Notes - Cooking of America

THE COOKING OF AMERICA.

THE HISTORY OF CUISINE IN NORTH AMERICA THE COLONIES

When the colonists came to America, their initial attempts at survival included planting crops familiar to them from back home in England. In the same way, they farmed animals for clothing and meat in a similar fashion. Through hardships and eventual establishment of trade with Britain, the West Indies and other regions, the colonists were able to establish themselves in the American colonies with a cuisine similar to their previous British cuisine. There were some exceptions to the diet, such as local vegetation and animals, but the colonists attempted to use these items in the same fashion as they had their equivalents ignore them if they could. The manner of cooking for the American colonists followed along the line of British cookery up until the Revolution.

There was a general disdain for French cookery, even with the French in South Carolina and French Canadians. Reinforcing the anti-French sentiment was the French and Indian War from 1754-1764. This created a large anxiety against the French, which influenced the English to either deport many of the French, or as in the case of the Acadians, they migrated to Louisiana. The Acadian French did create a large French influence in the diet of those settled in Louisiana, but had little or no influence outside of Louisiana.

The American colonial diet varied depending on where the settled region. Local cuisine patterns had established by the mid 18th century. The New England colonies were extremely similar in their dietary habits to those that many of them had brought from England. A striking difference for the colonists in New England compared to other regions was seasonality. While in the southern colonies, they could farm almost year round, in the northern colonies, the growing seasons were very restricted. In addition, colonists' close proximity to the ocean gave them a bounty of fresh fish to add to their diet, especially in the northern colonies. Wheat, however, the grain used to bake bread back in England was almost impossible to grow, and imports of wheat were far from cost productive. Substitutes in cases such as this included cornmeal.

As many of the New Englanders were originally from England, game hunting was often a pastime from back home that paid off when they immigrated to the New World. Much of the northern colonists depended upon the ability either of themselves to hunt, or for others from which they could purchase game. This was the preferred method for protein consumption over animal rising, as it required much less work to defend the kept animals against Native Americans or the French.

NATIVE MEAT AND LIVESTOCK

The most commonly hunted and eaten game included deer, bear, buffalo (Bison) and wild turkey. The larger muscles of the animals were roasted and served with currant sauce, while the other smaller portions went into soups, stews, sausages, pies and pasties. In addition to game, mutton was a meat that colonists would enjoy from time to time. The Spanish in Florida originally introduced sheep to the New World, in the north however, the Dutch and English introduced sheep. The keeping of sheep was a result of the English non-practice of animal raising. The keeping of sheep was of importance as it not only provided wool, but also after the sheep had reached an age that it was unmanageable for wool production; it became mutton for the English diet. The forage-based diet for sheep that prevailed in the Colonies produced a characteristically strong, gamy flavour that had a tougher consistency. This required aging and slow cooking to tenderize.

OILS & FATS

A number of fats and oils made from animals served to cook much of the colonial foods. Many homes had a sack made of deerskin filled with bear oil for cooking, while solidified bear fat resembled shortening. Rendered pork fat made the most popular cooking medium, especially from the cooking of bacon. Pork fat was used more often in the southern colonies than the northern colonies as the Spanish introduced pigs earlier to the south. The colonists enjoyed butter in cooking as well, but it was rare prior to the American Revolution, as cattle were not yet plentiful.

EARLY SEAFOOD

The American lobster was a staple of the colonial diet

Those that lived near the shores in New England often dined on fish, crustaceans and other animals that emanated from the waters. Colonists ate large quantities of turtle, and it was an exportable delicacy for Europe. Cod, in both fresh and salted form was enjoyed, with the salted variation created for long storage. Lobsters proliferated in the waters as well, and were extremely common in the New England diet. Cod and Lobster were so common in the diet, that some often complained about how often the dined on it. The highest quality cod was usually dried, however, and exported to the Mediterranean in exchange for fruits not grown in the American colonies.

VEGETABLES

A number of vegetables grew in the northern colonies, which included turnips, onions, cabbage, carrots, and parsnips, along with a number of beans, pulses and legumes. These vegetables kept well through the colder months in storage. Other vegetables grew which were salted or pickled for preservation, such as cucumbers. As control over the northern colonies' farming practices came from the seasons, fresh greens consumption occurred only during the summer months. Pumpkins and gourds were other vegetables that grew well in the northern colonies; often used for food for animals in addition to human consumption. In addition to the vegetables, a large number of fruits were grown seasonally. Fruits not eaten in season often saw their way into preservation methods like jam, wet sweetmeats, dried or cooked into pies that could freeze during the winter months

NATIVE AMERICANS & THEIR IMPACT

Native Americans utilized a number of cooking methods. Grilling meats was common. Spit roasting over a pit fire was common as well. Vegetables, especially root vegetables were often cooked directly in the ashes of the fire. As early Native Americans lacked the proper pottery that could be used directly over a fire, they developed a technique which has caused many anthropologists to call them "Stone Boilers." The Native Americans would heat rocks directly in a fire and then add the bricks to a pot filled with water until it came to a boil so that it would cook the meat or vegetables in the boiling water. Another method was to use an empty buffalo stomach filled with desired ingredients and suspended over a low fire. The fire would have been insufficient to completely cook the food contained in the stomach however; as the flesh would burn so heated rocks would be added to the food as well. Some Native Americans would also use the leather of a buffalo-hide in the same manner.

The Native Americans are credited as the first in America to create fire-proof pottery to place in direct flame. The Southwest Native Americans had also created ovens made of adobe which was used to bake items such as breads made from cornmeal. Native Americans in other parts of America made ovens out of dug pits, like early Tandoor ovens in Egypt. These pits were also used to steam foods by adding heated rocks or embers and then seaweed or corn husks (or other coverings) placed on top to steam fish and shellfish as well as vegetables; potatoes would be added while still in-skin and corn while in-husk, this would later be referred to as a clambake by the colonists. The hole was also a location for producing what has become Boston baked beans made from beans, maple sugar and a piece of bear fat.

One of the most important occurrences in this period was the interaction with the people of the area and borrowing from Native American cuisine. From this interaction came one of the main staples of the Southern diet: corn (maize), either ground into meal or limed with an alkaline salt to make hominy, also called masa. Corn was an essential and versatile crop for the early settlers. Corn was used to make all kinds of dishes from the familiar cornbread and grits to liquors such as whiskey and moonshine, which were important trade items. Though a Lesser staple, potatoes were also adopted from Native American cuisine and were used in many similar ways as corn.

Native Americans introduced the first Southerners to many other vegetables still familiar on southern tables. Squash, pumpkin, many types of beans, tomatoes (though these were initially considered poisonous), many types of peppers and sassafras all came to the settlers via the native tribes. Many fruits are available in this region. Blackberries, raspberries, and many other wild berries were part of settlers* diets.

Early settlers also supplemented their diets with meats derived from the hunting of native game. Venison was an important meat staple due to the abundance of white-tailed deer in the area. Settlers also hunted rabbits, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons, all of which were pests to the crops they raised. Livestock in the form of hogs and cattle were kept. When game or livestock were killed, the entire animal was used. Aside from the meat, it was not uncommon for settlers to eat organ meats such as liver, brains and intestines. This tradition remains today in hallmark dishes like chitterlings (commonly called chit'lins) which are fried large intestines of hogs, liver mush (a common dish in the Carolinas made from hog liver), and pork brains and eggs. The fat of the animals, particularly hogs, was rendered and used for cooking and frying

While the earliest cuisine of the United States was primarily influenced by indigenous Native Americans, the cuisine of the thirteen colonies or the culture of the American South; the overall culture of the nation, its gastronomy and the growing culinary arts became ever more influenced by its changing ethnic mix and immigrant patterns over the 20th century unto the present. Some of the ethnic groups that continued to influence the cuisine were here in prior years; while others arrived more numerously during "The Great Transatlantic Migration (of 1870-1914) or other mass migrations. Some of the ethnic influences could be found in the nation from after the Civil War and into the History of United States continental expansion during most of the 19th century. Ethnic influences already in the nation at that time would include the following groups and their respective cuisines: Indigenous Native Americans in the United States (Indians) and Native American cuisine, select nationalities of Europe and the respective developments from early modern European cuisine of the colonial age: British- Americans and on-going developments in New England cuisine, the national traditions founded in cuisine of the thirteen colonies and some aspects of other regional cuisine. Spanish Americans (Hispanic) and early modern Spanish cuisine, early German-American or Pennsylvania Dutch and Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, French Americans and their "New World" regional identities such as: Cajun and Cajun cuisine.

RACE & SOCIAL EFFECTS ON AMERICAN CUISINE

The various ethnicities originating from early social factors of Race in the United States and the gastronomy and cuisines of the "New World," Latin-American cuisine and North American cuisine: African-Americans and "Soul Food." Louisiana Creole and Louisiana Creole cuisine. The word Creole refers to people of various racial decedents that descended from the settlers of Colonial France and Hispanic America in Colonial French Louisiana, before it became part of the United States in 1803 (with the Louisiana Purchase, with claim to the culture and Creole cuisine. They are Multi-racial ("Creoles of Color") being of mixed (mainly) French, Spanish, African-American, and Native-American heritage. Mexican-Americans and Mexican-American cuisine; as well as related regional cuisines: Like Tex-Mex (regional Texas and Mexican fusion).

AFRICAN AMERICAN INFLUENCES

Plantations were born after the Southern settlers realized the great region's potential for agricultural profit. The wealthiest land owners began to cultivate the land in larger and larger tracts and in the process began using slaves from Africa for labor. Most Africans' diets consisted of greens and various vegetables. Stews were common and rice was a familiar staple to them. Foods that became part of the Southern diet from African-American heritage include eggplant, kola nuts, sesame seeds, okra, sweet potatoes, field peas, peanuts, black-eyed peas, African rice and some melons.

The African influence is present in traditional Cajun cuisine. Gumbo (a stew using chicken or seafood, sausage, rice, okra and roux) and etouffee, (a thicker, less liquid gumbo served over a bed of rice) are all born from African cooking tradition.

The term "soul food" dates only to the first half of the 1960s. In the South the phrase is not used and it is simply thought of as home cooking. There are many stories about non-black Southerners going to other parts of the country and having to seek out African American restaurants for the food they grew up on. In some cases they have been told they cannot get certain grocery items and to try the foreign sections. Generally speaking white Southerners eat the exact same food in the exact same way as traditional African Americans. There are some foods, however, like chitlins and pig's feet that are more associated with poverty (even among white Southerners) and have simply been employed over time more by blacks than whites.

WHAT IS AMERICAN CUISINE?

One characteristic of American cooking is called fusion food; a fusion of multiple ethnic or regional approaches into completely new cooking styles. The cuisine of the South, for example, has been heavily influenced by immigrants from Africa, France, and Mexico, among others. Asian cooking has played a particularly large role in American fusion cuisine. Similarly, while some dishes considered typically American many have their origins in other countries, American cooks and chefs have substantially altered them over the years, to the degree that the dish as now enjoyed the world over may even be considered American. Hot dogs and hamburgers are both based on traditional German dishes, brought over to America by German immigrants to the United States, but in their modern popular form they can be reasonably considered American dishes.

Many companies in the American food industry develop new products requiring minimal preparation, such as frozen entrees. Some corporate kitchens such as Campbell's develop consumer recipes featuring their company's products. Many of these recipes have become very popular. For example, the General Mills Betty Crocker's Cookbook, first published in 1950 and currently in its 10th edition, is commonly found in American homes.

The second characteristic of American cooking is called Immigrant cuisine, which refers to food that originates as a foreign cuisine (usually one carried over by immigrants) that has been altered, sometimes dramatically, to use tastes, techniques, and ingredients common or unique to the new culture. Immigrant cuisines are in many ways similar to fusion cuisines in how they combine elements of different cultures; however, where a fusion dish is generally an intentional combination of sometimes-clashing styles, an immigrant cuisine is formed from a process of adapting old-country recipes to different ingredients and social pressures. Well-known examples include Americanized cuisines such as Italian-American and Chinese- American cuisines, as well as cuisines such as Mexican, Brazilian, and Caribbean where Native American food traditions intermingled with imported traditions from the British Isles, Western Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa.

NEW ENGLAND

New England is the most northeastern region of the United States, including the six states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The region consists of a heritage linking it to Britain. The Native American cuisine became part of the cookery style that the early colonists brought with them. The style of New England cookery originated from its colonial roots, that is to say practical, frugal and willing to eat anything other than what they were used to from their British roots. Much of the cuisine started with one-pot cookery, which resulted in such dishes as succotash, chowder, baked beans, and others.

Lobster is an integral ingredient to the cuisine, indigenous to the shores of the region. Other shellfish of the coastal regions include little neck clams, sea scallops, blue mussels, oysters, soft shell clams and razor shell clams. Much of this shellfish contributes to New England tradition, the clambake. The clambake as known today is a colonial interpretation of a Native American tradition. The fruits of the region include the grapes used in grape juice made by companies such as Welch's, along with jelly. Apples from New England include the original varieties, Baldwin, Lady, Mother, Pomme Grise, Porter, Roxbury Russet, Wright, Sops of Wine, Peck's Pleasant, Titus Pippin, Westfield-Seek-No-Further, and Duchess of Oldenburg. Cranberries are another fruit indigenous to the region.

NORTHEAST - MID-ATLANTIC

Maryland boasts a plethora of marine fare, including blue crabs, crab cakes, crab soup, seafood lasagna, raw oysters, and rock fish. The state even has its own brand of potato chip, called Crab Chips. Marylanders use Old Bay, a local spice, to season everything from crabs to applesauce to peaches to popcorn. Pennsylvania could easily be called the junk food capital of the United States. It is the home of Hershey's, Tastykake, Snyder's of Hanover, Peanut Chews, and the cheese steak. Pretzels are a common snack in Pennsylvania. They come in many varieties, from the hot, soft, chewy pretzels sold by vendors on the street or stadium to the salty, hard, crunchy variety sold by pretzels manufacturers in the grocery and quick stop stores of Pennsylvania. New York City is known as one of the gastronomical capitals of the United States. With its large immigrant population virtually every cuisine could be found here. New York City is famous for its New York-style pizza, Bagels, Calzone, Pastrami, and Manhattan clam chowder. Buffalo, New York is known for its Buffalo wings, and Sponge Toffee.

Boston is the center of Massachusetts, and its norms and modes have influenced the whole of the state. A major seaport from Colonial times, Boston is famous for its clam chowder, called "New England clam chowder" to distinguish it from a similar soup made in New York.

SOUTHERN

The most notable influences come from African, Native American, British, Irish, French, and Spanish cuisines. Soul food, Creole, Cajun, and Floribbean are examples of Southern cuisine. In more recent history, elements of Southern cuisine have spread north, having an effect on the development of other types of American cuisine.

The food of the American South is quite multicultural. Many items like squash, tomatoes, corn (and its derivatives, including grits itself), to say nothing of types of cornbreads) as well as the practice of deep pit barbecuing have been inherited from the indigenous Americans. Many foods associated with sugar, flour, milk, eggs (many kinds of baking or dairy products like breads and cheeses) are more associated with Europe. The South's propensity for a full breakfast (as opposed to a Continental one with a simple bread item and drink) is derived from the British fry up, although it was altered substantially. Much of Cajun/Creole cuisine is based on France and on Spain to a lesser extent. Floribbean is more Spanish-based with obvious Caribbean influences; while Tex-Mex has considerable Mexican and native tribe touches

SOUTHWEST

Southwestern cuisine is food styled after the rustic cooking of California, New Mexico, . Arizona, Nevada, Utah, as well as parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. It comprises a fusion of recipes for things that might have been eaten by cowboys, Native Americans, and Mexicans throughout the post-Columbian era; however, there is a great diversity in this kind of cuisine within the above-mentioned states.

Southwestern cuisine is heavily influenced by Mexican cuisine but often involves larger cuts of meat, and less use of tripe, brain, and other parts not considered as desirable in the ,United States. Like Mexican cuisine, it is also known for its use of spices (particularly the Chile, or Chili pepper) and accompaniment with beans (frijoles), cooked in a variety of manners. Chili con carne, fajitas, certain kinds of chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles), and various steak-chile combinations are particularly well-known Southwestern foods. Note that "chili" generally refers to a thick stew or soup prepared with beans and meat, while "chile" refers to the peppers that grow in this region and have been eaten for thousands of years by the native people.

Tex-Mex is a term for a type of American food which is used primarily in Texas and the Southwestern United States to describe a regional cuisine which blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans that are influenced by the cuisines of Mexico. A given Tex-Mex food may or may not be similar to Mexican cuisine, although it is common for all of these foods to be referred to as "Mexican food" in Texas, the United States and in some other countries. In many parts of the country outside of Texas this term is synonymous with Southwestern cuisine.

MIDWEST

Midwestern cuisine is a regional cuisine of the American Midwest. It draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. Midwestern cuisine generally showcases simple and hearty dishes that make use of the abundance of locally grown foodstuffs. Its culinary profiles may seem synonymous with "American food." "Think of Thanksgiving dinner, turkey with cranberry sauce, wild rice, and apple pie." Sometimes called "the breadbasket of America," the Midwest serves as a center for grain production, particularly wheat, corn and soybeans. Midwestern states also produce most of the country's wild rice. Beef and pork processing always have been important Midwestern industries, with a strong role in regional diets. Chicago and Kansas City were historically stockyard and processing centers of the beef trade, while Iowa remains the center of pork production in the U.S. Far from the oceans, Midwesterners traditionally ate little seafood, relying on local freshwater fish, such as perch and trout, supplemented by canned tuna and canned or cured salmon and herring, although modem air shipping of ocean seafood has been increasing Midwesterners¹ taste for fish.

Dairy products, especially cheese, form an important group of regional ingredients, with Wisconsin known as "America's Dairy Capital," although other Midwest states make cheese as well. The upper Midwest, a prime fruit-growing region, sees the extensive use of apples, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, peaches and other cold-climate fruit in its cuisine. As with many American regional cuisines, Midwestern cooking has been heavily influenced by immigrant groups. Throughout the northern Midwest, northern European immigrant groups predominated, so Swedish pancakes and Polish pierogi are common. Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio and Illinois were destinations for many ethnic German immigrants, so pork sausages and potatoes are prevalent. In the Rust Belt, many Greeks and Greek Macedonians became restaurateurs, imparting a Mediterranean influence. Native American influences show up in the uses of corn and wild rice.

Traditionally, Midwestern cooks used a light hand with seasonings, preferring sage, dill, caraway, mustard, parsley, not to bold or spicy flavors. However, with new waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia moving into the region, these tastes are changing. This section of the country is also headquarters for several seminal hamburger chains, notably McDonald's in Oak Brook, Illinois (founded in California, but turned into the iconic franchise by Ray Kroc beginning with a still-standing store in Des Plaines, Illinois).

FAR WEST

As one of the U.S. states nearest Asia, and with a long-standing Asian American population, the state tends to adopt Asian foods fairly liberally. The American sushi craze no doubt began in California; the term 'California roll' is used to describe sushi with avocado as a primary ingredient. These days, items like mochi ice cream and boba are popular. Because Californians tend to be culturally diverse, tend to be more traveled, and have culinary sophistication and openness to new eating experiences, fusion cuisine is accepted and popular in California. California Chef Wolfgang Puck is known as one of the pioneers of fusion cuisine, popularizing such dishes as Chinese chicken salad at the restaurant Ma Maison. His restaurant "Chinois" was named after the term attributed to Richard Wing, who in the 1960s combined French and Chinese cooking at the former Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, California. In addition to traditional and/or commercialized "Mexican" food, California restaurants serve up Honduran, Oaxacan and nearly every other variation of South American food there is. For example, Pupusarias are common in areas with a large population of Salvadorians (Pupusas are stuffed tortillas from El Salvador). Of late, "Fresh Mex" or "Baja- style" Mexican food, which places an emphasis on fresh ingredients and sometimes seafood, is highly popular. El Polio Loco ("The Crazy Chicken"), a fast food chain that originated in Northern Mexico, is a common sight. Baja Fresh, Rubio's Baja Grill, Wahoo's Fish Taco, Chipotle, Qdoba and La Salsa are examples of the Baja-style Mexiamerican food trend. Modern cuisine of Hawaii is a fusion of many cuisines brought by multi-ethnic immigrants to the islands, particularly of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese origins, and including food sources from plants and animals imported for Hawaiian agricultural use from all over the world. Since fresh fish is in such abundance, sushi is number two to the ever famous, "Spam" (processed ham) on the islands.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

The best chefs in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States—principally the states of Washington and Oregon (though the northern panhandle of Idaho may also qualify)—stress the use of fresh local ingredients. Vegetables, fruits, and berries from the region's vast agricultural areas, its great wealth of distinctive seafood, and its vital wines, all play a part in the cuisine. The region is also an active part of the food culture of the Pacific Rim and looks to Asia for many culinary influences. Salmon is the ingredient that comes to mind most readily, and with good reason; the several varieties of local salmon are relatively easy to prepare and have good reputations as healthy protein sources. Many restaurants plank roast salmon in the tradition of several of the coastal Native American tribes of the region. The cook seasons the salmon and bakes it on a board of fragrant cedar or alder wood. Another simple option would be to saute or bake the salmon with a Japanese soy-based or teriyaki sauce. A third option would be to top the salmon with a sauce of local huckleberries or chanterelle mushrooms. Dungeness crab, Alaska king crab, scallops, mussels, and clams are only a few of the other seafood choices. The region has a large oyster cultivation industry and hence uses oysters in many ways: barbecued, baked, fried or raw on the shell. Both Washington and Oregon are major producers of fruit; Washington ranks first among American states in apple production, accounting for fully half the nation's supply. Pears and stone fruits like peaches, apricots and cherries are also available in abundance. When fresh these fruits become mainstays of pies, cakes, and desserts; fruit preserves, jellies, nectars and reductions of all kinds are distinctive in the region. The fruits also find their way into savory foods: pork chops with apricot; salmon saut^ed with apples and apple cider; cherry-glazed chicken; swordfish with peach salsa; salads, like the Waldorf, that feature sliced apples or other fruits.

The abundance of rain in the forests of Oregon and Washington State make them ideal environments for the growth of wild mushrooms. Truffles, Morels, chanterelles, matsutakes, boletus and hedgehog mushrooms are the basis for most commercial harvesting; shitakes and other varieties are also commercial grown. Export demand from Europe and Japan is strong for many varieties, but when local chefs can obtain fresh wild mushrooms, they invariably incorporate them into their cooking. The Pacific Northwest region has a reputation for rain, but in actuality have a number of climates and micro-climates, many of which have proved ideal for wine production. Walla Walla, an inland area in Washington State, is well known for its sweet onions, descendents of Italian onion varieties brought to the region during the nineteenth century. The Pacific Northwest region has a decided tendency to champion organic and sustainable production of all types of foods, vegetables and herbs, and hence has an excellent infrastructure to process, ship and market these foods to local restaurants. If one were to create a stereotypical menu that used the full bounty of the region it would undoubtedly include fresh seafood or organically raised meat, organic herbs and vegetables, local fruits or berries, and choice wild mushrooms. The preparation method would stress simplicity and clear flavor notes, with no one ingredient dominating the others, and with the possible use of select Asian flavorings and cooking techniques.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CUISINE

In a city like Denver, the largest in the Rocky Mountain region, a sophisticated gourmet could enjoy French, Thai, even Ethiopian food; in ski resorts like Sun Valley, Idaho, Park City, Utah, or Aspen, Colorado, the options for expensive, cosmopolitan dining are numerous. All the same, throughout the Rocky Mountain West, a simple, direct, and distinctly regional cuisine makes its mark. The hearty cooking associated with cattle ranches, rodeos, and the American cowboy is alive and well in the Rockies: good steaks, chili, fresh fish, barbecue, and often a good dose of spicy Tex-Mex food. Cuisine using game, freshwater fish, grass-fed beef and bison, free range poultry, local fruits, berries, mushrooms and vegetables. While game like elk, antelope, caribou, pheasant, duck or quail may be available wild at a hunters' camp, people in the region usually depend on farm-raised game. Game meat tends to be very lean and hence is often made into pates or sausages that incorporate both spicing and extra fat; if in steak or chop form it may be wrapped in bacon or served with a flavorful sauce made from fruit, berries, or a potent wine reduction. Game also does well in slow-cooked stews. If game serves as the region's signature novelty dish, fresh, local, grass- fed beef, bison (popularly called buffalo) and lamb may well be the most satisfying meat choices. Idaho Russet Burbank potatoes are known throughout the United States for their high starch and low moisture content, features that make them ideal for baking; the baked potato, topped with melted butter, sour cream and chives, is the ideal complement to a flavorful steak. The lakes and streams of the Rocky Mountain States have some of the best freshwater fishing in the world. Fishing enthusiasts look forward to consuming the many varieties of trout, walleye, bass and other fish they may themselves catch. Wild Pacific salmon and other fish and shellfish from the Pacific region are also widely served.

I hope you get an opportunity to visit the U.S. and experience all it has to offer I am sure it's fast states and endless food venues will not disappoint.

THE GREAT LAKES

During the 1800s and 1900s, waves of immigration to the Great Lakes area came from Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, and Poland. Most were farmers who were attracted by the cheap, fertile land. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered free acreage to anyone who agreed to farm it for a certain number of years. The close-knit, family-based communities that developed retained their ethnic character for generations, cooking their traditional foods adapted to local ingredients. The population of the Great Lakes region continues to be largely German, Scandinavian, Dutch, and Polish. A number of miners originally from Cornwall, England, also migrated to the area. The Detroit-Dearborn metropolitan area in Michigan now boasts the largest Arab American population in the United States—the city of Detroit being the principal port of entry in the United States for Arab immigrants. The Arab Americans in Michigan-have contributed some foods of the Middle East, such as hummus, to the "menu" of the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes region was originally populated by American Indians who taught later European settlers how to hunt the local game, fish, and gather wild rice and maple syrup, as well as how to grow and eat corn and native squashes and beans. The European immigrants, mostly from Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Poland, and Cornwall, England, each shared their traditional dishes with the rest of America. The Germans contributed frankfurters (hot dogs), hamburgers, sauerkraut, potato salad, noodles, bratwurst, liverwurst, and pretzels to the American diet. Scandinavian foods include lefse (potato flatbread), limpa (rye bread), lutefisk (dried cod soaked in lye), and Swedish meatballs, as well as the smorgasbord (a table laid out with several courses of small foods). The Polish introduced kielbasa (a type of sausage), pierogies (a type of stuffed pasta), Polish

dill pickles, and babka (an egg cake). Pancakes are a Dutch contribution, along with waffles, doughnuts, cookies, and coleslaw. Miners from Cornwall brought their Cornish pasties, and small meat pies that were easily carried for lunch. Later immigrants from Arab countries settled in Detroit, Michigan, and introduced America to foods like hummus (pureed chickpeas), falafel (deep-fried bean cakes), and tabbouleh (bulgur wheat salad). Dairy is a major industry in the Great Lakes region, particularly Wisconsin, known as "America's Dairy land." Dairy farmers in Wisconsin milk about 2 million cows every day, and there is one cow for every two people in the state. Not surprisingly, milk, butter, and cheese are staples in the Great Lakes diet. Pigs are also common on farms in the Great Lakes region because they take up less space and are easier to raise than cattle. Pork, therefore, is another common ingredient in Great Lakes cooking, especially in the form of sausage.

Today's regional food examples and history from presentation slides:

New England Region

Boston Cream Pie

It is really a cake, not a pie. Two layers of sponge cake are filled with thick vanilla custard and topped with a chocolate glaze or a sprinkling of confectioners' sugar. It is cut in wedges like a pie. 1856 - The Parker House Hotel (now the Omni Parker House Hotel), claims to have served Boston cream pies since their opening in 1856. French chef Sanzian, who was hired for the opening of the hotel, is credited with creating Boston cream pie. This cake was originally served at the hotel with the names Chocolate Cream Pie or Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie.

New England Claim Chowder

Chowder which is a variety of soup featuring salted pork fat, thickened with a flour, heavy roux, crumbled ship biscuit or saltine crackers and milk, first materialized with Breton fisherman who migrated south to New England from Newfoundland. They would take much of the offal of their daily catches and combine them with readily available ingredients in large soup pots to feed themselves, each other and their families.

Over time, as it became a culinary staple in the Northeast, the recipe refined and began to be served commercially. This was when large amounts of milk and cream began to be added, giving it its characteristic look and texture we know today. Also, large slices of potato became common in the soup, and in the chowders widely recognized as the best, onions sauteed in the drippings from pork fat are also incorporated into the recipe. To this day there are usually never vegetables besides a select few legumes added to chowders, although some recipes call for thinly sliced strips of carrot to enhance the aesthetic value.

A chocolate bar cookie. The name comes from the deep-brown color of the cookie. The origins of the chocolate brownies are uncertain but it is felt that it was probably created by accident, the result of a forgetful cook neglecting to add baking powder to chocolate cake batter. Sears, Roebuck catalog in 1897 published the first known recipe for the brownies, and it quickly became very popular (so popular that a brownie mix was even sold in the catalog).

Lobster Roil

No one knows with exact certainty, but it all starts with the fact that while the wealthier women of the 1800's enjoyed lobster at their lavish luncheons, they did not like them torn apart tableside. So, the cooks for these families started turning the sweet chunks of meat into more "user-friendly" salads. Now this delicious lobster salad had to wait patiently, for decades, to be united with its culinary soul mate, the toasted hot dog bun. This happened sometime after 1912, which was when the first soft hamburger and hot dog buns were commercially manufactured.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

The first chocolate chip cookies was invented in 1937 by Ruth Graves Wakefield. One of Ruth's favorite recipes was an old recipe for "Butter Drop Do" cookies that dated back to colonial times. The recipe called for the use of baker's chocolate. One day Ruth found herself without a needed ingredient. Having a bar of semisweet chocolate on hand, she chopped it into pieces and stirred the chunks of chocolate into the cookie dough. She assumed that the chocolate would melt and spread throughout each cookie. Instead the chocolate bits held their shape and created a sensation. She called her new creation the Toll House Crunch Cookies. The Toll House Crunch Cookies became very popular with guests at the inn, and soon her recipe was published in a Boston newspaper, as well as other papers in the New England area. Word of the cookie spread and it became popular.

Brownie, Brownies

Buffalo Chicken Wings ' ss?

Buffalo Chicken Wings were originally created at Frank & Teresa's Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, on October 30,1964, by owner Teresso Bellissimo. They are deep-fried chicken wings served with a hot sauce, celery stalks, and blue cheese dressing. The Anchor Bar's Buffalo Chicken Wings were an instant success and their impact on Buffalo was so great that former mayor, Stanley M. Makowski, proclaimed Friday, July 29, 1977, as "Chicken Wing Day." The city's proclamation noted that because of Mrs. Bellissimo's kitchen, "thousands of pounds of chicken wings are consumed by Buffalonians in restaurants and taverns throughout the city each week."

Hoagie

Hoagies are built-to-order sandwiches filled with meat and cheese, as well as lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, topped off with a dash of oregano-vinegar dressing on an Italian roll. A true Italian Hoagie is made with Italian ham, prosciutto, salami, and provolone cheese, along with all the works. It was declared the "Official Sandwich of Philadelphia" in 1992. The Hoagie was originally created in Philadelphia. There are a number of different versions to how the Hoagie got its name, but no matter what version is right experts all agree that it started in Philadelphia or the towns' suburbs. The most widely accepted story centers on an area of Philadelphia known as Hog Island, which was home to a shipyard during World War I (1914-1918). The Italian immigrants working there would bring giant sandwiches made with cold cuts, spices, oil, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and peppers for their lunches. These workers were nicknamed "hoggies." Over the years, the name was attached to the sandwiches, but under a different spelling.

New York Cheesecake

New York cheesecake is the pure, unadulterated cheesecake with no fancy ingredients added either to the cheesecake or placed on top of it. It is made with pure cream cheese, cream, eggs, and sugar. Everybody has a certain image of New York Style Cheesecake. According to New Yorkers, only the great cheesecake makers are located in New York, and the great cheesecake connoisseurs are also in New York. In the 1900s, cheesecakes were very popular in New York. Every restaurant had their version. I believe the name "New York Cheesecake" came from the fact that New Yorkers referred to the cheesecakes made in New York as "New York Cheesecake." New Yorkers say that cheesecake wasn't really cheesecake until it was cheesecake in New York.

Philadelphia Cheese Steak

According to Philadelphians, you simply cannot make an authentic Philadelphia Cheese Steak sandwich without an authentic Philadelphia roll. The rolls must be long and thin, not fluffy or soft, but also not too hard. They also say that if you are more than one hour from South Philly, you cannot make an authentic sandwich. Tired of hot dogs residents and tourists would come for paper-wrapped Philly cheesesteaks and sodas. They would study the wall of celebrity photos before taking seats at the no-frills picnic tables. For the uninitiated, a sign explains the drill: with or without onions; specify provolone, American or Cheez Whiz; have your money ready; go to the back of the line if you make a mistake.

Southeast Region

Hot Brown Sandwich

Chef Fred K. Schmidt at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, created The Hot Brown sandwich in 1926. Bored with the traditional ham and eggs, Chef Schmidt, delighted his guests by creating the Hot Brown, an open-faced turkey sandwich with turkey, bacon, pimientos, and a delicate Mornay sauce. The sandwich is place under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Sweet Tea

In the South, ice tea is served year round with most meals. When people order tea in a Southern restaurant, chances are they will get sweet ice tea. Outside of the southern states, iced tea is served unsweetened or "black," and most people have never even heard of sweet tea.

VENON COELHO

Head of Department – Food Production

2009-2010.

Notes- The Cooking of Mexico

Chapter XXXVII: The Cooking of Mexico

Note: - The word ‘Indian’ in this handout refers to the natives of South America- the Aztecs and Mayans and not the Indians from India.

In the nearly 500 years since the Spanish conquest of Mexico and South America, a series of richly diverse cuisines has developed in the region. In Mexico, where there was high Indian Civilization, modern cooking is still firmly based on its Aztec- Mayan foundations, while revealing clearly the impact of Spain, which introduced its own foods and cooking methods. To a lesser extent, Mexico was influenced by the sophisticated dishes that were brought in from France and Austria during its brief experience as a French puppet state ruled by the ill-starred Maximilian and Carlotta. The dishes of Peru, heart of great Inca Empire, which took in most of what is now is Ecuador, as well as the better part of Chile and Bolivia and a small part of Argentina, still bear the unmistakable stamp of their ancient past overlaid by Spanish imports. Brazil is kaleidoscopic. There was no great society here, so the indigenous people contributed little more than raw materials. Today, the cooking of Brazil is a mixture of Portuguese, African slave and primitive Indian influences, and it is both unique and good. The cuisines of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, with no great indigenous traditions of their own, have evolved as the many Europeans strains in the population- Spanish, English, German, Italians and others- reacted to the native ingredients. Many a fine dish started as an improvisation using a local food instead of an unobtainable European one. Many a home dishes suffered a sea change in the long migration. English bread sauce, surely one of the most innocent inventions of the kitchen, becomes quiet complicated in Chile when as salsa de pan it takes the place of béchamel as the basis of what would have been the cream dishes. Adaptations and inventions, the clash as well wedding of cultures, have produced a repertoire as varied as the geography of the mountain-dominated continent.

The rapidity with which New World accepted Old World foods was rivaled by the speed of the reverse process. The Spaniards, obsessed by gold, did not at first realize that the real treasure of the Americas was - sweet corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chilies, chocolate, tobacco, avocados, peanuts, cassava ( tapioca, manioc or yuca), beans, vanilla, sweet potatoes, pineapples and papayas. But these foods quickly spread to other parts of the world, and today it is impossible to imagine life without most of them. Modern transport and food-handling means, moreover, that a great many of the foods necessary for cooking the Latin American way are readily available in the cities throughout the Europe.

Latin American cooking is not just another kind of European cooking. To be sure, there are Spanish and Portuguese influences in it, and the big hotels that cater for foreigners serve standard international food just as they do in New York or London, but under this superficial layer is food that differs sharply from anything found in Europe or the United States. It is partly African, brought by slaves from West Africa. It is partly tropical, using hot-country produce not available in Europe. Most of all it is Indian, inherited from the civilized Indians of the New World- the Aztecs, the Incas and others – who were conquered by the Spaniards but whose descendents still cling tenaciously too many parts of their ancient culture, and particularly to their indigenous foods.

The Indian influence is naturally strongest in countries where most of the population has Indian blood. For this reason Mexican cooking is more Indian than Spanish, and in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, which were parts of highly civilized Inca Empire, a large percentage of people still eat Inca food almost unmodified. But the Indian influence shows up strongly all over South and Central America. Even in Buenos Aires, whose population is entirely European, characteristically Indian dishes have a traditional place in the cuisine.

When the Spaniards and the Portuguese began exploring this part of the New World at the end of the 15^th century, they found large areas thinly inhabited by savage Indians who lived chiefly by hunting and fishing and by gathering wild vegetable foods. Most of Brazil, the Argentine and Uruguay was in the primitive “food-gathering” state, but along other coasts and Caribbean islands the Indians were more numerous and supported themselves by accrued sort of agriculture. The Spaniards particularly noticed a tall and beautiful plant that the people of Cuba grew in small fields and called by a name that sounded like “my-ees”. It grew 10 or more feet high and bore great cylindrical ears with closely set, shiny yellow kernels. This wonderful plant was maize, or the Indian corn, the staff of the life of New World. It not only took the place of the Old World’s wheat, but also produced greater yields and would flourish in many places where wheat will not survive.

Corn by itself is not a complete and health-giving diet. It has less protein than wheat and lacks certain vitamins and other desirable nutrients, but Indians seems to have had a folk wisdom that anticipated by thousands of years our modern scientific knowledge of dietary needs. As well as corn they grew beans: the ordinary kidney beans that most of the world eats now. Beans are rich in protein, and when they were planted in the same field as corn, the bacteria on their roots collected nitrogen and helped to preserve the fertility of soil, which is quickly depleted by the corn planted alone. The corn-bean combination, supplemented with other vitamin-rich vegetables, was the staple food of the Indian civilization, and millions of people in Latin America still live on it today.

When the Spaniards and the Portuguese settled among the Indians of the Latin America in the 16^th century, they brought with them the foods and the cooking of the Mediterranean world: their edible plants, domestic animals- especially pigs- together with onions, garlic cinnamon, rice and many other things. The reception of theirs imports varied a good deal. Some conservative Indian communities accepted only a few, others were more open minded or were compelled as slave laborers to grow European crops for their conquerors and prepare European dishes for them.

In most areas a gradual mixing and blending took place, with differences in each locality. Spanish foods were cooked by Indian methods, producing such hybrids as tortillas made of wheat instead of corn. Indian foods were cooked by Spanish methods: meats were often fried rather than roasted or stewed. Rice, introduced from the Old World, was enlivened with New World tomatoes and chilli and became the familiar Spanish rice that is eaten under various names in most of Latin America. European onions and garlic must have filled an aching need. They made an immediately hit and are now grown in every tucked-away valley. Their flavour is strong in dishes in all other respects Indian.

Out of this culinary crossbreeding came the regional or Creole cuisines of Latin America. Probably the most varied and remarkable of them is the Mexican, which managed to preserve the pre-Conquest Indian cooking while freely adopting and modifying many good things from Spain. At its best Mexican cooking is very good indeed, and the Mexicans are enormously proud of it. Their scholarly gourmets dig into old records to find the first mention of a famous dish, and gastronomic nationalist campaign against the snobbish and commercial propaganda which they blame for the inroads made by French and international cooking among the upper classes and growing popularity of American hot dogs and hamburgers among the common people.

The Creole cooking that gourmets hold in such honour evolved in a variety of fascinating ways. The story is told of a banquet that Hernan Cortes, the commander of the Spanish conquistadores, gave for his Indian allies at Coyoacan, which is now a suburb of Mexico City. A feature was roast pork with Spanish pigs, but was far more important than the meat itself was the fat dripped from it. The Spaniards showed the Indians how it could be used to cook many foods in a new and convenient ways, by frying. The pre-Conquest Indians had used no cooking fats or oils, but they cooked tortillas on pottery griddles called comales; these were easily modified into frying pans, some of which were made with depressions to hold fat. As pigs multiplied and spread rapidly over Mexico, the Indians learned to vary many of their ancient foods by frying them in lard.

It would be an exaggeration to say that modern Mexican cooking equals Aztec cooking plus pigs, but it is very nearly truth. The food of the Aztecs was boiled, grilled or steamed, or eaten raw. Their finest dishes were elaborate stews containing many ingredients cooked in a thick sauce. Modern Mexican cooking retains all these methods but adds frying, both in deep fat and on a lightly greased griddle. Perhaps half the food in Mexico is fried in some way before it is served. Tortillas may be fried, and vegetables and meats are fried before or after boiling; even cooked beans are fried. Good Mexican food is seldom greasy, but most of it is could not be produced without frying, which was the great contribution made by Spaniard’s pigs!!

Mexican cooking starts, now as in Aztec days, with tortillas, the “bread of Mexico”, and only those who have tasted them hot off the griddle know how good tortillas can be. They are not at all hard to make, and are good with butter or eaten plain as an accompaniment to other foods. Tortillas are eaten by the humbler Mexicans with just a little chilli, beans or sauce. Mexicans use them also as plates, forks and spoons. They dip their tortillas into stews and use torn-off pieces of them to scoop up sauces. They can even, with skill, eat soup with them. Almost any kind of food that is not too liquid can be dumped on a tortilla and rolled up in it. This combination is a taco, the Mexican equivalent of a sandwich. It may be taken directly from the griddle, in which case it will be soft, or it may be stuffed, rolled or fried. Whether soft or hard, tacos may contain nothing more than chopped chilli or they may be bursting with meat and rich sauce. If so, they should be eaten with caution to keep the contents from squirting out at far end. A good precaution is to bend the taco a little, holding the far end closed and slightly raised. It is also important to bite with the teeth only, and not to squeeze the taco with your lips. With a little practice this is easy, and it makes taco eating much more relaxed and dignified.

A more elegant adaptation of tortilla is the enchilada. This is a tortilla that has been dipped in a thin sauce, usually of green or red tomato, and rapidly fried. It is then rolled up like a taco, but unlike the improvised taco, the enchilada may have an elaborate filling of pork or shredded chicken breast, as well, perhaps, as onion, cheese, coriander, and tomato. The remaining sauce is poured over enchilada before serving, and top may be decorated with cheese and chopped onion. Thrifty Mexican housewives customarily use left-over tortillas to make not only enchiladas but, among other things, chilaquiles, tortillas that have been shredded, fried and layered in casserole with a chilli sauce.

The way to use tortillas is almost endless. Tortillas two to five inches in diameter that have been fried crisp and sprinkled with chopped onion, chilli, grated cheese or bits of meat are called tostadas. The smaller tostadas make excellent canapés. Like little edible plates, these fried tortillas, which are flat, round versions of the corn crisps widely sold in United States, can support almost anything that is not too juicy, and they taste better than conventional cocktail biscuits.

Another excellent variation is the quesadilla, which is freshly made tortillas filled with meat and sauce, beans, cheese or vegetables, and folded like a turnover. The dough is sometimes flavored with grated cheese, bone marrow or chilli. The edges of tortillas are crimped to make them stick together, and the whole thing is fried crisp in deep fat. Quesadillas are easy and excellent and anyone who happens to have raw tortilla dough can experiment with them. When made very small they are delicious two-bite canapés.

Besides giving variety to a tortilla-based Mexican diet, lard – the great gift of Spaniards- also revolutionized the cooking of beans. In the day of Aztecs beans are grown and eaten as much as they are now, but although they come in many sizes and colors, there were few ways of cooking them. They were generally simmered in an earthenware pot and flavored with chilli and herbs. Beans are still cooked in much this same way and served de olla (out of pot), but equally popular are fried beans. They are first boiled until soft, then mashed and fried slowly in lard until the paste is stiff and dry enough to hold its shape. It is usually sprinkled with grated cheese, and may be decorated with bits of fried tortilla stuck into its sides and top. Fried beans, illogically called frijoles refritos (refried), are served in nearly every house and every restaurant in Mexico. Foreigners often find them rather dry, but a little water added to them after frying solves the problem. Anyone who eats beans- or almost any other Mexican food- must face the chilli problem. Most Mexicans are crazy about chilli, that vegetable dynamite, which they inherited from their ancestors and of which there are at least 140 varieties. Almost every part of Mexico has its own special chilies, of which the local citizenry is aggressively proud. Grocer’s shelves and market stalls are piled high with the fiery stuff. Country people grow chilies in their back gardens and munch the hottest of them raw as if they were strawberries. Most of the wonderful-looking stews and sauces sold in Mexican markets are spiced with chilli that is too hot for most visitors to Mexico even to touch with the tips of the tongues, and some recipes call for quantities of it that will knock the average tourist off the chair.

Heavy chilli eating does not seem to do any harm; there are no Mexican ailments that can be blamed on it. Indeed, their gourmets look on it as a special national asset that no other people can properly enjoy. Chilli, they say, is the wine of Mexican poor, which ennobles their otherwise monotonous diet of corn and beans. Some recipes call for several kinds of chilli, and gourmets claim that they can tell at a taste whether any one of them has been omitted or substituted.

In spite of this mystique about chilli, people who visit Mexico need not worry about having their tongue burned. Restaurants patronized by foreigners are careful to serve dishes containing little or no chilli. They sometimes make two versions of each dish, the mild one for foreigners. In the larger Mexican cities many private homes are as free of chilli as they would be in Manchester. Many members of Mexican upper class copy American or European customs and even feel that there is something rather about chilli.

Although jarring accidents do happen now and then when the unwary tourist gulps a numbing mouthful, it would be shame if chilli eating were to die out. Once a modest immunity has been acquired, which is not difficult, the hot Indian stews and sauces become wonderfully interesting.

Chilli is really for those whose palates are educated to it. Traditional Mexican dishes are still delicious and unusual even when they contain little or none. Many of them consist of a sauce, usually a very thick one that is poured over or contains solid food, such as beans, pieces of tortilla or shredded meat mixed with chilli. Plain roast meat or chicken is rare in traditional Mexican cooking, partly because in the old days meat and chicken were so tough that they had to be boiled for hours before human teeth could cope with them. Their quality has since improved, but Mexican cooking still features stews and sauces. Mexican cookery books devote most of their attention to them, and at least one is devoted solely to sauces. Many of the mysterious concoctions that perfume the Indian markets with their enticing smells are sauces pure and simple. The purchaser gets a small amount in an earthenware bowls and eats it with hot, freshly cooked tortillas that he has bought from a nearby stall.

If local variations are included, the full Mexican cuisine has hundreds of sauces. Some are simple, merely chilies- or chilies, onions and tomatoes- chopped fine, mixed with water or vinegar and served either raw or boiled to enliven tortillas, tamales or any other dish that needs enhancement. Mexicans generally believe that nothing should be eaten without some sort of sauce.

More complicated sauces are generally called moles, which comes from an Aztec word, molli, meaning a sauce flavored with chilli. Some of these are very complicated indeed. The most famous of them, mole poblano, is the essence of Mexico’s national holiday dish, mole poblano de guajolote (turkey in Pueblan sauce). Moles can now be bought in packets. But a generation ago traditional Mexican kitchens were small factories where numerous servants needed to prepare a mole and other time consuming dishes. For mincing and blending the ingredients they used a technique handed down from Aztec times, employing a stone pestle and a molcajete, a three-legged mortar usually made up of pocked volcanic stone. The work was slow, but servants were cheap and plentiful, and results were worth the investment in time and manpower.

Molcajetes are still the mainstay of the humbler Mexican kitchen, and are still on sale on market stalls. Hundreds of thousands of them must have been carried home by tourists. Small ones make an excellent ashtray, especially for pipe smokers who want something solid against which to knock pipes. But in up-to-date kitchens molcajetes are obsolete. Servants are not as plentiful nor as humble in modern, prosperous Mexico as they used to be. Today the Mexican servant disdains the slow and laborious molcajete and demands an electric blender. Indeed, the kitchens of large houses need two or more blenders to reduce chilies, nuts, tomatoes, marrow seeds and what-have-you to mole smoothness.

Mexican cooking is still laborious, even with blenders. In most kitchens there are numerous chilies and tomatoes are to be heated over a flame or over glowing charcoal to make the skins come off; tortillas must be toasted; earthenware pots and casseroles must be watched during the long hours of simmering. But convenience foods are beginning to penetrate Mexico. In prosperous residential districts of the larger cities, modern supermarkets are replacing the little specialty shops and open air markets that traditionally distributed Mexico produce. The supermarkets look much like their American prototypes, and they offer the same bewildering variety of canned and packaged food, most of it produced in Mexico. Side by side with items familiar to Americans are others peculiar to the country, such as the many kinds of dried or powdered chilli, in plastic bags. Packets of dried meat and dried shrimps are also popular, and the shelves offer more kinds of beans and corn than would be found in American supermarkets.

In spite of convenience foods and labor saving devices, many Mexicans still insist on eating in an elaborate manner. Families who can afford to do so eat four meals a day, all of which are served in the dining room with much changing, and washing of dishes. Breakfast is substantial, with fruit, tortillas, bread or sweet rolls, coffee or chocolate with milk, and eggs or meat, or something both. The big meal is dinner, comida, on the middle of the day, usually starting between 1 and 2 p.m. Around 6 p.m. comes merienda, a sort of tea-less high tea, when the father of the family, exhausted by the daily grind, restores himself with coffee or chocolate, sweet rolls, biscuits or cake, and atole, a rich corn broth usually fortified with sugar, milk, eggs or fruit. Supper (cena) comes late, 8 to 10 p.m. It is often skipped, and at home is usually light. But on formal occasions or in restaurants it can be very heavy indeed.

But the midday meal (comida) is a traditional feast and has at least six courses, with a change of plates for each course and a stream of hot tortillas circulating continuously in their napkin-lined baskets. First comes soup, and Mexican soups are likely to be nourishing beyond the call of duty, swarming with the dumpling like tortilla balls, vegetables, noodles and pieces of meat or chicken. The next course is also called soup, although soup has nothing to do with it. The sopa seca (dry soup) is actually a highly seasoned, starchy dish of rice, noodles, macaroni or cut up tortillas cooked in an elaborate sauce. Then comes a course of chicken or fish, or perhaps the wild game, followed by a salad. The main course consists of beef, pork, lamb or cabrito (young goat), roasted, boiled or fried, and several vegetables, and this followed by “refried” beans smothered with grated cheese. Lastly there is the sweet, usually a baked pudding, custard or a cooked fruit dish, and then-after coffee and fresh fruit in season-the family retires for a well-earned and, by this time, much needed siesta.

Except when entertaining formally, most modern Mexican families do not serve these gargantuan midday dinners. Some of them have even taken to northern ways, eating their main meal in evening and skipping the afternoon merienda. The pangs of hunger caused by this deprivation are stilled by the extraordinary amount of nibbling between meals that goes on in Mexico. In most residential districts hardly a street lacks a stall or pavement peddler selling some sort of snack. Some sell tacos, tamales, sandwiches, sweets, peeled fruit or fruit juices. More elaborate establishments have rotating spits on which chickens or pork are grilled or great masses of sliced bacon whose outer layers curl and whose fat drips into a pan beneath. At any hour of the day there are plenty of customers, and office workers who can not get to them keep stocks of food hidden in their desks. By American standards Mexico is poor, but most of its people, in the cities at least, seem to have enough money to nibble when ever spirits move them.

Nearly all food in Mexico, from the street corner snack to the eight-course dinner served in lordly mansion, tastes differs from its northern counterparts, when such counterparts exists. Most often the difference is chilli, which shows up in unexpected places, such as in scrambled eggs, or in sauce for another favorite, huevos rancheros. Even a bright green garnish that looks like chopped parsley turns out to have a completely unfamiliar flavour, perhaps of fresh coriander. Sometimes, indeed, half a dozen unfamiliar herbs and spices contribute to the effect of a Mexican soup or stew. Other differences of taste come from Mexican ways of cooking. Even in modern kitchens many utensils are likely to be made up of earthenware, and the slow, steady simmering permitted by this material affects the taste of this dish. The popular Mexican habit of frying skinned tomatoes slowly into lard until they turn into a thick paste also yields a sauce that tastes quiet unlike tomatoes cooked in any other way.

Mexican food also varies widely from region to region. North of Mexican border, a traveler can drive from New York City to Los Angeles and almost identical meals at roadside restaurants all along the way. Mexico is not so homogenous. It is not really a single country; it is many small countries tied loosely together. In pre-Spanish days it was inhabited by Indians speaking at least 14 distinct families of languages and varying in culture from fierce savagery to a rather surprising sophistication. Many of them were independent of the Aztecs, and even those Indians who were subject to them clung stubbornly to their own peculiar customs.

This situation continued after the Conquest. Because there was little commerce or travel across Mexico’s rugged mountains, the Indian communities kept their identities and handed down their customs to the populations of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry that developed locally. The country people in adjacent valleys wear different hats, live in different kinds of houses, and cook different food. A pleasant recreation of a Mexican gourmet s is to travel around their country sampling different local cuisines. Often they find distinctive traditional dishes in remote places that are known in Mexico City.

Northern Mexico, especially the larger states that border on United States, was thinly inhibited in pre-Conquest times by warlike, primitive Indians, mostly nomadic hunters whom the civilized Aztecs called Chichimecs (Son of the Dog). When the Spaniards arrived with hardy long-horned cattle, a wave of pioneer-Spaniards, mestizos and Indians – moved north to graze their animals on the rich grasslands of Chichimecs. They also took varieties of wheat that thrived where there was less rain than corn required. The north is still cattle country with wheat grown on favorable areas, and beef and wheat are more prominent in the cuisine there than they are in other parts of Mexico.

One beef dish from the north- chili con carne – is not considered Mexican in Mexico proper. It was developed in Texas, the Mexicans say, and is therefore American. Supposedly it was invented in Texas when that state was part of Mexico’s wild frontier. Few Mexican cookery books describe it, but they give many recipes for beans cooked with meat, onion, tomato, chilli and spices. Originally beef in chill corn carne was cut into small pieces instead of being minced. It tastes much better when meat is prepared that way.

Since northern Mexico is arid cattle country where any moisture evaporates quickly in the hot, dry air, it is only natural that dried beef, called cecina, should be one of the traditional foods. This is not the thinly sliced, unnaturally pink, almost flavorless stuff that is sold in the United States under the name of chipped beef. It is robust even overwhelming, and the way it is made in Northern Mexico tells you why. The first step is to buy a large solid chunk of beef and form it into a long sheet by making alternate knife cuts from opposite sides that do not reach quiet the way all through. Opened up in accordion folds, this ribbon of meat is sprinkled with salt on both sides and folded up again for two hours to absorb it. It is then unfolded and exposed to the sun until it is dry but not stiff. It is rubbed with lemon juice and pepper and stretched out in the cool shade for two days to mature. After this it is pounded with a mallet – or a stone- to tenderize it. Finally it is refolded for future use. During these vicissitudes it acquires a powerful flavour like those marvelous well-hung steaks that are served in expensive restaurants but can not be bought in supermarkets. It can be boiled in stews, soaked and fried, or chopped and made into fillings for tacos, enchiladas and tamales. Everywhere, cecina makes itself known in no uncertain manner, like strongly flavored cheese.

The Mexican north is also a land of cheese. It is not very splendid cheese and is used mostly in cooking, for which it serves very well. A fine dish from Chihuahua, the big state opposite west Texas, is made of beans cooked till barely soft, fried in lard and heated carefully with cheese until cheese melts. In Sonora, another northern state, they make a rich potato soup – first frying the potatoes with onions, tomatoes and chilies – and cover it with a substantial layer of melted cheese.

In other parts of Mexico beef and cheese are not as important. The place of beef is taken by pork, goat, turkey or chicken. Goat, if it is young, is excellent eating. In season, you can buy kid in London but you usually have to order it beforehand.

In small central state of Aguascalientes, cabrito is rubbed with a sauce of garlic, chilli and spices in vinegar and left overnight to marinate. The next day, while it is slowly roasting, it is basted with same sauce, which dries till it forms a savory crust on the meat. An even more festive dish in the north is a whole carbito stuffed with an elaborate mixture of tomatoes, minced pork, ham cubes, raisins, almonds, pine-nuts, hard-boiled eggs and many spices. Few who taste this splendid roast worry much about the endearing personality of the sacrificed cabrito.

In the tropical parts of Mexico, which mostly lie along the coasts, hot-country fruits and vegetables play a prominent part. The banana, which grows nearly everywhere, is used both as a fruit and as a vegetable. The varieties are generally eaten ripe and fresh or made into desserts, though they are also fried. The non-sweet kinds, plantains, which are more important, are always cooked. A typical fish of Gulf Coast is boiled, mashed plantains, fried in oil with onions and tomatoes. It is usually served hot with prawn and chilli sauce and has only a very faint banana flavour.

The favorite fruit-vegetable of Mexico is the avocado, which is grown in many varieties in warm regions and converted into the famous Guacamole. It may be native to Mexico, but most think it was domesticated in Peru or some other part of South America several thousand years ago. Some avocados have black skins and are no bigger than plums, while others are green and grow to the size of cantaloupes. The flavour varies from poor to wonderful.

Mexicans eat avocados with sauce vinaigrette just as we do, but that is only the beginning. Avocados are also eaten with salt and lemon juice, to enhance their bland flavour. Pieces of avocado show up in any dish, including soups and stews. An excellent soup is made up of entirely mashed avocados, and sometimes a few avocado sliced are spread on top, and they also melt into it if the soup is hot enough. The most famous avocado dish is guacamole, which is mashed avocado mixed with tomato, chopped onion, fresh coriander and chilli. The proportion of the dish varies all over the country, and the chilli may be left out. Salt and pepper are included and often olive oil. Guacamole is usually served with tortilla dishes, refried beans or anything that can benefit from its soft green smoothness and the contrast of flavors. Or it can be served as a separate dish. It can be eaten with a fork or spoon or used as a dip, but Mexicans like to make tacos of it by rolling it into tortillas. They take the tacos on the picnic, and since this paste turns brown on exposure to the air, Mexicans cover its surface within avocado seeds in order to avoid discoloration.

The cuisine of Southern Mexico is different fro other regions – and even more exotic. The state of Oaxaca, for example, is a southern centre of Indian tradition whose cooking features red, yellow, green and black moles. Famous Oaxaca dishes are made up of flowers and young shoots of marrow plants and of “sea- chestnuts”, a kind of crustacean with a shiny dark-brown shell. One of the oddest is made of chalupines, crickets that are gathered in the corn-fields. In Oaxaca and other warm parts of Mexico tamales are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. The stiff centre rib of the banana leaf is removed and the remainder of the great leathery leaf is put into water and brought to the boil. It is then soft and pliable and can be torn into squares and wrapped around tamale as easily as if it were as sheet of cooking parchment. The result is unusually unattractive, and pleasure of unfolding green Oaxaca tamale increases the enjoyment of eating the food inside.

Perhaps the most distinctive of all the local cuisines of Mexico is that of Yucatan, a state so hemmed in jungles and swamps that, until a modern highway was built, it could not be reached from the rest of the country except by air or sea. Yucatan is a land of Maya, whose civilization reached amazing heights and went into decline long before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. Many Yucatecs are descendents of these Maya; their profiles look like the bas-reliefs carved on the ancient ruined temples of the area. These people still speak the Maya language, and names of the some of their favorite local dishes baffle tongues accustomed only to English. A perch grilled with spicy sauce, for example, is called mero en tikin-xik.

Prawns are plentiful in Yucatan, and a pleasant local way of serving them as a cold hors d’oeuvre is to arrange four very large ones in as soup plate and cover them with vinegar, olive oil, finely chopped onion, chilli, diced tomato and chopped fresh coriander. The dish is half prawn salad and half prawn cocktail – and a far better way of serving them either.

A well-known Yucatan specialty is papatzul, which means “food of the lords”. It is tortillas rolled into tacos stuffed with shredded pork or hard boiled eggs and served with two sauces, one made principally of ground, toasted marrow seeds and the other made with tomatoes. The tacos are then glazed with clear green oil pressed from the marrow seeds.

Panuchos are another agreeable specialty of Yucatan. They are small tortillas stuffed with mashed beans or chopped meat, and covered with a special spicy sauce. The stuffing operation is a delicate one. It is a special skill lifting the thin skin that forms when a tortilla is cooked, and the women who do it are not eager, or perhaps not able, to explain how they accomplish this feat.

Many meat or fowl dishes in Yucatan are called pibil to show that they are steamed in a pit, pib in Maya. In some case cooking is actually done in a laborious way, but often pollo pibil (steamed chicken, Yucatan style) is steamed for hours in a covered pot, which gives much the same effect. The chickens are cut up and the pieces marinated for 24 hours in a sauce that contains achiote (annatto), the red orange spice and coloring that is so dear to the Yucatec. Then they are folded like tamales in banana leaves and steamed till, they are tender. Opening one of these packaging is a delight. The banana leaf is pulled apart with two forks and a wonderfully fragrant steam arises. The chicken pibil inside has a pungent flavour and a bright red colour that no one would expect.

For the adventurous traveler, Mexico offers many such tempting foods yet tourists who hear about the strange and the delicious dishes of many local cuisines usually make no attempt to taste them. The expensive tourist hotels, which look so hygienic and seem to be impersonally modern, serve mostly international food with perhaps a few standard Mexican dishes , carefully watered down to suit the palates of the most of the timid guests. Tourists might be tempted to eat in purely Mexican restaurants, many of which look marvelous, but they heard terrible traveler’s tales about compatriots who have died after drinking unbottled water, or even after a single bite of a septic taco.

Modern medicine has worked an enormous change in what a tourist should or should not eat that gives the lie to these tales of woe. Mexican standards of sanitation are certainly well below those of most parts of Europe, but immunization wards off the worst disease. Typhoid, which is carried by food and water, and other gastric infections are not as terrifying as they were before antibiotics were developed. And the worst of all – Malaria, :Yellow fever and Typhus – have nothing to do with eating.

Many foreigners who visit Mexico suffer from diarrhea, sometimes called “Montezuma’s revenge”. It generally goes away of its own accord, but there is no reason to let it spoil a holiday for even a short time. A few doses of Enterovioform usually restore peace and calm to the intestinal tract. In most of the cases upset is not caused by the dangerous germs but merely by exhaustion or change of routine or climate. Mexicans and other Latin Americans frequently suffer from the self-same affliction when they come to Europe.

The best policy when exploring strange Mexican foods off the sheltered tourist track is simply to use elementary caution and a reasonable amount of common sense. Then stop worrying. Both Mexico and the other countries of Latin America have an endless variety of unusual but wonderful dishes waiting to be tasted.

Chef Vernon Coelho

IHM, Mumbai

2009-2010