Recipe Archive

Main Dishes

Main dishes anchor the meal. This category gathers poultry, seafood, meat, pasta, grains, and plant-forward recipes with clear methods and satisfying structure.

3095 recipes

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Recipes

Mochomos Sonorenses

Chef Lupita

Mochomos Sonorenses

Sonora's signature beef dish from Los Mochis: shredded machaca fried into mahogany threads as crispy as a desert ant scatter, tossed with onion, serrano, and tomato, eaten in a sonorense flour tortilla.

Mock Eel (うなぎもどき, Unagi Modoki)

Chef Takumi

Mock Eel (うなぎもどき, Unagi Modoki)

This is not eel pretending badly. It is temple cooking's clever answer: tofu and mountain yam shaped on nori, fried until tender inside, then glazed like kabayaki.

Modan-yaki (モダン焼き, okonomiyaki with noodles)

Chef Takumi

Modan-yaki (モダン焼き, okonomiyaki with noodles)

Modan-yaki looks like a large piece of griddle work, but the secret is small: crisp the noodles flat first, then let the cabbage batter bind them.

Mohnnudeln (Waldviertel Poppy Seed Noodles)

Chef Elsa

Mohnnudeln (Waldviertel Poppy Seed Noodles)

Soft potato finger noodles from the Waldviertel, rolled in melted butter and coated in ground gray poppy seeds and sugar, the dish that taught me Austrian cooking doesn't draw a line between sweet and savory.

Mojarra de Tachogobi de Catemaco

Chef Lupita

Mojarra de Tachogobi de Catemaco

Catemaco's mojarra from Veracruz's Los Tuxtlas, wrapped with hoja santa and banana leaf, roasted whole, then dressed with green piquín, garlic, and lime sauce that bites clean and stays.

Mojarra Frita Costeña con Plátano y Arroz

Chef Lupita

Mojarra Frita Costeña con Plátano y Arroz

The everyday plate of the Costa Chica, the Afro-Mexican coast of Guerrero and Oaxaca: a whole lagoon mojarra fried until the skin cracks, fanned with caramelized plátano macho, white rice, and salsa de chile costeño.

Lerma River Pan-Fried Tilapia (Mojarras del Lerma al Ajo)

Chef Lupita

Lerma River Pan-Fried Tilapia (Mojarras del Lerma al Ajo)

Guanajuato's Lerma corridor fish, scored to the bone, rubbed with garlic, serrano, and limón, then pan-fried whole until the fins turn crisp and the table smells like a Bajío river picnic.

Moksal-gui (Grilled Pork Collar)

Chef Jeong-sun

Moksal-gui (Grilled Pork Collar)

Pork neck collar cut thick, salted with restraint, grilled until the edges brown and the center stays juicy, then wrapped in lettuce with ssamjang, garlic, and a little patience.

Mole Amarillo Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Chef Lupita

Mole Amarillo Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Oaxaca's lighter, brothy weeknight mole, built on chilhuacle amarillo, charred tomatillos, and hoja santa, thickened with masa to a clean finish over poached chicken and chayote.

Mole Chichilo Oaxaqueno con Res y Hoja de Aguacate

Chef Lupita

Mole Chichilo Oaxaqueno con Res y Hoja de Aguacate

Oaxaca's funeral mole, the rarest of the seven, built on chilhuacle negro, deliberately burnt tortillas and seeds, and toasted avocado leaves. A bitter, smoky sauce that carries beef the way only Oaxaca knows how.

Mole Coloradito Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Chef Lupita

Mole Coloradito Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Oaxaca's red mole over poached chicken, built on toasted ancho and guajillo, sesame, almonds, ripe plantain, and a square of chocolate de mesa. The everyday cousin of mole negro and the one most Oaxacan families actually cook on a Sunday.

Mole de Pollo de Bautizo P'urhépecha

Chef Lupita

Mole de Pollo de Bautizo P'urhépecha

Michoacán's Meseta P'urhépecha baptism mole, chicken braised in guajillo, ancho, cacao, sesame, and lard, made for a crowded patio where cocineras measure ceremony by the cazuela.

Mole de Queso de Sepelio

Chef Lupita

Mole de Queso de Sepelio

Michoacán's Meseta P'urhépecha funeral mole, thickened with maize from the milpa and served with queso de rancho when the mourning kitchen does not cook meat.

Xico Dark Mole with Turkey (Mole de Xico)

Chef Lupita

Xico Dark Mole with Turkey (Mole de Xico)

Central Veracruz's celebration mole from Xico, dark with mulato, ancho, pasilla, chipotle, fried plantain, sesame, almonds, raisins, and chocolate, served over turkey for feast days.

Mole Manchamanteles con Cerdo y Frutas

Chef Lupita

Mole Manchamanteles con Cerdo y Frutas

Oaxaca's tablecloth-stainer mole, built on toasted ancho and guajillo, fried plantain, pineapple, and pears, simmered with pork until the fruit gives up its juice and the chile takes over.

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño con Guajolote

Chef Lupita

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño con Guajolote

Oaxaca's king mole, built over two days from chilhuacle negro, mulato, and burnt seeds, finished with chocolate and avocado leaf, ladled generously over slow-poached guajolote for the table.

Mole Poblano de Guajolote

Chef Lupita

Mole Poblano de Guajolote

Puebla's banquet mole over slow-poached turkey, built from ancho, mulato, and pasilla, toasted seeds, charred fruit, and Mexican chocolate. Thirty-plus ingredients ground into one mahogany sauce that takes two days and feeds a celebration.

Mole Prieto Tlaxcalteca

Chef Lupita

Mole Prieto Tlaxcalteca

Tlaxcala's ritual black mole, built on burned tortillas, four dried chiles, and fresh corn masa, slow-cooked with turkey and pork for the village fiestas of Carnaval and the great family celebrations of the central highlands.

Mole Rojo con Borrego Ceremonial de Zacán

Chef Lupita

Mole Rojo con Borrego Ceremonial de Zacán

Michoacán's Meseta P'urhépecha mole rojo, lamb braised until tender in toasted ancho, guajillo, pasilla, sesame, and manteca, the fiesta pot Zacán's cocineras serve with rice and guacamole.

Mole Rojo Oaxaqueño con Res

Chef Lupita

Mole Rojo Oaxaqueño con Res

Oaxaca's bright red mole, built on toasted guajillo, ancho, costeño, and pasilla oaxaqueño with charred tomato and a whisper of Mexican chocolate, ladled over slow-simmered beef the way they make it in the Valles Centrales.

Mole Tatemado con Becerro de Boda

Chef Lupita

Mole Tatemado con Becerro de Boda

Michoacán's Meseta P'urhépecha wedding mole, built in Zacán with becerro, tatemado chile ancho and guajillo, toasted seeds, and manteca until the sauce turns dark, glossy, and serious.

Guerrero Green Mole (Mole Verde Guerrerense)

Chef Lupita

Guerrero Green Mole (Mole Verde Guerrerense)

Guerrero's green mole is a pumpkin-seed pepian from the central valleys, bright with tomatillo and hoja santa, thickened with masa, and poured over chicken without pretending every mole needs chocolate.

Mole Verde Oaxaqueño con Espinazo de Puerco

Chef Lupita

Mole Verde Oaxaqueño con Espinazo de Puerco

Oaxaca's herbal green mole, built on toasted pepitas, hoja santa, and epazote, simmered with pork spine until the bones release their weight into the bright, vegetal broth.

Mone de Pejelagarto Tabasqueño

Chef Lupita

Mone de Pejelagarto Tabasqueño

Tabasco's Chontal lowland mone wraps firm pejelagarto with hoja de momo, achiote, chile dulce, and banana leaf, then cooks it slowly until the fish tastes of river, leaf, and smoke memory.

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