A guide to cooking when a restaurant just won’t do.

We have had some wonderful meals in Mexico. It’s pretty easy to find fine dining as well as sumptuous street food. However, some of the most memorable ones were when we had a cheap hotel with a kitchenette.

So let’s start with some ground rules. Even the best apportioned kitchenettes usually have a hodge-podge of utensils and cookware; bent frypans, oversized spoons, an occasional fork, pots that you have to hold with one hand or it’ll fall over. It makes for an adventure and a lot of laughter.


All your stuff, ready to go.
  1. Always take an electric skillet. It’ll get you by when you can’t put together what you need in a Mr. Potato Head kitchen. You can also use the skillet to pack all your other kitchen goodies below.
  2. Take spices in a baggie. Baggies take up less space than the original spice container. Salt is easy to find but pepper, not so much and the baggie keeps the humidity away.
  3. Take baggies. Always save those tortillas and leftovers from restaurants. The locals will be impressed with your frugality.
  4. A cutting board.
  5. A decent kitchen knife, maybe two.
  6. A spatula. Comes in handy for cooking and spanking.
  7. Scissors. Just don’t run with them.
  8. Rubber bands to shoot at each other while cooking. Plus they’re handy holding the electric skillet lid on while traveling.
  9. Paper towels. You know you’ll need ’em.
  10. A multi-functional can opener. Opens your cans. Opens your beer.
  11. Matches. Few stoves you encounter spark up on their own.
  12. Tin Foil. Combine this with the rubber bands for hours of creative fun.

It can also be fun to shop for this stuff but you’re gonna have to get your Spanish on. And good luck with that. Head to the mercado municipal and enjoy your shopping experience.

The absolute, number one thing to buy in Mexico: Microdyn

Microdyn is essential if you use fresh veggies and fruit. It will keep self inflicted Moctezuma’s revenge away. Just a few drops does the trick but read the directions.

My long time friend and master chef Jim Overby once told me, “If you have to measure you don’t belong in a kitchen.” We might of been drinking but still, I’ll leave the quantities pretty much up to you.

Sarin Gas Salsa

If you don’t do this in the right order you can clear a city block. Adults and small children will run into the streets to get away from the choking fumes wafting through the kitchen. “Someone save the baby!” You’ve been warned.

  • 3 Medium sized tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 medium white onion, quartered
  • 4 – 6 serrano peppers (Sharon leans towards 4, not me) sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
  • 1/2 – 1 whole garlic head, peeled and left as cloves
  • A couple of juicy limes
  • Half a bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped.
  • Salt

Put a teaspoon of cooking oil in your medium high heated electric skillet then put the tomatoes, onions and garlic in. Let ’em burn a bit. The first few time I made this I also added in the peppers. Bad idea. There’s the sarin gas effect.

Turn the tomatoes and onions over but don’t try to break apart stuff just yet. Once the onions get a slight char and the tomato skins blister, add enough water to almost cover everything. Now add the serrano peppers. Salt fairly generously. Let it all come to a good boil and let the water continue to reduce. 20 minutes or so which makes for an excellent time to drink a beer and tequila shot.

Taste the liquid to see if you have enough salt. If you’re making it spicy, be sure to exhale while tasting. Toss in most of your cilantro, add just a bit of water and continue reducing it down. You can also start mushing it all with a spatula. Don’t miss those garlic cloves. When most the liquid has boiled off leaving maybe 1/2 a cup, scoop it all into a big bowl (or a blender if you got one), squeeze in the lime juice and mash it all up with something like a potato masher. I have starting to prefer the “mashed” version to the blended one. It has more body.

Speaking of body, make sure you wash your hands before attempting to make out with your wife.

Bad Thermostat Chicken

We were in Acapulco at a pretty nicely located Air BnB. It was near the end of the trip and we spent the whole day inside just enjoying each other’s company. Alcohol was involved. Sharon was feeling experimental as to what to do with some raw chicken we had in the fridge.

  • Boneless chicken breasts
  • A box of Mexican raisin bran
  • An egg
  • Cream cheese
  • Spices – salt n’ garlic powder

Pound that chicken! I just like sayin’ that. Get it flat. Pull all the raisins out of the cereal. Roll the chicken up with the raisins and cream cheese and a few spices inside. Whip up the egg in a bowl and bathe the rolled up chicken in the egg then roll it in the leftover cereal, sans raisins. Season with salt and garlic powder.

Here’s the tricky part. Place the chicken on a baking sheet and put in a pre-heated oven with a bad thermostat. In the real world this would cook at 325 – 350 degrees for 45 minutes. But this particular recipe calls for about about 3 1/2 hours at a mystery temperature. Enough time to get pretty tipsy and dance like no one is watching.

Just keep an eye on it. It’s done when it’s done.

Para Llevar Chalupas

First, go eat on the street for dinner the night before. Find some Al Pastor and order it Alambre style. Get two orders, one for each of you. It’s a hardy meal as is so you should have leftovers. If you don’t have leftovers, well, maybe consider dieting. Just sayin’. Tell your server you want the leftovers “Para llevar“. Put it in the fridge when you get back from you enchanted evening in Mexico.

  • Chalupa shells
  • Bag o’ refried beans – They’re the same as canned but funner.
  • Lettuce
  • Tomato
  • Avocado
  • Jicama
  • Onion
  • Spices
  • Oil
  • Shredded local cheese
  • The leftover al pastor
  • Sarin Gas Salsa

Place the al pastor in foil. Don’t wrap it tight. Make the foil like a little boat then pull the sides up to cover the al pastor like a tent. Place this in your electric skillet with about a 1/2 inch of water. Set to medium heat. Don’t sink the boat.

While that science experiment is going on, put a little oil in a pot or frypan. Once hot, put some diced onion and garlic powder in. After a minute or two put your bag o’ beans in. Heat thoroughly.

Shred a few lettuce leaves, dice a tomato, jicama and the avocado. Grab those chalupa shells and start building layers; beans, al pastor, diced veggies, cheese, salsa.

Much better than the previous evenings meal! But be careful. The first bit tends to fall in your lap.