On Aug 24, 2:01*am, "EmmyBlue" > wrote:

> Like I said, I LOVE to cook...for just me or a group of friends. It relaxes
> me, it's fun, not a chore that takes me away from other things. I have a
> glass of wine, play music...shut out the problems of the world and get into
> the zen of cooking.
> Besides, I have invested so much money in my lovely pans....

I can certainly understand the female vs. male viewpoint as regards
cooking and how much TLC you ladies add to everything you prepare.

Most of what we Americans think of as Mexican "cuisine" is rather
casually prepared, in a short time from limited fresh ingredients and
is often eaten just as casually, out-of-hand, like a taco or a
burrito, or maybe it's a Mexican salad dish
that takes minutes to prepare.

All those things can be found at the casual Mexican grills called
"taquerias".

Such items are called "antojitos" which means "little trifle" in
Spanish. I once had a list of about 50 similar antojitos that were
basically made from ground white corn masa, some sort of meat or
poultry and a chile sauce.

There are also "platas fuertes", main course dishes which take hours
to prepare.

Since Mexican peasants living in isolated villages in the central
highland usually didn't have electricity or refrigeration, whatever
meat they included in their platas fuertes was usually freshly
butchered and unaged, so it required more cooking to make it tender.

So it was skillet browned and then boiled until it was falling apart
like the pork in a pit barbecue. When you can shred the pork with two
forks, it's called a "tinga" or
"hash".

But I don't want to hang around watching a pot boil...

I prepare platas fuertes like frijoles con puerco (beans with pork) or
birria de chivo
(a lamb or goat stew) in a slow cooker so I can go off and do
something else as the low heat slowly tenderizes the meat.