Best Recipes To Celebrate Mexican Independence Day In Baltimore

When you hear people talk about Cinco de Mayo, you probably think that Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of Mexican independence. In fact, Cinco de Mayo, celebrated on May 5 each year, commemorates the Mexican army's victory over the French forces at the Battle of Pueblo in 1862, not Mexican independence.

This Mexican Independence Day, consider celebrating at Papi's Taco Joint in Baltimore, one of the restaurants in the C Squared Restaurant Group. Well known in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Papi's Taco Joint is located near the Broadway Market. Diners at Papi's Taco Joint can expect "a casual, fun, and family friendly dining experience for all," says Executive Chef  Faith Paulick. The menu at Papi's Taco Joint is inspired by the "antojitos of Mexican street food trucks, carts, and markets." Paulick and her culinary staff have worked to perfect their small plates, cocktails and authentic tastes.

Faith Corinne Paulick
Papi's Taco Joint
1703 Aliceanna St.
Baltimore, MD 21231
(410) 299-8480
www.papistacosfells.com

Faith Paulick credits both her grandmothers for her love of cooking. Her maternal grandmother had the "magical ability to turn even the most meager of ingredients into a memorable meal fit for kings," while her paternal grandmother taught her how to "hone in on [her] creativity and pair it with discipline, giving [her] all of the tools necessary to become an incredible chef." Though not classically trained, Paulick found her calling in the kitchen. After graduation from Washington College, she began a self-taught career in the kitchens of dining rooms of restaurants from North Carolina to Maryland before she began working under Chef David Newman at The Brewer's Art in Baltimore.

For Executive Chef Paulick any holiday or special occasion calls for two things in Mexico — tamales and mole. Since tamales and mole are "very involved recipes involving great technique and a number of ingredients," Paulick has chosen a few of Papi's Taco Joint's signature street food dishes for home cooks to create this Mexican Independence Day.

Chicharrones Preparados Or Mexican Pizza

Ingredients:

• Chicharrone Preparado dough
• 1 ounce Mexican mayo
• 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
• 1/2 avocado, sliced thin
• 1 plum tomato, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup chiles en vinagre (pickled sliced jalapenos)
• 2 ounces Cotija cheese, crumbled
• Drizzle of Valentina sauce
• Drizzle of crema Mexicana (Mexican style sour cream, similar to creme fraiche)

Directions:

1. Pre-make wheat flour pizza dough. Add pork flavoring for special touch.
2. Form pizza dough into circles.
3. Fry circles of pizza dough in vegetable oil until crispy.
4. Spread Mexican mayo on deep fried pork-flavored pizza crusts.
5. Top with shredded romaine lettuce; thinly sliced avocado, plum tomato, and onions; and chiles en vinagre.
6. Sprinkle on Cotija cheese.
7. Drizzle with Valentina sauce and crema Mexicana.

Elotes Or Mexican Corn

Ingredients:

• 2 cobs of yellow corn, shucked
• 2 palillos para elote (sticks for holding on to corn cob)
• 1 ounce Mexican mayo
• Chile pequin
• 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup Cotija cheese, crumbled
• Cebolittas (Mexican green onion tops)

Directions:

1. Boil 2 cobs of corn with epazote, Kosher salt, and white granulated sugar.
2. Insert palillos para elote in to ends of corn cobs.
3. Spread Mexican mayo over corn cobs.
4. Squeeze lime over corn cobs.
5. Garnish with Cotija cheese and cebolittas.

Related: Best Mexican Restaurants In Baltimore

Lobster Tacos

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces lobster claw meat
• 4 corn tortillas
• 1 ounce nopales (cactus leaf)
• Fried cebollita bulbs
• 1 ounce diced white onions
• 1 ounce chopped cilantro
• 1 ounce chopped radish
• Lime wedges

Directions:

1. Sautee lobster claw meat in butter with a few dashes of Mexican Maggi seasoning, the secret ingredient in Papi's tacos!
2. Spread corn tortillas on plates.
3. Place lobster claw meat in each corn tortilla.
4. Add nopales, cebollita bulbs, white onions, and radish to each tortilla.
5. Garnish each lobster taco with cilantro and lime wedges.

Classic Torta

Ingredients:

• 1 bolillo loaf of bread
• 1 ounce Mexican mayo
• 1 ounce refried beans
• 1/2 cup lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 plum tomato, sliced
• 1 ounce whole onion, julienned
• 1 ounce chiles en vinagre
• 1 ounce queso de Oaxaca (string cheese)
• 4 ounces meat or eggs of your choice (Executive Chef Paulick suggests pork carnitas)

Directions:

1. Slice bolillo loaves of bread.
2. Spread Mexican mayo on one size of bread.
3. Spread refried beans on the other side.
4. Stack lettuce, avocado, plum tomatoes, onions, and chiles en vinagre on bread.
5. Add queso de Oaxaca, meats, or eggs to the bolillo bread.

Spiked Horchata

Directions:

1. Pour Captain Morgan's Rum over ice.
2. Add horchata.
3. Mix in horchata rice milk
4. Garnish with orange slive and cinnamon stick.

Related: Best Lasagna In Baltimore

Jill Berry @MusingsfromMe is a writer who stays at home or a SAHM who writesit depends on the day and her mood. While playing a writer on the internet, Jill has the gray hair AND blogposts from raising a kid, a preteen, and a teen. When not blogging at Musings from Me, Jill seizes family time whenever she candinner as a family, movie night, marathon family game sessions, traveling you name it she wants to do it.