2012-08-13 00:32![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
melluransa
melluransaThis is the food of my youth! I grew up making and eating these foods the way we make it, and was so surprised when I moved away from New Mexico and people make it different. I still go out to Mexican restaurants and expect to be asked if I want red or green sauce. And once I ordered a sopapilla and it was all wrong!!! It was flat and round, when I'm used to them puffy and square! Ahh, it's so weird.
So, the main foods of New Mexico that I'm familiar with are:
Sopapillas: Soft fried dough in rectangles, which puff up extremely and get huge bubbles. They look a lot like pillows when done! You eat them with honey, or break them open and fill the inside of the bubble with filling.
Sopapillas. Eat them warm with honey and your mouth will thank you.
Green chile: In NM, you can get green chile on everything! It's even an option to get it on your burger at McDonald's. These are used more than the jalapeño chiles. Chiles are a huge deal since NM is a major supplier of specialty chiles. They are grown in Hatch, where my abuela (grandmother) lives. That town is chile obsessed and there are bundles of chiles hanging everywhere and drying in the sun, or giant grills that roast them. Mmm they smell so good! People buy chiles en masse and freeze them so they can eat them out of season, during the winter. You have to prepare them before cooking, removing the seeds and stems. You must gloves because the spicy component in them is abrasive to your skin. Don't rub your eyes while preparing them! My dad did that once and was incapacitated for hours.
Green chiles... eaten with everything.
Red or green chile sauce: This is an important question, and you can't just shrug. It's one of those questions where you must have an answer. I usually choose "green" because it's milder. Red is hotter and can overpower the dish and leave your tongue screaming in pain. :)
It's such an important question that you can even get it on a New Mexico t-shirt
Cilantro: This has to go in salsas. Cilantro goes in New Mexico style pico de gallo.
Cilantro
Pico de gallo: A salsa that is chopped up veggies that aren't suspended in a liquid, which is how salsa comes at the store. I make this all the time and it has so much flavor!
Pico de gallo: eaten in tacos, with chips, in burritos, in egg omlettes, and with everything in general.
Piñon nuts: Piñon nuts are so very tasty, and are woody and smoky. They grow on the Piñon tree. There is also incense you can get from this tree. It's another part of my childhood because we have a little incense burner in the shape of a Pueblo Indian bread oven. It's such a lovely scent and it's even more charming when it wafts from a little ceramic bread oven trinket.
Piñon nuts
Frito pie: Frito pie is basically the contents of a taco spread over corn chips instead of in a taco shell. There's nothing more to it. This is common at parties and big events; you just scoop your serving in a bowl and move along.
Frito pie.
Chiles rellenos: Which are stuffed chile peppers. The name means "stuffed chile peppers."
Chiles rellenos
Agua fresca: The name means "fresh water." These are fruit drinks made with fresh fruits and milk or water. They come in a lot of flavors! My favorite flavors are cantaloupe melon and prickly pear cactus fruit. One that is NOT my favorite is hibiscus; it tastes like flower urine. The other flavors are great! I want to try cucumber flavor.
Aguas frescas! Don't they look good? No wonder the word "fresh" is in the name.
So those are the main ones I think are distinctive to me and to that region where I grew up in!
P.S. Flour and corn tortillas are served with every single meal! It's different because you eat with your fingers; you rip up your tortilla and use it to pinch the food, and use it to put the food in your mouth. It's almost like an edible napkin. My family are the only ones I know who do this. I eat like this where I live now and get strange looks, because everywhere else you put the food in the tortilla and wrap it into a tube like a burrito.
Other New Mexican foods are common tex-mex foods like tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, empanadas, burritos, tamales (YUM), taquitos, churros, flan, fried ice cream, etc. like you can get at any old Mexican restaurant.
Other ones that I remember, but aren't distinctively "New Mexican" are...
Tajin: A chili-powder, salty sugary lime seasoning you sprinkle on fruit. So good on watermelon and mango!
Tajin! It doesn't look like much but your tongue will convince you otherwise.
Peanut Marzipan: I craved this today, which is actually what brought this post about. Aww man, the nostalgia. This is so good and peanuty, and very sweet. It's a crumbly powdery candy compacted into a disc, and in your mouth it melts into a powdery paste that is good washed down with milk. Mmmm do I crave this right now.
This stuff is like my crack cocaine
Some of my Mexican family eat cactus! They also like cow's tongue. They basically go hardcore and eat New Mexican cuisine all the time, every single dinnertime. Makes sense, as they live there and just eat this stuff. It's like visiting Italy and all they eat is Italian food all the time.
I love visiting my family in NM, and one of the reasons is the food. I don't even try to deny this fact. We visit all my aunts' houses and they always offer food. I'm like, "Si, I'm so hungry, tengo muchisimo hambre *hungry belly-rubbing gesture*," all the time because I know I need to get my fill on this food until the next visit. XD This food means a lot to me, and I like that I know how to make it the way I grew up making it.
Man, do I want some. I wasn't able to visit this year and I can tell by my cravings for all this food. The Mexican restaurants in my area just can't fulfill what I want. :( Their sopapillas are round -- round! Can you believe it? ;~; And there's no marzipan...
New Mexico.... I MISS YOU AND YOUR FOOD AND YOUR MOUNTAINS AND YOUR SAND AND YOUR BALLOONS
So, the main foods of New Mexico that I'm familiar with are:
Sopapillas: Soft fried dough in rectangles, which puff up extremely and get huge bubbles. They look a lot like pillows when done! You eat them with honey, or break them open and fill the inside of the bubble with filling.
Sopapillas. Eat them warm with honey and your mouth will thank you.
Green chile: In NM, you can get green chile on everything! It's even an option to get it on your burger at McDonald's. These are used more than the jalapeño chiles. Chiles are a huge deal since NM is a major supplier of specialty chiles. They are grown in Hatch, where my abuela (grandmother) lives. That town is chile obsessed and there are bundles of chiles hanging everywhere and drying in the sun, or giant grills that roast them. Mmm they smell so good! People buy chiles en masse and freeze them so they can eat them out of season, during the winter. You have to prepare them before cooking, removing the seeds and stems. You must gloves because the spicy component in them is abrasive to your skin. Don't rub your eyes while preparing them! My dad did that once and was incapacitated for hours.
Green chiles... eaten with everything.
Red or green chile sauce: This is an important question, and you can't just shrug. It's one of those questions where you must have an answer. I usually choose "green" because it's milder. Red is hotter and can overpower the dish and leave your tongue screaming in pain. :)
It's such an important question that you can even get it on a New Mexico t-shirt
Cilantro: This has to go in salsas. Cilantro goes in New Mexico style pico de gallo.
Cilantro
Pico de gallo: A salsa that is chopped up veggies that aren't suspended in a liquid, which is how salsa comes at the store. I make this all the time and it has so much flavor!
Pico de gallo: eaten in tacos, with chips, in burritos, in egg omlettes, and with everything in general.
Piñon nuts: Piñon nuts are so very tasty, and are woody and smoky. They grow on the Piñon tree. There is also incense you can get from this tree. It's another part of my childhood because we have a little incense burner in the shape of a Pueblo Indian bread oven. It's such a lovely scent and it's even more charming when it wafts from a little ceramic bread oven trinket.
Piñon nuts
Frito pie: Frito pie is basically the contents of a taco spread over corn chips instead of in a taco shell. There's nothing more to it. This is common at parties and big events; you just scoop your serving in a bowl and move along.
Frito pie.
Chiles rellenos: Which are stuffed chile peppers. The name means "stuffed chile peppers."
Chiles rellenos
Agua fresca: The name means "fresh water." These are fruit drinks made with fresh fruits and milk or water. They come in a lot of flavors! My favorite flavors are cantaloupe melon and prickly pear cactus fruit. One that is NOT my favorite is hibiscus; it tastes like flower urine. The other flavors are great! I want to try cucumber flavor.
Aguas frescas! Don't they look good? No wonder the word "fresh" is in the name.
So those are the main ones I think are distinctive to me and to that region where I grew up in!
P.S. Flour and corn tortillas are served with every single meal! It's different because you eat with your fingers; you rip up your tortilla and use it to pinch the food, and use it to put the food in your mouth. It's almost like an edible napkin. My family are the only ones I know who do this. I eat like this where I live now and get strange looks, because everywhere else you put the food in the tortilla and wrap it into a tube like a burrito.
Other New Mexican foods are common tex-mex foods like tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, empanadas, burritos, tamales (YUM), taquitos, churros, flan, fried ice cream, etc. like you can get at any old Mexican restaurant.
Other ones that I remember, but aren't distinctively "New Mexican" are...
Tajin: A chili-powder, salty sugary lime seasoning you sprinkle on fruit. So good on watermelon and mango!
Tajin! It doesn't look like much but your tongue will convince you otherwise.
Peanut Marzipan: I craved this today, which is actually what brought this post about. Aww man, the nostalgia. This is so good and peanuty, and very sweet. It's a crumbly powdery candy compacted into a disc, and in your mouth it melts into a powdery paste that is good washed down with milk. Mmmm do I crave this right now.
This stuff is like my crack cocaine
Some of my Mexican family eat cactus! They also like cow's tongue. They basically go hardcore and eat New Mexican cuisine all the time, every single dinnertime. Makes sense, as they live there and just eat this stuff. It's like visiting Italy and all they eat is Italian food all the time.
I love visiting my family in NM, and one of the reasons is the food. I don't even try to deny this fact. We visit all my aunts' houses and they always offer food. I'm like, "Si, I'm so hungry, tengo muchisimo hambre *hungry belly-rubbing gesture*," all the time because I know I need to get my fill on this food until the next visit. XD This food means a lot to me, and I like that I know how to make it the way I grew up making it.
Man, do I want some. I wasn't able to visit this year and I can tell by my cravings for all this food. The Mexican restaurants in my area just can't fulfill what I want. :( Their sopapillas are round -- round! Can you believe it? ;~; And there's no marzipan...
New Mexico.... I MISS YOU AND YOUR FOOD AND YOUR MOUNTAINS AND YOUR SAND AND YOUR BALLOONS
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If I use the words "flower urine" then maybe I shouldn't be a food writer. XD Ergh, really though that's the only thing I can't stand is that tea. And I love tea!