Mexican cuisine is one of the most varied that can exist in the world. Perhaps it is not as ancient as the Chinese or the Indian, but it has its history, it does and the truth is, it gives a lot of pride to talk about it and even more so, to eat it. However, despite the fact that we Mexicans like to sink our teeth into everything that comes our way, because we do not always know all or at least most of the cymbals nationals.
There are foods that have an entire ancestral tradition, which we rarely know, because we do not live in every corner of the country to know some customs local. Reason why you are and the food sometimes they remain anonymous. But fortunately, now that we have been trending for a few years with the magical towns and with many people interested in them, some of the classic dishes of the places have come to light.
Under the motto of “nothing is obvious until it is explained” the truth is that we feel obliged to explain some things to you, such as what the mextlapica food that has been mentioned a lot in this time of LentWell, apparently it has nothing to do with red meat and much less with some birds, since it is nothing more and nothing less than a dish where the protagonist is fish.
How is mextlapique cooked?
According to the dictionary of gastronomy Larousse KitchenThis food is a viviparous fish where the females are yellow and the males are black. It was abundant in the lakes of the Valley of Mexico in ancient times and specifically in pre-Hispanic times. It was used as food and the Mexicas prepared a kind of mole with it and the meat was eaten toasted. There were different sizes and the smallest ones were wrapped in corn husks seasoned with dried epazote chili and chopped nopales.
However, in addition to mole, it is also used to prepare a kind of tamale without dough, which was more like corn husks stuffed with smaller minnows such as charales, mextlapiques, white fish, chucumites or other products such as frog legs, tadpoles mixed with slices of Chile, nopalesonion and some herb or seasoning such as epazote. This is wrapped in corn husks and then placed on the comal and constantly turned over so that it cooks completely.
Today, one of those stews survives, such as the so-called michmole, which is a mole that is eaten with freshwater fish. Also, stuffed mextlapique is still used in some regions such as Toluca, Culhuacán, State of Mexico and Hidalgo and it has some varieties, in which it is also cooked with onion, tomato, pasilla chili and coriander; fish roe with cilantro, epazote, cambray onions, green chilies, corn and even xoconostle.
So now you know, if you have no idea for your Lenten menus, this is a perfect option.