In my hometown, the Mexican restaurants that call themselves authentic are all run by Mexicans and they do not taste like the Taco Bell crap. The food is wonderful and tastes like they make the food deliciously. I have a couple of questions. The ground beef they use for tacos/enchiladas/burritos are different than the type of ground beef I make at home and taco bell. Their ground beef is a little dry and mushy, but tastes wonderful. How do they make it this way? Another thing I would have to say about their food is that it ALL tastes the SAME! After I eat an enchilada, I eat their Mexican rice and the flavor of the rice is the same as the flavor of the enchilada sauce! When the Mexicans cook the food, do they make up a big batch of red sauce/enchilada sauce and use it in all their food? I may sound like I am not making sense, but when they prepare their Mexican rice, instead of tasting like a different side item, it tastes like they use the same base ingredients for every single dish.
Do they use a chile sauce for every single dish so that they do not have to inconvience themselves and to make the food extremely fast?
Real Mexican cooks like to use fresh stuff instead of canned. We use a lot of ground tomato with onion, garlic and salt. Mexican everyday cooking sounds like a lot work, but it is deceptively simple. I would gag at the thought of using a taco seasoning for my ground beef, I prefer to use the ground tomato, onion, garlic, salt mix on browned meat, and allowed to cook for like ten more minutes, until the mixture of sauce and meat has cooked. The same goes for the rice, we fry it before adding the water and condiments or the mix I told you about. Now enchilada sauce is something totally different, you prepare it for the enchiladas, I like mine made with green salsa, not red, but that is a matter of taste depending on the enchilada you are preparing, and which we don't eat all of the time if you consider the amazing amount of dishes that have never made it into the offensive Americanized Media Hyped Stereotyped so called Mexican cuisine. Get Diana Kennedy's the Essential cuisines of Mexico, she can explain it so much better than I can.
It's nice to see people are interested in getting to know the difference between bona fide Mexican, and the crappy so called Mexican fare sold in America.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I too like Mexican restaurants better than taco bell. But i think they probably add a corn or soy product to make their burger go farther. and yes i think most of the flavors are the same. For a different flavor try some of their dishes with the verde sauce, its green, it is very flavorful but not too hot. I like to pour the free salsa on top of my rice, better flavor. Also i do not know why but the items made with chicken seem to have a different flavor than the beef items, but still very good. Try chicken items.
References :
November 14th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
they uses the same spices, not sauce, that why it taste similar.
References :
November 14th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I lived in Arizona for a number of years.
All of Taco Bell's seasoning and what makes the red sauce all comes from a packet.
At a real Mexican restaurant everything is fresh.
They cook everything slow and low.
Taco Bell doesn't have the time to do that.
They need exact results every time.
Mind you not very good results at that.
When I want Salsa I don't go to a jar.
I make my own.
"How do they make it this way?"
Experience, Tradition, passed down through there La Familia. (The Family)
About the red sauce.
I would say it depends on the restaurant and there technique.
Some probably do make it from scratch each time.
I know I do.
But I cook on my own scale.
They know the ingredients there working with.
And you are correct, They use a lot of the same base ingredients.
But almost always the freshest they can get.
References :
November 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
The direct answer to your only question is – No.
Taste a matter of ones personal preferrences. Sauces can be added to change the original flavor.
References :
November 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
In our food we use a lot of the same spices, and vegetables repeatedly. Cumin,Garlic,Adobo,Cilantro,Onion, are in a lot of our recipes. They may not be thrown in the finished product, but more than likely these spices are always prepared in the stock to cook with, or the sauces we make.
References :
My home
November 14th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Real Mexican cooks like to use fresh stuff instead of canned. We use a lot of ground tomato with onion, garlic and salt. Mexican everyday cooking sounds like a lot work, but it is deceptively simple. I would gag at the thought of using a taco seasoning for my ground beef, I prefer to use the ground tomato, onion, garlic, salt mix on browned meat, and allowed to cook for like ten more minutes, until the mixture of sauce and meat has cooked. The same goes for the rice, we fry it before adding the water and condiments or the mix I told you about. Now enchilada sauce is something totally different, you prepare it for the enchiladas, I like mine made with green salsa, not red, but that is a matter of taste depending on the enchilada you are preparing, and which we don't eat all of the time if you consider the amazing amount of dishes that have never made it into the offensive Americanized Media Hyped Stereotyped so called Mexican cuisine. Get Diana Kennedy's the Essential cuisines of Mexico, she can explain it so much better than I can.
It's nice to see people are interested in getting to know the difference between bona fide Mexican, and the crappy so called Mexican fare sold in America.
References :