Thursday, August 28, 2008

Different Ways to Cook Mexican Food

By KC Kudra


Mexican foods are cooked similar to how you cook your everyday meals. They can be fried, boiled, and grilled. Mexico has cooked their foods differently in the past.

Long ago, the natives of Mexico did not have ovens as we have today. They would have to cook foods by 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.

Today in the present, it is a lot easier to cook Mexican dishes. It takes less time to prepare the foods. If someone wants to make homemade tortillas, there are iron pans that make it easy. Flans are made simply using spring form type pans. Long ago, it was a long process to make masa, which is a dish that includes a certain type of corn that has to be grinded. Nowadays you can purchase a metal grinder that helps grind the masa.

A lot of easy Mexican cooking recipes are cooked in the oven. Meats, fish, and vegetables can all be baked to perfection. Alternatively, you can boil them in water with spices, carefully controlling the required heat, which is electric or gas, rather than an open fire. Tamales can be cooked in large steaming pots. They take a long time to cook so having a large pot means you can make more at the same time.

Grilling Mexican food is another way to enjoy it. Foods used to be cooked this way many years ago and it was called "barbacoa." With this Mexican cookery method, meat was wrapped in banana leaves and cactus leaves and steamed over boiling water in a large pit. If you want to learn how to cook Mexican food, this is not the easiest technique for a novice! Food cooked in this way would have tasted similar to our grilled food of today. Fajitas are a good example of a perfect Mexican food to grill.

Centuries ago, the natives used what was called metate y mano. A large tool was made out of lava rock or stone. The surface was slightly concave. The tool was used to mash the ingredients. Another tool they used to mash ingredients was molcajete. It was mortar and pestle.

When cooking, you have to be able to stir. Wooden spoons have been used for centuries and still are. Today different types are available for you to use, depending on what type of dishes you are making. Some are made for stirring thicker foods, while others are thin for stirring foods such as onions and garlic.

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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