Recipe News: Recipes for a Cinco de Mayo bash

"We should know by now that Mexico's El Cinco de Mayo (The Fifth of May) isn't the same as America's Fourth of July.

But popular imagination can probably be excused for confusion, since so much of the best stuff about celebrating El Cinco is evocative of the Fourth.

There are the parades the Mexican-American and Latin-American communities have long held.

There's the national pride _ even though Cinco de Mayo is a celebration not of independence, but of a single victory over the French, the Battle of Puebla in 1862. (The French made war on Mexico, believe it or not, because they didn't want to wait an extra two years for a loan repayment.)

Then there's the food.

Sweet sauces, fiery relishes, soft corn flatbreads and roasted chicken and pork. Fine tequilas, icy mixed drinks and the rare opportunity to contemplate how entwined the history and culture of the red-white-and-green culture is with that of the red-white-and-blue.

Even better, there has been a shift in recent years, especially in the Southwest, toward celebrating El Cinco de Mayo, much as Americans do St. Patrick's Day, irrespective of one's own cultural background."

Includes recipes for:

CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILE SAUCE

CHICKEN WITH RED MOLE SAUCE

PORK CARNITAS

Full article here.

May 1, 2006

Recipe News: Recipes for a Cinco de Mayo bash