Mexico

Sinaloa

Aguachile: raw shrimp-lime.

7 dishes · 37 ingredients · 8 techniquesReference

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Signature·Dish

Aguachile

Sinaloa raw-shrimp ceviche variant

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Sinaloa is the Pacific shrimp coast — the home of aguachile (raw shrimp cured in a fierce green lime-jalapeño-cilantro sauce, eaten cold and barely 'cooked'). Flour tortillas dominate here rather than corn — the northern Mexican wheat belt starts in Sinaloa. Beach palapas serve aguachile-mariscos breakfasts at 9am with Pacífico beer; this is Mexico's surf-and-shrimp half.

The Palate

Start Here

Aguachile

Raw shrimp cured 5 minutes in fierce green lime-jalapeño-cilantro sauce. Blushed-pink, just-cooked.

Why start here · The Pacific-coast Sinaloa specialty. Once you've had aguachile fresh on a beach you'll never look at ceviche the same way — it's hotter, fresher, more alive.

Tacos de Camarón

Garlic-butter shrimp in soft flour tortillas with chipotle mayo and cabbage.

Why start here · Northern Mexico's flour-tortilla signature applied to shrimp. The Sinaloan version is butter-forward where the rest of Mexico would lean on oil and chile.

The Pantry

See all 37 ingredients›

How They Cook

Techniques that define this cuisine

Griddle

Tacos Gobernador

Char Roasting

Pescado Zarandeado

Curing

Aguachile Ceviche Sinaloense

Marinating

Aguachile Pescado Zarandeado

See 4 more techniques›

Other regions

Siblings within Mexican — each its own tradition.

Central Mexican

137

Tacos al pastor, tlacoyos, quesadillas, tortas. Street food at scale, the modern Mexican palate.

Oaxacan

Land of seven moles — chichilo, negro, coloradito. Tlayudas, tasajo, chapulines.

Norteño

Wheat tortillas, grilled beef, machaca, asado de boda. Cattle country, less corn-centric.

Yucatecan

Mayan inheritance — achiote, sour orange, banana leaf. Cochinita pibil, sopa de lima.

Pueblan

Convent-baroque — mole poblano, chiles en nogada, cemitas. Ornate, multi-step, deeply seasonal.

Jalisco

Western Mexico mariachi-and-birria — birria, pozole rojo, tortas ahogadas.

Noreste

The cattle-and-goat grilling and Gulf-coast food of the northeast — Monterrey's mesquite carne asada and arrachera, Linares's pecan-caramel glorias, Tampico's stacked tortas de la barda, and the namesake carne a la tampiqueña.

Veracruzano

Spanish-Caribbean fusion — huachinango a la veracruzana, arroz a la tumbada, picadas.

Central Highlands

The cold-highland milpa and maguey village food ringing the capital — Morelos's sun-dried cecina de Yecapixtla, Toluca's green chorizo, Tlaxcala's near-black mole prieto, and Cuautla's rice-based armored tacos.

Chiapas

Maya-southern jungle highland — cochito horneado, sopa de pan, tamales juacane.

Bajío

The mining-town and fairground food of the central Bajío — Guanajuato's guajillo-dipped enchiladas mineras, León's chicharrón-stuffed guacamayas, the exotic artisan ices of Dolores Hidalgo, and the cajeta-caramel country around Celaya.

Guerrero

The Pacific-coast cooking of Guerrero — green pozole eaten every Thursday, the Costa Chica's Afro-Mexican pork relleno, Acapulco-coast tiritas ceviche, frothy pre-Hispanic chilate, and the sweet pink mole of the silver town of Taxco.

Michoacán

Purépecha lake heartland — carnitas, uchepos, corundas, sopa tarasca.

Hidalgo

Maguey country in Mexico's central highlands, where pre-Hispanic and Cornish-mining heritages sit side by side. Pit-steamed barbacoa, escamoles (ant larvae), mixiotes, and the pasty-derived paste are the local signatures, washed down with pulque from the agave fields.

Sonora

Mexico's northwestern wheat-and-beef belt, a desert cattle country that eats more like the ranch than the milpa. Home of the paper-thin tortillas de agua (giant flour tortillas), mesquite-grilled carne asada, bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dogs, and the coyota cookie.

Baja California

Pacific peninsula Tijuana-Ensenada — fish tacos, smoked marlin, Caesar salad invention.

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