For years, I have had a love affair with Mexico and Mexican food. I live in Mexico City and, before that, spent a winter on the west coast in Nayarit; a year and a half in Ciudad Juárez-El Paso at the dividing line of Chihuahua and Texas; and once spent four months living and traveling in a VW bus from the border to the Yucatan Peninsula and back. I know Mexico intimately, and I know the taste and texture of its foods—from the hand-rolled flour tortillas of the north, to the hearty blue corn tortillas of the south—by heart.
Yet, culinarily speaking, I've never ventured very far on my own. Beyond preparing the occasional quesadilla or huevos rancheros, I've yet to learn how to make any of Mexico's endless variety of platillos myself. Real down-home Mexican cuisine—comida casera, or homemade food—takes time. Lots of it. The preparation of the many stews, sauces, corn doughs and drinks is elaborate. Which is why it's easy to watch the señoras in their homes, in the market or at street stands and think they were simply born knowing how to cook the way they do. Magical as their powers may be, I hope to discover for myself—and for readers of this blog—some of their secrets, to bring the charms and ancient traditions of real Mexican cooking into my kitchen and yours.
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