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The Many Different Mexican Traditional Cooking Techniques

Mexican foods, like many other foods, can be boiled, grilled, or fried. These are modern Mexican cooking styles but Mexican traditional cooking techniques were rather different.

Mexican natives did not have ovens long ago and would cook their meals over an open fire pit.

The food would be placed in pots and pans and cooked in a similar way to how we grill foods today. The Aztecs would steam and boil their food in two handled cooking pots called xoctli before the Spaniards introduced iron pots. They would fill the xoctli with food and heat it over an open fire. Frying was popular in ancient Mexican times and still is today.

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.

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.

Grilling on the barbeque is also a great way to taste authentic Mexican foods. Long ago foods were made this way and called Barbacoa. It consisted of steaming meat that was suspended over boiling water in a deep pit. Before steaming the meat, cactus and banana leaves were wrapped around it. These days, barbequing allows the spices and sauces to burst with flavor. It tastes similar to how the food once was cooked over open flames. Fajitas are great on the grill!

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 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.

Mexican food has a rich history behind it. The methods might have been modernized, but the food is still traditional. Depending on how the foods are cooked, you will taste different flavors and textures. There are many Mexican dishes to cook and enjoy.

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