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One of the most popular classics of Yucatecan cooking, “lime soup” is actually made with chicken, boned, chopped in strips, and then slow-cooked with coriander, onions, herbs, spices, and masses of local sweet limes. It’s then served with strips of dry tortillas for added crunch.

A dish that dates back to pre-Conquest Mayan cooking – pork marinated in lime, bitter orange, and achiote (a hot, spicy mix of dried herbs), wrapped in banana leaves and baked in an earthenware dish. Punchy but flavorful, it’s very versatile and can be served as a main course or just used to make tacos. Pollo pibil is a chicken version of this dish.

Marinating is one of the most characteristic skills of Yucatecan cooking, and this delicious dish features pork marinated in the juice of naranja agria (small, bitter oranges, special to the region), cooked with onions, herbs, and garlic and served with black beans. With a wonderful mix of sweet and savory flavors, it’s very popular, but debate rages as to whether it is really traditional or a creation of Los Almendros restaurant in Ticul.

The special pride of Valladolid: chicken quartered on the bone and casseroled with garlic, onion, cloves, and a mix of both hot and mild chilis; it’s then quickly roasted in a baste of maize oil and bitter orange juice. Another dish with a rich, densely layered combination of different flavors. Pavo oriental is the turkey version.

Yucatecan cooking likes rich concoctions. In relleno negro (“black stuffing”), finely ground pork, peppers, grated hard-boiled egg, herbs, spices, and a powerful combination of chilis are all mixed together to make up a thick, majestic sauce. Usually served with turkey (pavo ), the region’s most traditional meat.

All around the coasts, fish and seafood are restaurant staples. One of the simplest and most delicious ways of cooking the likes of camarón (prawns/shrimp) and caracol (conch) is al mojo de ajo , fried quickly in hot oil and loads of garlic. When ingredients are fresh, nothing more is needed.

Tasting rather like spinach, Chaya is a vegetable native to the Yucatán. And, like spinach, it is exceptionally rich in iron and vitamins. It features in traditional cooking and new dishes like this one, in which it is cooked with garlic and wrapped in light, soft European-style wheat pancakes (crêpes) and served with a cheese sauce. Chaya is also used to make drinks (see Agua de Chaya).

Campeche has a distinctive and very varied cuisine of its own that, as befits a port, makes great use of local fish and seafood. This is one of the most popular campechano favorites, and features chopped hammerhead shark (cazón ), mixed with spices and a tomato sauce; it is served between two soft corn tortillas.

Another Campeche specialty: a delicious warm salad that’s much lighter than many local dishes on a hot, hot day. Rice (arroz ) is mixed together with chopped octopus (pulpo ), red peppers, onion, coriander, and other herbs, and often mango, papaya, and other fruits, in a refreshing blend of sweet juice and salty seafood flavors.

Not a native of the Yucatán but a central Mexican classic that’s found in every part of the country. Fried chicken covered in mole , a thick, spicy, savory – and not at all sweet – chocolate sauce. Richly satisfying, this is one of the oldest uses of chocolate, its flavor combining perfectly with strongly-spiced meats.