Mexican Kitchen Staples

To make sure your endeavors in Mexican cooking go as smoothly as possible, there are a few things you should have in your kitchen. I was fortunate enough that my mom made sure I had all these (except one which is hard to find) before I moved into my house.





From left to right:

Milonillo
For making Mexican hot chocolate.  The wooden rings help make the chocolate froathy.  When you're making hot chocolate, stand the milonillo straight up and quickly roll it between your palms (in a motion as if you were trying to warm your hands).  The froathier the better.

Wooden Spoons (2)
Every mexican kitchen I've been in has multiple shapes and sizes of wooden spoons.  Best thing about wooden spoons is that they're safe for all types of pans and cookware.

Bean Ladle
For when you're making frijoles de la olla.  It's more shallow than other laddles, to allow you to see the beans.


Bean Masher
When you're making refried beans, this will help you get that mushier texture.  Or if you're making sopes, this helps flatten the beans inside the sope to give you more room for toppings.  It also works great for mashed potatoes (I used it to make gnocchi once).







Molcajete
This was harder for me to find for some reason.  I found this one at a Mexican grocery store in San Diego.  A real one like this is made of heavy stone.  Great for grinding dried things.  I'd recommend having one for chiles and a separate one for spices, since they have very different flavors that you may not always want to mix.



Comal
Used mostly for warming tortillas, but can be used for roasting chiles, onions, and garlic.  One of my friends say it's just a griddle, but not really.  It is so shallow (maybe a quarter to half an inch) you can't really do much else on it.  You can find metal ones, but the cast iron are the traditional.  I store mine in the oven, and because it's cast iron it stays there when I have the oven on.