Vocabulary Flashcards
Achiote
A shrub or small tree known for the seeds from it’s fruit, “Annato Seeds”, used in achiote paste, typically used to color and marinade meats.
Adobado
Immersion of raw food in a stock/sauce usually including paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar. Preserves and enhances the flavor of the original raw food.
Aguamiel
Maguery cactus sap.
Al Carbon
Barbecued over wood or charcoal. (i.e., Pollo Al Carbon)
Ancho Chile
Aged, dried Poblano peppers.
Atole
Hot, masa based corn beverage. Usually Masa, piloncillo, cinnamon, vanilla. Often served with chocolate, which is called “Champurrado”.
Barbacoa
A style of cooking, the original “barbecue”. Can be slow cooked over fire, or buried and steamed under manguey leaves. Can refer to any meat that’s steamed until tender.
Barley
Cereal Grain. Mainly used for adding malt. Present in most beer.
Bolillo
Crusty rolls used for tortas. A variant of a baguette.
Telera
A flat bread, similar to a boillio, but flatter and bigger.
Bolsa
Bag.
Carnitas
Literally means “little meats”, this style originated in Michoacán. Pork is braised or simmered in oil or lard for several hours until tender and juicy.
Typically served with cilantro, onion, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and tortillas.
Ceviche
A style of cooking raw fish without heat– instead acid (usually citrus, lime or lemon) is added to the fish which “cooks” it.
Chicharrones
Technically this refers to a cooking technique of frying something very thing to make it puffy and crispy.
Colloquially, it refers to pork skin prepared in this style.
Chile Torreado
A chile rubbed between your hands (like a tornado, hence the name) to loosen the seeds and the veins and increase the heat of the chile. Usually served alongside a meal, and you’re meant to alternate bites between the food and the chile.
Chorizo
A type of pork sausage made since Roman times. While exact styles vary worldwide, Mexican Chorizo is usually flavored with native chili peppers and encased in a natural intestine casing. They can be fresh, in which case they must be cooked before eating, or fermented/cured/smoked to be a dry sausage, which can be sliced and eaten or added to other dishes.
Churro
a fried dough (choux) pastry, often incorporating cinnamon, chocolate, and other spices. Sometimes served knotted, sometimes long and thick, and often dipped in hot chocolate or café con leche.
Cilantro
The bright green leaves and stem of the coriander plant. Has a soapy, citrusy taste. Often used alongside hot/spicy foods.
Coctel
Spanish for cocktail, usually refers to poached or marinated seafood in a tomato based cocktail sauce.
Coriander
Spice made from the seed of the coriander plant. Similar flavor to lemon, sage, caraway. Not similar in flavor to Cilantro, despite the shared parent.
Cotija Cheese
A hard cow’s milk cheese that originated in Mexico. Comes as “Cotija de Montaña/ Grain Cheese” which is dry, firm, and salty. “Tajo” cheese is moister and fattier, not dissimilar to parmesan or feta.
Doritos (AKA Duros)
Popular Mexican snack food made of puffed wheat, flavored with chili and lime. Not available in Cool Ranch or Nacho Cheesier.
Fresno Chiles
Similar to the jalapeno, but red, thinner, hotter, and more delicious.
Guajolota
A tamal inside a bolillo. The traditional “tamal torta” of Mexico City.
Habanero Chile
Small, lanterned shaped chili that can be green, yellow, or orange. Usually used in sauces/salsas
Hoja Santa
An aromatic herb with a heart shaped leaf. Literally translated as “sacred leaf”, also called “yerba santa”.
Manteca
A lard used in cooking and baking.
Milanesa
A preparation where the raw food (usually veal or chicken, but sometimes beef, pork, eggplant and even soy) is dipped in egg, seasoned, and dredged in breadcrumbs or flour and then pan fried in oil.
Nopal
Edible prickly pear cactus.
Piloncillo
Pressed, unrefined brown sugar.
Pico de Gallo
Minced or processed salsa.
Pickling
the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine (a saltwater solution) or an acid solution (often vinegar).
Quesillo
A very popular type of string cheese sold in balls of various sizes. Also known as “Queso Oaxaca”
Queso Fresco
A creamy, soft, mild, unaged white cheese.
Rajas
Fried poblano pepper slices.
Serrano
Peppers. Hot, but not too hot. Can be red or green.
Sofrito
This sauce is the cornerstone of many latino dishes. It’s made by sauteeing anato seeds in rendered porkfat, then removing the seeds and adding onions, garlic, pork, peppers, and other herbs to taste. The sauce is typically then put aside and used as needed in various recipes.
Sous-Vide
French term, meaning “under vacuum”. Food is sealed in an airless bag and then cooked in a hot water bath for a specific time.
Tamales
Any kind of filling, with masa (tortilla dough) and lard wrapped around it, then wrapped in a corn husk and steamed.
Tomatillo
Like a small tomato with a husk. Used in green sauces.
Masa
Spanish for dough. Often in the Americas, and definitely in our restaurant, it’s used as shorthand for “masa de maíz”, or corn dough.
Masa de maiz is made from Hominy, which is Corn that has undergone Nixtamalization. [Hominy and Nixtamalization are separate cards]
It can come in a powdered form, called masa de harina, or Maseca (the name of a leading commercial brand).
Nixtamalization
A preparation process for corn or other grains, you soak or cook the grain in an alkaline solution (usually lime-water), and then hull the grain.
This allows the grain to be more easily ground, it also increases it’s nutritional value, flavor, and aroma. It does this by breaking down the cell walls of the grain.
This allows the corn kernels to be removed, creating Hominy, which is pulverized into Masa de maiz, which is cooked into tortillas.
Hominy
Corn kernals which have been bloated, broken down, and detached from the husk by Nixtamalization.
Masienda
Masienda supplies our masa, which we cook into tortillas on site.
Masienda is known for working hand in hand with small Mexican farms to create a masa the promotes fair trade and non-GMO produce while also highlighting the best and most natural flavors.
