This is a foodie post. Anyone not interested in food and cooking, come back in a day or so.After three years in Mexico, I'm still mystified by much of what I see in restaurant menus and on grocery shelves. I was raised in South Texas, where you'd think I'd have plenty of exposure to South of the Border cuisine, but my mother never got beyond chili. So when Magdiel Lagunas, a blogger specializing in Mexican cuisine, emailed me wanting to exchange links, it looked like a good chance for enlightenment. Magdiel lives in Cuernavaca Morelos, 45 minutes from Mexco City.
His new blog, at Mexico Foods and More, offers authentic recipes, beginning with Caldo Tlalpeño, a chicken soup that uses the feet and tailbone (!), plus epazote, an herb that I've heard is good for beans but never tried. It's a carminative, Magdiel explains, so it reduces gas.
As a rank amateur timidly wading into the mysteries of Mexican cooking, I was inspired. No, I'm not going to rush out and buy chicken feet, but the Tlalpeño recipe can be adapted. On the same page were directions for making Cochinita Pibil, a slow-roasted pork dish from the Yucatan that looks appealing. His archives show more promising culinary adventures: mango bread, a Oaxacan version of pizza using those large, thick tortillas I've seen in stores, a mole recipe from Puebla. One humble homey recipe I thought I'd try today is Red Rice, considered a staple of Mexican meals.
Magdiel also gives an explanation of the many different kinds of breads you find in the panaderia. And he explains why traditional pastes (empanadas) are made with a rim around them, so when they were packed in a miner's lunch, the miner would have a "handle" to hold them with dirty hands. The "handle" would then be discarded.
Mexican Foods and More will be on my bloglist, so we can all check back now and then for ideas on what to do with those interesting peppers we found or that leftover chicken in the fridge. After all, anyone who uses habanero peppers in his guacamole is a spunky cook, in my book!