Mexican cuisine is known for the use of spices, for the intense and often spicy taste of the dishes, for the infinite variety of colors, mainly due to the use of the most different vegetables (peppers, radishes, cabbage etc.).

Contemporary Mexican cuisine

Contemporary Mexican cuisine is still tied to the culinary traditions typical of the period before the conquest of America, and therefore to Aztec and Mayan traditions ; at the same time, however, it suffered a strong contamination from the Spanish settlers . On the Mexican culinary tradition it is also possible to see French influences, due to the occupation of this people, and Caribbean contaminations.

The most typical foods, those that Mexican cuisine has been carrying with them since the times of the pre-colonial period, are first of all corn and then peppers, beans, squash and again cocoa, tomatoes, avocado, papaya, pineapple, potatoes, peanuts and vanilla.

Many of these products then entered the Mediterranean diet thanks to the conquest of America; in short, there was a cross-contamination between the typical cuisine of the Mediterranean basin (mainly the Spanish one) and Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine changes from region to region due to environmental and ethnic differences, but also due to the greater or lesser Hispanic influence. Northern Mexico, for example, is known for beef-based recipes; while in the South, more chicken is consumed.

How to make tortillas

The symbolic dish of Mexican cuisine is tortilla, a kind of focaccia made with corn flour that accompanies every meal and that is not comparable to any of our foods. We could say that tortillas are like Mexican cuisine like Mexican cuisine.

Tortillas can be served alone or stuffed, in this case they take different names; for example, burritos are, in fact, filled tortillas, traditionally made with meat (beef, pork or chicken). The tortillas can also be cut into triangles and frits; in that case they call nachos .

If you want to prepare a Mexican dinner you have to start right from the tortillas . They can be found ready in many supermarkets, but ... do you want to compare with the satisfaction of preparing them yourself?

There are only two ingredients : corn flour and water, which must be hot. A cup of water is served on two and a half cups of flour. The mixture, which must be worked for a few minutes, must be compact. If necessary, add more water or other corn flour. The mixture is then divided into parts to be smoothed with a rolling pin; the tortillas must be quite thin.

Tortillas are traditionally cooked on a plate called comal ; in the absence of this particular type of plate, it is possible to cook them in a simple, very hot non - stick pan . The tortilla should be cooked without adding fat (neither oil, nor butter, nor anything else) for a couple of minutes on each side.

Once cooked, the tortillas should be stored in a basket lined with a napkin and kept covered until ready to serve them; they soften as they cool.