Riviera Maya Offers Hot Taste of Cocina Mexicana
Chiles, Limes, Peppers, Jicama, and Tequila Find Place at Table
Sep 15, 2009
Lime soup, guacamole. gazpacho, cerviche, and mole poblano are nearly household words these days, with Mexican cuisine becoming more and more popular. Contrary to popular belief, however, not all Mexican dishes are spicy, even though hot peppers, also known as chiles, play a prominent role, and Mexicans cook with more than 200 different chiles ranging from mild to scorching.
Chiles were first cultivated around 3,000 B.C., and have remained a part of the country's culinary heritage ever since. They can be eaten fresh or dried and are most often used in sauces (salsas) or as stuffings for meat and fish. The chile of choice on the Riviera Maya (a tourism district along Coastal Highway 400 in Quintana Roo that parallels the Caribbean from Cancun to Tulum), is the habanero, shaped like a yellow plum and one of the hottest.
Limes Cool Lots of Dishes
Limes are almost as important as chiles and appear in dishes ranging from soups and salads to drinks and desserts. Corn is also essential and used for making masa (cornmeal dough), the basic ingredient in tortillas, tamales, and enchiladas. Other ingredients that turn up on the table are the chaya, a vegetable similar to spinach; jicama, like a yam or sweet potato; fresh cilantro; poblano peppers; and sauces such as pico de gallo, a hot salsa prepared with cilantro and chile; and mole poblano, a unique combination of more than 20 ingredients including chilies, peanuts, almonds, and tomatoes.
Riviera Maya Resorts Offer Great Cusine
Since most dining options in resorts along the Riviera Maya are limited to meals in-house, a wise choice is to select one where the cocina will match the other amenities. No problem at places like Maroma Hotel and Spa, where the dining style may be accurately described as "rustically luxurious." In both El Restaurante and El Sol, the chef marries French classicism with indigenous local ingredients.
For breakfast, for example, expect trays of local fruit, pitchers of freshly squeezed juices, and baskets of just-baked croissants, pecan rolls, cheese pockets, and cornbread. Bread pudding, banana pancakes, and Yucatecan specialties such as huevos motulenos (a corn tortilla with fried egg, refried beans, peas and ranchero sauce) and canasta Mexicana (eggs, cheese, peppers, and chorizo sausage baked in a tortilla basket). Most meals, in fact, reflect varied global influences that enrich Caribbean and Yucatecan history, so regardless of the resort choice, expect to find local specialties like these on offer:
- Cochinita Pibil: marinated pork with onions wrapped and grilled in banana leaves
- Poc Chuc: chargrilled sour orange-marinated pork with black beans
- Langosta Pochada: lobster with eggplant and poblano chilies
- Frejole con Puerco: pork and black bean stew with corn tortilla
- Relleno Negro: turnkey and ground beef in blackened chile sauce
- Tikin Xic: whole fish marinated in achiote, a spicy paste made from red annato seed, onions, and tomatoes wrapped and grilled in banana leaves
- Cerviche: raw shellfish marinated in lemon juice and spices
- Lime Soup: perhaps the most popular dish on the peninsula, it's a smoky chicken broth flavored with lime and herbs and topped with shredded chicken and tortilla strips
Tequila is National Drink of Mexico
The national drink of Mexico is Tequila, and the most popular way to drink it is in a Margarita, a mix of Tequila, lime juice, and Triple Sec, or another orange liqueur. Made from blue agave, a cactus-like plant, the liquor gets its name from the Tequila region of Jalisco state, where the blue agave flourishes. The best, like the premium brand Patrón, is made exclusively from pure blue agave.
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