Mexican street food ingredients are choices of star chefs
After many long years, Mexican food ingredients are being examined by top U.S. chefs. Like other savvy chefs from around the world, Christopher Kostow studies and experiments with the purity of ingredients and flavors in real Mexican cuisine, which is now a top export commodity that was dismissed for decades as tortillas suffocated in heavy sauces, cheeses and sour cream. Kostow’s restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley has three Michelin stars. He wanted to sample the diversity of the country's fresh ingredients: gray oysters from Baja California, lychee-like hairy rambutan from southern Chiapas and even bags of red flying ants from Oaxaca.
"I don't know if you come to Mexico to learn what's new, but rather you come to Mexico to learn what's old," he says, referring to the ancient cooking traditions of the many indigenous groups. "There are flavors of great depth, and there are techniques that are pretty challenging."