Tamales are masa spread on a soaked corn husk, filled, folded and steamed until the dough sets into something soft and light. They take an afternoon, which is why they are a group project in Mexican kitchens, and almost all of the difficulty sits in the masa rather than the filling. Two checks decide the…
Churros are a cooked flour dough piped into hot oil, fried until the outside is crisp and the inside stays soft, then rolled in cinnamon sugar. The trouble usually comes down to one of three things: a dough that will not hold its shape, churros that come out greasy, or a churro that bursts in…
Flan is a baked custard with a caramel top that becomes a sauce, and it is one of the most forgiving desserts in the Mexican repertoire once you understand two things: why the caramel goes rock hard and then loosens by itself, and what the pan of water is actually doing. Get those and you…
Queso is melted cheese for dipping, and the homemade version has a reputation for going wrong: grainy, stringy, or a pool of orange oil with rubbery curds in it. Processed cheese is the usual way around that, and you do not need it. Real cheese makes a smooth queso as long as two things are…
Sopes are thick masa cakes with a pinched rim that holds a pile of toppings, somewhere between a tortilla and a small edible plate. They are street food across Mexico, and they are better made at home than carried home, because a sope goes soft within about ten minutes of being filled. The whole technique…
A torta is a Mexican sandwich built on a bolillo, a crusty white roll with a soft interior, and it is a full meal rather than a snack. Done well it holds together to the last bite. Done carelessly it turns into a wet roll with the filling sliding out of one end, and the…
Taquitos are corn tortillas rolled tightly around a small amount of filling and fried into crisp tubes. There is only one real obstacle, and everyone meets it on the first attempt: a corn tortilla straight from the bag splits the moment you try to roll it. The fix takes thirty seconds and is the whole…
A chimichanga is a burrito that has been deep fried, so the shell blisters and crackles while the filling inside stays soft. It fails in one spectacular way: the parcel opens in the oil and the filling boils out. There are two causes, both avoidable, and both happen before the thing ever reaches the pan….
A quesadilla is cheese melted between tortillas in a hot dry pan, and it goes wrong in two predictable ways: the outside burns while the middle is still solid cheese, or the whole thing turns greasy and limp. Both come down to pan temperature and to which cheese you bought. This version adds chicken and…
Chicken tinga is shredded chicken cooked down in a smoky chipotle and tomato sauce until the sauce clings to the meat rather than sitting under it. It is the filling for tostadas, tacos and tortas across central Mexico, and it takes about fifty minutes, most of it hands off. One step decides whether it tastes…
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