Top Five Mexican Food (every man style):
5. Caldo De Res - done correctly, this soup is a necessity for a sleepy time afternoon meal. Remember, what we in the US call lunch is actually called dinner in Mexico. You eat around 1:00 or so and the meal can last quite a while. There is no such thing as lunch in Mexico, just breakfast, dinner and then a late night supper (usually a light meal). Caldo De Res is the essence of what dinner should be in Mexico. A huge bowl, lots of veggies, a shank bone with lots-o-meat, rice (dump it into the soup, trust me, this works!), lemons (to squeeze into the soup) and a ton of corn tortillas. Use a little bit of salt on the tortillas as your roll them into a flute-like shape. Have a nice tall glass of Coca-Cola with the meal. Pure heaven. And be prepared to take a good long siesta right after the last spoonful of soup is consumed.
4. Milanesa - A breaded thin steak usually served with steak fries and guacamole. Milanesa is different than a chicken fried steak (for example), in that it is very thin, lightly breaded instead of dipped in batter. I love the way my Mom cooks milanesa, not too heavy on the oil frying (yeah, it has to be fried in a pan), she uses a combo of saltine crackers and bread crumbs. Yummy. Eat Milanesa with freah four tortillas or bolillos. Boliollos are similar to french bread, but are intentionally smaller. About hand size. If you want, you could make a good milanesa torta, to which you would have to layer some refried beans on the bread, then some lettuce and tomato, then the milanesa, then some guacamole and top it of with some light mayo and some chile powder. I've tried to get milanesa at Tex-Mex places, including tortas, and generally get very dissapointed with the results. Like I said, I'm biased by my mom's really good frying technique to come out with an excellent end product.
3. Entomatadas - this is literally tomato dipped enchilladas that are not deep fried, but slightly fried and baked. The key is to really season the tomato paste dip with good spices that ooze right into the corn tortilla. Don't use cheese covering over the chicken tortilla entomatada nor sauce of any sort. Allow the tomato paste to be the only thing that creates the taste. Warning, the tomato paste can cause a little bit of heartburn due to over use of spices. But the first taste of the entomatada hitting the taste buds is heaven! I would recommend only rice with this meal, no beans nor guacamole needed. You'll probably ask for about five or six entomatadas when all is said and done.
2. Tamales - I am very partial to my mother-in-laws tamales de res. She has tried for years to get her girls (my sister-in-law and wife) to learn how to make tamales like her. My brother-in-law and I always get together and pray in the back room while the lessons are given every christmas, and as of yet, they remain unanswered. Sadly, my sister-in-law has gotten closer to mastering the technique of La Tamalera. My wife is a Tamalera drop-out and it is slightly depressing in a way. I've offered to sit in for her, but tradition requires women only with bandanas on thier heads and tons of gossip in their lips. It is the gossip that is the reason men are not allowed in the sacred ritual. Must make the tamales taste as good as they do, women at ease and with total enjoyment make for good food. Sorta like the movie "Like Water for Chocolate", except for the nekidity.
1. Chile Relleno - there is no better mexican food for the every day man than Chile Relleno. I have yet to find a good restraurant that serves Chile Relleno that is to die for. Not a one. Some come close, but oft times, there is perhaps one missing ingredient or they pretend to cook it right, but it's nothign more than a microwave poser of a relleno they bring out to you. I can understand why it is hard to find good resturant cooked rellenos. The poblamo pepper is the key and apprently it is hard to keep fresh. So all these places will place their peppers in a freezer or cold storage area and let it get a bit rubbery. So if ever you're invited to a friend house and they say they're going to serve fresh chile relleno for dinner (or supper), bring them a nice present as a thank you. Six pack of Negro Modelo might be the right ticket. My mom would shop for fresh poblano peppers at certain times, so when I knew she was at the market doing that, I knew not to miss dinner/supper that night. As good as my mom's chile rellenos were, my aunt would make a killer relleno because she added little extras like raisins to the stuffing (usually, you stuff the pepper with a picadillo, which is a spicy ground beef mix).
Honorable mention: Cabrito (baby goat) and Barbacoa (served right out of the pit)
