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Tortillas
A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread from Mesoamerica originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica before colonization, tortillas are a cornerstone of Mesoamerican cuisine. Corn tortillas in Mesoamerica are known from as early as 500 BCE. Etymology The word ''tortilla'' is derived from the Spanish word ''torta'', meaning "cake," plus the diminutive -''illa''; as a result, the word means "little cake" in Spanish. Varieties Corn Tortillas made from nixtamalized maize meal (''masa de maíz'') are the oldest variety of tortilla. They originated in Mexico and Central America, and remain popular throughout the Americas. Peoples of the Oaxaca region in Mexico first made tortillas at the end of the Villa Stage (1500 to 500 BCE). Towards the end of the 19th century, the first mechanical utensils for making t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burrito
A burrito (, ) or burro in Mexico is, historically, a regional name, among others, for what is known as a taco, a tortilla filled with food, in other parts of the country. The term ''burrito'' was regional, specifically from Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Sonora and Sinaloa, for what is known as a ''taco'' in Mexico City and surrounding areas, and ''codzito'' in Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Due to the cultural influence of Mexico City, the term ''taco'' became the default, and the meaning of terms like ''burrito'' and ''codzito'' were forgotten, leading many people to create new meanings and folk histories. In modern times, it is considered by many as a different dish in Mexican cuisine, Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. In Central and Southern Mexico, burritos are still considered tacos, and are known as ''tacos de harina'' ("wheat f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatbread
A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A Serving size, serving of 85g (~3 ounces) of pita bread has 234 Calorie, calories. Flatbreads range from below one millimeter to a few centimeters thick so that they can be easily eaten without being sliced. They can be baked in an oven, fried in hot oil, grilled over hot coals, cooked on a hot pan, tava, Comal (cookware), comal, or metal griddle, and eaten fresh or packaged and frozen for later use. History Flatbreads were amongst the earliest food processing, processed foods, and evidence of their production has been found at ancient sites in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, and the Indus Valley Civilisation, Indus civilization. The origin of all flatbread baking systems are said to be from the Fertile Crescent in West Asia, where they would su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and finger food, eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, vegetables, and cheese, and garnished with various condiments, such as salsa (sauce), salsa, guacamole, or sour cream, and vegetables, such as lettuce, coriander, onion, tomatoes, and Chili pepper, chiles. Tacos are a common form of antojitos, or Mexican street food, which have spread around the world. Tacos can be contrasted with similar foods such as burritos, which are often much larger and rolled rather than folded; taquitos, which are rolled and fried; or chalupas/Tostada (tortilla), tostadas, in which the tortilla is fried before filling. Etymology The origins of the taco are not precisely known, and etymologies for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nixtamalization
Nixtamalization ( ) is a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other cereal grain, grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooking, cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes aqueous alkali metal carbonates), washed, and then hulling, hulled. The term can also refer to the removal via an alkali process of the pericarp from other grains such as sorghum. Nixtamalized corn has several benefits over unprocessed grain: It is more easily ground, its nutritional value is increased, Flavor (taste), flavor and aroma are improved, and mycotoxins are reduced by up to 97–100% (for aflatoxin, aflatoxins). Lime and ash are highly alkaline: the alkalinity helps the dissolution of hemicellulose, the major glue-like component of the maize cell walls, and loosens the hulls from the kernels and softens the maize. The tryptophan in corn proteins is made more available for human absorption, thus helping to prevent niacin deficiency (pellagra). Tryptophan is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comal (cookware)
A comal is a smooth, flat griddle typically used in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, to cook tortillas and arepas, toast spices and nuts, sear meat, and generally prepare food. Similar cookware is called a '' budare'' in South America. Some comals are concave and made of ''barro'' (clay). These are still made and used by the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America. Comals are similar to the American griddle or the Indian tawa, and are often used and named interchangeably with these. Comals for home use are generally made from heavy cast iron, and sized to fit over either one burner on the stovetop (round) or two burners front to back (elongated oval). In many indigenous and pre-Hispanic cultures, the comal is handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter, the idea being that a comal tempered over many years of use will heat faster and cook cleaner. History The history of such cooking methods dates back to the pre-Columbian era, when powde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fajita
A fajita (; ), in Tex-Mex cuisine, is strips of any grilled meat, optionally served with strips of peppers and onions usually served on a flour or corn tortilla. The term originally referred to skirt steak, the cut of beef first used in the dish. Popular alternatives to skirt steak include chicken and other cuts of beef, as well as vegetables instead of meat. In restaurants, the meat is usually cooked with onions and bell peppers. Popular condiments include shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, refried beans, and diced tomatoes. "Tacos de arrachera" is applied to the northern Mexican variant of the dish. Etymology ''Fajita'' is a Tex-Mex or Tejano diminutive term for little strips of meat cut from the beef skirt, the most common cut used to make fajitas. The word ''fajita'' is not known to have appeared in print until 1971, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. (The word is Spanish for "strip", or "belt", from the Latin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baking Powder
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid–base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. The first ''single-acting'' baking powder (meaning that it releases all of its carbon dioxide as soon as it is dampened) was developed by food manufacturer Alfred Bird in England in 1843. The first ''double-acting'' baking powder, which releases some carbon dioxide when dampened and later releases more of the gas when heated by baking, was developed by Eben Norton Horsford in the U.S. in the 1860s. Baking powder is used instead of yeast for end-products where fermentation flavors would be undesirable, or wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and northwestern part of Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era, many Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii) the formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portmanteau
In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.Garner's Modern American Usage p. 644. English examples include '' smog'', coined by blending ''smoke'' and ''fog'', and '''', from ''motor'' ('' motorist'') and ''hotel''. A blend is similar to a [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leavening Agents
In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical action by which air is incorporated (i.e. kneading). Leavening agents can be biological or synthetic chemical compounds. The gas produced is often carbon dioxide, or occasionally hydrogen. When a dough or batter is mixed, the starch in the flour and the water in the dough form a matrix (often supported further by proteins like gluten or polysaccharides, such as pentosans or xanthan gum). The starch then gelatinizes and sets, leaving gas bubbles that remain. Biological leavening agents * ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' producing carbon dioxide found in: ** baker's yeast ** Beer barm (unpasteurised—live yeast) ** ginger beer ** kefir ** sourdough starter * ''Clostridium perfringen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia Ficus-indica
''Opuntia ficus-indica'', the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout Arid climate, arid and Semi-arid climate, semiarid parts of the world. ''O. ficus-indica'' is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. ''O. ficus-indica'' is the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses. ''Opuntia'' species hybrid (biology), hybridize easily, but the wild origin of ''O. ficus-indica'' is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found. Names Most culinary references to the "prickly pear" refer to this species. The Spanish name ''tuna'' is also used for the fruit of this cactus and for ''Opuntia'' in general; according to Alexander von H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
