Mexican food guides
What is huitlacoche? Where does mole poblano come from? We answer the most common questions about Mexican dishes and ingredients, with history, origin and recipes to cook them at home in Canada.
- Guide
Quelites: what they are, types and how to cook them
Quelites are wild and semi-cultivated edible herbs of the Mesoamerican tradition. Discover their varieties, culinary uses and cultural value in Mexico.
- Guide
Fried quesadillas: what they are, fillings and recipe
Fried quesadillas are a Mexico City street snack: maize masa filled with huitlacoche, squash blossom, mushrooms or cheese, fried in lard. A must-try in Mexico City.
- Guide
Quintoniles: what they are, benefits and how to cook them
Quintoniles (Amaranthus hybridus) are the tender leaves of wild amaranth, a nutritious pre-Hispanic quelite of central Mexico, a spring crop of the milpa.
- Guide
Raicilla: what it is and what the agave spirit tastes like
Discover raicilla, the Jalisco spirit from Agave maximiliana and inaequidens with Denomination of Origin. Sierra and coast, fruity and artisanal profile.
- Guide
Guava roll: what it is, how it's made and its origin
The guava roll is a Mexican sweet of hardened, rolled guava paste, typical of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, a relative of the ate of Morelia.
- Guide
Romeritos: what they are, how to cook them and when
Romeritos are Mexican wild quelites stewed with mole, dried-prawn fritters and potatoes. A traditional dish of Lent and Christmas in central Mexico.
- Guide
Rosca de Reyes: what it is, meaning and when it's eaten
The Rosca de Reyes is the sweet bread of 6 January in Mexico: decorated with candied fruit, it hides figures of the baby Jesus; whoever finds them pays for the tamales.
- Guide
Salting and curing meat: what it is and how it's done
Discover the salting and curing of meats in Mexico: Yecapixtla cecina, northern machaca, dried meat and chilli-rubbed cecina. Traditional northern techniques.
- Guide
Salbutes: what they are, what's on them and how to make them
Salbutes are Yucatecan antojitos of freshly made tortilla fried in lard until it puffs up and topped with shredded chicken or turkey, pickled red onion, lettuce and…
- Guide
Saramuyo: what it is, taste and how to eat it
The saramuyo (Annona squamosa) is an annona with a scaly green skin and creamy, very sweet white flesh, a traditional fruit of south-east Mexico and the Yucatán…
- Guide
Drying chillies: what it is, techniques and equivalents
Discover the drying of Mexican chillies: how the jalapeño becomes chipotle, the poblano becomes ancho and the mirasol becomes guajillo. Techniques and flavours.
- Guide
Sopa azteca: what tortilla soup is and how to make it
Sopa azteca, or tortilla soup, is a Mexican roasted-tomato broth topped with fried tortilla, pasilla chilli, avocado, cream and panela cheese. Tlaxcala and CDMX dispute…
- Guide
Sopa de fideo: what's in it and how to make it at home
Sopa de fideo is the Mexican everyday-meal classic: pasta toasted in oil and cooked in a broth of tomato, garlic and onion. An eatery lunch across the country.
- Guide
Sopa de lima: what it is and how to make it
Yucatecan sopa de lima is a chicken or turkey broth with the endemic sour lime, coriander and fried tortilla. An emblematic dish of the Maya-Spanish peninsular…
- Guide
Sopa tarasca: what it is, what's in it and how to make it
Sopa tarasca is a Michoacán cream of blended pinto bean with tomato and pasilla chilli, served with fried tortilla, cream and cheese. An emblematic dish of Pátzcuaro.
- Guide
Sopes: what they are, how to make them and toppings
Sopes are Mexican antojitos of thick maize masa with a pinched rim, fried in lard, spread with refried beans and topped with stews, salsa, cheese and cream.
- Guide
Sotol: what it is, how it's made and how it differs from mezcal
Discover sotol, the Mexican spirit made from sereque (Dasylirion). Denomination of Origin, production in Chihuahua and Durango, and differences from mezcal.
- Guide
Tacos al pastor: what they are, origin and how they're made
Tacos al pastor are pork marinated with chillies and achiote, roasted on a vertical spit with pineapple on top. Heir to the Lebanese shawarma and a Mexico City emblem.
- Guide
Tamal de cazuela: what it is and how to make it without leaves
The tamal de cazuela is a dish from Veracruz and Durango that dispenses with the leaf: masa, mole or salsa and meat are baked in a dish to be served in slices.
- Guide
Tamal de elote: what it is and how to make it
The sweetcorn tamale is a sweet tamale made with fresh kernels of tender maize, butter, sugar and milk. A Michoacan and Guerrero tradition for an afternoon treat.
- Guide
Tamalera: what it is, the types and how to use it for tamales
Meet the Mexican tamalera: a tall steamer pot with a rack for cooking tamales. Types, capacities and how to set it up for perfect steaming.
- Guide
Tamales barbones: what they are and how to make them
Barbon tamales are a speciality of Escuinapa, Sinaloa: tamales filled with whole prawns whose whiskers poke out, guajillo-chilli dough and maize husk.
- Guide
Tamales canarios: what they are, recipe and origin
Discover tamales canarios, sweet Mexican tamales made with rice flour, butter, egg and raisins, originating in Michoacán.
- Guide
Tamales colados: what they are and how the masa is made
Yucatecan strained tamales are tamales of fine sieved dough with red recado, chicken and achiote wrapped in banana leaf. Recipe and Maya origin of the south-east.
- Guide
Chipilín tamales: what they are, taste and recipe
Chipilin tamales are a Chiapas speciality that mixes maize dough with fresh leaves of the chipilin quelite, a herbal flavour unique to Mesoamerica.
- Guide
Mole tamales: what they are and how to make them
Mole tamales with chicken are the heart of the chilango tamale cart: fluffy dough filled with chicken bathed in mole poblano or red mole, wrapped in maize husk.
- Guide
Day of the Dead tamales: what they are and their meaning
Day of the Dead tamales are a Mexican ritual offering: Oaxacan mole tamales, white Yucatecan ones (mucbipollo), chipilín, ash and other regional varieties.
- Guide
Rajas con queso tamales: what they are and how to make them
Rajas con queso tamales are the vegetarian favourite of the capital's tamalera: fluffy dough, poblano rajas, panela cheese and green salsa.
- Guide
Candlemas tamales: the 2 February tradition explained
The 2 February tamales in Mexico are the ritual payment owed by whoever found the Baby Jesus in the Kings' Day ring. A syncretic tradition that closes the Christmas…
- Guide
Nejo tamales: what they are and how ash is used
Nejo tamales are a Guerrero speciality made with maize dough nixtamalised in wood ash, lard and beans, with no filling. A thousand-year-old tradition.