Made in Mexico – more than just burritos and tacos, cookbook shows

For many people, Mexican food begins with tacos and burritos and ends with combination plates. These plates are often just tacos and burritos (with a tostada or taquito for the adventurous), but instead of being served on their own they’re accompanied by refried beans and pink Spanish rice.

In Made in Mexico (2019), Danny Mena, the chef of La Loncheria in Brooklyn, New York, shows the diversity of the cuisine of his hometown, Mexico City.

Mena didn’t set out to be a chef, though. In the introduction, he writes, “Mine isn’t the typical chef’s backstory. I was a picky eater as a child and didn’t care about or even much like food. Eating could be a chore for me. That said, food is so integral to everyday life in Mexico City that it was hard to avoid absorbing information about it.

“At any hour, Mexico City residents are eating on the street, in markets, or at the restaurants located on almost every block. It’s where most social and business transactions take place, and eating is a lively topic of conversation in itself. Besides arguments among friends about where to find the best tacos al pastor, food is a lens through which Mexicans discuss class, political, agricultural, economic and social issues.”

When Mena was 16, his parents separated and, as he didn’t want to cook his own food, he started eating at friends’ houses. “Since I had to eat whatever was put on the table, I was exposed to ingredi­ents and flavours I had never wanted to try. I realised that I really loved these dishes I had rejected out of childish stubbornness. Not only did I start paying attention to everything I was eating, food became a focal point of my day.”

After studying engineering at Virginia Tech, in the United States, and working in Mexico City and New York, Mena realised he wasn’t cut out for a career in engineer­­ing, and he enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan.

But he was homesick for the food of Mexico City, and cooked for friends to “expose them to real Mexican dishes that reflected the essence of my culture”. Mena’s first restaurant, Hecho en Mexico (”Made in Mexico”), got its start as a pop-up, and after that closed, he opened La Loncheria.

Yes, the book has recipes for tacos (and they look mouth-watering), made with diverse fillings including beef short ribs and pasilla chillies, poblano chillies with mozzarella and cream, shrimp and bell peppers, and fried fish with cabbage slaw.

The non-tacos recipes are just as diverse and include pambazos (sandwiches) with potato and chorizo; egg with peas, ham, refried beans and plantain; ceviche with steak and shrimp; cheese-stuffed squash blossom fritters; tuna carnitas; dried chillies stuffed with refried beans, cheese and chorizo; enchiladas suizas (they’re stuffed with cheese); and tuna tostadas.