The Evolution of Mexican Cuisine

culinary creations
the chef's edge
PREPARED
FOODS
The Evolution
of Mexican
Cuisine
Mexican cuisine has become a regular menu choice
for most Americans, but it was not always that
way. Over the past two decades, many factors have
combined to change American consumers'
perceptions about Mexican food and to direct their
tastes toward more authentic variations.
ChefJ (a.k.a. J. Hugh McEvoy). Contributing Editor
A
merican consumers' attitudes about Mexican
food certainly have evolved since the 1940s.
One early Bugs Bunny cartoon featured Porky
Pig as a Mexican street vendor selling "hot tamales" that
were far too spicy to be eaten! Sadly, for many years, thai
was the erroneous American perception of most Mexican
fare. This is a far cry from today's Americans, who openly
embrace real Mexican cuisine. What brought about this
change in attitude? Will the current demand for Mexican
food continue, or will the trend evolve into something
entirely new and different?
"Mexican ingredients are the cornerstone of the cuisine
that has built Chili's very successful menu," says executive
chef Stephen Kalil CRC, CEC, director of Culinary
Innovation for Chili's Grill & Bar (Brinker International).
"The proliferation of authentic Mexican ingredients has
allowed for great innovation in America's restaurants. Look
at how fast products like cilantro, chipotle, ancho, masa and
poblano have become part of mainstream dining." Where
will this spicy trend lead? First, we should understand why
Mexican cuisine took so long to catch on in the States and
what factors were instrumental in its becoming popular.
The Hand that Stirs the Pot
One key reason that the foods of our southern neighbor
were not well known on American menus was that prior to
the late 1980s, most American chefs knew little about real,
traditional Mexican cuisine. Few, if any. famous chefs had
worked in Mexico. Even fewer had studied there. It would
take a series of trends, and a few key trendsetters, to
change these attitudes. Perhaps the first great American
chef to break this barrier was Rick Bayless, owner of the
now famous Frontera Grill in Chicago. Chef Bayless was
a visionary. He lived, worked and studied cooking in
Mexico at a time most Americans did not think "south of
the border" first when choosing either a restaurant or a
vacation destination.
At that time. Spring Break meant going to Florida.
Thousands of college students then flocked to Daytona or
Fort Lauderdale as their number-one party spot. Adults
dreamed of Hawaii. Paris or Rome. Consumers thought of
Mexican food as tacos, burritos and tamales. It was considered inexpensive fast food—tasty and filling, but fattening and unhealthy. Due in part to lack of consumer
demand, many authentic, traditional ingredients were simply not available in most U.S. cities. The "Mexican" dishes
available here truly were not Mexican cuisine. They were
Americanized versions of Mexican street foods. These
items were insipid, overly spiced junk foods. Poorly
trained American cooks had substituted whatever low-cost
ingredient they had at hand, making such foods high in fat
and low in quality.
www.PreparedFoods.tom * October 2006
27
culinary creations
the chef's edge
PREPARED
FOODS
Most any category of food can toke on Mexican food nuances with
the right ingredients, such as this tortilla soup with avocados.
As informed product developers, we will have to understand and respond to these coming changes.
Authentic Mexican Ingredients
Do you remember Fritos, Tabasco and Cheese Whiz?
Separately, all are great products. Together, however, they
combine into a nacho nightmare! Even so, many of these
American-Mexican dishes appeared on school lunch menus
and at church "pot luck" dinners. Then, in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, the culinary climate began to change.
In the decade just prior to the recent tum of the century, an
entire generation began seeing something new on television.
Where their parents had watched family-oriented cartoons, a new generation was watching MTV. Spring Break
was now "Live from Cancun!" Hundreds of thousands of
young Americans began choosing Mexico as their place
to visit. An entire generation began to build a new and
more open opinion of all things Mexican.
At Ihe same time, in the famous Commander's Palace
Restaurant in New Orleans, chef Paul Prudhome was creating a culinary American revolution. Chef Prudhome
used Creole cuisine to teach consumers about "big" flavors. Spicy, intense flavors of Cajun cooking became the
rage. Midwestemers in places like Minneapolis, Omaha
and Kansas City became accepting of something new and
exciting. Restaurants everywhere began putting spice on
the menu.
Meanwhile, as teens frolicked in the southern sunshine
and Cajun cuisine swept the country, millions of tenacious, hard-working Mexican immigrants arrived in
America, hoping for a better life. These new arrivals
brought with them their food preferences and culinary
skills and put them to good use. Everyone who has worked
in a professional cooking capacity understands that the
"hand that stirs the pot" does indeed influence the taste of
the final product. "Culinary drift" is a term describing the
slow but steady movement toward the preferences of the
people creating the recipe on a daily basis.
Therefore, the Italian dinner you had last Eriday
night may well have been cooked by a Mexican chef!
Tomorrow's coming culinary trends are being
affected by these Mexican restaurant professionals.
One such informed food product developer is JeanMarie
Brownson. Chef Brownson is the director of product innovation with Frontera Eoods. Erontera is the retail prepared foods
division of Rick Bayless' world famous Frontera Grill
Restaurant. For more than a decade, chef Brownson has
worked side by side with chef Bayless, creating, developing
and manufacturing some of the finest authentic. Mexican prepared food products available today. Frontera products can now
be found on upscale supermarket shelves all across America.
"Rick truly was the trailblazer," chef Brownson tells us in a
recent interview. "When we started back in "93, it was impossible to get the fresh, high-quality Mexican produce we now
use every day. Chef Bayless was the first to partner with local.
Midwest farmers and convince them to plant and grow the
ingredients we needed. Simple things like fresh ancho or
poblano peppers were unknown to Chicago diners. He changed
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29
Mexican Vegetables
• Acitrones — Condieti prickly peor cactus leaves.
• Avocado — A savory fleshy fruit. Originating in sotith-central
Mexico around 5,000 B.C.
• Choyote — An edible gourd; once the principal food of the Aitecs
and Mayons.
• Hvithcoche — Mexican corn truffle; a mushroom-tike fungus.
• Jicama — Mexicon "potato"; mild-flavored root vegetable.
• Nopales ~ Popular Mexican vegetahle; leaves of the nopal
(prickly pear) cactus.
• JomatHfo — Small, popular Mexican vegetable, similar in
Qppeartince to green tomotoes.
all that. The amazing and delicious menu items tie first began
serving at Frontera Grill changed America's opinion of
Mexican food. 1 helped Rick work on his first book. The
authentic saisas and other products we have developed and now
manufacture all derive from those first trend-setting recipes."
Chef Brownson adds, 'Today, we see all kinds of high-quality
fresh Mexican ingredients in every supermarket. The bestselling books he wrote and the hit television cooking show chef
Bayless stars in each week have helped to create a demand for
these wonderful, authentic Mexican foods."
30
Ocfober 2006 ' www.PreporedFoods.com
The research chefs working at Frontera Foods did help create the current demand for Mexican entrees. Now they are
working enthusiastically toward what they believe will be the
next trend in Mexican prepared foods. What will that next evolution in American eating be? Chef Brownson is betting it will
be a melding of traditional Mexican flavors and good old
Americau favorites. The newest line of truly innovative products being rolled out by Frontera Foods is a line of frozen
Mexican pizzas. If anyone can create a great Mexican pizza it
will be Rick Bayless. Combining the look and feel of a traditional pizza with the ingredients and flavors of Mexico, these
new supermarket items are intended to push the envelope of the
Mexican trend.
While every professional chef tips his hat to chef Bayless,
not everyone feels that Mexican cuisine is going to become
Americanized. "Americans' idea of Mexican foods is in a great
time of flux," states chef Matthew D. Burton CEC. CRC; director of culinary innovation with ConAgra. "People are not afraid
of chilies any more. Thanks much in part to chefs like Rick
Bayless and Bobby Flay, chilies have been demystified. It
amazes me now when I go to the Mexican area of my town and
go to the small Mexican grocery stores, I look around and I am
no longer the only person in there that .speaks English. People
are willing to experiment and try items."
Chef Burton is the key culinary innovator in ConAgra's
glorious test kitchens in Omaha. Sharing his recent experiences, chef Burton tells us, "I had the opportunity to join chef
culinary creations
the chef's edge
A Glossary of
Fresh (Unripened)
Mexican Cheeses
PREPARED
FOODS
A Glossary of Aged
Mexican Cheeses
• QuesQ fresco ~ The most popular
• Asodero — A mild, firm cheese molded into a log
Mexican-style cheese. Soft ond moist with a
and sold sliced; it is similar to provolone in its slightly
mild saltiness and slight ocidity.
tangy taste and firm texture.
• Queso Blanco Fresco — Also called queso
PHOTO COURTESY Of KRAFT FOOD INGRBIIENIS
• Cotija — Rrm, very salty cheese is simitar to o dry feta.
para freir, of cheese for frying, firm, moist
• Cotija Aiiejo ~ A mainstay of Mexican cooking, it has a salty flavor
cheese used in cooked dishes.
and can be grated or crumbled and used like parmesan or dry jock.
• Panela — Mild and moist with a sweet, fresh milk flavor.
• Enchilado — Dry, crumbly white cheese is similar to cotija anejo,
• Queso Blonco — A white, mild, creomy cheese similar to o mild
but distinguished by its reddish appearance, the result of a mild red
cheddar or jack.
chile or paprika coating .
• Oaxaca — A mild, firm white cheese with Q sweet milk flovor ond
• Mer^onita — A mild, smooth white cheese that originated in the
slight saltiness.
Mennonite community in Chihucihua, Mexico. Menomio is similar in
• Requeson — Similar to ricolta; made from whey. Soft, grainy texture
flavor and uses to gouda.
and fresh milk taste.
• Manchega — Derived from the famaus cheese of la Manchc,
Source: Califomta Dairy Board
Spain, traditionally made from sheep's milk, the California version is
made from iiort-skim caw's mi!k.
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with everything you can imagine. I can still imagine all the
wonderful smelts and sights for the Mexico City Market—
nothing short of culinary heaven! We may see a move toward
even more authentic Mexican cuisine. 1 do not believe it will
be much further in the future that you will start seeing tortillas in the bread basket, or the mom whipping up a batch of
mole for a Sunday dinner."
American moms may not be thinking about Sunday dinner
mole just now. but the industry's top innovators are saying it
may happen soon! The factors that created today's demand for
Mexican products continue to gain strength. Understanding
those factors and predicting what tomorrow's diners will be
ordering, before they order it, is the chef's edge. Q
Rick Bayicss with the CIA on a culinary trip to Mexico a tew
months ago. The experience was truly eye opening. As a chef,
the first thing I had to do was truly forget everything I thought
I knew about ccwking! The knife cuts, searing of meats, slow
simmering, meat butchery: everything was out the window.
The true food in Mexico was so much cleaner and less complex than what Americatis think of today. There are no giant
burritos stuffed with a pound of rice and topped with guacamole and sour cream or smothered tortillas wrapped up and
stuffed with tons of cheese. Everything is simple, fresh and
clean. It was easy to tell that food really is a central part of the
culture, from the street vendors selling aloli in the morning to
the little old ladies hand grinding com to make tortillas so you
can eat them immediately: wonderful food was everywhere."
When asked where he thinks the Mexican trend will lead
next, chef Burton says. "The amazing thing is how much
healthier real Mexican cuisine i.s. Tons of fresh vegetables
and fruits were everywhere. Much like other ethnic cuisines.
meat was very often more of a garnish than the center of the
plate. The markets were amazing, stacked floor to ceiling
Website Resources:
www.PreparedFoods.com — Type "Mexican food" into LINX search field
www.fronterakitchens.com/restourants — Information on chef Rick Bayless
and his restaurants
www.myhomecooking.net/mexican-foodredpes/mexican-food-recipes.htm
— Several Mexican recipes, with photos of the finished dishes
ChefJ, CEC, CRC (a.k.a. J.
Hugh McEvoy). is a certified
executive chef with the
American Culinary Federation
and a certified research chef
with the Research Chefs
Association. He has developed
products for companies such as
Marriott Corporation, RitzCarlton, McDonald's and Au bon Pain, among others. He
can be reached at [email protected].
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