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Mexico has a long and varied history when it comes to food. It is a rich, diverse history that brings together many influences to create a cuisine that is enjoyed in almost every country on the planet. Mexican cuisine uses fresh foods made from scratch. It is nutritious and delicious.

Mexican cuisine is the result of Spanish, Mayan and Aztec influences. Add in a dash of French and you have today’s Mexican cuisine. Although it has a reputation for being spicy, not all Mexican dishes are hot. Some are creamy and sweet. Depending on the area of Mexico a recipe is from, the food could be based more on beans, fruit, or seafood.

In 1521, when Cortez arrived in Mexico from Spain, he and his fellow explorers found many foods they had never seen before. Peanuts, chocolate, squash, beans, vanilla, avocados, corn, tomatoes, and coconuts were all new flavors that flooded their taste buds. In turn, the Spanish introduced many foods into Mexico like pork, beef, lamb, cheese, garlic, citrus, vinegar, wine, and milk. The native Mexicans quickly assimilated these foods into their cuisine, blending them with their staples easily.

Every cuisine can trace back to a foundation of a few ingredients. Mexican cuisine is based on beans, squash, and corn. Each region added their own local products to this foundation. In the Yucatan, seafood and fresh fruit-based sauces were the focus. Northern Mexico has a lot of charcoal grilled meats on the menu. Around Oaxaca, corn was first domesticated by man. They still grow many varieties there that are unavailable anywhere else in the world. They also grow a lot of chilies and are known to have at least seven different mole sauces in this area.

In Veracruz and its area, most recipes contain fresh fish. Fish is found in tamales, tacos, burritos and more due to the abundance of this ingredient. They also use a lot of olives, chili peppers, and tomatoes in this area. True Mexican food is very different from what you get in the United States.

What we eat in the United States tends to be a fusion known as Tex-Mex food. For example, in Mexico it would be extremely rare to get both beans and rice in the same course, let alone the same meal. Here it is commonplace. In addition, salad is hardly ever made in Mexico. This is the influence from the cuisine here in the United States.

There are many traditional Mexican foods to be found at the grocery store, you just need to know where to look. Authentic Mexican cuisine is a delicious way to feed your family. Find some traditional recipes and try them out. You will really enjoy the fresh flavors.

Eating Mexican food does not have to mean Spanish rice and tacos. Enjoy the true cuisine of Mexico with the richness of seafood, fresh ingredients, and all the variety they have in Mexico. It can easily be enjoyed in your own kitchen, even if you are far from Mexico. Make some for your family and see how they like this cuisine. It is so delicious they will want to try more recipes and learn more about them.

Mexican soup is versatile and you can make it in a pot or even in a crockpot if you want to come home to something warm after a long day at work. Corn and chicken soup is one Mexican favorite but there are many more including Mexican minestrone soup and Mexican tortilla soup.

Many people feel that the right marinade is their answer for tenderizing tough meat. Unfortunately, that is not usually the case. Marinades may make your meat taste better, but they are not really all that good at tenderizing – the effect is only skin-deep. Here is a look at the way different marinades are made and the ways in which they work.

There are three basic methods of making a marinade, depending on the main ingredient. They can all have unpleasant side effects if you do not use them correctly. For instance, an acid marinade that is too potent will actually toughen that steak. Enzymatic marinades that are left on too long or used in large amounts could turn a good steak into mush, and dairy marinades do not work well with all kinds of cuisine.

One family of marinades relies on vinegar, wine, citrus and similar acids to denature proteins. This will unwind the proteins in the steak you are cooking. Once they run into other unwound proteins, they will bind back together. This happens when we heat proteins, as well. Water molecules start out trapped in this new mesh of proteins, creating a really tender steak. However, if the marinade is highly acidic, the bonds will tighten and the liquid will be squeezed out, actually toughening the tissues. That is bad news.

This is why mildly acidic marinades are preferable to highly acidic ones. They add a lot of great flavor, and should be relatively weak for best results. Tighter meats, such as flank steak, can survive higher acid marinades, but are not generally preferred for grilling.

An enzymatic marinade will actually work to break down muscle fiber and collagen. Sources from honeydew melon, raw pineapple, ginger, kiwi, fig and papaya, these marinades can be great in small amounts. Too much will get you mush, not a tender steak, however. The longer you marinate, the softer the texture, too. Commercial meat tenderizers use papaya enzymes to work the same way.

The last category of ingredients you can use in a steak tips marinade is dairy products. Usually mildly acidic and including yogurt and buttermilk, this is the kind of marinade you will find in a lot of Indian foods, as well as in southern fried chicken recipes.

Steaks cooked in this kind of marinade will be interesting, but examine the recipe you are using, since this is not a common choice for beef. Try curry-type flavors in a dairy marinade for steak if you are interested in trying this out.

Marinades do not have to be complicated, and if you know the kind of results to expect from your ingredients, you will have no problem getting a great end product every time. Take a little while to investigate the different varieties of marinades to find the one that is likely to go best with your steak. The results might surprise you.

A well-cooked hamburger steak is a thing of beauty. Do you know how to cook hamburger steak until it is a work of art? There is a definite technique to it. Find out the secret at EasySteakMarinades.net and start a new trend at your house. Bring back the hamburger steak!