The 5 Pantry Essentials in My Mexican-American Kitchen

Welcome to Esteban Castillo’s Pantry! In each installment of this series, a recipe developer will share with us the pantry items essential to their cooking. This month, we’re exploring five staples stocking Esteban’s Mexican-American kitchen.
One of t…

Welcome to Esteban Castillo’s Pantry! In each installment of this series, a recipe developer will share with us the pantry items essential to their cooking. This month, we're exploring five staples stocking Esteban’s Mexican-American kitchen.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received came from my mom, when she told me, “Aprende a cocinar una buena olla de frijoles y nunca tendrás hambre,” or, learn how to make a good pot of stovetop beans, and you’ll never be hungry. After she told me this, I realized frijoles de la olla, with pinto beans swimming in a broth with aromatics like onion, cilantro, and garlic, regularly kept me and my siblings fed when our parents couldn’t afford to put anything else on the table. So when I was first learning how to cook, I made sure to follow my mom’s advice: I perfected a pot of beans.

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A Very Serious Guide on How to Make Quesadillas

I grew up in Santa Ana, California on First and Bristol Street right behind El Toro Meat Market. A staple in the community, el super offered not only meat, but fresh tortillas, masa, harder-to-find Mexican produce (like tejocotes or guanabanas), and—mo…

I grew up in Santa Ana, California on First and Bristol Street right behind El Toro Meat Market. A staple in the community, el super offered not only meat, but fresh tortillas, masa, harder-to-find Mexican produce (like tejocotes or guanabanas), and—most importantly—a very stocked cheese counter that never failed to bring me (and my belly) great joy.

Behind the glass, there’d be crumbly rounds of queso fresco—a creamy, fresh, mildly salty cheese, perfect for breaking up and scattering over flautas, frijoles de olla, or baked in a chile relleno. And, the slightly drier, firmer queso cotija—saltier but still mild, perfect for dusting onto sopes, huaraches, and refried beans.

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