Hey Messicans!

[Sock Puppet]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Oh ya I remember that now. That looks awesome. Sack, what is in canned tomato sauce?

That's so cute! You've never even bought the stuff, have you?

Generally it's just tomatoes, salt, garlic, onion and various "Italian" herbs, especially oregano, although beyond those first four ingredients, the rest are nearly homeopathic-level miniscule concentrations.

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I do have access to an outstanding farmer's market with tons of authentic Mejican stuff, although I don't know exactly what because I've always walked briskly past certain sections.

Let's start with the basics. What dried or canned items should I have in my pantry to ensure I have a solid foundation for future forays into Mexican cuisine? Like, which varieties of dried peppers, for instance.

Good question. I wish I had a satisfactory answer. My wife uses tomato sauce in damned nearly everything unless I beg her to stop. But she is not what you would consider an expert in Messican cuisine; her sisters like to make fun of her cooking. I could ask them, but I'm not sure they would have definitive answers, either.

Some stuff to pick up just to make some initial forays, off the top of my head:

Mole sauce. The good stuff comes in smallish glass jars with a strangely rudimentary metal lid on top that you have to pry off. Not sure why. Be careful, this stuff stains like a bastard.

Dried peppers: Seriously, there are hundreds of types. I recommend the big, black ones. () When I got them they were called "California" peppers, but since then it seems like some vast conspiracy has secretly gone in and renamed them to like a half-dozen different names, just to piss me off. To make an awesome chile colorado, slice them open, remove seeds & stems, boil them in a small amount of water, and then dump them water & all into a blender. Puree it into submission, then filter through a fine sieve to get most of the solids out. Smells like tea for some reason when you're done, but tastes awesome.

Powders: I cut corners in ways that would make a drusus cringe, but I draw the line at the standard "taco seasoning." I really, really hate that shit, to the point that I avoid most chile powder altogether. Makes everything taste stale to me. You're way better off with dried or fresh peppers. There are plenty that are fairly mild. And you probably already know this, but it bears repeating: You can wimp any pepper down by making sure the seeds are banished from it. Open them up and run them under the tap to scrub them out.