around since forever. Choose the one that best fits your needs.
Maggi Jugo Seasoning Sauce Like soy sauce, this is made with fermented wheat protein. It is used to flavor sauces and savory dishes.
Mexican Chorizo A spicy ground sausage with a deep red hue, available in beef, pork, and vegetarian varieties, and which needs to be cooked before serving. It should not to be confused with Spanish chorizo, which is more like salami.
Mexican Crema A savory, slightly salty table cream with a thinner consistency than sour cream. Use as a base for sauces; drizzle or dollop as a topping. The Cacique brand is most commonly available. Look for it in the dairy section or purchase online at Walmart.com or Amazon Fresh.
Olive Oil Originally imported from Europe. Even though the trees were not grown in the region until 1894, olive trees are now commonly found throughout the city.
Red and Green Chiles, Frozen, Chopped, or Pureed Stemmed and deseeded red chiles, chopped, or pureed, are available in the frozen food aisle in
Duros, puffed wheat snack.
Mesquite seed pods, which are dried and ground to make flour.
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Sonoran-Style Staples
many supermarkets and specialty stores. Look for varieties that contain only chiles. Cook before consuming.
RO-TEL Diced Tomatoes and Green Chiles
RO-TEL has a bit of a cult following, but it’s sometimes difficult to find the cans of chopped tomatoes and chiles east of Texas. Order online if you can’t find them locally. There are several varieties and heat levels available.
Sweetened Condensed Milk Like evaporated milk but sweetened. Used mostly in beverages and desserts.
Tamarind Candies Tamarind pulp is coated in a sweet and sour combination of sugar, salt, and chile powders. The candies are most commonly available shaped into ropes or small chunks. Mexgrocer.com offers a huge selection.
Tepary Beans A heritage food found in prehistoric sites in the Tucson mountain basin. The cooked beans have a bit of bite to them, and a nutty, earthy, slightly syrupy flavor. Rancho Gordo is a local favorite with an online shop.
TortillasFor the freshest corn tortillas, look for them in the refrigerated section of your local market. My favorites are La Mesa Tortillas, based in Tucson. They ship authentic flour tortillas worldwide. See the tortilla section (pages 34–35) for more information on buying tortillas.
VinegarsRed wine, apple cider, and balsamic vinegars are all used, with white vinegar being the most common, traditionally.
FLOURS AND GRAINS
In addition to all-purpose flour, you’ll need a few specialty flours to make the Barrio Sonoran Sourdough Bread (page 30), as well as the staple corn tortillas that are served with nearly everything in Tucson.
Hard Red Spring Wheat Flour A red-hued wheat flour with a nutty flavor and a relatively higher protein content.Made from heritage grains local to the Sonoran region.
Khorasan Flour A drought-tolerant heritage grain with a nutty flavor and excellent nutritional properties, also called kamut flour.
Sonoran-Style Staples
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Sweetened condensed milk (top), evaporated milk (bottom).Tamarind candies.
Masa Harina Flour made from dried corn. Used to make hundreds of dishes, including corn tortillas. Masienda brand is a superior quality masa made from single-origin heirloom corn.
Mesquite Flour Mesquite trees are one of the most common trees in the region. Mesquite flour, made from the dried and ground pods, is high in fiber, free of gluten, and has a slightly sweet taste.
White Sonora Flour This is a heritage wheat flour, brought to the region by the Spanish who tried, only somewhat successfully, to use it to replace corn in tortillas. It gives extra-large flour tortillas their stretchiness.
PRODUCE
An abundance of fresh produce—tomatoes, citrus, onions, herbs, and tropical fruits—is the hallmark of Sonoran-style cuisine. Here are a few items that may take some special effort to find in your local area.
Chiles Chiles were the most common spice used regionally and historically by Native people, and they are an important component in Sonoran-stylecuisine to this day. Look for them, fresh and dried, in specialtymarketsand some supermarkets, or purchase dried versions from online sources. You can also find red and green chile puree frozen in some supermarkets. I go into detail about specific chiles and their uses on pages 23–27.
LemonsGrown in Sonora since the 1730s, lemons were used medicinally by the Spanish as an antidote for poison.
Mexican Limes Also called key limes, these are about one-quarter the size, slightly sweeter, and more acidic than their Persian counterparts. For the recipes in this book, you can use either type of lime. Typically substitute four Mexican limes for one large Persian lime.
Nopales/Nopalitos It’s super cool that you can eat the pads and fruit of the prickly pear cactus because it’s one of the most commonly found plants in Tucson. Nopales contributed to the survival of native people in this region, not to mention the native wildlife who rely on the cactus for sustenance.
Tomatillos The name is misleading because it translates to “little tomato,” and they do look like green tomatoes, but they are not. The fruit is denser, more acidic, and less sweet than tomatoes. To use tomatillos, first peel off the papery husks, then rinse the fruit to remove the skin’s sticky coating.
SPICES
If you live in Tucson and are making traditional recipes, your spice cabinet might look a bit different from that of other parts of the country. Here’s a glimpse of what you might find there.
Adobo Seasoning This is made from garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and turmeric. Some blends also have chile powder and/or cumin. Adobo is often used for grilled or braised meats and poultry. There’s a recipe for a homemade Adobo Spice Rub on page
