2-8-2023
Cajun food and Mexican food are not that similar, but there's a few things about them that are, which from a Cajun perspective made it easy to fit right in.
Not all Mexican food is spicy, but a lot of it is, at least Tex-Mex is. Not all Cajun food is spicy either, but that's for another discussion. The hot part of spicy Cajun food and Mexican food are based on different types of peppers like Cayenne, Jalapeno, Tabasco, etc., so the base of the spice is similar in both cuisines. Both foods have lots of onions and garlic as well. Again, I'm pointing out the similarities in "some" of the dishes.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying I like Mexican food because it's similar to Cajun food. Mexican food is it's own unique thing, and I like it for what it is. The few similarities are just a bonus.
One thing that is hard to find up here in Texas is cracklins. The main challenge is that they don't really keep that well. Their shelf-life is short. Pork rinds on the other hand do stay good for a long time and those are very common. Even if they were able to preserve them, the difference in fresh cracklins compared to even one of two day old is stark.
Cracklins, as opposed to pork rinds, have the skin, meat, and fat part of the pork belly. Pork rinds are just the skin. I have found a few examples of "cracklins" on the shelves around here, but they just don't cut it. There's a brand called "Mac's" that can be found in Supermarkets here, but they are a far cry from "real" cracklins. I have found pork bellies in the Asian markets with the skin attached, so I do make my own, which come out pretty good, although I use a very quick method to cook them, as I just fry them in oil. The Cajun process is a bit more complicated.
Behold, Chicharrones. It was years after living here in Dallas before I saw Chicharrones in a Mexican market. I had seen Chicharrones in the grocery store, but those were just pork rinds. The Mexican market had these beautiful long chunks of fried pork bellies...now we're talkin'.
Chicharrones are not exactly the same as cracklins, but pretty darn close. I think the Cajun method of cooking the pork bellies makes the skin a little puffier, and they are highly seasoned. Unfortunately I don't get the timing always right at the Mexican markets to know when they were cooked, as the fresher the better, but they are always good.
What's also cool is that the more I dig in to Mexican food, the more awesome dishes I discover. Jim Gaffigan did a funny bit about how Mexican food is all the same. As funny as that bit was, and has a tiny sliver of truth when applied to some Mex/Tex-Mex dishes, it really is far far from reality. That oversimplification doesn't even really apply to something as simple as salsa.
Salsa alone has so many varieties. Even at somewhat generic Tex-Mex restaurants I can almost always request a spicier salsa than the one they bring out with the chips. One my past favorite places (killed by the government covid policies I'm sure) was a place called "7 Salsas". And yes, they had seven salsas to choose from.
My recent discovery is Birria. This is a stew basically, but when served with tacos, the tacos are fried using the fat from the stew, then when served, you dip the tacos in the birria.
I also have discovery the diversity of chorizo. I had always associated chorizo with breakfast, which is great. But queso flameado, or just chorizo tacos are off the charts good.
I could go on and on. I guess I already have.
