Different Ways to Cook Mexican Food
Mexican foods are cooked in a variety of Mexican cooking styles. They can be boiled, grilled, baked, or fried. Some dishes are best suited to one cooking technique and others can be done in several ways, depending on your preference. Mexican meals were prepared and cooked differently in the past.
Mexican natives did not have ovens long ago and would cook their meals over an open fire pit.
The food would be placed in iron pots before cooking. This Mexican cooking method is similar to how we cook food on the grill these days. The Aztecs steamed and boiled their food in two handled clay pots before the Spanish introduced iron cooking pots. These two handled clay pots were called xoctli. The pot would be filled with food and then heated over an open fire. A lot of foods were fried and Mexican cooking features frying to this day.
It is a lot easier to cook Mexican food today than in was in the past. It takes less time both to prepare the food, because of superior cooking utensils, and to cook it. If you want to know how to cook Mexican food, there are various cooking methods, some of which were unknown in ancient Mexican times. If you want to make homemade tortillas, for example, you can use a flat-bottomed iron pan. Flan is a Mexican dessert, which is made in a spring form pan. Many years ago, the Mexicans had to make masa, which is a corn ground by hand. These days you can buy a metal grinder to do the work for you.
When you are making Mexican cooking recipes, the oven is perfect for many of them. You can bake meat, fish, and vegetables easily. You can also cook foods in a pot of water with added spices. A lot of Mexican recipes can even be made in a crock pot or slow cooker. Large steaming pots simplify the tamale cooking process. They take a long time to cook so a large pot means you can cook more at once, instead of in smaller batches.
Another cooking method for Mexican cooking recipes is the grill. This is an excellent way to cook Mexican food. A similar cooking method was used many years ago and it was called “barbacoa.” This consisted of steaming meat, which was hung over boiling water in a deep pit. Cactus leaves and banana leaves were wrapped around the meat before steaming it. Today, grilling allows the sauces and spices to mingle well and flavor the whole dish. Fajitas are an easy Mexican cooking recipe and turn out wonderfully on the grill. The taste of grilled food is similar to the flavor of authentic Mexican food cooked on a barbacoa.
Mexicans many years ago used “metate y mano,” which was a large tool with a concave surface, made from stone or lava rock. This utensil was used to mash the ingredients together. A “molcajete” is another ancient Mexican cooking tool, which translates as a mortar and pestle. You would learn about these ancient cooking tools in a Mexican cooking class, although we use different utensils today.
When you are cooking Mexican food, you need to stir. Wooden spoons have been around for hundreds of years and are still found in almost every kitchen today. There are many different types available, depending on the type of Mexican cooking recipes you are making. Some spoons are better for stirring thick sauces and others are better for moving sauting onions and garlic around in the pan.
The history of Mexican food is a fascinating subject. The cooking methods might have been modernized but the Mexican recipes available today are still authentic. Cooking foods in different ways means, the taste and texture will vary. Experiment with some different cooking methods for your homemade Mexican recipes and you will be able to spot the difference.
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