Mexican Food Culture

Do you enjoy recipes involving Mexican food culture that are unusual and delicious? We all do and most of the time we find them in very unusual places.

I'd visited New Mexico three times before I finally tasted Carne Adovada. It must have had something to do with taste bud maturity, because in those days, I went for the green chile all the way. After I'd finally experienced this amazing dish, I nearly cried with joy. Large pieces of tender pork, succulent and cooked all day in sauce of deep, rich red chile. Immediately, I was transformed back to my grandmother's kitchen where a pot of red chile simmered on the burner all day. It's scent filled the entire house and the anticipation of dinner is still in my mind.

What had I missed all these years while traveling in New Mexico? This is the perfect recipe and I didn't even know it existed.

The first thing I had to do was figure out how to pronounce this mysterious dish (the letter D is pronounced TH). And what exactly did this strange word mean? I grew up in California where that dish was called Chile Con Carne and it was made with beef.

Adovada was similar, but had a very different flavor. I learned the word Adovada or Abobada means to marinate. New Mexican's marinate the pork overnight before cooking.

For me, this is way too much work and I had to figure out how to make a sauce we could bottle and get people eating fast. We did, but my New Mexican friends laugh at this because fast is not a word tied to the kitchen or to cooking.

Still, we've come up with a winner. You can try Coyote Trail Adovada Sauce, one of the best made, or if you want to make your own, we'll show you how to do this.

Make Carne Adovada

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup canola oil
4 lbs. pork butt, cut in 1-2 inch pieces (Not loin)
1 cup. chopped brown onion
4 tsp. chopped garlic
2 cups. low salt beef broth
2 cups low salt chicken broth
2 tsp. ground coriander seed (Not fresh cilantro)
2 tsp. ground oregano
1 cup New Mexico Red Chile Powder

5 tsp. Chile Caribe
2 tsp vinegarsalt to taste

In a dutch oven
Add canola and brown pork
Remove to cool
Add onion, brown until caramelized
Add remaining ingredients and cook for twenty minutes
Pour ingredients (except pork) into blender and puree

This is stage one of this recipe

When puree has reached room temperature, add pork to glass dish and pour mixture over top

Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight

The following day, remove cover and bake
in Dutch Oven at 350 for three hours
or set crock pot on low & cook for 8 hours

You can read about the history of tacos and other topics involving mexican food culture.

Are you interested in making more authentic mexican food? Learn to make chicken enchiladas and other delicious meals. How about making your own homemade enchilada sauce ?

To do so is a huge accomplishment and an authentic recipe your family will cherish.

Southwest Chicken with Rice

Use a Dutch Oven
In canola,brown chicken, then add rice
Combine all other ingredients
Cover and set to low setting for 2 hours or until rice is tender
Salt & pepper to taste & serve

Coyote Drunk Chicken

INGREDIENTS
4 lb roasting chicken or parts
Cut chicken into pieces
1/2 cup canola
6 oz dark beer
Drink other 6 oz
1 med br onion quartered
4 celery stalk,chopped
3 carrots cleaned and chopped in 2 in pieces
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 tbsp. New Mexico Chile Caribe
1 cup chicken stock
Salt & pepper
1 bottle 16 oz Coyote Trail Green Chile Sauce

In a Dutch Oven
Brown chicken pieces in canola
Add all other ingredients
Cover & cook low setting for 3 hours

Before serving
Remove chicken and discard bones
Remove vegetables, add to platter with chicken
Remove portion of juice and in saute pan thicken 5 min with cream
Cook until thick and pour sauce over chicken and vegetables

Serve with white rice and fresh green salad.

Blue Corn Tortillas

Earthy and nutty, the blue corn flavor is magnified in tortillas because they usually do not have any salt added to the recipe.

Read about them on our recipe section making chicken enchiladas

Make Chile Verde

Enchilada Recipes

Then you have the choices of chicken, beef or cheese. Learning to make authentic mexican food is an art and sure we can add shrimp and other things like strawberries and fruit compote. Read for yourself to decide which kind of enchiladas are best for you.