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Provenance · Volume IX · In progress

The Mexican Canon

Two hundred and twenty-five entries

Contents
I
Overview & Cultural Context
Why this cuisine is its own thing — roots, history, the living movement.
2 II
The Land & Sea
Terroir — geography, climate, what grows and swims here.
opening III
The Pantry
The defining ingredients, named to species.
18 IV
The Method
The foundational techniques the cuisine is built on.
87 V
The Canonical Dishes
The dishes a serious practitioner is expected to know.
114 VI
The Beverage Tradition
Wines, spirits, ferments, tea and coffee, ceremonial drinks.
1 VII
The Table & Service
How the food is served and eaten — the order, the rituals, the hospitality.
3 VIII
The Thread
Where this book connects to others — migration, trade, diaspora.
opening IX
The Lineage & Authorities
The masters, the literature, the sources an entry is anchored to.
opening X
The Network
The producers and purveyors who carry the real ingredients.
opening
← The LibraryVolume IX · contents
Mexican · III The Pantry

The Pantry

Eighteen entries

The pantry of Mexican cooking rests on a set of preparations made before the dish begins. Dried chillies reconstituted into pastes, cultured creams, rendered fats, and aged spice compounds form the structural layer beneath every recipe. Native ingredients — from cactus pads to corn fungus to grasshoppers — and the regional spice pastes of Yucatán complete a pantry that is both ancient and precise.

Lard (manteca) versus vegetable shortening in Mexican cookingCrema mexicana (Mexican cultured cream)Quesillo / Oaxacan string cheese (pasta filata)Requeson (Mexican fresh curd cheese)Adobo SauceMexicoAchiote pasta (Yucatecan annatto spice paste)Recado rojo and negro — Yucatecan spice pastesRecado negro (Yucatecan charred chile paste)Epazote — identification and usageMorita chile usage and applicationsMole Base (The Dried Chilli Paste — Before Adding Chocolate)Nopales preparation and cooking (cactus pads)Chayote preparation and cookingFlor de calabaza (squash blossom preparation)Huitlacoche preparation (corn fungus)Chapulines (toasted grasshoppers)Piloncillo syrup preparationChorro de aceite (chile oil finish)
III · The PantryNext chapter → The Method
Mexican · III

The Pantry

The defining ingredients, named to species.

‹ Contents

The pantry of Mexican cooking rests on a set of preparations made before the dish begins. Dried chillies reconstituted into pastes, cultured creams, rendered fats, and aged spice compounds form the structural layer beneath every recipe. Native ingredients — from cactus pads to corn fungus to grasshoppers — and the regional spice pastes of Yucatán complete a pantry that is both ancient and precise.

18 entries
Elsewhere
Lard (manteca) versus vegetable shortening in Mexican cookingCrema mexicana (Mexican cultured cream)Quesillo / Oaxacan string cheese (pasta filata)Requeson (Mexican fresh curd cheese)Achiote pasta (Yucatecan annatto spice paste)Recado rojo and negro — Yucatecan spice pastesRecado negro (Yucatecan charred chile paste)Epazote — identification and usageMorita chile usage and applicationsMole Base (The Dried Chilli Paste — Before Adding Chocolate)Nopales preparation and cooking (cactus pads)Chayote preparation and cookingFlor de calabaza (squash blossom preparation)Huitlacoche preparation (corn fungus)Chapulines (toasted grasshoppers)Piloncillo syrup preparationChorro de aceite (chile oil finish)
Mexico
Adobo Sauce
← IIThe Land & Sea

Contents · The Library