Bacon in Mexican food

Here's something I never hear about. We all know that Mexican food is full of pork, carnitas, etc. So how come I never hear about bacon in tacos, quesadillas, whatever? Seems like a natural, really. I mean, salty, maybe smoky (think chipotles), you could do more than McDonald's breakfast burritos with bacon, that seems to be the only "Mexican" food out there with the stuff. Only once, here in LA, have I seen wild boar bacon on a plate at an upscale Mexican place. And that was probably a $25 dish.
-Scott Lindgren

There are not a lot of cured or smoked meats in the Mexican pantry like bacon, ham, sausages etc.. Surprising since some of the best ham in the world comes from Spain, you would think it would have come over with the conquistadores. Even chorizo is cured with spices and a little vinegar and hung to dry, never smoked. You find smoked fish in some places but not very often. Bacon or Tocino in spanish is mostly an influence from the north. Authentic Mexican cooking is mostly about the fresh. You go to the butcher or grocery store almost daily to buy what you will cook that day, a habit carried over from the past. Until the first quarter of the 20th century only the big citys had electricity, Mexico was mostly rural, and therefore refrigeration, and until about 50 years ago most people could not afford home refrigerators. Electronics were very expensive since most were imported from the U.S..

joe

http://blogging.la/archives/2006/04/bacon_wrapped_hot_dogs_an_la_c.phtml

We can get LA hot dogs in the Rogue Valley at a few places. Good stuff.

Las Torres, one of the many neighborhood Mexican restaurants in our town of Des Plaines serves its fajitas laced with bacon. The bacon gives it a deeper flavor that most places don't have.

Buddy

Nice pic from Bill. I don't really see the bacon in there, but it still looks yummy. I have seen some really primitive hot dog setups in DT LA, right by the courthouses! And the LAPD headquarters. The most crude is some kind of heating device under a simple sheet pan.
-Scott Lindgren

Almost every restaurant in Mazatlan had bacon wrapped shrimp.  Don't know if it is traditional, or just brought in by the American influence.

Aren't fajitas considered Tex-Mex food?

  I have lived in the "southwest" for a lot of years and I rarely find "tocino" on any authentic Mexican restaurant menu. The closest thing I can think of is chicarones (fried pork skins.) They taste kind of smokey but are used mostly as a snack.
  I know that they use lard in the form of pork fat in their tortillas, tamales, and for frying carnitas.
  I am surprised that smoking did not become popular in the desert southwest as a way to preserve and dry meat for storage. Seems like a natural thing to do since refrigeration was so hard to come by.
  It is known that native tribes in the Americas used to dry meat into jerky and that the northwestern tribes used smoking as a means to preserve fish and meats.
 Pemican was a staple of many tribes in the central Americas. Consisting mostly of bison fat, some dried meat, some prairie grass, and maybe some berries or rosehips. A very nurishing meal for an active people.
 Some say that the Spanish brought The style of "barbacoa" to the Americas.  Some say that it was the Africans who brought it over from their culture as slaves in the south to make tough cuts of meat tolerable to eat.
 Alas, bacon as we know it does not much exist in Mexican cuisene (as far as I know.)

JMHO

David O.

I've only seen bacon around here in regards to bacon and egg breakfast tacos, though Salsalito Mexican restaurant on Nacogdoches Road in San Antonio take peeled shrimp, place a strip of cheese and jalepeno  on the shrimp,wrap it in bacon, and then broil or grill them, and that's it.
I'd have to look at the Diane Kennedy books> I have an old mexican cookbook from the 1940s, in english,published by Naylor Publishing of San Antonio and will have to look, but I don't think
Mexicans use bacon really in cooking.
However, blacks use ham,  hamhocks,etc. in their soul food cooking. I don't know if back in Africa the people use or eat alot of pork, but if they do eat pigs there, then this was a tradition the slaves on the plantations brought with them.

I've had bacon/shrimp taco's off a cart in Cabo.

All of the good cuts of meat and smoked cuts were kept by the ranch/ plantation owners in old Mexico. The Mexican/Workers learned how to take the lesser cuts of meat and the organ meat to live on. They grew up with this idea and still to this day use the same meats. Whens the last time you saw a Mexican Steak house..................You will not find a good cured ham in Mexico. All the lunch meats are pressed and rolled. Bacon is not cheap either......................Bill

"smoking did not become popular in the desert southwest "
 
Let's think about that one for a moment.
 
.
.
.
.
.
 
Not too many trees in the desert....
 
Cathy, who has not particular insight on bacon in Mexican food, sorry

Ever heard of carne en su jugo? The famous Mexican soup from the Jalisco region uses steak, bacon, beans, radish, onions, cilantro, avocado and dried red peppers as its ingredients. One of the best style of soups in the world. Its available around Chicagoland and is my favorite winter time eat.
 

Los Gallos on 26th st in Chicago
 

Carne en su jugo

KingT


Ever heard of carne en su jugo? The famous Mexican soup from the Jalisco region uses steak, bacon, beans, radish, onions, cilantro, avocado and dried red peppers as its ingredients. One of the best style of soups in the world. Its available around Chicagoland and is my favorite winter time eat.
 

Los Gallos on 26th st in Chicago
 

Carne en su jugo

you are correct, King. Wonderful stuff!

Williamsburger


"smoking did not become popular in the desert southwest "
 
Let's think about that one for a moment.
 
.
.
.
.
.
 
Not too many trees in the desert....
 
Cathy, who has not particular insight on bacon in Mexican food, sorry

Excellent point.