Red snapper, Veracruz style, baked or fried in a tomato-based sauce with olives, capers, onions, garlic, and chile pepper, along with a mix of spices. Photo © Jennifer Woodard Maderazo, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
As the capital city, as well as the country’s biggest economy, Mexico City receives a great deal of immigration from the greater republic, and, naturally, many of these newer residents yearn for the flavors of home. Restaurants serving regional food are not uncommon. In fact, some of these regional bites have become so popular, they are now a mainstay in the city’s cuisine. Here are five regional dishes you’re likely to see all over the capital.Dressed in the colors of the Mexican flag, a chile en nogada is a large poblano pepper stuffed with ground meat, almonds, dried fruit, and spices, then topped in a creamy walnut sauce and dotted with fresh pomegranate seeds, and generally served at room temperature. Mexico’s national dish, chiles en nogada are typically made in celebration of the September Independence Day holidays, in part because pomegranate comes into season in that month. This unusual take on the chile relleno is so popular that you can find it in restaurants throughout the city, but they are native to Puebla, the Mexican state just south of the capital.
Huachinango, or snapper, caught in the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the most popular fish along the Atlantic coast, where it is often served in the “Veracruz style,” or a la Veracruzana, baked or fried in a tomato-based sauce with olives, capers, onions, garlic, and chile pepper, along with a mix of spices.
In the Yucatán, pulled pork is slowcooked with citrus and ground seeds from the achiote tree. The bright-red and very fragrant seeds give this dish its keynote flavor. Popular throughout Mexico City, you’ll see cochinita on restaurant menus, served in tortas, or rolled into tacos.
Moles are elaborate sauces ground from seeds, nuts, chile peppers, and spices. Mole negro is one of the signature dishes in the state of Oaxaca, a rich, chocolate-based sauce that is traditionally served with chicken or turkey.
A specialty of the Northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, chilorio is cubed pork slowly simmered with a mix of dried ancho chile peppers, oregano, cilantro seed, cumin, vinegar, and garlic. It is generally served in flour tortillas, also a specialty of the north and surprisingly uncommon in most of Mexico City.
Excerpted from the Fifth Edition of Moon Mexico City.
