Adovada – Beef or pork marinated in red chile.
Anise – a seed flavoring popular in Spain.
Arroz – rice
Atole – a porridge made of ground blue corn.
Bizcochito and Biscochito – anise-flavored sugar cookies.
Burrito – rolled flour tortilla stuffed with a variety of things, like mashed beans, chile, meat, even egg and potato. Sometimes served smothered with sauce.
Calabacitas – squash, yellow, round or zucchini and pumpkin.
Capirotada – Spanish bread pudding, locally called sopa.
Carne – meat, usually beef, as in chile con carne.
Carnitas – fried bits of meat, usually pork.
Cerveza – beer, imported and domestic, served with lime wedges.
Chalupa – a layer salad stacked on a corn tortilla.
Chicharrones – a crispy fried square of fatty pork meat.
Chile Colorado – red chile. The mature pods ground to make chile or strung into ristras (strings) to hang up to dry for later use.
Chile con carne – made with meat and chile. Spelled chili in Texas and the Midwest.
Chile rellenos – battered and stuffed, then fried or grilled long green chiles.
Chile verde – green, immature chile. Roast and peel before eating.
Chorizo – chile-flavored sausage.
Cilantro – herb with a flavor like licorice, often used in salsa.
Enchiladas – corn tortillas rolled around a variety of fillings, then sauced. In New Mexico they are often served in a stack with filling between the layers. Fillings include meat, cheese and sour cream. Usually sauced with red or green chile.
Fajitas – pan-roasted marinated beef skirt served with relishes and flour tortilla.
Flan – Spanish custard with caramelized syrup.
Flour tortilla – all sizes, made with white or whole wheat flour.
Frijolies – pinto or black beans. Refritos are mashed and fried beans.
Guacamole – mashed seasoned avocado served as a relish or as a salad.
Horno – Spanish oven made with adobe. Usually formed outside and in pairs with one being larger than the other.
Huevos rancheros – ranch-style eggs with red or green chile sauce.
Jalapeño – a small green chile, usually quite hot.
Margarita – tequila drink mixed with triple-sec and lime juice, served up or on the rocks.
Menudo – tripe, hominy and chile soup, Reputed to cure hangovers.
Mole – Mexican sauce for chicken made with chile, chocolate, pumpkin seed, dried tortilla and other ingredients.
Piñon – pine nuts.
Pollo – chicken.
Picante – hot and spicy.
Prune pie – pie originally made with dried wad plums still plentiful in the Taos Valley. Taos Pueblo feast day desert.
Posole – thick hominy soup with meat stock and meat, flavored with chile.
Salsa – relish or dip made with tomatoes, onion, chile and cilantro.
Sopa – the local word for the desert from Spanish called capirotada, or bread pudding.
Sopaipillas – pillows of deep -fried dough, similar to a doughnut.
Tacos – folded corn tortillas fried crisp, then filled with meat and salad. Salsa if you want, then top with shredded cheese.
Tamales – cornmeal and fat wrapped around chile-seasoned meat filling and wrapped in a corn husk and steamed.
Taquitos – cocktail-sized tacos with just the meat, held into a roll a deep-fried.
Tostadas – corn tortilla fried flat, spread with refried beans, then meat and salad, garnish with salsa and guacamole.
