CULINARY THUMBNAIL

Here are the main characteristics of this state's cuisine:

1. in arid highlands "classic Spanish" cuisine predominates
2. in rugged mountains diverse Indian cultures affect local cuisines
3. easternmost fringe in hot, humid lowlands with its tropical produce
4. the city of Puebla is a "gastronomic heartland" for central Mexico because of its history straddling the main route between the Gulf Coast and Mexico City; Puebla is famous for its very complex "Baroque" recipes

TRADITIONAL DISHES TO LOOK FOR

Vegetarian Chanclas poblanas, the word chancla in Mexico usually meaning "slipper," or "flip-flops," but in Puebla restaurants referring to a dish of bread smothered in guajillo chili sauce, with ground beef (missing in the above serving), lettuce, onion and avocado. Traditionally the bread was made from wheat fermented in the mildly alcoholic drink pulque, which is fermented sap of the maguey agave. Nowadays traditional breads such as pan bazo, biroto or bolillo are substituted. Copyright-free image made in a restaurant in Puebla, courtesy of "Luisalvaz," made available through Wikimedia Commons.

• Mole Poblano -- a very rich, thick sauce made from several kinds of pepper and a remarkable number of seasonings, which vary from recipe to recipe, and which can number over a hundred different items. Among the prime ingredients of one recipe are ground peanuts, sesame and anise seed, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, sugar, garlic, onion, clove, coriander, tortilla, wheat bread, tomato, raisins, lard, pieces of pork, and... chocolate.
• Chalupas -- oval or round cornmeal-based shells with raised rims so that they can be filled with hot-sauce and sprinkled with white cheese
• Molotes -- small cornmeal-and-cheese-based "biscuits" with a variety of stuffings, such as pig brains, macerated meat, potatoes with pork sausage, squash flowers, or corn-smut fungus
• Chilies en Nogada -- green chilies stuffed with ground beef and topped with walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds
• Barbacoa de Puerco -- barbecued pig

SWEETS

• Cocada -- dessert composed of coconut, egg, and sugar, sometimes also milk, pineapple, jícama, or even wine
• Jamoncillo -- finely ground nuts or seeds, especially pumpkin, pine-nuts, or peanuts, prepared with milk and sugar

TRADITIONAL ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

• Nevado -- whisky and fruit
• Acachú -- in Zacapoaxtla, Puebla, a liquor of the capulín cherry
• Chumiate -- fruit liqueur

Information on this page based on material presented in Gastronomía: Atlas cultural de México, 1988, an extensive and well illustrated work by various authors, published by the Secretaría del Educación Pública, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City.