Mexico
The traditional Mexican diet is built on corn and chiles—corn for grinding into masa to make tortillas and tamales or for simmering whole in soups and stews; chiles for seasoning virtually every savory dish. Although wheat flourishes in the north, and flour tortillas are commonplace there, corn tortillas and corn masa are truly the staff of life elsewhere. Chiles abound in mind-bending variety, some fresh, some dried, some smoked, and some almost exclusively regional.
One distinguishing feature of the cookery is the initial toasting or charring of many ingredients before they are cooked further: Onions, garlic, chiles, tomatoes, nuts, and seeds are usually toasted before they are used in a sauce or stew. Salsa in innumerable versions is the ubiquitous table condiment for enlivening dishes on the spot.
The Main Regions
The North (includes Baja, Sonora, Chihuahua)
Sonora and Chihuahua are ranching country, and beef is popular—especially when cooked over an open fire. Monterrey is filled with restaurants that specialize in charcoal-grilled arrachera, or skirt steak. Dried beef—carne seca—is scrambled with eggs and tomato, or simply reheated on a griddle and served with lime as an appetizer.
Central Mexico (includes Mexico City, Puebla)
Every region's cuisine thrives here, because every region is represented. Street food is ubiquitous, and the markets abound in tropical fruits, chiles, and seafood from both coasts. Diana Kennedy calls Puebla "without doubt, one of the most important centers of gastronomy in Mexico." Two of its best-known dishes, chiles en nogada and mole poblano, came out of its convent kitchens. The truffle-like corn fungus huitlacoche is particularly prized in the region, eaten in quesadillas or stuffed into crepes.
West Central Mexico (includes Jalisco and Michoacàn)
This region, especially Guadalajara, is known for pozole, which may be red (with chiles) or white (without). The white version is the Guadalajara way, although powdered red chile is served on the side. Michoacàn is carnitas country; these nuggets of crisped pork are served as a snack or used as a taco filling. Chilaquiles—stale tortillas simmered in green sauce and topped with cream and cheese—can be found in the Guadalajara market stands, where it makes a welcome breakfast.
Southern Mexico (includes Oaxaca and Chiapas)
This region, along with the Yucatàn, is Mexico's most resolutely Indian. At the Oaxaca City market, you'll find stalls serving the local tamales filled with mole negro and steamed in a banana leaf, and other stalls selling hot chocolate scented with cinnamon; ice creams in tropical flavors; and cool drinks made with watermelon, tamarind or lime. Oaxaca is known as the "land of the seven moles" for its repertoire of nut- and seed-thickened sauces. Oaxacan cooks are also fond of achiote (annatto), which they use in rice, marinades, and sauces.
Yucatàn
Some Yucatàn dishes have ancient Mayan roots, such as papadzules, the egg-filled tortillas with pumpkin seed sauce. Others show the influence of Cuba and the Caribbean, such as turkey, chicken, or seafood en escabeche. Yucatecan cooks make great use of spice pastes, known as recados, which typically include chiles and warm spices such as cumin, black pepper, and allspice. Typically, the spice paste is mixed with sour orange juice to make a marinade. Whole fish might be butterflied, seasoned with a recado, and grilled on a banana leaf over an open fire. Pork seasoned with a recado and sour orange juice, then wrapped in banana leaves, is the basis of cochinita pibil, perhaps the region's most famous dish.
The Gulf (includes Veracruz)
The Gulf of Mexico provides shrimp, crab, conch, and crayfish for seafood cocktails or salpicòn, a spicy mixture of shredded seafood and tomato. Spicy crab soup is a favorite, as is whole fish prepared a la Veracruzana, in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, and thyme. The use of olives, capers, raisins, and thyme is a legacy of the Spanish. Sugarcane used to be grown here with the help of African slaves, and the African influence is still apparent in the local use of cassava, plantains, sweet potatoes, winter squash and peanuts. Fried plantain chips are a popular snack, and dishes often come garnished with black beans and plantains.
Signature ingredients
Dried corn, pinto beans, black beans, chiles (fresh and dried), avocado, cactus paddles, banana leaves, huitlacoche (corn fungus), chorizo, dried beef, goat, pumpkin seeds, achiote, lime, mango, pineapple, sour oranges, queso fresco and queso añejo, cilantro, dried oregano, epazote.