New Mexican cuisine is the cuisine of the Southwestern US state of New Mexico. The region is primarily known for its fusion of Pueblo Native American cuisine with Hispano Spanish and Mexican cuisine originating in Nuevo México.
This cuisine had adaptations and influences throughout its history, including early on from the nearby Apache, Navajo, and throughout New Spain and the Spanish Empire, also from French, Italian, Portuguese, and other Mediterranean cuisine, along with early European bed and breakfasts and cafés, furthermore during the American territorial phase from cowboy chuckwagons and Western saloons, additionally after statehood from Route 66 American diner, Mexican-American cuisine, fast food restaurants, and global cuisine.
Even so, New Mexican cuisine developed in fairly isolated circumstances, which has allowed it to maintain its indigenous, Spanish, Mexican and Latin identity, and is therefore not like any other Latin food originating in the contiguous United States. It can be easily distinguished from Mexican and American cuisines, due to its emphasis on New Mexican spices, herbs, flavors, and vegetables; especially red and green New Mexico chile peppers, anise (used in biscochitos), and piñon (used as a snack or in desserts).
It is also identifiable by the presence of foods and dishes that originate in New Mexico, such as Native American frybread-style sopapillas, breakfast burritos, enchilada montada (stacked enchiladas), green chile stew, carne seca (a thinly sliced variant of jerky), green chile burgers, pozole (a hominy dish), slow-cooked frijoles (beans, typically pinto or bolita beans), calabacitas (a sautéed zucchini and summer squash dish), and carne adobada (pork marinated in red chile).
History
Prior to the establishment of New Mexico's current boundaries, Santa Fe de Nuevo México's land claim encompassed the Pueblo peoples and also oversaw the land of the Chiricahua, Comanche, Mescalero, and Navajo.
The Spaniards brought their cuisine which mingled with the indigenous. They introduced wheat, rice, beef, mutton/lamb, among other foods and flavors, to the native corn, chile, beans, squash, and other indigenous ingredients.
During this early development period the horno, an outdoor beehive-shaped earth oven, became ubiquitous in Pueblo and Hispano communities. This distinct history, combined with the local terrain and climate, has resulted in significant differences between the cuisine of New Mexico and somewhat similar styles in Northern Mexico, and other Southwestern US states such as California, Arizona, and Texas.
New Mexico's population includes Native Americans who have worked the land for thousands of years, including the farms of the Ancestral Pueblo peoples as well as the modern extant Pueblo, Navajo and Apache. The Hispano explorers included farmers and ranchers as they arrived during the Spanish era in the 16th century, well into the Mexican era which ended in the 19th century.
Americans traded and settled after the Civil War, today groups from Asian and communities have come to New Mexico.
When New Mexicans refer to chile they are talking about pungent pods, or sauce made from those pods, not the concoction of spices, meat or beans known as Texas chili con carne. While the chile pod is sometimes spelled chili outside of New Mexico, US Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico made this state's spelling official as chile, by entering it into the Congressional Record.
One of the first authors to publish a cookbook describing traditional New Mexican cuisine was educator and writer Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, who published Historic Cookery in 1931. Her work helped introduce cooking with chiles to the United States more broadly.
Ingredients
Chile
New Mexico chile is the defining ingredient of New Mexican food. Chile is New Mexico's largest agricultural crop. Within New Mexico, green chile is also popular in non-New Mexican cuisines including Mexican-style food and American food like cheeseburgers, french fries, bagels, and pizza.
The New Mexico official State Question is "Red or green?" This refers to the choice of red or green chile with an entrée. "Christmas," a relatively new tradition originating in the 1980s, is a request for both (one side covered with green, the other with red). New Mexico red and green chile have such a rich and distinctive flavor that traditional preparations require few additional flavoring ingredients. The essence of New Mexico chile preparation is its simplicity.