From a young age, certain foods and ingredients would be woven into the stories that my father would tell me about his own formative years as a first-generation Mexican immigrant. He was second-to-youngest in a family of 16 that would travel around the country as migrant workers, following the crops and eating dishes resourcefully made from the fruits and vegetables that they would pick, utilizing the same cooking methods as their ancestors before them.
A bold-flavored salsa roja crafted using an ancient Mexican mortar and pestle isn’t just something to eat with chips; it’s the same salsa my grandmother would make. Husk-wrapped tamales, plump with filling and spices, will always be synonymous with family and Christmas. And a perfectly charred flour tortilla toasted on a comal is, in my opinion, truly the only way to enjoy one.
Once I moved out and lived on my own, I found myself holding on to the culinary traditions that I was raised with, partly out of comfort and partly out of pride for my heritage as a Latina.
In order to keep the magic and meaning of my culture’s food alive, and more importantly, to share it with people that might not be familiar, I gathered the cooking gadgets of my childhood into the following list. Each of these tools are endowed with a deep-rooted history and have been used in the kitchens of Mexican households 100 times over, including my own.
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I actually purchased this exact molcajete for my father after the one he inherited from my grandmother had gone completely smooth from decades' worth of use. It's authentically crafted with stone extracted from an extinct volcano in Michoacán, Mexico, by local artisans.
Just place your tortilla on top of the heated surface until it gets small crispy pockets of air, making sure to heat both sides. Then, you have the perfect vessel for beans and rice or a delicious way to sop up runny egg yolks and crispy papas at breakfast time.
Although you definitely don't need a designated steamer to make tamales, it does make things easier and this 15-quart pot can also be useful for preparing other foods as well. It's double-coated in enamel, dishwasher-safe and resistant to corrosion.
This 8-inch cast iron version has an enforced base for greater stability and resistance and the plates have been specially designed to avoid pinching you or the dough.
This hand-carved whisk was crafted by a wood artisan in Mexico and features the traditional flat bottom for grinding the chocolate tablet and loose rings around the base that whip everything together. Plus, it looks really beautiful displayed on your countertop.