A Guide to Mexican Cookery Techniques

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.

In ancient times, Mexicans did not have ovens. Instead, they would cook Mexican food over an open fire, which was the most common out of all the Mexican traditional cooking techniques.

They would hold the foods in iron pots and pans. It cooked like how we grill our foods on the barbeque. Before the Spaniards introduced the iron pots, the Aztecs used to steam and boil foods in two-handled clay pots, which were called xoctli. The pot was filled with the food and heated over a fire. Frying foods was a popular way to cook. Many Mexican dishes still use this method.

Mexican cooking is much easier these days thanks to the variety of utensils, pots, pans, and ovens available. If you want to make flan, for example, any good Mexican cooking class will recommend that you use a spring form pan, although ancient Mexicans did not have such things. If you want to make homemade Mexican tortillas, you can use a flat-bottomed iron pan. These modern items make what was once time consuming Mexican cooking into easy Mexican cooking. The Mexicans used to have to grind corn by hand to make masa. Now you can get metal grinders to make the task quick and easy.

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.

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.

Hundreds of years ago, Mexicans used a "metate y mano," which was a large tool made from stone or lava rock. These tools had a slightly concave surface and were used to mash ingredients together. A "molcajete" was a similar tool and is a type of mortar and pestle.

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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Mexican food recipes loved by one and all. Discover why everyone is finding the joys of authentic Mexican recipes and find out just how easy they can be to make for your family.