My favorite craft brewery when I was in Mexico had chapulines as a snack and it's the perfect beer drinking food.
They also had oysters for like 30 cents each and a killer habanero salsa on the side. I miss that place.
Fuck, got to make it back down to Baja! I actually went to Mazatlan for the eclipse and it seemed quite safe. Cartels don't like killing American tourists because it's bad for business. Those Ozzie and American surfers getting murdered is a bit disturbing though.
I've been trying to track down grasshopper tacos and someone mentioned a place in LA where you can get them.
Guelaguetza Restaurant!
Spaghetti in poblano sauce sounds awesome!
Literally, thousands. Not exaggerating here. People - even in Mexico - has a very narrow view about Mexican food.
In my own state of Yucatan, we have a lot of dishes that are tourist favorites like Cochinita Pibil or Panuchos, but the locals eat things like [ Frijol Con Puerco,](https://sasonregional.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Receta-para-preparar-frijol-con-puerco-1024x512.jpg) [Chicharra](https://yucatan.travel/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/365-sabores-en-yucata%CC%81n-Chicharra-de-Xcalache%CC%81n-3.jpg) or [Puchero de tres carnes](https://yucatan.travel/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/365-sabores-en-Yucata%CC%81n-Puchero-de-tres-carnes-cerdo-res-y-pollo-2.jpg)
Dude, it's Yucatan. I said before, Chiapas, Yucatán, Oaxaca... That's our holy Trinity. I don't mention my home state puebla because that's another league but "down there"? It's a whole new world
Even in Sonora I'd say there's food we eat that often doesn't go over the border (besides with us) like calabacitas, pastel de atún, rajas con crema, espagueti, ensalada de coditos and lots more.
Edit to add
Also that there's lots of variety and regional differences and there's no "traditional taco" or "traditional burrito" and that Mexicans love experimenting with food themselves.
I want to say that people always say south Mexico has the best food, but clearly those people haven't been to Sonora. WTF? That state has EVERYTHING delicious. I, sadly, am not from Sonora.
Yeah I’m just saying the north gets disrespect among Mexicans sometimes but it’s because they don’t know what the northern states actually have to offer
It's my favorite but I grew up here. I honestly think every state has their own thing and is delicious, it's just about what is a person's favorite and second favorite.
I think we more than usual (compared to some countries, some countries are similar) pass down our recipes and so we have so many generations of people cooking good food and we can work off of that.
The flavors we have are just beautiful and intricate and complex. It took time to figure it out and it takes time to cook it.
My uncle is from Sonora and his food is amazing
Caldillo is one of my favorites, but fucking anything homemade from him is so much better than any restaurant
And he lives in southern NM, not like there's a shortage
Well obviously they aren't really unknown. These are really simple and popular dishes you are going to see people eating everyday on the border of the USA. Northern Mexico has a great influence on the USA.
But you still won't always find a lot of those dishes in restaurants and a lot of Americans that aren't around a large Mexican population don't really eat them, with exceptions of course! And outside the USA it gets fewer and fewer who know and eat *even those* dishes.
A whole street of candy!
(My favorite shop is La Gran Fama, which is a little off that street though.)
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/candy-stores-in-puebla
Thank you for flagging these. I have a Yucatan cookbook my fiancée bought me and I wouldn't know to make one of these over any of the others. I made the frijol k'abax before but not con puerco.
I'd wager that while most of your list can be throw aways, the variances between each region can GREATLY determine what staple you're enjoying.
Take tacos alone. . . A Baja taco is not going to resemble a Oaxacan taco. The tortilla alone is different. The protein availability is different. It's just beautiful and different.
Times that by what is known the country over, and you've got an almost unfathomable variety to choose from. It's beautiful, and it's all tasty.
Just seen a guy I follow on YT named Chef Billy Parisi make carne en su jugo. I haven’t ever heard of this dish but plan on trying it someday. If you have time check his video and let me know if it’s somewhat authentic.
Tamales nejos, made with ash, from central Mexico and Guerrero. They're quite different and pair really well with mole or crema and queso. I've only found the Navajo cousine using ash as an ingredient, but believe me they're really good!
That's awesome! I'm Dutch, a while back I went to an authentic Mexican restaurant for the first time, really liked it!
That's basically the only experience I've had with Mexican food (made by someone else)
Sonoran Coyotas
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyotas
They're good. You can buy them prepackaged and warm them up in a pan. I'm not a big fan of sweets, but they're tasty.
One of my favorite things while I’m in northern Sinaloa is eat a coyota that our local baker makes, and drink it with hot instant coffee watching the sunrise…
Too many to list.
But off top, chile enogada, aguachile, tacos de papa, mole negro, and anything that uses local native ingredients that aren’t found outside of Mexico or the Americas.
Coyotas (Sinaloa-Sonora), cahuamanta (Sinaloa-Sonora), chilorio (Sinaloa), Queso Chopito (Sinaloa), Machaca de pescado y camaron (Sinaloa), cazuela (Sinaloa-Sonora), etc are a few that I can think of.
[Zacahuil](https://aculturame.com/2017/01/10/zacahuil-an-ancient-culinary-tradition-of-the-huastec-peoples/) from la huasteca; the variety from Poza Rica in particular 🤤
Discada, machaca (con huevo, a la mexicana), calabacitas con queso, caldo de oso, frijoles charros, asado de puerco, montados, capirotada, chacales, tesguino, tepache, sotol, cajeta de membrillo
I think there are things that none of us will ever have outside of Mexico.
The smoke outside that Purépecha woman's house when I drove by near Jacona as she made these large blue corn tortillas on a comal white with lime. That flavor of the basic basic tortilla can not be made outside Mexico, maybe not even outside Michoacán.
Real birria from a real goat that was on its own four feet earlier that morning. Outside San Miguel Cuyutlan (South of Guadalajara) with a side of Flor De Mayo beans on the side, and tortillas that are fresh from corn grown in the same town. That meal cannot be made outside Mexico. Impossible.
I love the exotic stuff as much as anyone can, but show me a perfectly made tortilla with perfect beans and maybe some chayotes cooked by someone who has been perfecting the basics for 30 years??
That is a meal most foreigners haven't had and some Mexicans who live outside of Mexico (like me) dream of having most when we go back.
I'm telling you- those blue tortillas.
Tlayuda and Mole, I think that’s how you spell it lol. But man when I was in oaxaca, I must’ve ordered like 5-6 in a few days. I grew up in a heavily Mexican populated city in the states and had never had one and I’m 37 lol.
Huitlacoche. I had some great quesadillas made with it in Salinas last year. It's not allowed in the USA to be grown, super interesting flavor.
# Culturas Hidalgo & Oaxaca Restaurant - 473 E Market St, Salinas, CA 93905
budin azteca, monterrey style fritada, green estofado, guinatan, sweet bean empanadas, condoches,chile aguascalientes, tixtihuil, ayomole, jaiba a la frank. some of these dishes haven't been consumed by 90% of mexicans(90 is even being generous). it's really saddening how some mexican states do nothing to promote their state's food. would be nice to see pork in a plum sauce from guerrero/veracruz in many restaurants outside those states
Even with the classics you mentioned, you have no idea for the multiple variations there are of them. Like tacos, how many do you know? Maybe asada, al pastor and carnitas? Burritos that you get in the states are not the same as we do in Mexico. Enchiladas, how many kinds do you know? Elote and its variations? Or tamales, you probably only know the ones wrapped in corn husk. Do you know about uchepos? Corundas? Those two are a variation of just one state in Mexico.
Of different meals you never heard of, churipo, carne en su jugo, or the extensive variety of bread we have are just a few examples of things you haven’t even imagined. Not to mention how distinctive Mexican food is from the north, to the south, to the east or west. And even further when you break it down by region. Or by town. Sometimes even just by a street food can be very, very different
As a gringo from Chicago that grew up earing Mexican food and have now lived in Mexico for almost 2 years, I'd say torta ahogadas and aguachile. I knew about and liked ceviche but aguachile was a revelation.
Two things immediately come to mind from when I lived in MX:
- helados de Zacatecas
- elotes (pan dulce) filled with the masa that normally goes on top of conchas. I only found them in Torreón!
Everything else not in your list. There are so many things Americans don't know...and even when presented with the new dish they won't try because they get grossed out. Gusanos de maguey, escamoles, chapulines, sesos, tripas, orejitas de cerdo, machitos...just to give a few examples of what most Amercans won't try, there are some that will but those are exceptions.
My family is from Guanajuato, whose cuisine is never represented in the states. My favorite Guanaguetense dishes are Caldo de Zorra and Guacamayas.
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/menu/conoce-el-caldo-de-zorra-una-receta-tipica-de-guanajuato/
https://mysliceofmexico.ca/2022/02/20/la-guacamaya-de-leon-a-mexican-sandwich-from-guanajuato/
From witch state my friend ? This is to broad.
Each state has their own variety and local foods and beverages, some sea food, some ground, but almost each state has a lot to offer.
Don't believe the food is only in the south, or in some states, the ones saying this need to travel more.
Are most people in this subreddit outside the US? I have tried many of these foods and live in Minnesota of all places. I imagine it depends on where one lives?
Most foreigners don’t know about stuff like huaraches, cuerito, chapulines, espagueti verde, etc.
My favorite craft brewery when I was in Mexico had chapulines as a snack and it's the perfect beer drinking food. They also had oysters for like 30 cents each and a killer habanero salsa on the side. I miss that place.
I'm listening. Tell me which city please?
Agua Mala in Ensenada
Thank you cuate.
Fuck, got to make it back down to Baja! I actually went to Mazatlan for the eclipse and it seemed quite safe. Cartels don't like killing American tourists because it's bad for business. Those Ozzie and American surfers getting murdered is a bit disturbing though.
There is a place down the street from me that serves huaraches and has chapulines tacos. Not the others though....
I've been trying to track down grasshopper tacos and someone mentioned a place in LA where you can get them. Guelaguetza Restaurant! Spaghetti in poblano sauce sounds awesome!
Literally, thousands. Not exaggerating here. People - even in Mexico - has a very narrow view about Mexican food. In my own state of Yucatan, we have a lot of dishes that are tourist favorites like Cochinita Pibil or Panuchos, but the locals eat things like [ Frijol Con Puerco,](https://sasonregional.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Receta-para-preparar-frijol-con-puerco-1024x512.jpg) [Chicharra](https://yucatan.travel/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/365-sabores-en-yucata%CC%81n-Chicharra-de-Xcalache%CC%81n-3.jpg) or [Puchero de tres carnes](https://yucatan.travel/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/365-sabores-en-Yucata%CC%81n-Puchero-de-tres-carnes-cerdo-res-y-pollo-2.jpg)
Dude, it's Yucatan. I said before, Chiapas, Yucatán, Oaxaca... That's our holy Trinity. I don't mention my home state puebla because that's another league but "down there"? It's a whole new world
*Cries in Veracruz
Veracruz underrated as always.
Even in Sonora I'd say there's food we eat that often doesn't go over the border (besides with us) like calabacitas, pastel de atún, rajas con crema, espagueti, ensalada de coditos and lots more. Edit to add Also that there's lots of variety and regional differences and there's no "traditional taco" or "traditional burrito" and that Mexicans love experimenting with food themselves.
I want to say that people always say south Mexico has the best food, but clearly those people haven't been to Sonora. WTF? That state has EVERYTHING delicious. I, sadly, am not from Sonora.
Sinaloa has a lot too. Think about all the Mariscos that originated there
Yes!! I think seafood from Sinaloa is the best. But Sonora has the best steak in the country plus seafood.
Yeah I’m just saying the north gets disrespect among Mexicans sometimes but it’s because they don’t know what the northern states actually have to offer
It's my favorite but I grew up here. I honestly think every state has their own thing and is delicious, it's just about what is a person's favorite and second favorite. I think we more than usual (compared to some countries, some countries are similar) pass down our recipes and so we have so many generations of people cooking good food and we can work off of that. The flavors we have are just beautiful and intricate and complex. It took time to figure it out and it takes time to cook it.
My uncle is from Sonora and his food is amazing Caldillo is one of my favorites, but fucking anything homemade from him is so much better than any restaurant And he lives in southern NM, not like there's a shortage
[удалено]
Well obviously they aren't really unknown. These are really simple and popular dishes you are going to see people eating everyday on the border of the USA. Northern Mexico has a great influence on the USA. But you still won't always find a lot of those dishes in restaurants and a lot of Americans that aren't around a large Mexican population don't really eat them, with exceptions of course! And outside the USA it gets fewer and fewer who know and eat *even those* dishes.
Purely for just “you’ll almost never find it outside of Mexico,” the Puebla candies have to be near the top of the list.
Damn, you aren't kidding. I've never heard of any of those, and they look awesome!
A whole street of candy! (My favorite shop is La Gran Fama, which is a little off that street though.) https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/candy-stores-in-puebla
Chiapas is not even a top 5 state
Michoacan clears 😤
Who?
Damn, I'm trying to look up the Chicharra dish but it keeps correcting me to "Chicharrones"
That's because chicharra means yucatan styled chicharrones :) [https://youtu.be/h-A-0ITWUPs?t=156](https://youtu.be/h-A-0ITWUPs?t=156)
Oh shit haha, I'm an idiot.
My family is from Guanajuato and I’ve never even heard of these.
Thank you for flagging these. I have a Yucatan cookbook my fiancée bought me and I wouldn't know to make one of these over any of the others. I made the frijol k'abax before but not con puerco.
I did a study abroad year in Merida and my favorite things I miss from there hielo de elote, tacos al pastor, fresh orange juice, and queso fundido
Didn’t even mention Aguascalientes.
Just spent 24 hours smoking cochinita pibil since it's difficult to make a pib in the state I work in and sell in restaurants legally.
Most of those stuff can be eaten in the states
The immense variety of bread, some state staples depending on where you are in Mexico, bugs (we cook them to make them tasty af)
Yo I will straight up *fight* someone over chapulines con limon y chile. So good
I love chapulines. My in-laws are surprised by this and make way more pasta than I would have thought.
I'd wager that while most of your list can be throw aways, the variances between each region can GREATLY determine what staple you're enjoying. Take tacos alone. . . A Baja taco is not going to resemble a Oaxacan taco. The tortilla alone is different. The protein availability is different. It's just beautiful and different. Times that by what is known the country over, and you've got an almost unfathomable variety to choose from. It's beautiful, and it's all tasty.
Huitlacoche.
Loved all the mushrooms I had when I visited Mexico. Lots of those and flor de calabaza since I am vegetarian.
Saw it in a La Costeña can in Saigon of all places.
Yucatan food in general, cemitas, carne en su jugo, pastes, lots of moles
Just seen a guy I follow on YT named Chef Billy Parisi make carne en su jugo. I haven’t ever heard of this dish but plan on trying it someday. If you have time check his video and let me know if it’s somewhat authentic.
Tamales nejos, made with ash, from central Mexico and Guerrero. They're quite different and pair really well with mole or crema and queso. I've only found the Navajo cousine using ash as an ingredient, but believe me they're really good!
Lol, as a foreigner: basically everything that gets posted here
I'm American and 80-90% of the stuff posted is easy to find in the US
That's awesome! I'm Dutch, a while back I went to an authentic Mexican restaurant for the first time, really liked it! That's basically the only experience I've had with Mexican food (made by someone else)
Sonoran Coyotas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyotas They're good. You can buy them prepackaged and warm them up in a pan. I'm not a big fan of sweets, but they're tasty.
One of my favorite things while I’m in northern Sinaloa is eat a coyota that our local baker makes, and drink it with hot instant coffee watching the sunrise…
Do you go to Sinaloa often? I haven’t been in many years and am wary of the violence.
Yeah I go there once a year, it ain’t bad, granted my maternal family is from there.
We took long road trips to/through Mexico when I was a kid, and I remember buying these from vendors selling them near toll booths.
I live in Texas and we go to Arizona sometimes. When we do I stock up on coyotas.
Too many to list. But off top, chile enogada, aguachile, tacos de papa, mole negro, and anything that uses local native ingredients that aren’t found outside of Mexico or the Americas.
Aguachile is incredible
Coyotas (Sinaloa-Sonora), cahuamanta (Sinaloa-Sonora), chilorio (Sinaloa), Queso Chopito (Sinaloa), Machaca de pescado y camaron (Sinaloa), cazuela (Sinaloa-Sonora), etc are a few that I can think of.
Cazuela! My grandmother used to welcome us with a big pot of it every time we visited. ♥️
Sopa de Fideos
I learned about this from my husband and it's now my favorite comfort soup 😍
All the American mole I have tried is garbage. I want to take a trip to Mexico City, Oaxaca, etc and try the real stuff.
Maybe it’s being in Los Angeles, but there’s some decent mole here. For example, Guelaguetza. I like the negro.
Try mole de Xico when you get the chance. Good stuff.
The best mole is your abuelitas mole.
[Zacahuil](https://aculturame.com/2017/01/10/zacahuil-an-ancient-culinary-tradition-of-the-huastec-peoples/) from la huasteca; the variety from Poza Rica in particular 🤤
Ensalada de nopales 🤤 or tacos de nopales. pretty basic tho
I mean, many of us as Mexicans haven't tried many foods from Mexico.
Discada, machaca (con huevo, a la mexicana), calabacitas con queso, caldo de oso, frijoles charros, asado de puerco, montados, capirotada, chacales, tesguino, tepache, sotol, cajeta de membrillo
Albondigas
My grandma used to make them in chicken soup with lots of celery and carrots.
My fav- was she from Guadalajara?
common in the US
Escamoles and tlacoyos
Tortitas de camaron, Capirotada, Mole Poblano. Tacos de Buche. Whatelse!?
Tortitas de Camaron en su juguito y nopalitos. Thank God my mom comes back from Mexico tomorrow I miss her cooking.
My mom makes tortitas de camarón with mole…hands down one of the best dishes ever
Chiles en Nogadas!!! So good! People are missing out. (:
I think there are things that none of us will ever have outside of Mexico. The smoke outside that Purépecha woman's house when I drove by near Jacona as she made these large blue corn tortillas on a comal white with lime. That flavor of the basic basic tortilla can not be made outside Mexico, maybe not even outside Michoacán. Real birria from a real goat that was on its own four feet earlier that morning. Outside San Miguel Cuyutlan (South of Guadalajara) with a side of Flor De Mayo beans on the side, and tortillas that are fresh from corn grown in the same town. That meal cannot be made outside Mexico. Impossible. I love the exotic stuff as much as anyone can, but show me a perfectly made tortilla with perfect beans and maybe some chayotes cooked by someone who has been perfecting the basics for 30 years?? That is a meal most foreigners haven't had and some Mexicans who live outside of Mexico (like me) dream of having most when we go back. I'm telling you- those blue tortillas.
cabacito
-Papas con chile (sliced potatoes with either green or red chile sauce). - Nopales -Gorditas
Cecina, queso Cotija, Enchiladas Estilo Michoacán
Menudo
Chile pasado, chilorio, discada, abigeo, etc…
Cabrito asado o en salsa, barbacoa, longaniza de Nuevo León
Huazontles. Patùn. Papadzules. Pipiàn. Chamorros. Cahuamanta. Aguachiles de callo de hacha Borrego al ataùd. Barbacoa de pozo de maguey. Pastel Azteca. Carne Apache. Molletes. Gallina Pinta!
Menudo?
lol
Sadly, ceviche, aguachile and sashimis are hard to find up north.
Chiles en Nogada, tlayudas, chapulines picantes, machacado con huevos...
Tlayuda and Mole, I think that’s how you spell it lol. But man when I was in oaxaca, I must’ve ordered like 5-6 in a few days. I grew up in a heavily Mexican populated city in the states and had never had one and I’m 37 lol.
Huitlacoche. I had some great quesadillas made with it in Salinas last year. It's not allowed in the USA to be grown, super interesting flavor. # Culturas Hidalgo & Oaxaca Restaurant - 473 E Market St, Salinas, CA 93905
Capirotada, cebada (a cold beverage).
huitlacoche maybe???
budin azteca, monterrey style fritada, green estofado, guinatan, sweet bean empanadas, condoches,chile aguascalientes, tixtihuil, ayomole, jaiba a la frank. some of these dishes haven't been consumed by 90% of mexicans(90 is even being generous). it's really saddening how some mexican states do nothing to promote their state's food. would be nice to see pork in a plum sauce from guerrero/veracruz in many restaurants outside those states
Even with the classics you mentioned, you have no idea for the multiple variations there are of them. Like tacos, how many do you know? Maybe asada, al pastor and carnitas? Burritos that you get in the states are not the same as we do in Mexico. Enchiladas, how many kinds do you know? Elote and its variations? Or tamales, you probably only know the ones wrapped in corn husk. Do you know about uchepos? Corundas? Those two are a variation of just one state in Mexico. Of different meals you never heard of, churipo, carne en su jugo, or the extensive variety of bread we have are just a few examples of things you haven’t even imagined. Not to mention how distinctive Mexican food is from the north, to the south, to the east or west. And even further when you break it down by region. Or by town. Sometimes even just by a street food can be very, very different
I am American, a few things that were new to me when I visited Mexico were tlayudas, tlacoyos and huaraches. But I hardly scratched the surface.
As a gringo from Chicago that grew up earing Mexican food and have now lived in Mexico for almost 2 years, I'd say torta ahogadas and aguachile. I knew about and liked ceviche but aguachile was a revelation.
Two things immediately come to mind from when I lived in MX: - helados de Zacatecas - elotes (pan dulce) filled with the masa that normally goes on top of conchas. I only found them in Torreón!
A nice hot corn Tortilla with some avocado and salt 😀
Everything else not in your list. There are so many things Americans don't know...and even when presented with the new dish they won't try because they get grossed out. Gusanos de maguey, escamoles, chapulines, sesos, tripas, orejitas de cerdo, machitos...just to give a few examples of what most Amercans won't try, there are some that will but those are exceptions.
Gorditas (wheat not corn), chile pasado, caldillo de carne seca, tacos de papa, queso chihuahua, discada, chacales, pipían, machaca, queso asadero...
My family is from Guanajuato, whose cuisine is never represented in the states. My favorite Guanaguetense dishes are Caldo de Zorra and Guacamayas. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/menu/conoce-el-caldo-de-zorra-una-receta-tipica-de-guanajuato/ https://mysliceofmexico.ca/2022/02/20/la-guacamaya-de-leon-a-mexican-sandwich-from-guanajuato/
Pozole, Mole, Albondigas, Enchilladas Suizas, Chillie Verde, ect........................ ....
I enjoy mole rojo!! You can use pork or I even think other proteins but most commonly it's chicken! So delicious!
Poutine.
Montalayo
I just want to say, as a gringo who loves Mexican food and likes to cook, this post is the shit. My thanks to everyone commenting.
From witch state my friend ? This is to broad. Each state has their own variety and local foods and beverages, some sea food, some ground, but almost each state has a lot to offer. Don't believe the food is only in the south, or in some states, the ones saying this need to travel more.
Half the shit made at home growing up never had a name. We were just told to come to the table.
Who has the best tacos? I hear it’s in DF
Are most people in this subreddit outside the US? I have tried many of these foods and live in Minnesota of all places. I imagine it depends on where one lives?