Mexican Recipes for School Projects

One of the most common questions I have seen in my email is "What Mexican food should I prepare for a school project?"

When thinking about a dish for school there are four basic things to take into consideration.

  1. Authenticity--You have two choices here.  First, you can cook a traditional dish to the letter and discuss the history and/or cultural uses of that food.   Second, you can adapt a traditional recipe and discuss the ingredients and how modern Mexico has adapted and changed.
  2. Price--You are serving an entire class.  Seafood is probably not going to be the top ingredient choice!
  3. Ease--Chances are you want a recipe that  will not be incredibly complicated.   Trust me on this.  If you have a problem, you are in a worse position when there are no stores open, you don't have a backup and the project is due the next day.   These are the people who end up bringing in dressed up pre-prepared food.
  4. Portability--Does this dish have to travel on a bus?  Most likely, it will be sitting quite awhile before serving.  Most foods should be ones that do not have a   need to be refrigerated or served hot.

Following are some ideas that have worked for other students--grade school through college.

ques.jpg (2926 bytes) Quesadillas are relatively easy to make and travel well.   They are best served warm--but most students like them room temp as well.  An added bonus is that quesadillas are adaptable.  you can add or subtract ingredients to make the dish fit the image you want to portray.  You can also choose homemade or store bought tortillas based on personal preference.

 

soup.jpg (3215 bytes) Soup can be brought to class on a crockpot if there are enough outlets.  It's a little extra work, but the results are generally impressive.   Don't forget to bring bowls and spoons!

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