Mexican food is found only in Mexico. The first meter south of the Mexican
border into Guatemala and the rest of central and south America do not cook
what Mexicans eat. The tortilla is even hard to find. But rice and beans,
cooking bananas and the like are plentiful. But you will not find mole...
nor enchiladas... nor tacos... nor tostadas... nor chalupas...
Cross into the northern states of Mexico and the corn tortilla is hard to
find; replaced by a wheat tortilla. And lots of beef wheras in central
Mexico beef is a rare delicacy and cabeza is the preferred pelliscados to
fill a good taco.
Mexican food is not cooked with hot chiles, as a rule. Chile sauces are on
the table for individual taste buds. The only dish that would be acceptable
as really hot, really picante, would be mole. Some regions pride themselves
in just how hot it could be. Like Texas chili, different strokes for
different folks.
Movies have shown people gasping at the picante in Mexican food. But that is
Holywood. But the legend persists. And fools go about hugging their stomach
complaining of the day after they ate Mexican food. They did not eat Mexican
food.

Wayne

Don't know what happened to the title... it should read A bit of culinary
history...

Maybe my tongue got ahead of my fingers....

"Wayne Lundberg" > wrote in message
...
> Mexican food is found only in Mexico. The first meter south of the Mexican
> border into Guatemala and the rest of central and south America do not
cook
> what Mexicans eat. The tortilla is even hard to find. But rice and beans,
> cooking bananas and the like are plentiful. But you will not find mole...
> nor enchiladas... nor tacos... nor tostadas... nor chalupas...
> Cross into the northern states of Mexico and the corn tortilla is hard to
> find; replaced by a wheat tortilla. And lots of beef wheras in central
> Mexico beef is a rare delicacy and cabeza is the preferred pelliscados to
> fill a good taco.
> Mexican food is not cooked with hot chiles, as a rule. Chile sauces are on
> the table for individual taste buds. The only dish that would be
acceptable
> as really hot, really picante, would be mole. Some regions pride
themselves
> in just how hot it could be. Like Texas chili, different strokes for
> different folks.
> Movies have shown people gasping at the picante in Mexican food. But that
is
> Holywood. But the legend persists. And fools go about hugging their
stomach
> complaining of the day after they ate Mexican food. They did not eat
Mexican
> food.
>
> Wayne
>
>
>

Wayne Lundberg wrote:
> Mexican food is found only in Mexico. The first meter south of the Mexican
> border into Guatemala and the rest of central and south America do not cook
> what Mexicans eat. The tortilla is even hard to find. But rice and beans,
> cooking bananas and the like are plentiful. But you will not find mole...
> nor enchiladas... nor tacos... nor tostadas... nor chalupas...
> Cross into the northern states of Mexico and the corn tortilla is hard to
> find; replaced by a wheat tortilla. And lots of beef wheras in central
> Mexico beef is a rare delicacy and cabeza is the preferred pelliscados to
> fill a good taco.
> Mexican food is not cooked with hot chiles, as a rule. Chile sauces are on
> the table for individual taste buds. The only dish that would be acceptable
> as really hot, really picante, would be mole. Some regions pride themselves
> in just how hot it could be. Like Texas chili, different strokes for
> different folks.
> Movies have shown people gasping at the picante in Mexican food. But that is
> Holywood. But the legend persists. And fools go about hugging their stomach
> complaining of the day after they ate Mexican food. They did not eat Mexican
> food.
>
> Wayne
>
>
>


Hmmm, picadillo? I have had some hot ones in Mexico and there was
something else I tried in Guadalajara . . . a cooking style from
elsewhere, that featured some hot stuff, quite hot.

OTOH, my Mexican friends in Guadalajara were surprised to find out that
I ate jalapenos.


jim

"Jim Lane" > wrote in message
...
> Wayne Lundberg wrote:
..---snip---
> Hmmm, picadillo? I have had some hot ones in Mexico and there was
> something else I tried in Guadalajara . . . a cooking style from
> elsewhere, that featured some hot stuff, quite hot.
>
> OTOH, my Mexican friends in Guadalajara were surprised to find out that
> I ate jalapenos.>
> jim
>
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people in Mexico who love hot chile -
I'm one of them. But basic cooking usually does not include the addition of
jalapenos, serranos, piquin, habanero and the like. It does involve chile
ancho, poblano and the other non-picante chiles for their flavor. 90% of all
moles are not chile-hot and the 10% that make it hot, make it really hot
because that's the norm for that particular geographic area - Martinez de la
Torre, for example, pride themselves in making the hottest damned mole in
the world. It takes a strong sip of aguardiente between bites!

And yes, Guadalajara make what is known as torta ahogada, which is a bollio
sandwich dipped in lava hot to moderate hot chile de arbol sauce. But again,
you buy this in order to impress somebody.

Wayne