Much like pizzas and curries, Mexican food can be found all over the world but they almost always taste better in the country in which they originated. This is not to say that Mexican food hasn’t travelled well, because there are some great offerings around the world, but in my view, nothing tastes as good as it does in Mexico itself.
Having traveled extensively around Mexico I have been fortunate enough to try a wide variety of its dishes and various takes on those dishes, and for me, these are the finest dishes to try inside the country itself.
Pozole
Pozole is a heartwarming stew which is made from maize kernels, served in a hot tomato sauce with meat, usually shredded chicken. What I love about this dish in particular is the way that you can build it to create a flavorsome and varied dish. When you get the pozole you have the option of adding lettuce, sliced radish, raw onion, cilantro and some spicy sauce, not to mention of course the limes. This is the ideal dish if you want to fill yourself up with some comfort food.
Barbacoa
It would make little sense for me to write ‘tacos’ here on this list, because there are just so many to choose from. One of my favorite kinds of tacos however are barbacoa, which is slow cooked mutton. Usually you will only find this available on a weekend, and for that reason it is often associated with hangover food. This label however does the meal some level of injustice because it is far more than this. The best kind of barbacoa to get is the kind which has been slow cooked in a traditional earth oven, this ensures that the meat is soft and supple. When you order your tacos, be sure to get the ‘consomme’ which is a soup that has been made from the fat and juices from the meat, served with chick peas and onion, delicious.
Chile en Nogada
If you are lucky enough to be in Mexico during the poblano chili season then this is the dish which you simply have to try. Mexican chef Rose Burillo actually put me on to Chile en Nogada, a dish which features a large poblano chili which is stuffed with a mixture of cooked minced beef and onions. Once stuffed the chili is covered in sour cream and then scattered with pomegranate seeds, and sometimes some nuts. The mixture of heat, salt and sweetness here is what makes this dish truly iconic. Many suggest that this should be the national dish given that it features the three colors of the Mexican flag, with the green of the chili, the red of the pomegranate and the white of the cream.
Have you tried any of these dishes in Mexico before? Would you agree that dishes like these just taste better in their home country? Let us know what you think about them in the comments below, and if we have missed out your faves, be sure to comment.
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