# Mexican techniques

**Nixtamalization**: corn cooked/soaked with alkaline cal, then ground. Masa is not just corn flour; nixtamalization changes flavor, nutrition, and texture.

**Comal work / tatemar**: dry-roasting or charring tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, and spices when the sauce calls for it. Don't char everything automatically.

**Mole / adobo / pipián / recado**: families of sauces and pastes. Some are elaborate and layered; some are simpler. Don't flatten them into "blend chiles."

**Pit and leaf cooking**: barbacoa, pibil, tamales, banana leaves, corn husks, maguey leaves. Oven approximations can work when labeled honestly.

**Escabeche / pickling**: acid, chiles, onions, vegetables, and preservation logic.

**Slow-cooked meats**: barbacoa is pit-steamed/roasted, carnitas are cooked in lard then browned, cochinita pibil is wrapped and roasted/steamed with achiote and sour orange, and guisados simmer. Don't call all of these braises.