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Lesley Téllez
Lesley Téllez
Lesley Téllez is a writer and the owner of Eat Mexico, a culinary tourism business in Mexico City. She blogs about food at The Mija Chronicles. She lives in Queens, New York.
updated Dec 5, 2019
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Mexican grocery stores and markets are great places to shop for produce, spices, and even cooking utensils. But not all of them are the same. What they carry, and how big they are, varies depending on where you are in the United States, and which state or region the local Mexican population hails from. I live in New York City, and the Mexican markets here are typically small bodegas, pretty much the size of a convenience store. They tend to carry products popular in the state of Puebla, which is where many of the Mexicans in New York are from.
In California, where I grew up, the markets are typically huge, and they have all sorts of departments — a tortilla area, a bakery, a butcher counter. Some grocery stores make their own flour and corn tortillas, and plenty make their own salsas and guacamole as well. Even in urban, dense New York City, many of the Mexican markets have food counters, so when you’re done shopping, you can have lunch.
No matter where you are, it’s worth visiting one, even for basics like fresh and dried chiles. The produce there tends to have a higher turnover — and therefore taste fresher — than at some mainstream supermarkets.
Here’s a list of things I like to buy at Mexican supermarkets.
1. Tortilla Masa
Tortilla masa is the dough made from ground corn that is used to make tortillas. Not to be confused with masa preparada (a more coarsely ground corn dough used for tamales that typically contains lard, baking powder, and salt), tortilla masa is usually found at bigger markets (although I once bought fresh masa at a small Mexican market in Atlanta). It’s made from freshly ground, treated corn and water. If it’s a little dry and crumbly when you bring it home, all you need to do is knead it with a little more water, form small balls, and press them into tortillas. You can do this with a tortilla press, often found in the kitchen aisle or on Amazon, or you can roll it with a rolling pin.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Tortillas
2. Cleaned Cactus
Prickly pear cactus, also called nopal, is a highly nutritious vegetable with a mild, slightly tangy flavor. The flat pads are often sold as-is, with the needles still attached. Typically, cooks scrape these off with a small knife, but it’s kind of annoying. Many markets now sell cleaned cactus in little baggies — or, my favorite, already chopped. They can be eaten raw, but you can also blanche or sauté them and use them as a topping in tacos, mixed with eggs, mixed with beans, or in soups. I really like them scored and grilled in a hot pan, too. And you can use them as a sort of “tortilla” and layer stuff on top (like beans and veggies and melted cheese), which is fun.
3. Regional Hot Sauces
Maybe you already know Cholula, Tapatío, and possibly Valentina. But Mexican markets are great places to find lesser-known brands of hot sauce. It was by perusing the hot-sauce aisle in Phoenix that I came to know Poblano, a wonderful brand from Tucson which tastes almost like black pepper. Recently in New York I came across a Michoacán-style brand (it’s actually made in California) made with manzano chiles called Cosecha P’urepecha Perón (you can also find it at Amazon). It’s a sort of a salsa-cum-hot sauce; vinegary, slightly sweet, kind of citrusy, and studded with blackened roasty bits, which you don’t see much in bottled hot sauces.
4. Lesser-Known Fresh and Dried Chiles
Depending on where you live, you may be able to find things like ancho chiles at your regular grocery store. If you can’t, a Mexican market is the place to go. They will sell the usual fresh chiles (jalapeño and serrano and poblano), but also slightly more unusual stuff, like fresh chile de árbol, chile manzano, and chile habanero (which I highly recommend making into salsa if you like spicy food). Markets in the West and Southwest also carry chile caribe, sometimes known as chile guero, a light-yellow, waxy-looking chile that’s amazingly good when blistered/blackened on a grill and put into salsa.
How to cook with dried chiles: Dried chiles are almost always soaked until their skins are plump and soft. Then they’re blended — usually with aromatics and spices — into sauces or salsas. If you’ve never had dried chiles before, start with a few varieties and see what they taste like. I’d recommend the ancho, which has a fruity, berry-like flavor, and the guajillo, which is more herbal and piney.
To get a good idea of what they taste like, you can make two quick salsas: Soak maybe five chiles of each kind in hot water until soft. While you’re waiting, roast or char two Roma tomatoes and two or three medium cloves of unpeeled garlic, until blackened in spots and soft. Blend each batch of chiles separately with one tomato and a clove of garlic (papery skin now removed) until smooth, with a few tablespoons of water. Pour each salsa into separate bowls, add a half teaspoon of salt, and taste each variety!
Read more: How a Mexican Cook Makes Salsa (It Starts with 4 Things)
5. Miltomates
You’ll see two sizes of tomatillos at many Mexican grocers: small, purple-splotched miltomates, and bigger green tomatillos. I like the smaller ones, because they tend to taste a little sweeter. I use them in fresh salsas.
6. Chicharrón
If you have only ever eaten pork cracklings out of a bag, it’s worth buying the fresh stuff from the Mexican grocery store — it’s crunchier and more flavorful, and usually a more attractive light-caramel color. The freshest chicharrón is usually found in a glass or plastic display case near the butcher counter, and you pick the pieces you want and bag them yourself. You can also choose whether you want the chicharrón dotted with hunks of meat (which I do). I serve it with salsa or guacamole, or just munch on it plain.
7. Pan Dulce
Ah, the bakery at the Mexican grocery store. Was there ever a prettier sight? Grab a tray, grab some tongs, and choose all the pastries you like — none of them are overly sweet. My particular favorite: conchas, a round roll with a striped butter-and-sugar topping.
8. Carne Asada
More a West Coast thing than an East Coast thing, carne asada is skirt steak that’s been marinated in a mixture of citrus and spices. You buy it by the pound, take it home, and throw it on the grill, and then serve it in tacos with all the fixings. (Everyone has their own recipe.) Mexican supermarkets will sell it, but the best-tasting carne asada is usually sold at the smaller, mom-and-pop Mexican butcher shops.
9. Tortilla Chips
The big-box Mexican grocery stores almost always make their own fresh tortilla chips from scratch, and they are worth the trip alone. If they sell homemade salsa and guacamole next to the chips, buy it. It will save you time and tastes much better than the typical jarred stuff.
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10. Comal
The bigger stores often have an aisle devoted to cooking utensils and equipment. If you’re new to Mexican cooking, the most important item to buy is probably a comal, a flat, round, heavy griddle that you can use to roast tomatoes and chiles for salsa, and to warm tortillas. You can also usually find tortilla presses, tortilla warmers, and even steamer pots for tamales at Mexican grocery stores.
Lesley Téllez is a journalist, entrepreneur, and Mexican cookbook author living in New York City. She’s the author ofEat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets and Fondasand the co-founder ofEat Mexico. This story is part of a multi-story, multi-recipe package by Lesley sharing her personal, family-friendly approach toWeeknight Mexican.
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