San Francisco enjoys no small renown for its Mission-style burrito, swollen with rice, beans, meat, salsa, cheese and sour cream. But at Mi Lindo Yucatan, also in the city’s Mission District, guests find nary a flour tortilla in sight and instead feast on panuchos (corn tortillas grilled, fried, stuffed with black beans, topped with turkey and garnished with cabbage, tomato, pickled red onion and avocado), polcanes (cornmeal dumplings filled with lima beans and pumpkin seeds and served with pickled red onions), poc chuc (marinated, charbroiled pork, black beans, grilled onions and achiote salsa).
As communities from throughout Mexico plant roots in el norte—and chefs everywhere champion Mexico’s regional cuisines—more people are getting a tasty lesson in south-of-the-border gastronomy with a clear message: When it comes to regional Mexican cooking, the burrito is barely the beginning.
Take the simple tamale. “Tamales have been part of Mexican cuisine for hundreds of years,” says Margarita Pulido, corporate chef, Azteca Milling, L.P., Irving, TX. “Tamales have evolved, and world-class chefs are experimenting with the process and flavor to include fillings such as caviar and salmon. Tamales in Mexico vary depending on the region. For example, tamales in the north of Mexico are normally filled with chicken and pork, or even with dry meats. The tamales in the south are filled with mole, beans, rice, etc. Tamales in the coast area of Tampico or Veracruz are filled with seafood. Tamales in the south are bigger, while those in the north are smaller and narrower. In the north, the wrapping of the tamale is corn husks, and in the south, plantain leaves.
Yucatán: Mexico’s Mayan roots
“The Yucatán offers an intriguing tropical cuisine with roots in the ancient Mayan culture,” says Sean Craig, senior executive chef, Gilroy Foods & Flavors, Gilroy, CA. Yucatecan foods barely resemble what most Americans know. Save for the habanero pepper that appears sparingly in salsas and seasonings, the ingredient emphasis is on milder stuff: bitter orange juice, seasoning pastes called recados made from achiote (annatto) seeds, native game and wildfowl like deer and turkey (whose eggs are particularly popular), and chaya, a spinach-like green.