WHERE TO FIND INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS COOKBOOK AND HOW TO SUBSTITUTE:

Many markets these days have a section labeled "Mexican Foods" or "Hispanic Foods" where you can find ingredients like jars of prepared mole, many packaged dried chiles, and chocolate under the label La Abuelita or Ibarra, which is used to make hot chocolate and prepare mole. Produce sections of supermarkets often carry tomatillos (small green tomato with husks) and the more common fresh chiles like the poblano, jalapeño, serrano, guero, and habanero. Other fresh chiles will appear at different seasons, like the Hatch chile from New Mexico. Look for them and experiment with their flavors!

You may also find fresh cactus, called nopales or nopalitos, with spines removed, and sometimes already packaged and diced. Choose the smallest "paddles", as these will be the most tender. Nopalitos in jars are also available as a substitute for the fresh cactus.

The chipotle chile is often used in Mexican cooking and can be found canned in most supermarkets where the label will often say: "Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce". These chiles are hot and smoky. (The chipotle chile is the dried and smoked jalapeño.)

Marinated jalapeño chiles are available canned in vinegar with carrots and onions, and are labeled "Jalapeños Whole/Enteros". We have a recipe for marinated jalapeños in this cookbook (Chiles en escabeche, page 68) but if you haven't yet prepared this one to keep on hand, buy the canned jalapeños and enjoy the way they brighten up a dish.

There are delicious Mexican cheeses to be found in many supermarkets: Cotija, Queso Fresco, also called Queso Ranchero, are the most common ones. If you can't find these, you can substitute a crumbly, dry cheese like Ricota Salata. A good substitute for Cotija is freshly grated parmesan.

If you live in a big city, there will often be a Mexican market in a part of town where Hispanic families have settled. For instance, San Francisco's Mission District is full of small Mexican markets where you can find just about any ingredient you're looking for: cheeses, chiles, spices, cactus, chocolates.

Ask your local supermarket or grocery store to order ingredients that you would like to buy. They are often happy to make them available to you. Show them this cookbook and encourage them to carry a wider variety of Mexican products.

The traditional Mexican mortar and pestle, the molcajete and tejolote, have long been used to grind chiles and spices, and traditional cooks hold that grinding by hand in these large stone mortars enhances flavor and texture. Molcajetes can usually be found in Mexican or East Indian markets. Most of the recipes in this book call for the use of a blender and a fine wire mesh strainer - essential tools for preparing sauces with chiles. Keep them handy!