Guaijillo chile is a typical Hispanic flavor, as are coffee, chocolate, lard or fried flavors, notes Justin Young, executive chef, Kraft Food Ingredients; and “lard flavor or fried corn chip flavor” can help manufacturers develop “authentic tastes in moles, sauces and marinades while minimizing ingredients and processing steps.” Other robust flavors “can serve as a foundation for developing the regional applications which are very much on-trend, such as Oaxacan-style or Monterrey-style dishes,” he says.
Grilled flavors can replicate notes obtained by grilling or slow roasting over a wood fire. “High-heat searing and grilling is also common for dishes such as arrachera (flank steak),” says Sanders, and can be achieved with seared beef flavors and/or charbroiled flavor.
Soy sauce may seem an unlikely flavor in Hispanic dishes, but Debbie Carpenter, senior marketing manager, foodservice & industrial, Kikkoman Sales USA, Inc., San Francisco, explains: “In Peru, the Japanese influence is historically strong, thanks to immigration patterns, and you’ll find soy sauce in dishes like ceviche and lomo saltado, a stir-fry of beef, peppers and potatoes. In addition, many Latin dishes fit right into the growing demand for healthy or vegetarian foods. That means that product developers are looking for ways to create the rich, deep umami flavors typically associated with meat—without using meat products.” She recommends soy sauce for marinades and rubs, meat jerky, powdered soup mixes and snack coatings and to “give a meaty flavor to vegetarian refried beans, to add umami to meat or meatless chili, and to deepen and round out the flavors of chile sauces like moles.”
Consider queso
Cheese can add mainstream appeal to most any dish. “Traditional Hispanic cheeses have a mild, easy flavor, unlike French-style cheeses with big, bold flavors,” says Young. “These mild, fresh cheeses are able to blend well with spicy and/or hot flavor profiles, as well as to incorporate other subtle flavor nuances that are traditionally Hispanic in origin and are found in simple, homey peasant foods.”
Conventional Hispanic cheeses, such as queso fresco, queso blanco, queso asadero and queso Oaxaca, are becoming increasingly available in the United States. However, many Americans equate Monterey Jack cheese with the cuisine.
Monterey Jack’s mild profile “blends very well with other distinctive flavors,” says Pamela Schoenster, associate principal scientist, Kraft Food Ingredients. “The ability to make the Monterey Jack cheese flavor profile available in several different melt modifications allows for its use in a broad range of applications.”
Schoenster recommends using high-melt Monterey Jack with jalapeño for fillings or appetizers that need melt restriction. “This cheese can be shredded or diced, which makes it very easy to blend with other ingredients,” she says. “Also available is a restricted-melt Monterey Jack cheese sauce with jalapeño peppers. This cheese sauce can be pumped or dispensed at refrigerated temperatures, which is great for incorporating into taquitos and other wrap-type applications.”