christmas Eve in Mexico is an occasion for a family dinner, served before everybody goes off to Midnight Mass, known as “Misa de Gallo”, cockerel’s mass. The meal starts off with a special Christmas Eve salad, Ensalada de Noche Buena, which is a rather peculiar concoction.

Christmas in Mexico – Posadas and piñatas
The run-up to Christmas in Mexico is one long series of parties – in fact a very specific type of party which takes place over the nine days prior to Christmas, and goes by the name of “posada". It involves much singing and a piñata filled with fruit, nuts, chocolate and delicious "polvorones".

From Poldark to Pachuca - a pasty's journey
The Cornish pasty is a stalwart of British gastronomy, steeped in tradition, history and folklore. However, it has travelled widely, following the Cornish tin miners across the globe, and in the 19th century, it reached Mexico and the silver mines of Pachuca and Mineral del Monte.

Huitlacoche, the truffle of Mexico
Rainy seasons bring fungi, and the summer and early autumn markets in Mexico, particularly in the mountains, are full of wild mushrooms, from ceps, morels, pieds de mouton, bright orange trompetitas and chanterelles, to the incredibly sinister-looking huitlacoche, known as the truffle of Mexico.

Independence Day in Mexico
General Agustín de Iturbide, having signed the treaty of Córdoba which finally gave Mexico its freedom, made his triumphant way from Veracruz to Mexico City. His passage through Puebla resulted in the creation of one of Mexican gastronomy’s most famous concoctions, Chiles en Nogada

Jícama, the Mexican turnip
Brown, bulbous and rather hirsute, Pachyrrhizus Erosus has little to offer in the way of glamour, but it is an important member of the Mexican larder, both ancient and modern.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Bacalao
Bacalao is virtually synonymous with Lent and features in Lenten dishes throughout the Christian world. It plays an important role in Mexico’s “cocina cuaresmeña”, and while badly prepared bacalao is a true penance, it can be a very delicious vehicle for many indigenous Mexican ingredients.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Broad bean soup
Sopa de habas, or broad bean soup, makes a regular appearance in Mexican homes and restaurants during the Lenten or “La Cuaresma” season, and yet cannot be considered an ancestral or indigenous dish, as broad beans originated not in the Americas but in North Africa as well as Southeast Asia.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Broad bean soup
Sopa de habas, or broad bean soup, makes a regular appearance in Mexican homes and restaurants during the Lenten or “La Cuaresma” season, and yet cannot be considered an ancestral or indigenous dish, as broad beans originated not in the Americas but in North Africa as well as Southeast Asia.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Calabacitas Entomatadas
Lent in Mexico sees the appearance of “La Cocina Cuaresmeña” or Lenten cuisine, with its focus firmly on fish and vegetables. “Calabacitas entomatadas” is a very simple but highly popular Lenten dish which combines three of the "milpa’s" time-honoured inhabitants: squash, tomatoes and chillies.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Chilpachole
Chilpachole is a spicy stew or thick soup traditionally made with prawns or crab, eaten often during Lent or La Cuaresma. Although it is very typical of the cooking of Veracruz, it is served all along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and ranges from utter simple to downright luxurious.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Torta de elote
Vegetable “tortas” or “budines” are popular vegetable bakes served during La Cuaresma or Lenten period and very far removed from pre-Hispanic dishes, as they are set with eggs and tend to contain dairy products, none of which made an appearance in Mexican cuisine until after the Conquest.

Lenten cooking in Mexico - Tortitas de camarón
Lent may bring to mind pictures of fasting, penitence, abstinence and “giving up” a food which you particularly enjoy, but it is also an opportunity to explore the wealth of vegetable and fish dishes which make up “la cocina cuaresmeña” or Lenten cooking of Mexico.

Mackerel Veracruz style
The bustling port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico is a melting pot of culinary influences and much of its cuisine is based on the local fish, the most famous being Pescado a la Veracruzana, a perfect example of the blending of Old and New World ingredients.

Mackerel Veracruz style
The bustling port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico is a melting pot of culinary influences and much of its cuisine is based on the local fish, the most famous being Pescado a la Veracruzana, a perfect example of the blending of Old and New World ingredients.

Mackerel Veracruz style
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Mexican Antojitos - Chilaquiles
According to an old Mexican wives’ tale, chilaquiles are an excellent cure for a hangover, but excess consumption of tequila aside, chilaquiles are the most comforting of foods, satisfying, rib-sticking, deeply flavoured and very good for the soul.

Mexican Antojitos - Enchiladas
As the name suggests, enchiladas pack a punch! The verb “enchilar” means to add chilli to something, and in its very simplest form, the enchilada is nothing more than a tortilla with a fiery sauce - but in most cases, the tortilla is rolled or folded around a filling and topped with the sauce.

Mexican Antojitos - Gorditas
Gorditas: little plump ones.... The name alone evokes gastronomic comfort and joy and the endless delight of Mexican antojitos. There are many ways to prepare a gordita but its main characteristic is that it balloons and puffs up as it cooks, producing a wonderfully crisp crust.

Mexican Antojitos - Papadzules
Papadzules are one of the specialities of the southern state of Yucatán, typically served at breakfast in the markets and on the streets. The word translates as “food of the lords”, a grand name indeed, but it is in fact a very simple dish with a subtle complexity of the flavours and textures.

Mexican antojitos - Quesadillas
Quesadillas, the Mexican version of a toasted cheese sandwich, are a crisp, crusty, golden envelope made from a corn tortilla, filled with rich, savoury cheese which is all gooey, melting and oozing out around the edges.

Mexican Antojitos - Sopes
The “sope” family is vast and convoluted, difficult to track, but whatever a sope’s origin, regional designation or topping may be, it is definitely a member of the clan. Name aside, it is simply a container or tartlet made of masa which acts as a base or plate for a delicious, savoury topping.

New Year in Mexico - Churros and hot chocolate
A darkened room and a bottle of mineral water may be the best, if not the most rousing, cure for the first hangover of the year, but a cup of hot chocolate and a freshly cooked churro are an infinitely more appealing antidote to the excesses of New Year's Eve.

Of calabacitas, courgettes and zucchini
The Squash family, Cucurbita, is Mexican, whatever you may choose to call its various members, and the earliest traces, dating as far back as 7000BC, have been found in Oaxaca and Tamaulipas. However, the modern courgette or zucchini is thought to have originated in Italy in the 19th century.

Sweet potato, a very early vegetable
Sweet potatoes, with their rough, scratchy skin and warm orange or deep purple flesh, were one of the first vegetables to be cultivated. They originated in South America, probably Peru, where 8,000 year old traces have been unearthed.

The chillies of Mexico - El Poblano
El Poblano, as its name implies, is a native of the state of Puebla but it makes an appearance in virtually all the regional cuisines of the country. It is a handsome chilli, mild-mannered, well fleshed, broad-shouldered, with a smooth shiny skin and a rich dark green to near black colour.

The chillies of Mexico - El Serrano
The bullet-shaped serrano chilli, small, slender and dark green, reminds me of a delightful Mexican song, which goes: “soy como el chile verde, picante pero sabroso”, “I am like the green chilli, hot but tasty”.

The chillies of Mexico – El Jalapeño
The jalapeño chilli, plump, smooth and glossy, has a lively rather than fiery ardour, and while it notches up a creditable 7/10 on the heat scale, it is often relatively mild, warm without too much punch - but be warned, it can sometimes be very hot indeed and catch you unawares.

The herbs of Mexico - Epazote
Epazote grows wild in Mexico and spread from there across America and eventually to southern Europe and beyond, but outside its homeland, it is seen as a weed rather than a culinary herb – only in central and southern Mexico does it play an essential role and find its way into the cooking pot.

The People of Corn
According to the Mayan myth of creation, the gods made man from a dough of corn. Corn originated in Mexico, which was known as the "cradle of corn", and the veneration and cultivation of corn are inextricably woven into Mexican history, culture and food.

The sauces of Mexico - Encacahuatado
A sauce thickened with seeds and nuts is an utterly pre-Hispanic concept, and Spanish chroniclers who accompanied Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico talked in their accounts of great earthenware cazuelas full of bubbling red sauces which were thickened in precisely this way.

The sauces of Mexico - Pipián
A pipián is a sauce thickened with ground seeds or nuts and Mexican food at its most historical and authentically pre-hispanic. It belongs to the family of the great “moles” of Mexico, and while the word mole simply means sauce, today it is almost invariably a sauce containing chillies.

The sauces of Mexico - Recado
The “recado”, like the ubiquitous “adobo”, is not really a sauce, but a spice and herb blend or paste used to flavour meat, fish or vegetables before cooking, and is a particular speciality of the Yucatán peninsula.

The sauces of Mexico - Salsa Verde Cruda
A raw “salsa”, made from tomatillos, the Mexican green husked tomato, is one of the pillars, and joys, of the Mexican table.

The spices of Mexico - Cinnamon
Researching cinnamon in a Mexican cookbook is a perplexing experience, as it can be referred to as Mexican cinnamon, true cinnamon, soft cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon or simply by its Spanish name, canela. The purpose is perhaps to avoid confusion with the bark of the cassia tree.

The spices of Mexico - Vanilla
Vanilla is a shy and gentle spice. There is nothing brash or flamboyant about it, and yet its power is great, with a delicately warm, sweet flavour and scent which are deeply evocative, almost hypnotic.

Tortillas, the bread of Mexico
Corn tortillas are quintessentially Mexican, intoxicatingly fragrant and utterly addictive. They take centre stage in the national cuisine as the “bread” of Mexico, and no meal is complete without this truly pre-hispanic food which is eaten daily in every household.

Tortillas, the bread of Mexico
Corn tortillas are quintessentially Mexican, intoxicatingly fragrant and utterly addictive. They take centre stage in the national cuisine as the “bread” of Mexico, and no meal is complete without this truly pre-hispanic food which is eaten daily in every household.

Turkey, the American peacock
The turkey is native to the Americas, and its earliest habitat seems to have been the highlands of Mexico, where fossils ten million years old have been found on the central plateau near Puebla. It was domesticated by the Aztecs who honoured it with a religious festival held every 200 days.

Xocolatl, the Aztecs' Food of the Gods
The smooth, velvety, sophisticated chocolate we know today bears no resemblance whatsoever to its Latin American ancestor.