The Mexican food and recipes we know and love today comes from a combination of indigenous ingredients, as well as flavors from other countries as well. While most people associate Mexican cuisine with fast food, there’s more to Mexican cooking than just hot tamales and overstuffed burritos. In fact, to get the authentic flavor of a Mexican dish, you need to use authentic ingredients. Using anything less than the real deal can destroy the whole Mexican food experience.
Authentic Mexican Ingredients
The unique flavors you get from Mexican cuisine comes from a variety of homegrown fruits, vegetables, and proteins mixed with ingredients that the Spanish explorers brought over when they made their way to Mexico. Mexican food is an intricate mix of these different flavors which sets it apart from any other cuisine in the world. Nothing beats the real Mexican food experience, but the only way to prepare authentic Mexican food and recipes is to make sure that you have the right ingredients. If you want to try your hand at cooking Mexican food then it’s best that you stock your pantry with the following staple ingredients:
- Chili peppers. Mexican food is known to have that kick of chili peppers, but not all peppers are alike in Mexican cooking. There are jalapeno peppers, ancho peppers, and serrano peppers, and several other peppers that are used to add flavor and spice to soups, sauces and other delicious dishes.
- Avocados. This fruit has a variety of uses in Mexican cuisine, most people recognize it as the main ingredient for guacamole, a rich, thick sauce used to add flavor to many dishes.
- Beans. One of Mexico’s staple food, beans are used for some types of soups and salads, as well as a number of delicious and savory dishes that people just can’t get enough of.
- Corn and food items made out of it. Corn is another staple food in Mexico that has made its way into several dishes through corn-based ingredients such as the corn tortilla, hard taco shells, the dough used for tamales called masa, and gorditas. Fresh corn can also be cooked and eaten or added as ingredients in a number of mouthwatering recipes.
- Tomatoes and Tomatillos. Whether they’re chopped up to add flavor and color to a taco or added to several of Mexican cuisine’s numerous sauces, tomatoes and their smaller green counterparts, the tomatillos are just some of the things you can’t do without in a Mexican kitchen.
- Cheese. If you’ve tried using cheddar cheese as a substitute for authentic Mexican cheese in a recipe, then you may have been disappointed in the outcome. There are several types of cheeses produced all throughout Mexico and they can be hard to find if you live far from the border; however, there are a few sellers who accept online orders and will ship these exotic cheeses to you.
There are many more ingredients that are mainstays in Mexican cuisine. Some of them are available in supermarkets and groceries, while others need to be purchased at a specialty store. The next time you go food shopping, make sure that you make a checklist of what you need to ensure the authentic flavors of the Mexican food and recipes you are going to prepare.
