Latin America
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Mexican Cuisine and their Origins
This is about Mexican gastronomy and its influences from Europe, Asia and Africa (apart from the obvious Indigenous element)
Traditional Mexican dishes
Mole- Invented in the state of Puebla by a South Asian slave who was captured by the Portuguese. This dish has been compared with curry not only by Indians themselves but also by foreigners
While chili pepper sauces existed in pre-Hispanic Mexico, the complicated moles of today did not. They did not contain chocolate, which was used as a beverage, and in all of the writings of Sahagún, there is no mention at all of it being used to flavor food. Most likely what occurred was a gradual modification of the original molli sauce, adding more and different ingredients depending on the location. This diversified the resulting sauces into various types. Ingredients that have been added into moles include nuts (such as almonds, peanuts, or pine nuts), seeds (such as sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, or squash seeds), cilantro, seedless grapes, plantains, garlic, onions, cinnamon, and chocolate. What remained the same was the use of chili peppers, especially ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle, and the consistency of the sauce.
Menudo/Pancita/Modongo- It was brought here via the Spaniards who they also have a similar dish, although the Mexican version is unique since the sauce added in the menudo has chile peppers among other ingredients not used in the Spanish version. Menudo varies depending on the region of Mexico, in the northern states, menudo contains hominy which in other states they do not
There are three types of this dish
Menudo Rojo/Red Menudo
Menudo Verde/Green Menudo
Menudo Blanco/White Menudo
Chamoy (sauce)- Rachel Laudan, the first food historian to track chamoy's journey, explains that it is "a Mexican rendering of see mui," a salty, dried apricot common in China, as well as the inspiration for Japanese umeboshi, a pickled, salted apricot. Laudan isn't sure when see mui came to Mexico, but says that Asians have been migrating to the country since the 1560s in Spanish ships that traded Chinese silk and spices for silver. Laudan only figured out chamoy's Chinese heritage because she had lived in Hawaii, where she encountered crack seed, which is essentially chamoy's sister. Crack seed is a salted, preserved licorice-flavored apricot that is cracked so the exposed seed will impart flavor. She learned that the Cantonese name for crack seed is see mui, and it came to Hawaii with Chinese plantation workers in the 19th century. See mui is pronounced "see moy," which sounds like "chamoy." Mexico reinvented chamoy as a sauce and candy with chiles, while Hawaii launched entire stores dedicated to crack seed made from different types of fruit.
Japanese Peanuts/Cracker Nuts- Cracker nuts is claimed to have originated in Mexico in the 1940s where a Japanese immigrant by the name of Yoshigei Nakatani invented “Japanese peanuts” (widely known in the Spanish-speaking world as cacahuates japoneses or maní japonés). There were no such “Japanese peanuts” in Japan at the time. The Mexican version’s recipe for the extra-crunchy shell has ingredients such as wheat flour, soy sauce, water, sugar, monosodium glutamate, and citric acid
Capirotada- Mexican capriotada is an interesting combination of bread, nuts, fruits, cheese and cinnamon syrup with a history rooted back to the Spanish inquisition. It was created by the Sephardic families of New Spain (Mexico) and it was eaten during passover
Buńuelos- Buńuelos are first known to have been consumed among Spain's Morisco population. In Mexican cuisine, it is often served with a syrup made with piloncillo
Frijoles Charros- Originated in Northeastern Mexico by the cowboy population of that region, it is believed to have been influence by the Portuguese where its colonies also have similar dishes as this one, and it wouldn't be a surprise since Northeastern Mexico had a noticeable Portuguese presence, although most of those Portuguese were of Jewish origin. The dish is characterized by pinto beans stewed with onion, garlic, and bacon. Other common ingredients include chili peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, ham, sausage, pork and chorizo. It is served warm, and is usually of a soupy consistency.
Paste/Pasty- They are stuffed with a variety of fillings including potatoes and ground beef, apples, pineapple, sweetened rice, or other typical Mexican ingredients, such as tinga and mole. The paste has its roots in the Cornish pasty introduced by miners and builders from Cornwall, United Kingdom who were contracted in the towns of Mineral del Monte (Real del Monte) and Pachuca in Hidalgo starting in 1824.
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Originally Posted by Mortimer
United States
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