Is it on one of the cooking channels or PBS? I've not heard of it and would like to check it out!

Haven’t seen it but looks to be available online.

https://www.dailymotion.com/search/Rick%20Stein%20Mexico

I tried but cannot watch it. I think it would appeal more to a British audience, or perhaps Canadian - anyone who has never been to Mexico.

If you want to learn about Mexican food, I recommend Patti Jinich's show on PBS. She travels to many areas of Mexico, and she reminds me of my friends in Mexico City, which is where she grew up. She grew up in the same neighborhood as my best friend there.

Pati's past seasons are on Ytube, lots of them.

Thanks for the heads up about Patti Jinch’s show. I can get PBS so I’ll search for it when I get a moment.

Oddly enough I have been to Mexico, well just Tijuana in the mid ‘90s. The programme showed it has become a more modern city since I was there. We left the car in the car park on the US side and walked across for the day. I recall we had a meal and a margarita and a wander around before walking back across the border.

I’ve found (near my home) a stockist for tomatillos and achiote paste plus all food things so I’m hoping my Mexican cooking will be improving.

I’ve also had a breakthrough in my knowledge about tortillas. To make them at home I am to use masa harina for the smaller tacos and normal wheat flour for the slightly larger burritos. Hope that’s right. I realise many will be shaking their heads and thinking ‘that’s a breakthrough???’ but as obvious as it seems Yes it is. Everything is there on the Net it just that you have to know the right question to ask Mr Google. Hah!

Pati Jinich is also on Amazon Prime video. Love her show!

Worry not. If you didn't grow up on them, how were you to know? The yellow corn tortillas (little loaves) are an American thing, as are crunchy taco shells and "taco bars".

Tacos are made with hard beige corn tortillas about 5-6" in diameter.

Flautas (flutes) are also made with small corn tortillas, rolled around filling and fried. A Mexican friend was recently raving about how good the flautas were at a restaurant in California where they use wheat flour tortillas and really good chicken. Not traditional, but so what? Right?

Enchiladas are best made with pan made tortillas made from masa, which are a little thicker and about 8-9" in diameter. These are enrobed in enchilada sauce (or any chili sauce) giving the name, which means "chilied" or covered with chile.

Burritos (little donkeys) come in three basic sizes: Hand sized about 6" long and kind of flat, usually filled just with beans or chili. Traditionally, made with a 10-12" wheat flour tortilla, which are kept in a ceramic warmer by the stove to be pliable and warm. From the never ending pot of beans or chili, one grabs a tortilla, smears on a ladleful, and rolls it up, as a hand warmer and snack/tummy warmer on the way out the door.

The next size up is meal sized, made with a 12" or larger wheat flour tortilla, and might be eaten either handheld like the smaller one, or plated with a knife and fork. If plated, it might be served as is, or mojado ("wet", meaning covered with tomatillo sauce, chile sauce, some kind of mole, or whatever). This burrito is about 10" long and 2-2.5" in diameter.

Macho burritos, which I think are more a USA restaurant food than really Mexican, are either made with two large wheat flour tortillas or one gigantic one, and are always served on a plate, usually wet.

Chalupas (the real kind) are made with masa and molded to be shaped like boats.

Chilaquiles are fry ups made with leftover tortillas, usually corn, but depends on what you have.

In most Mexican homes I've been in, however, these not usual food, except the handwarmer burrito and chilaquiles, which are farm food, and might also be seen anywhere else. Instead, the cuisine has Continental roots, with variations in every region. Just like anywhere else, there are a variety of roasts, stews and braises. A big meal, traditionally at midday (mid-afternoon, between work and siesta) would start with sope, which might be an actual soup, or a simple flavored pasta or rice dish. Tortillas would be served with the main (meat and vegetables or salad) as the bread. Each diner would roll or fold a tortilla, and might use it to push the food around, sop up sauces, combine with the food flatbread style, etc. In cities, tortillas are usually bought daily, rather than homemade.

Have fun with your Mexican food adventures!

Very good info there plllog. Lots of words to Google and read up on.

I actually have Amazon Prime so can look there as well thanks maggieq.

I am attempting a pork scotch fillet wiith a chocolate mole for dinner with pico de Gallo to accompany it. Hope DH likes it... me ... I know I will.

Well we both really liked it. It was actually a slice of pork loin.

I got the recipe from the Net and I was surprised it was so easy. I looked up Mexican main meal dinner and found this in among lots of slow cooked pork recipes.

SAUCE

3 tablespoons Almond meal

Pinch of cinnamon (about 1/4 teaspoon)

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

2squares dark chocolate 80%

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon brown sugar or piloncillo (I didn’t have this

Chicken stock

Cook and mix altogether in a little olive oil till it all comes together like breadcrumbs. Then add chicken stock to make a small amount of sauce. I ended up with about 1 cup. Simmer and stir for 5 mins.

You should try to find some piloncillo - it is very inexpensive at the Latin market that I go to, and the flavor is much more like raw sugar cane than brown sugar is. I used it last week when we were in Cathedral City and I was making pancakes but did not have any sugar, but I did have a cone of piloncillo. I had to crush a chunk of it in my mortar and pestle, and I ended up putting more of it in than I normally would of sugar, but I really did like the flavor of it. Also, we did not have syrup, and so it was good to make the pancakes a bit sweeter.

You can also substitute raw sugar for piloncillo, and the flavor will be close than brown sugar is.

One thing I like about the recipe you posted is that it does not appear to be too sweet, and many people add way too much sugar to mole.

My favorite region of Mexico for food is the Yucatán, and so I always have achiote paste on hand to make that style. Every time I eat something with achiote paste in it, I am reminded of my trips to that area, even though I have not been there recently.

Poor Rick Stein!

I am looking forward to tasting some achiote paste Lars.

I don’t understand your comment Islay Corbel. Do you mean traveling on the road to Mexico wouldn’t be a good thing to do?

No. I meant that Lars said the programme was only any good for people who had never been to Mexico! He may well be right but I do like Rick Stein's programmes....and restaurants.

Lars, we Canucks tend to frequent Mexico more often than you may think. In fact DH and I are headed there next week. Our good friends are there for 6 weeks right now.

I think what Lars said is being misunderstood. Rick Stein is not known in the US. Travel food shows are often lost in commercial skimming the surface. Not family traditions in that culture.

I have relatives and friends living in Mexico and have visited dozens of times. We have stayed with friends or rent a home. Shop in the local market. Or cooked for by the local family and friends. Our longest stay was three months, tending a cat and dog while the owners traveled. (super cheap being nannies, lol)

It took a while to find an on-line video of his travels to Mexico. Really good!.

A few years ago I was excited to watch an Anthony Bourdain trip to Newfoundland where I've had a home for near 20 years. So fell short of the place I know so well. Not even close to the culture and food and the environment. One or two weeks filming in a four seasons life of a communities home is not authentic. Misses the details.

Canada does adore Mexico. But rent a home in a small community, not in a resort. Good memories renting the same beach house for a few winter years on a remote dirt road....

Well I do like to watch his shows and appreciate his nuance and English sense of humour.

Back to the food.

Actually, I have an Instagram account and a lady from Brazil whom I follow and who follows me back suggested I make Lomo Saltado. I looked it up and discovered it is a widely liked dish in South America including Mexico. Various ways of making it. Of course what was intriguing to me was that it has chips or French fries stirred through. I think it is usually served with rice but a salad suited us better.

DH and I both liked this dish a lot. My IG name is countryhometownhome if anyone is interested.

The word lomo was interesting in the name for me because in South America it is loin, but I remember in Spain it is often attributed to pork as well. Therefore a bocadillo de lomo (pork bread roll) was always pork, as is the word cerdo of course. Anyway, I used slices of sirloin steak.

Lots of Peruvian restaurants in Los Angeles serve Lomo Saltado, but I've never seen it in Mexico, although I have been to Argentinian restaurants in Mexico City. I haven't been to Mexico City since 2005 (although I went to Cabo San Lucas last year), and I can see how Peruvian food could become popular in Mexico, which BTW, is part of North America.

Lomo Saltado reminds me much more of Brazilian food, but I personally never combine potatoes and rice in one dish. I can see how they would in South America, however. Potatoes are less common in Mexico than they are in South America, from my experience. I like yucca root much more in Brazilian dishes and found it more common than potatoes in Brazil. I think I would like Lomo Saltado better with yucca root replacing the potato.

My favorite Peruvian restaurant in Los Angeles was Japanese-Peruvian fusion.

Lomo Saltado, is a fusion dish although it has been cooked in Peru for such a long time... it is the inclusion of soysauce that makes it so tasty.

Along with you Lars, I think serving with rice seems ‘too much’ and that’s why we chose a zingy salad.

Edited to add

I just made Achiote chicken from the paste which was a taste I had never had and found it very nice. For once it wasn’t a spicy sauce which was both good and like something missing.