A Guide to Mexican Cooking Equipment and Utensils

Perhaps you have eaten Mexican food in a top quality Mexican restaurant or even in a Mexican home. If you have, maybe some authentic Mexican cookware or utensils were used to make the dishes. Mexicans use a range of different cooking methods, including baking, slow roasting and deep-frying and they have unique pots and pans for these methods. Mexicans like to use plenty of fresh produce in their cuisine, including spices and herbs, so you will find sharp knives and a mortar and pestle in any Mexican kitchen.

Authentic Mexican Cooking Pots

Barros or ollas are large, deep cooking pots made from clay. They are ideal to simmer stew, beans, or soup. Olla means pot and Barro means mud or clay. Clay is good for avoiding burnt spots in the food because it distributes heat evenly. It is also safe to place over a direct flame for hours.

It is important to warm clay before using it or let it heat up as the oven does because it is sensitive to changes in temperature and might crack if exposed to heat suddenly. When you cook in clay, the food takes on a wonderful earthy taste.

Mexicans use Comals in cooking and a Comal is a large, round griddle made from aluminum, clay, or cast iron. These days, Comals usually have a non-stick finish. These are used to warm tortillas and roast chilies.

A cazuela is a big clay dish for simmering sauces like mole. A cazuela is about six inches deep and round like a bowl. These Mexican pottery dishes usually have handles so you can place it over an open fire without burning yourself and the outside might be brightly painted. The inside of a cazuela is glazed.

An authentic Mexican tortilla press is called a tortillero. These used to be made from wood but are often made from cast iron now. Some tortilleros are made from aluminum but these often break. There are two round plates or wooden discs in a tortillero and a ball of masa is placed between them to make a tortilla.

Popular Mexican Cooking Utensils

You will find a metate y mano in most Mexican kitchens. This concave dish is the size of a platter and made of stone or rock. It will have three short legs and sit on the table or three long legs so you can sit up to it on a chair. There is a big, round stone, which you roll on the surface to mix together or grind the ingredients.

A Mexican mortar and pestle is called a molcajete y tejolote and this is a small clay, wood or stone bowl with a long cylinder made of the same material. The cylinder is rounded on each end and you use it to pulverize the ingredients in the bowl by rolling the cylinder in a circular motion.

Hot chocolate is a popular Mexican drink and a wooden whisk called a molinillo is used to make froth on the top. You spin the molinillo between your hands to do this. Some are plain and others are highly decorated. The molinillo is a small but significant part of the exciting world of Mexican food customs. Even though it is possible to make delicious Mexican recipes without the proper equipment, it is more fun to use it. Mexican pots and tools look great displayed in the kitchen as well.

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