Never utter the words “Old El Paso” in the presence of Lily Ramirez Foran.
“Stop!” She jokingly shrieks as I tell her about my 12-year-old’s affinity for their pre-mixed taco seasoning. To Lily, brands like these aren’t just disingenuous – they minimise a food culture spanning multiple regions with unique climates, crops and cultures.
True Mexican cuisine is as colourful, flavourful and varied as the people who call Mexico home, and Lily opened her Dublin-based shop, Picado Mexican Pantry, in honour of this diverse foodscape. On 11 May, it was announced that Picado Mexican had been granted Sello M certification from the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This identifies businesses outside of Mexico as Mexican gastronomy ambassadors. Globally, only 65 have been awarded this honour.
Today, we are visiting Lily’s newly opened second location, Picado Mexican at The Loom, in Dublin’s Liberties neighbourhood. She is joined by employees Ana Campos and Eli Duarte.
While Lily hails from Mexico’s northeastern city of Monterrey,
Eli comes from the capital, Mexico City, and Ana grew up in the southeastern Tabasco region.
The staff at Picado create a case in point: all coming from different regions of Mexico, and bringing with them different influences and foods. One food which brings them all together, though, is the humble taco.
Lily is passionate about the cultural significance around Mexican cuisine. \ Philip Doyle
Tortilla maker
In Lily’s cookbook, Tacos (the first edition of Nine Bean Rows Books Blasta series, released in 2022), she writes, “In a land of stark contrasts, with huge economic and social divides, tacos transcend. They know no boundaries of class or creed – everybody eats them and you’ll find them everywhere from a humble shack on the side of the road to a Michelin three-star restaurant.”
This is why Lily often teaches classes on the art of making masa – the corn-based dough which eventually becomes the tortilla for your taco. She comes from a long line of tortilla makers; the methodology is embedded in her DNA.
“I go a lot by memory when we make the fresh masa here,” she says. “It took me years to figure out how long to cook and then rest the corn in order to replicate the flavour of my grandad’s tortillas. It’s your nose and your palate and your memory all working together.”
In Picado at The Loom, Lily shares these subtleties with small groups for Mexican-inspired pop-ups and events. Recently, she hosted a Cinco de Mayo event featuring the 17th-century cuisine of the Puebla region’s conventual kitchens (aka, food the nuns used to make back in the day).
Food showcase
“No one celebrates Cinco de Mayo in Mexico,” she says. “It’s just the commemoration of the Battle of Puebla. There might be a parade, but it’s not a proper holiday – no one really cares. Instead, here at Picado, we chose to showcase the food of Puebla.
“Nuns were the ‘caterers of the colony’, so a lot of the dishes we love in Mexico come from them,” she continues.
“We talk a lot about colonisation and how it affected the Mexican pantry. You almost need to strip the emotion out when you’re looking at food history. Imagine how sad our European tables would be if we never got chocolate, tomatoes, corn or potatoes? In Mexico, we didn’t know how to fry until the Spaniards taught us, and they brought pork to Mexico.”
Largely thanks to Lily, who has lived in Ireland for 26 years and spent much of that time writing her blog, A Mexican Cook, Ireland is now more knowledgeable about Mexican cuisine than we were even a decade ago.
“I remember that first cultural shock of checking a Mexican cookbook out from a local library and not being able to cook anything from it,” she says. “None of the ingredients were available in shops. I remember going through the supermarket and trying to figure out what might be ‘the most similar’ to our ingredients in Mexico. We used to get Heinz beans and rinse all the sauce from them, then re-fry them with spices.
“We’ve seen a huge improvement from 25 years ago; the quality of ingredients available is better, but my knowledge is better, too. When I go back home and taste our every-day ingredients, I usually realise that some of the fresh ingredients we have in Ireland are usually better quality.”
At her new location, Picado Mexican at The Loom, in Dublin's Liberties neighbourhood, Lily hosts pop-ups and events to share Mexican cuisine and heritage with guests. \ Philip Doyle
Tostadas are very popular in Mexico – they are a corn tortilla that has been fried until crispy, a little bit like a giant nacho. They are a great alternative when you feel like having a crowd over and you want to do most of the work in advance.
“When you’re ready to serve, bring all the toppings, the tostadas and the warmed fillings to the table. Each person can make their own and you can sit, relax and have some yourself.”
Lily's chicken tinga tostada. \ Philip Doyle
Chicken tinga tostadas
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the chicken:
3 large chicken fillets1.5L water20g onion, in one chunk 1 garlic clove, peeled¼ teaspoon salt3 sprigs fresh thymeFor the tinga sauce:
3 tbsp sunflower oil1 clove garlic, finely chopped100g onion, thinly sliced into half moon shapes500g tomato passata2 chipotle chillies in Adobo Sauce (more if you want it hotter)2 sprigs fresh thymeSalt and pepper to tasteTo serve:
Tostadas, homemade or store-boughtRefried beans, warmedIceberg lettuce, thinly slicedFresh tomatoes, dicedFeta cheese, crumbledCrème fraiche Method
1 Put the chicken fillets in a pot with the water, onion, garlic, salt and thyme. Turn the heat on and bring it to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes or until it is fully cooked and tender. When the chicken is ready, take it out and shred it. Set aside.
2 In a large non-stick pan, heat the oil to medium high. Add the garlic and onion and gently fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato passata, the chipotle chilies and the thyme (leaves only) and combine. This is the time to try the sauce in case you want to adjust it for a hotter taste. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
3 Add the shredded chicken and mix well making sure that all the chicken is coated in the smoky sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
4 To assemble, grab a tostada, spread some refried beans on it, add a couple of spoonfuls of tinga on top of the beans and follow this with some lettuce, fresh tomato, feta cheese and crème fraiche.
At Picado we make our own mole paste from scratch, but I’ve made this recipe with commercial mole paste. I make a batch of the syrup and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, although this practice is dangerous as it makes it easier to have margaritas any time!”
Lily's mole margarita. \ Philip Doyle
Mole margarita
For the mole syrup:
500g granulated sugar500g water65g Mexican mole pasteFor the margarita:
2oz Tequila Blanco1oz freshly squeezed lime juice1oz mole syrup1oz Cointreau (orange liqueur)Plenty of iceTajin Chilli & Lime powder, for the rim of the glassMethod
1 Start by making a simple syrup. Put sugar, water and mole paste in a small sauce pan. Turn the heat on to medium high and using a whisk, mix all the ingredients to incorporate. Bring the mixture to a boil and lower the heat to simmer while whisking regularly. Simmer for 8 minutes until everything has incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a sterilised bottle and keep refrigerated until you need it.
2 To make the margarita, mix all the ingredients in your cocktail shaker. Rim the glass with Chilli & Lime powder and serve it with plenty of ice.
Lily's potato, mushroom and chorizo tacos. \ Philip Doyle
Potato, mushroom and chorizo tacos
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the filling:
2tbsp sunflower oil600g potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes300g chorizo, cut into small pieces200g fresh mushrooms, cut into small cubes150g onion, thinly sliced into half moons1 small red jalapeño chilli, finely chopped1 large tomato, cut into small cubes75ml pale ale beerFlaky sea salt to tasteTo serve:
16 corn tortillas, warmed250g feta cheese, crumbledIceberg lettuce, slicedRed salsa of your choiceMethod
1 Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan on medium high and add the potatoes. The secret is to not crowd the potatoes, so make sure your pan is large enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer. Season with flaky salt and cook them gently for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 Add the cubes of chorizo and mushroom and gently incorporate with a spatula or wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potatoes and chorizo until the chorizo has released all its ruby juices, approximately 4 -5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, but not too frequently as you don’t want mushy potatoes.
3 Incorporate the onions and chilli to the pan and continue to cook until the onions have softened a little. Add the tomato and the beer and continue to cook for further 3 minutes or until the tomatoes have gone soft and the beer has evaporated by half and turned into a reddish sauce. The potatoes, at this point, should be soft but still have a little bit of a bite to them.
4 Use the filling to make tacos. Warm your corn tortillas, put a spoonful of the filling on it, add some lettuce, crumbled cheese and top with your favourite red salsa.
All the Mexican ingredients in these recipes can be found at picadomexican.com
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Never utter the words “Old El Paso” in the presence of Lily Ramirez Foran.
“Stop!” She jokingly shrieks as I tell her about my 12-year-old’s affinity for their pre-mixed taco seasoning. To Lily, brands like these aren’t just disingenuous – they minimise a food culture spanning multiple regions with unique climates, crops and cultures.
True Mexican cuisine is as colourful, flavourful and varied as the people who call Mexico home, and Lily opened her Dublin-based shop, Picado Mexican Pantry, in honour of this diverse foodscape. On 11 May, it was announced that Picado Mexican had been granted Sello M certification from the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This identifies businesses outside of Mexico as Mexican gastronomy ambassadors. Globally, only 65 have been awarded this honour.
Today, we are visiting Lily’s newly opened second location, Picado Mexican at The Loom, in Dublin’s Liberties neighbourhood. She is joined by employees Ana Campos and Eli Duarte.
While Lily hails from Mexico’s northeastern city of Monterrey,
Eli comes from the capital, Mexico City, and Ana grew up in the southeastern Tabasco region.
The staff at Picado create a case in point: all coming from different regions of Mexico, and bringing with them different influences and foods. One food which brings them all together, though, is the humble taco.
Lily is passionate about the cultural significance around Mexican cuisine. \ Philip Doyle
Tortilla maker
In Lily’s cookbook, Tacos (the first edition of Nine Bean Rows Books Blasta series, released in 2022), she writes, “In a land of stark contrasts, with huge economic and social divides, tacos transcend. They know no boundaries of class or creed – everybody eats them and you’ll find them everywhere from a humble shack on the side of the road to a Michelin three-star restaurant.”
This is why Lily often teaches classes on the art of making masa – the corn-based dough which eventually becomes the tortilla for your taco. She comes from a long line of tortilla makers; the methodology is embedded in her DNA.
“I go a lot by memory when we make the fresh masa here,” she says. “It took me years to figure out how long to cook and then rest the corn in order to replicate the flavour of my grandad’s tortillas. It’s your nose and your palate and your memory all working together.”
In Picado at The Loom, Lily shares these subtleties with small groups for Mexican-inspired pop-ups and events. Recently, she hosted a Cinco de Mayo event featuring the 17th-century cuisine of the Puebla region’s conventual kitchens (aka, food the nuns used to make back in the day).
Food showcase
“No one celebrates Cinco de Mayo in Mexico,” she says. “It’s just the commemoration of the Battle of Puebla. There might be a parade, but it’s not a proper holiday – no one really cares. Instead, here at Picado, we chose to showcase the food of Puebla.
“Nuns were the ‘caterers of the colony’, so a lot of the dishes we love in Mexico come from them,” she continues.
“We talk a lot about colonisation and how it affected the Mexican pantry. You almost need to strip the emotion out when you’re looking at food history. Imagine how sad our European tables would be if we never got chocolate, tomatoes, corn or potatoes? In Mexico, we didn’t know how to fry until the Spaniards taught us, and they brought pork to Mexico.”
Largely thanks to Lily, who has lived in Ireland for 26 years and spent much of that time writing her blog, A Mexican Cook, Ireland is now more knowledgeable about Mexican cuisine than we were even a decade ago.
“I remember that first cultural shock of checking a Mexican cookbook out from a local library and not being able to cook anything from it,” she says. “None of the ingredients were available in shops. I remember going through the supermarket and trying to figure out what might be ‘the most similar’ to our ingredients in Mexico. We used to get Heinz beans and rinse all the sauce from them, then re-fry them with spices.
“We’ve seen a huge improvement from 25 years ago; the quality of ingredients available is better, but my knowledge is better, too. When I go back home and taste our every-day ingredients, I usually realise that some of the fresh ingredients we have in Ireland are usually better quality.”
At her new location, Picado Mexican at The Loom, in Dublin's Liberties neighbourhood, Lily hosts pop-ups and events to share Mexican cuisine and heritage with guests. \ Philip Doyle
Tostadas are very popular in Mexico – they are a corn tortilla that has been fried until crispy, a little bit like a giant nacho. They are a great alternative when you feel like having a crowd over and you want to do most of the work in advance.
“When you’re ready to serve, bring all the toppings, the tostadas and the warmed fillings to the table. Each person can make their own and you can sit, relax and have some yourself.”
Lily's chicken tinga tostada. \ Philip Doyle
Chicken tinga tostadas
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the chicken:
3 large chicken fillets1.5L water20g onion, in one chunk 1 garlic clove, peeled¼ teaspoon salt3 sprigs fresh thymeFor the tinga sauce:
3 tbsp sunflower oil1 clove garlic, finely chopped100g onion, thinly sliced into half moon shapes500g tomato passata2 chipotle chillies in Adobo Sauce (more if you want it hotter)2 sprigs fresh thymeSalt and pepper to tasteTo serve:
Tostadas, homemade or store-boughtRefried beans, warmedIceberg lettuce, thinly slicedFresh tomatoes, dicedFeta cheese, crumbledCrème fraiche Method
1 Put the chicken fillets in a pot with the water, onion, garlic, salt and thyme. Turn the heat on and bring it to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes or until it is fully cooked and tender. When the chicken is ready, take it out and shred it. Set aside.
2 In a large non-stick pan, heat the oil to medium high. Add the garlic and onion and gently fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato passata, the chipotle chilies and the thyme (leaves only) and combine. This is the time to try the sauce in case you want to adjust it for a hotter taste. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
3 Add the shredded chicken and mix well making sure that all the chicken is coated in the smoky sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
4 To assemble, grab a tostada, spread some refried beans on it, add a couple of spoonfuls of tinga on top of the beans and follow this with some lettuce, fresh tomato, feta cheese and crème fraiche.
At Picado we make our own mole paste from scratch, but I’ve made this recipe with commercial mole paste. I make a batch of the syrup and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, although this practice is dangerous as it makes it easier to have margaritas any time!”
Lily's mole margarita. \ Philip Doyle
Mole margarita
For the mole syrup:
500g granulated sugar500g water65g Mexican mole pasteFor the margarita:
2oz Tequila Blanco1oz freshly squeezed lime juice1oz mole syrup1oz Cointreau (orange liqueur)Plenty of iceTajin Chilli & Lime powder, for the rim of the glassMethod
1 Start by making a simple syrup. Put sugar, water and mole paste in a small sauce pan. Turn the heat on to medium high and using a whisk, mix all the ingredients to incorporate. Bring the mixture to a boil and lower the heat to simmer while whisking regularly. Simmer for 8 minutes until everything has incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a sterilised bottle and keep refrigerated until you need it.
2 To make the margarita, mix all the ingredients in your cocktail shaker. Rim the glass with Chilli & Lime powder and serve it with plenty of ice.
Lily's potato, mushroom and chorizo tacos. \ Philip Doyle
Potato, mushroom and chorizo tacos
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the filling:
2tbsp sunflower oil600g potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes300g chorizo, cut into small pieces200g fresh mushrooms, cut into small cubes150g onion, thinly sliced into half moons1 small red jalapeño chilli, finely chopped1 large tomato, cut into small cubes75ml pale ale beerFlaky sea salt to tasteTo serve:
16 corn tortillas, warmed250g feta cheese, crumbledIceberg lettuce, slicedRed salsa of your choiceMethod
1 Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan on medium high and add the potatoes. The secret is to not crowd the potatoes, so make sure your pan is large enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer. Season with flaky salt and cook them gently for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 Add the cubes of chorizo and mushroom and gently incorporate with a spatula or wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potatoes and chorizo until the chorizo has released all its ruby juices, approximately 4 -5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, but not too frequently as you don’t want mushy potatoes.
3 Incorporate the onions and chilli to the pan and continue to cook until the onions have softened a little. Add the tomato and the beer and continue to cook for further 3 minutes or until the tomatoes have gone soft and the beer has evaporated by half and turned into a reddish sauce. The potatoes, at this point, should be soft but still have a little bit of a bite to them.
4 Use the filling to make tacos. Warm your corn tortillas, put a spoonful of the filling on it, add some lettuce, crumbled cheese and top with your favourite red salsa.
All the Mexican ingredients in these recipes can be found at picadomexican.com
Read more
Chef Catherine Fulvio has her hands full on the farm
Food of the gods: the deep cultural roots of chocolate
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