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Lets Go guide to the flavors of Mexico

By the Let's Go staff at Orbitz.com

Leave your preconceived notions of what constitutes real Mexican food at home and prepare your taste buds for a culinary adventure. With some dedication (and at times, a little courage) the pleasures of Mexican cuisine can be yours.

The staples

Although regional and local cuisine varies widely, tortillas are popular throughout the country. This millennia-old staple is a flat, round, thin pancake made from either harina (wheat flour) or maiz (corn flour).

In the north, flour tortillas are the norm, while corn rules the south. Arroz (rice) and frijoles (beans) round out the triumvirate of Mexican staples.

Arroz is usually yellow Spanish or white Mexican rice and is prepared with oil, tomato sauce, onions and garlic. Frijoles can range from a thick paste to soupy "baked" beans. Expect to see this trio of staples accompany nearly every breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Breakfast (el desayuno)

Breakfast can range from a simple snack to a grand feast, rivaling the midday meal. Eggs (huevos) are the mainstay of most Mexican breakfasts and are prepared in any and all conceivable ways -- and often served with cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and pan dulce (sweetened bread).

Huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs) are usually prepared with jamon (ham), tocino (bacon), machaca (dried, shredded beef), or nopales (cactus). Huevos rancheros (fried eggs served on corn tortillas and covered with a chunky tomato salsa), huevos albanil (scrambled eggs cooked in a spicy sauce), huevos motulenos (eggs served on a fried corn tortilla, topped with green sauce and sour cream), huevos ahogados (eggs cooked in simmering red sauce) and huevos borrachos (fried eggs cooked in beer and served with beans) are other common preparations.

In more expensive restaurants, omelettes are offered with any of the common meats plus camarones (shrimp) or langosta (lobster). To round out your desayuno, leave room for the tortillas and frijoles.

Midday meal (la comida or el almuerzo)

Mexicans eat their biggest meal of the day -- la comida -- between 2 and 4 p.m. Both children and parents come home for an hour or two, eat and relax afterwards, perhaps indulging in a little siesta.

Restaurants often offer comida corrida (sometimes called la comida or el menu), which is a fixed-price meal including soup, salad, tea or agua fresca, a plato fuerte (main dish), and sometimes a dessert.

Sopa: One of the most popular caldos (warm soups) is sopa de tortilla (or sopa Azteca), a chicken-broth soup with strips of fried tortilla, chunks of avocado and chipotle peppers.

Other favorites are caldo tlalpeno, a smoky blend of chicken broth and vegetables, and sopa de mariscos, which features fish and shellfish. Mexico's strong national pride is evident in pozole, a chunky soup with red, white, or green broth. Served with tostadas (fried tortillas) and lime wedges, pozole is made with large hominy kernels, radishes, lettuce, and meat -- usually pork.

Plato fuerte: The main dish of any comida will usually feature some sort of meat platter (usually beef in the interior or fish along the coasts) with sides of frijoles, tortillas, and arroz. Platillos vary throughout the republic, and many regions produce specialties that have earned renown worldwide.

Supper (la cena)

Mexicans tend to snack lightly around 9 or 10 p.m. Dominating nearly every Mexican menu, antojitos (little cravings) are equivalent to a large snack or a small meal.

Tacos consist of grilled pieces of meat folded in a warm tortilla and topped with a row of condiments. Burritos, which are especially popular in northern Mexico, are thin, rolled tortillas filled with meat, beans and cooked vegetables. Enchiladas are rolled corn tortillas filled with meat or cheese and baked in sauce.

Quesadillas are flat tortillas with cheese melted between them; quesadillas sincronizadas (sometimes called gringas) are filled with ham or gyro-style pork. Tostadas resemble flat, open tacos topped with raw vegetables. Chimichangas are essentially burritos but are deep-fried and have a rich crunchy shell. Flautas are similar to chimichangas but are rolled thin (like a cigar) before being deep-fried.

Sweets (las dulces)

Mexicans have an incurable sweet tooth. Beyond the ubiquitous chocolates and pastries on store shelves, traditional desserts include flan, a vanilla custard served over burnt sugar, nieve/helado (ice cream) and arroz con leche (rice pudding).

Puebla, the country's candy capital, is full of sweet shops selling dulces de leche (milk sweets) and camotes (candied sweet potatoes).

Morelia and Michoacan specialize in ates, sticky sweet blocks of ground and candied fruit concentrate. San Cristobal de las Casas and parts of Chiapas are renowned for their cajetas (fruit pastes) as well as coconut candies and cookies, while the Yucatan boasts yummy pumpkin marzipan.

Beer and liquor (la cerveza y el licor)

Along with tortillas, beans and rice, cerveza (beer) might as well be the fourth national staple.

It's impossible to drive through any Mexican town without coming across numerous Tecate and Corona billboards, painted buildings and roadside beer stands proudly selling their products.

Popular beers in Mexico (listed roughly in order of quality) are Bohemia (a world-class lager), Negra Modelo (a fine dark beer), Dos Equis (a light, smooth lager), Pacifico, Modelo, Carta Blanca, Superior, Corona Extra, and Sol (watery and light).

Mexicans share their love for bargain beer with the world, demonstrated by the Mexican-made Corona Extra's status as a leading export and international chart topper in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain and other markets.

Tequila is the king of Mexican liquor. A more refined version of mezcal, tequila is distilled from the maguey cactus, a large, sprawling plant often seen along Mexican highways.

Herradura, Tres Generaciones, Hornitos, and Cuervo 1800 are among the more famous, expensive, and quality brands of tequila. Mezcal, coarser than tequila, is sometimes served with the worm native to the plant -- upon downing the shot, you are expected to ingest the worm. If you get a chance to sample pulque, the fermented juice of the maguey, don't hesitate -- it was the sacred drink of the Aztec nobility.

Ron (rum), while originally manufactured in the Caribbean, enjoys incredible popularity in Mexico and is manufactured in parts of the Valley of Mexico. Coffee-flavored Kahlua is Mexico's most exported liqueur, but well-made pina coladas (pineapple juice, cream of coconut and light rum), or cocos locos (coconut milk and tequila served in a coconut) are just as tasty.

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