Mixiote on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
A mixiote is a traditional pit-
Image:Mixiote meat.jpg, Mixiote meat, as being served in a restaurant
File:Pescado en mixiote Iztapalapa.jpg, Fish mixiote
A mixiote is a traditional pit-barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...
d meat dish in central Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
; especially in the Basin of Mexico, in which the meat is cooked inside a wrapper, traditionally in the outer skin of an agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves.
Many plan ...
leaf.
Ingredients
It is usually made withmutton
Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in thei ...
or rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
, but chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
, lamb, and pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...
are also used. The meat is cubed with the bone and seasoned with pasilla
The pasilla chile ( ) or ''chile negro'' is the dried form of the ''chilaca'' chili pepper, a long and narrow member of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Named for its dark, wrinkled skin (literally "little raisin"), it is a mild to hot, rich-f ...
and guajillo chili
A guajillo chili or guajillo chile or chile guaco () or mirasol chile is a landrace variety of the species ''Capsicum annuum'' with a mirasol ("sunflower" or "looking at the sun") chile fruit type. ''Mirasol'' is used to refer to the fresh pepp ...
peppers, cumin
Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...
, thyme
Thyme () is a culinary herb consisting of the dried aerial parts of some members of the genus ''Thymus (plant), Thymus'' of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are native to Eurasia and north Africa. Thymes have culinary, medici ...
, marjoram
Marjoram (, ''Origanum majorana'') is a cold-sensitive perennial plant, perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram ...
, bay leaves
The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay leaf ...
, cloves
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, ...
and garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
. Diced nopal
''Nopal'' (plural ''nopales'') is a common name in Spanish for ''Opuntia'' cacti (commonly referred to in English as prickly pear or tender cactus), as well as for its pads. The name ''nopal'' derives from the Nahuatl word for the pads of t ...
es are often included with the meat before wrapping.
Preparation
The ingredients are wrapped in small packages made of ''xiotl,'' the tough semi-transparent outer skin of the leaves of themaguey
Maguey may refer to various American plants:
* Genus ''Agave'', especially
** Species ''Agave americana
''Agave americana'', commonly known as the century plant, maguey, or American aloe, is a flowering plant species belonging to the family Asp ...
(century plant, agave) which gives it a unique flavor. The difference is that the use of ''xiotl'' gives the food a special flavor, which cannot be substituted. In order to protect agave plants from overharvesting and becoming endangered, many states in Mexico have outlawed the stripping of the epidermis.
In the cities, parchment paper
Parchment paper, also known as baking paper, is a cellulose-based paper whose material has been processed so as to obtain additional properties such as non-stickiness, grease resistance, resistance to humidity and heat resistance. It is commonl ...
or even aluminum foil
Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in American English; occasionally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves. The foil is pliable and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes ...
was also used to wrap the mixiotes, which can be considered a reminiscence of the old French technique of baking "en papillote", or the Italian "al cartoccio" (in the cartridge). Incidentally, this technique is traditional in many culinary cultures: pepes in Indonesia; zongzi in China; dolmades in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in Central America, where tamales are usually cooked this way, or for the preparation of pamonha in Brazil.
It can also be prepared in an oven.
See also
*List of barbecue dishes
This is a list of barbecue dishes, comprising barbecued Dish (food), dishes and foods, along with those that are often barbecued.
Barbecue foods
*
*
*
* . It is also a term used both for a range of barbecue techniques and the social even ...
* List of lamb dishes
This is a list of the popular lamb and mutton dishes and foods worldwide. Lamb and mutton are terms for the meat of domestic sheep (species ''Ovis aries'') at different ages. A sheep in its first year is called a lamb, and its meat is also called ...
* List of meat dishes
This is a list of notable meat dishes. Some meat dishes are prepared using two or more types of meat, while others are only prepared using one type. Furthermore, some dishes can be prepared using various types of meats, such as the enchilada, whic ...
* List of Mexican dishes
The Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire occurred in the 16th century. The basic staples since then remain native foods such as corn, beans, Cucurbita, squash and chili peppers, but the Europeans introduced many other foods, the most important of ...
References
Barbecue Cuisine of Mexico City Lamb dishes Mexican cuisine Meat dishes {{Mexico-cuisine-stub