Mexican cuisine
Maize, chilli and beans: a kitchen of lime-treated corn, chillies toasted on the comal and slow-cooked sauces.
Where it comes from
Maize was domesticated from wild teosinte in southern Mexico roughly nine thousand years ago; genetic studies support that date. Nixtamalisation — cooking maize in lime water — has been practised in Mesoamerica for at least three thousand years; exactly when it began is unknown. The process makes the niacin in maize absorbable: societies that took up maize as a staple without nixtamalising it suffered pellagra. The Spanish conquest of 1519–1521 brought pork, lard, cheese and wheat, and Mexican cooking today is a blend of both traditions. There are many stories about which convent or kitchen gave birth to many-ingredient sauces such as mole, but none of them is documented. Traditional Mexican cuisine was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010.
At the table
In Mexico the tortilla is bread, plate and spoon at once; most meals come down to wrapping something in it or scooping something up with it. There is almost always at least one salsa on the table, and everyone sets their own heat. The main meal of the day is traditionally the afternoon “comida”; supper is lighter.
Fat, aromatics and acid
Figures are approximate; apart from those that are a definition or a regulation, they vary by product, recipe and source. Where we have no measured value the line reads “—”.
- Ca(OH)₂ ≈%1 / 1 % Nixtamalisation — Maize is cooked with slaked lime at about one per cent of its weight and left overnight. The hull loosens, the dough binds and niacin is freed. The ratio varies between recipes.
- ≈10–30 s Dried chillies — Dried chillies are toasted on the comal for seconds, then soaked and blended. Left too long they scorch and turn the whole sauce bitter.
- pH ≈2.0–2.4 Lime juice — The site has no lime record, so lemon is linked. In ceviche the acid sets the fish protein without heat, but it does not kill pathogens the way cooking does.
- — Charred tomato and onion — For salsa, tomatoes, onion and garlic are charred on the comal until the skins blacken, which gives a smoky edge.
- — Cocoa — In Mesoamerica cocoa was first a drink. In mole poblano a little chocolate rounds off the bitterness and the chilli.
How this kitchen cooks
- The griddle The comal: tortillas and charring.
- Toasting spices Dried chillies and seeds for mole.
- Grill & BBQ Carne asada.
- Deep frying Tostadas and refried beans.
- Pickling Pickled red onion and jalapeño.
- Cold Ceviche and guacamole.
- Smoking Chipotle: smoked jalapeño.
What is in the pantry
The historical claims rest on these books. Contested origins are written as contested.
- Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity. University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
- Sophie D. Coe, America’s First Cuisines. University of Texas Press, 1994.
- Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner, 2004.