Provenance · Volume IX · In progress
The Mexican Canon
Two hundred and twenty-five entries
Contents
I2
IIopening
III18
IV87
V114
VI1
VII3
VIIIopening
IXopening
Xopening
Overview & Cultural Context
Why this cuisine is its own thing — roots, history, the living movement.
The Land & Sea
Terroir — geography, climate, what grows and swims here.
The Pantry
The defining ingredients, named to species.
The Method
The foundational techniques the cuisine is built on.
The Canonical Dishes
The dishes a serious practitioner is expected to know.
The Beverage Tradition
Wines, spirits, ferments, tea and coffee, ceremonial drinks.
The Table & Service
How the food is served and eaten — the order, the rituals, the hospitality.
The Thread
Where this book connects to others — migration, trade, diaspora.
The Lineage & Authorities
The masters, the literature, the sources an entry is anchored to.
The Network
The producers and purveyors who carry the real ingredients.
← The LibraryVolume IX · contents
Mexican · IV The Method
Sauce Making
Five entries
Nixtamalization is the controlling process of Mexican cooking: without the alkaline transformation of dried maize, there is no masa, no tortilla, no tamale. From that foundation the chapter builds outward through the instruments — the comal, the molcajete — then through the dried chile and its preparation, then through the sauces, pastes, and complex moles that those techniques make possible, and finally through the canonical dishes and their regional forms.
The Mexican Mole: Architecture of the Ancient SauceEl Mole: The Complete Sauce SystemSalsa Technique: Raw, Cooked, and RoastedLa Salsa: Raw, Cooked, and CharredRed Chile Sauce
IV · The Method · 7 of 9Next chapter → Wet Heat Methods