Mexican Food Culture

In the main, barbacoa stands for the meats or a whole sheep slow cooked over an open fire, or by tradition, in a hole dug in the ground covered with maguey leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and as for today and in some other cases may refer to meat that was steamed until tender. Barbacoa de cabeza is a specialty of slow cooked cow head that arose in the ranching lands of northern Mexico after the Spanish conquest. Except for cochinita pibil, one of the common characteristics of Mexican barbacoa is that marinades are not used and sauces are not applied until the meat is fully cooked. Pork cooked in this manner is in general denotes carnitas rather than barbacoa.

All over Mexico, from pre-Columbian times to the present, barbacoa (the origin of the name Barbacoa comes from the Taino Indians in Cuba) was the original Mexican barbecue, utilizing the many and varied moles (pronounced "mol-ehs", from Nahuatl molli) and salsa de molcajete, which were the first barbecue sauces. Game, turkey, and fish along with beans and other side dishes were slow cooked together in a pit for many hours. Following the introduction of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens by the Spanish, the meat of these animals was cooked utilizing the traditional indigenous barbacoa style of cooking.

In the U.S., barbacoa is often cooked with parts from the head of a cow, such as the cheeks. In northern Mexico, barbacoa is also sometimes made with the head of a cow, but more often it is prepared with goat meat or cabrito. In central Mexico the meat of choice is lamb, and in the Yucatan their traditional version, Cochinita pibil (pit-style pork) is prepared with pork. Going further through the Barbacoa background, it was adopted into the cuisine of the southwestern United States by way of Texas which had formerly been a part of northern Mexico. The word transformed in time to "barbecue", along with many other words related to ranching and Tex-Mex cowboy (vaquero) life. Considered a specialty meat, some meat markets only sell barbacoa on weekends or holidays in certain parts of south Texas and in all of Mexico. Barbacoa is also popular in Florida, as there are many Mexican immigrants living there who have introduced this dish.

A customary Mexican way of eating barbacoa is having it served on a warm soft taco style corn tortilla with guacamole and salsa for added flavor and it is really mmm yammi! Optionally it may be eaten with onions, a squirt of lime and diced cilantro.

Before starting our conversation on the Mexican cookery theme, I would like to ask you, have you ever tried any Mexican dishes? As for me, my every morning begins with Pico de gallo salad ("salsa mexicana") made from chopped tomato, onion, chiles (serranos / jalapeños), fresh cilantro (leaf of coriander), limon juice (or lemon ), avocado and cucumber. I like the spicy taste of their cuisine, and I am sure if you are still have not tried any of Mexican dishes, after this article defenitely you would set your sights on!

Mexican cuisine takes its origins from Mexico. Mexican cookery is famous for its intense and varied flavor techniques, colorful decoration and beautification, and variety of spices. When Spanish conquistadores, in other words soldiers, arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (the ancient city on which Mexico City was built), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chilies and herbs, usually complemented with beans and tomatoes. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the native indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, guava, papaya, pineapple, jicama, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut, fish and turkey.

Most of nowadays Mexican food is based on ancient traditions, such as the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. Quesadillas, for example, are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (often a Mexican-style soft farmer's cheese such as Queso Fresco or Queso Oaxaca ), beef, chicken, pork, and so on. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional foods is the chili pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables (among them are the chili peppers, green peppers, chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes) and meats in Mexican food. The French occupation of Mexico influenced Mexican cuisine with baked goods such as sweet breads and the bolillo (pronounced bo-lee-yo), a Mexican take on the French roll. There is also a minor Asian influence due to the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, which took place from 1565 to 1815.

Talking about glamorous extraordinary cookery, there are also very exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Mayan style, with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, crickets, ant eggs, and other kinds of insects. Typically, its known as comida prehispanica food.

Mexican food distinguishes between regions, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef, goat and ostrich production and meat dishes, in particular the well-known Arrachera cut. Central Mexico's cuisine is largely made up of influences from the rest of the country, but also has its authentic dishes, such as barbacoa, pozole, menudo and carnitas. Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. Seafood is commonly prepared in the states that border the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, the latter having a famous reputation for its fish dishes a la veracruzana. In modern times, other cuisines of the world have become very popular in Mexico, thus adopting a Mexican fusion. For example sushi in Mexico is often made with a variety of sauces based on mango or tamarind, and very often served with serrano-chili blended soy sauce, or made with habanero and chipotle peppers. Tacos have also become popular served in very small tortillas, adopting the name of tacos árabes, or arab tacos for their resemblance to dolmas. Middle eastern cuisine is also popular due to the very large Mexican-Lebanese population living in the country.

A difference must be made between truly authentic Mexican food, and "Tex Mex" (Texan-Mexican) cuisine. Mexican cuisine is mixed with the cuisine of the southwest United States (which itself has a number of Mexican influences) to form Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex cuisine. The Hispanic cuisines of New Mexico and southern Arizona are sufficiently based in authentic Mexican cuisine that they do not have a catchy hyphenated name (nor a highly marketed image) and are usually referred to as New Mexican and Southern Arizonan cooking. New Mexican and Southern Arizonan cooking differ from other varieties of authentic Northern Mexican cuisine far less than, for example, Mexico City cuisine and Cal-Mex differ from Northern Mexican.

While Mexican Restaurants can be found in nearly any town throughout the United States, and in many cities worldwidely, few use "authentic" or "traditional" techniques and ingredients. Some states, such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of California, Florida, and Illinois, have large Mexican/Hispanic populations, and many authentic Mexican restaurants can be found in these parts of the country. However, Mexicans who visit restaurants in other parts of the US, Canada and UK rarely find the true taste or variety of Mexican cuisine.

New Mexico having some of the first-born history of settlement by Hispanics in lands that are now part of the United States, and still retaining a majority of Hispanics in its population, has a distinct form of Mexican cuisine. Even though many of the dishes vary from their Mexican counterparts, they are still considered "authentic" or "traditional" for New Mexican cuisine. Both Mexicans and New Mexicans as a rule find each other's cuisine very similar, yet unfamiliar, and non-traditional, usually missing the true taste that they desire. Rarely are Mexican restaurants specializing in New Mexican cuisine found beyond New Mexico, except for very large cities.