Mexican v Indian

Until I started watching these US shows I didn't know much about Mexican/Tex-Mex food. Mostly the US/UK versions such as Cilli Con Carne, Burritos, Fajitas, Enchalatas etc.

Fajitas are actually American.

Scrolllock · 20-01-2011, 08:22

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Well it is!

An authentic mole can have up to 20-30 ingredients, including cinnamon (canela).

No it isn't a common ingredient and I know many Mexicans.

Anachrony · 20-01-2011, 08:31

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No it isn't a common ingredient and I know many Mexicans.

I guess knowing Mexicans makes you an unassailable authority, then? There are lots of different types of mole. It's a Mexican regional thing. The Oaxaca regional mole negro is one of the more popular kinds, and it often does include cinnamon sticks.

mrkite77 · 20-01-2011, 09:44

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I guess knowing Mexicans makes you an unassailable authority, then? There are lots of different types of mole. It's a Mexican regional thing. The Oaxaca regional mole negro is one of the more popular kinds, and it often does include cinnamon sticks.

Just point the naysayers to Ibarra chocolate... it's an extremely common ingredient in mole sauces, and it's covered with cinnamon.

epicurian · 20-01-2011, 11:53

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No it isn't a common ingredient and I know many Mexicans.

You didn't really just say that, did you?

And I suppose you all sit around exchanging mole recipes, right?

Lo siento, tengo razón, estás equivocado.

degsyhufc · 20-01-2011, 15:15

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Originally Posted by mrkite77

Fajitas are actually American.

Is Tex-Mex not classed as American

Anachrony · 21-01-2011, 00:56

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Just point the naysayers to Ibarra chocolate... it's an extremely common ingredient in mole sauces, and it's covered with cinnamon.

True. Mexican chocolate is traditionally made with cinnamon, so the surprising thing would be if mole never was.

Mexico, India, and the US are the world's largest importers of cinnamon, so it's actually quite a good observation that cinnamon is a common factor in both Mexican and Indian cuisines.

gemma-the-husky · 22-01-2011, 23:18

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Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky

You didn't really just say that, did you?

And I suppose you all sit around exchanging mole recipes, right?

Lo siento, tengo razón, estás equivocado.

is an equivocado, like an avocado, hombre?

epicurian · 22-01-2011, 23:22

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is an equivocado, like an avocado, hombre?

Ahem! Mujer!

I've never tried to eat an equivocado, but something tells me it would taste wrong. Very wrong.

Riccy · 23-01-2011, 21:37

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I've been watching a couple of US programs recently which show alot of Mexican/Tex-Mex food and i've come to realise that the ingredients seem to be very similar to Indian food (in a broad sense - obviously there are many regions and cusines in both countries).

Onions, garlic, chillies, peppers
Cumin, corriander
Tomatoes

You could get a pretty decent stew out of those ingredients and it could be from either cuisine.

I'd say if you add oregano or tomitillos then it goes in a Mexican direction and if you add tumeric or ginger it goes the Indian way.

Any one else notice the similarities?

Chilli was actually introduced to India by the Portuguese explorer, Vasco-da-Goma, so it is, in fact, a south american spice!

However, considering the spices may be similar, I think tecnique and spice-blending vary between Mexican and Indian food. Indian food, in the main, seems to have a base of onion to its dishes too, and its food varies the length and breadth of the Indian Subcontinent, from South Indian coconut/fish curries to the Punjabs tandoori clay oven cooking! Very diverse, and the blend of spices may vary too. There's also a lot of Chinese influence in Indian cookery, on the continent itself, rather than here.

As for the garam masala, 'garam' means hot, and these usually are black peppers, cloves, cinammon, etc. I don't tend to use these routinely in curries, unless a specific recipe requires it.

As for Mexican, I am really trying! But, I just tend to get heat, rather than the explosion of flavours from a good curry.

Scrolllock · 24-01-2011, 08:57

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You didn't really just say that, did you?

And I suppose you all sit around exchanging mole recipes, right?

Lo siento, tengo razón, estás equivocado.

Well, considering that I am quite sure I know many more Mexicans than you do then I'll go by what they say.

Scrolllock · 24-01-2011, 08:57

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Is Tex-Mex not classed as American

Read the post I responded to.

Scrolllock · 24-01-2011, 09:02

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I guess knowing Mexicans makes you an unassailable authority, then?

It has nothing to do with me; I am merely passing along what they say. Surely they are much more likely to know about their food than the people of another country thousands of miles away.

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There are lots of different types of mole. It's a Mexican regional thing. The Oaxaca regional mole negro is one of the more popular kinds, and it often does include cinnamon sticks.

Of course there is. I never said there wasn't and I never said it wasn't used at all. I simply said it wasn't commonly used from what I have been told.

epicurian · 24-01-2011, 11:38

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Well, considering that I am quite sure I know many more Mexicans than you do then I'll go by what they say.

Now you're just being silly. How do you know how many Mexicans I know?

Look through any cookbook or just google 'mole' and you'll see virtually every recipe includes cinnamon.

epicurian · 24-01-2011, 14:02

Just to add, of course I wouldn't put cinnamon in guacamole, but the mole I refer to is the popular variety which often connotes cocoa and cinnamon. It's kinda like when we say salsa for salsa cruda, salsa roja, salsa verde, salsa picada pico de gallo, etc; Kleenex when we mean any ol' tissue; or Hoover even when we're using a Dyson. I'm often guilty of being overly pedantic myself, so I hope I've made myself more clear.

I don't how many Mexicans it would take to give me street cred with you, Skrolllock, but I did date a Mexican for a while. He loved ice hockey, Guinness and Gillian Anderson and made a mean menudo. I also studied Spanish for six years; all of my teachers were from Mexico, though I don't recall any in-depth discussions of the various moles with any of them. I'm just going by what I've eaten at home and in my travels, as well as my own concoctions in my kitchen.

Ay de mi!

degsyhufc · 24-01-2011, 16:05

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Until I started watching these US shows I didn't know much about Mexican/Tex-Mex food. Mostly the US/UK versions such as Cilli Con Carne, Burritos, Fajitas, Enchalatas etc.

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Fajitas are actually American.

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Is Tex-Mex not classed as American

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http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2...the-real-thing

Read the post I responded to.

You responed to this post where I said i'm used to eating the UK/US versions of Mexican/Tex-Mex cuisine and fajitas are classed as tex-mex so that's why i'm confused about your post.

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A fajita...is term found in Tex-Mex cuisine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajita

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"Tex-Mex" (portmanteau of Texas and Mexican) is a term used to describe a regional American cuisine that blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans influenced by the cuisines of Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex-Mex_cuisine

epicurian · 24-01-2011, 16:25

Last post (maybe)...

Mole aside, my original point was that cinnamon is a part of Mexican cuisine:

http://www.examiner.com/mexican-food...die-101-canela

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When considering the building blocks of Mexican cuisine, one often thinks of tortillas, chiles, tomatoes, and maybe even cheese. What may be a surprise to many is that canela, or cinnamon, plays a vital and active role in many of our beloved cuisine’s most popular dishes, both sweet and savory.

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As Mexican cooks eagerly took to creating chocolate blends with cinnamon, achieving the flavor of what has come to be known as "Mexican chocolate," they began adding this spice to many other dishes using both Old and New World ingredients, including mole poblano and other post-Conquest creations. So important did cinnamon become in Mexican cooking that today Mexico is the world's largest importer of Ceylon (Sri Lankan) cinnamon ( Cinnamomum zeylanicam), also known as "true cinnamon." It is nearly impossible to pick up a cookbook by any of the prominent Mexican chefs who write for non-Mexican readers without finding an explanation of the difference between true cinnamon and cassia ( Cinnamomum cassia). However, one look at true cinnamon is enough to recognize the difference.

Ok, I'm done now.

ETA: Riccy, if all you're getting is heat from your Mexican/TexMex, then you're not doing it right! Come to my place, girlie, and I'll make you fall in love with my enchiladas.

Anachrony · 24-01-2011, 17:29

Reality check: Mexico is the world's largest importer of cinnamon. How can it not be an important part of their cuisine?

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It has nothing to do with me; I am merely passing along what they say. Surely they are much more likely to know about their food than the people of another country thousands of miles away.

I'm from someplace that used to be part of Mexico, where 30% of the population is Mexican. Not thousands of miles away.

The whole "knowing Mexicans" thing falls apart because it assumes you went to everyone you know and have already asked them about something as obscure as cinnamon in mole, which is ridiculous. You think you know something and then use those relationships to lend authority to your preconceptions, despite the fact that you haven't actually talked to all of them about that topic.

Even assuming you've already asked everyone you know about that, there is the potential for miscommunication. Even if their personal recipe doesn't specifically call for cinnamon, as many do, it is very often made with chocolate. Well Mexican chocolate is made with cinnamon, so it's in there whether it's explicitly in the recipe or not.

Also, Mexican immigrants to the US tend to disproportionately come from certain regions of Mexico. Mole originally comes from regions in the South of Mexico, far from the US border. Mexican Americans are relatively less likely to come from there, but that doesn't diminish their important role in authentic Mexican cuisine.

Riccy · 24-01-2011, 19:36

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ETA: Riccy, if all you're getting is heat from your Mexican/TexMex, then you're not doing it right! Come to my place, girlie, and I'll make you fall in love with my enchiladas.

You're on Epi! X

PlatinumSteve · 24-01-2011, 19:40

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Reality check: Mexico is the world's largest importer of cinnamon. How can it not be an important part of their cuisine?

Lots of Cinnamon Toast?

I kinda wish we had a larger Mexican / Hispanic population in Ohio, the variety of Mexican ingredients you get in LA or even Nevada is so wide compared to what we get in Ohio. The Vons in Las Vegas had an entire aisle devoted to Tortilla's while here we have 2 or 3 brands, it makes me so jealous, haha.

anouttedlurker · 24-01-2011, 20:57

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I've never heard of cinnamon being a common ingredient in mole either.

seems pretty common to me ... 16 recipes contain cinnamon out of 29 recipes for mole listed

http://www.grouprecipes.com/mexican-...ients:cinnamon

mrkite77 · 26-01-2011, 23:56

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