Chicharron at Lily's Mexican Market: Let The Experts Fry Chunks Of Pork Belly For You

A chicharron from Lily's Mexican Market

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

Apparently, a famous German philosopher had eaten chicharron.  Now, you can as well.

You can thank Seb, who left a comment last month on a post asking for advice on what to order from the butcher at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia.  Seb steered me a few feet from the butcher to the taco counter where he talked up the chicharron:

It's a star attraction at Lily's. Not for the faint of heart, the square chunks of pork meat and fat are perfectly fried. Super crispy on the outside and sinful fatty goodness on the inside. Napkins required, cardiologist appointment recommended.

Perfectly described.  With chicharron, you get old-school food.  A deep-fried morsel of pork, fat and skin.  With my normal diet, that skin is crispy and exotic.  I bit through the chicharron, and the meat provided a solid chew and flavor.  Then the fat squeezed out and burst around my mouth.

The chicharron at the Lily's taco counter

It's delicious.  It's rich and crunchy.  I bought three as a sample, and it was probably one too many.  For a while that afternoon, I could feel grease coming through the pores on my face.

To me, that the perfect kind of food to buy from an expert.  Lily's folks crisped my chicharron skillfully, and I don't have to butcher pork belly or clean up after deep frying.  They made a great snack.  They're an authentic taste of Mexican cooking.  They'd be amazing party food if you have a friend who talks a big game about loving bacon.

I'm a huge fan of Lily's Mexican Market for the butcher, the house-made tortillas, and the full selection of Latin American items.  I'm still looking for suggestions about what cuts of meat to buy from the butcher.

On my last trip, I bought El Salvadoran crema and grated cotija cheese for terrific corn.  Grill the corn, then spread a light coating of crema, which is the consistency of sour cream.  Then roll that in a dish filled the salty cheese.  The corn becomes a star of any plate.  With some tortillas and other items, you can do authentic, delicious tacos any day.

One Perfect Item At The Mexican Butcher In Columbia; What Else Should I Be Ordering?

Fajita meat, 

I buy one perfect thing at the butcher in Lily's Mexican Market, and I would really love some other advice.

The fajita meat at Lily's makes for a really great dinner with minimal effort.  Buy some meat, Mexican cheese, radishes and jalapeños  and a bag of the fresh corn tortillas.  If you want to splurge, get some tomatillos or some cactus.  (The cactus alone makes for great tacos, but that's getting off point.)

Take just a few minutes at home to cook the meat on a griddle or cast iron pan -- maybe char the jalapeño and tomatillos alongside before you chop them into a rough salsa.  Boom, you have easy soft tacos that are truly delicious.

Fajita meat from the Columbia market is perfect for me because I can buy a half pound of sliced meat -- as opposed to the entire skirt or flank steaks that I need to buy at Laurel Meat Market.

But I want to buy more.  What else do people buy at the Lily's butcher?  I basically asked this question in 2012, but I'm asking again because I know there are other cuts that a Latin butcher can deliver up.  I love Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday cookbook so I'm game for whatever you suggest.

The Easiest Great Local Food To Add To Your Life; Lily's Tortillas Make Any Number Of Meals

Corn tortillas and Mi Canton hard white cheese

The easiest way to add great local food to your life is to stop for the fresh corn tortillas at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia.

Lily's is just off Rte 175 on Dobbin Road.  It's a small market with Latin baked goods, staples, basic produce and even a butcher.  But the far right section is a taqueria with pretty great tacos and a tortilla machine that stamps out warm tortillas most days.

Fresh corn tortillas have way more flavor than anything you can buy in a supermarket.  A plastic bag holds several dozen, and they'll make any number of meals for you -- from the simplest tacos to the most-ornate dishes from Rick Bayless' Everyday Mexican.  It's an easy stop -- especially if you go to the Wegmans around the corner on McGaw Road -- and a cheap way to eat something authentic and delicious.

Fast quesadilla with everything from Lily's

For New Year's Eve, I brought a bag to a friend's house to complement the chili that he had cooked.  I used my own bag to make a hearty quesadilla with almost zero work.

Heat some Goya's refried black beans.  Grate some Mi Canton hard white cheese from Lily's fridge.  Chop some cilantro, an avocado, and jalapeño peppers.  Then layer them between the corn tortillas.  I use three tortillas, and I brush a tiny bit of corn oil on the outer tortillas.  Then I heat the quesadillas in a cast-iron pan until the cheese melts and the tortillas crisp.

I have been eating variations all month.  Crisp tortillas and that white cheese make almost anything taste delicious. I actually made quesadillas one afternoon by oiling two tortillas, then filling them with mashed roasted butternut squash, the white cheese, and some chopped jalapeños.  Simple, crazy, but delicious.

Lily's is really a place that you should check out if you want to explore food.  The tortillas, Latin cheeses and canned goods give you a guaranteed delicious dinner, and I always recommend a taco lunch.  But you should also check out the baked goods, the cool Latin sodas, and all the beans, salsas, pickled vegetables, and other ingredients.  

I recommend trying the fresh cactus in the produce cooler because you can make awesome tacos, and I know there are great things to buy from the butcher.  I just don't know meat, and my Spanish isn't good enough to explore a subject where I don't know vocabulary.  I can see that they sell chorizo, lamb, beef, fajita meat, and other cuts.  I'd love any advice if you buy from Lily's or some other Latin butcher.  Check out all my posts about Lily's.  If you go, you can also check out the used books and vinyl at Second Edition Books down the row.

Tacos At Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia

Tacos from Lily's Mexican Market

This was supposed to be the post where I told you that you can't find cactus at Wegmans.

Cactus makes great veggie tacos, and I recommend Lily's Mexican Market for the house-made tortillas and the chance to buy cactus, tomatillos, chorizo and other meat from the Mexican butcher.  I was going to make the point that you should go to Lily's because you can't buy catcus at Wegmans.

But you can buy cactus at Wegmans.  It's on the left wall near the scallions that I needed on Sunday.

Get some cactus too

So you should go to Lily's because you can't buy tacos anywhere else in Columbia like these.  Lily's Mexican Market is a small grocery with snacks and baked goods in the front, several rows of packaged and canned goods like chipotle peppers, then the butcher and taco counter in the back.  

The tacos are $2.50 each with a discount if you buy three with rice and beans.  Last Friday, there were six varieties at lunch time -- variations on slow-cooked pork, chicken, beef and lamb.  I went with pork and lamb.

The Lily's tacos are large and saucy.  I always split the meat between two tortillas.  The lamb sauce soaked through quickly, and I was grabbing napkins as quickly as I was eating the meat.  The toppings are onions, cilantro and a guacamole spread.  Overall, it's a grand lunch.  I can't say that it knocks off R&R Taqueria in Elkridge or Tere's Latin Market in Ellicott City, but it's definitely worth checking out, especially with a Mexican Coca-Cola or a tamarind soda right out of the fridge.

For a home version, check out the recipe for cactus tacos on this prior post.  Lily sells everything you need -- especially fresh tortillas.  Omit the chorizo to make it vegetarian.  Consider buying some tomatillos, cutting them in half, then cooking them on a hot pan until they soften.  Then blend or process with garlic and onion.  They make a great salsa.  For more, check out Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday.

Lily's Mexican Market
6490 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia, MD 21045
410-772-5459

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with the DMV, Lily's and Sushi Kingrestaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

The Butcher At Lily's Mexican Market

Soft tacos with meat from Lily's

I need advice about how to use the butcher at Lily's Mexican Market.  I see great opportunity, but I don't know what to buy.

Lily's is a terrific market off Dobbin Road in Columbia.  I have gone for years to buy fresh tortillas, canned goods, cheeses, and even some fresh produce like avocados, tomatillos and cactus.  Now, I want to expand into the meat counter.

My last trip was successful, although not what I expected.  I bought fajita meat expecting to grill something that looked like a skirt steak from Laurel Meat Market.  Instead, I got four separate pieces of meat.  They were maybe a half-inch thick with ragged edges, halfway between what I expected and some paper-thin cuts for a Philadelphia cheesesteak.

Fajita meat from Lily's

I didn't grill the meat.  I heated a cast iron skillet and just touched pieces down for 60-90 seconds per side until they cooked through.  Then  I sliced them against the grain -- and there was a strong grain -- to serve with vegetables and cheese for soft tacos.

My dinner had a great beef flavor and a chew similar to skirt steak.  At a minimum, you could start with an order of fajita meat because good ingredients served with Lily's house-made corn tortillas will make a great dinner no matter what you do.  But I'd love advice about what else to buy and what else to cook.

Lily's butcher board

I can translate Lily's butcher chalk board -- oxtail, beef leg, leg of lamb, pork chops, pork chorizo, etc.  But I know very little about meat, and I know that cuts differ.  A pork chop isn't the same as every other pork chop.  I was trying to use a recipe from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday, but his recipe clearly wasn't describing the cut that I got when I ordered "fajita" meat.  What are the popular cuts at a butcher aimed at Mexican or Central American chefs?  What recipes work?

If you're looking for interesting butcher options, you're in luck around Howard County.  There are three full-service butchers in an American style heavy on beef and pork along with a growing group of halal butchers for lamb and the Korean-style packages at the Asian grocery stores.  For links to them all, click back to my collection of butchers, bakeries and groceries in the Welcome Home series.

Aji Amarillos At Lily"s Mexican Market

The back of the refrigerator shouldn't be where food goes to die -- but instead a place where a few staples live to spice up your meals.

Stock your fridge with aji amarillo peppers at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia.  They're spicy.  That surprised me.  I grabbed them on a whim, and I ate the first one out of the jar because it looked like a sweet yellow pepper.  Shocking heat!  Since then, I have used them more to zest up a meal.

Added them to greens and to pasta sauces.  Sprinkled diced pepper over a salad.  Cut them up for tacos.  They're less spicy than jalepenos, but the real value is that that they're sort of preserved in a salty brine.  Not pickled, but they have lasted weeks, and the clean, bright flavor is a great alternative to the smokey chipotle peppers that I also stock up at Lily's.

Aji amarillos are apparently a Peruvian staple.  Great if you wanted to learn traditional dishes, but I recommend them to anyone because they could zip up your own food.  They were a key part of the best crab cakes that I have ever cooked.  You could add the peppers to almost anything -- omelets, sandwiches, hummus -- for something different and hot.

Lily's is one of the great food outlets in Howard County.  Go for some takeout tacos, and you're guaranteed a good trip.  Then check out the shelves for things to buy -- the fresh made tortillas, the cactus for tacos, the different peppers, the sauces, and on.  Click here for all the posts about Lily's Mexican Market.

Grilling Week At The Mexican Market: Shepherd's Tacos And Grilled Corn With Cheese

The recipes that pushed me over the top for Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue were tacos al pastor and grilled corn with cheese.

Lily's Mexican Market was one of my original food finds in Howard County, but Raichlen's book led me to ingredients that I had never noticed before.  It let me pair Lily's house-made corn tortillas with pork marinated in Mexican flavors, grilled thin-sliced, then served with pineapple for a dinner that felt more like a restaurant than my patio.

All week I have been posting about Planet Barbecue and promoting the book for people who want to explore Howard County's ethnic shopping.  You have to know Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia, and you will want to taste these tacos.

Cactus at Lily's Mexican Market

Easy and exotic. You can't find something more unusual for such little effort than the cactus paddles on sale at Lily's Mexican Market.

These are nopales -- a standard vegetable in Mexico yet something that I have never seen at a standard grocery store. Generally, they're available in the small produce section at Lily's, one of Howard County's best ethnic markets. Grilled or cooked on a skillet, the cactus becomes tender and has a mild flavor. It has a vegetable taste, a touch of sourness. You can find endless uses on the Web, but you could be eating cactus tacos this evening if you just stop at Lily's off Dobbin Road.

The cactus at Lily's already has the spines removed. Or at least almost all the spines. Be careful, and run a knife along the nopales to scrap off any errand spines once you get home. Pick pads that look plump. They have lasted me several days in the fridge. With some of Lily's store-made corn tortillas and any toppings that you enjoy, you can make weeknight tacos.

You can buy everything in the recipe below from Lily's. For more about Oaxaca cheese, check out Ready Set Kate's post. You can omit the chorizo or substitute chicken, ground beef (with or without "taco spices") or a diced potato that you have boiled until tender. I rely on good salsas to provide much of the zest to weeknight tacos, but you could jazz this up however you want -- homemade salsa, summer tomatoes, lettuce, etc. Next, I'm going to try this nopales in chipotle sauce.

If you haven't been to Lily's, you should definitely try Howard County's best Latin American market. Click here for all the posts about Lily's -- including ones about horchata, chips, takeout tacos, fresh corn tortillas, tamales, and more. Or click for the starting page for my "What I Learned" guide to food in Howard County.

Weeknight Cactus Tacos

(serves two or three)

2 cactus paddles from Lily's

1 can black beans or other beans, warmed on the stovetop (option: add some minced garlic)

1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, seeded and diced

shredded Oaxaca or cheddar cheese

salsa

1/2 pound chorizo, cut into small pieces

6-10 corn tortillas

1) Starting at one of the short ends of the cactus, make slices along the length of the cactus every half inch. Stop about an inch-and-half from the other end. When you're done, the cactus will look like a hand with many fingers.

2) Heat a ridged grill pan or a grill. Cook the cactus on one side until it chars a little and starts to soften. Flip over the cactus and cook until it is tender. (The "hand" cutting makes it easier to flip the cactus in one piece.)

3) While the cactus is cooking, saute the chorizo and cut up the other vegetables.

4) If the tortillas have been in the fridge, reheat them. Wet a paper towel and wring it out. Wrap one or two tortillas per person in the damp towel, then microwave for 15-20 seconds. Check to see if they're warm. Microwave more in 15-second steps until they're moist and warm.

5) When the cactus is tender, slice it so that the "fingers" become chunks of nopales.

6) Serve all the items in bowls and let people make their own tacos.

Horchata at Lily's Mexican Market

If you explore Lily's Mexican Market, definitely spring $1.59 for the horchata soft drink that you can buy at the takeout counter in back.

The horchata is the lighter-colored soft drink running through one of the two "jetspray" machines across from the counter.  You pay for a cup, and you fill it yourself.  The horchata is a refreshing, mild drink.  It tastes smooth and lightly sweet, creamy but still refreshing.  The other drink is tamarind, a flavor that I have previously recommended in candy and other drinks although I haven't tried that specific drink yet. 

Wikipedia has an entire article that describes different drinks described by the same word.  I think Lily's version is the rice-based drink that is one of the three typical flavors of Mexcian aguas frescas.

If you haven't been to Lily's, you should definitely try Howard County's best Latin American market.  Click here for all the posts about Lily's -- including ones about chips, takeout tacos, fresh corn tortillas, tamales, and more.

Link: Mexican Cheese on Ready, Set, Kate

Kate posts about Oaxaca/Asadero cheese that she bought at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia.

Kate has a nice recipe that uses cheese and chorizo that you can buy at Lily's and serves that "flaming cheese" with Lily's fresh corn tortillas, bread rolls, beans, onion and some fruit juice drinks that she bought there.  (One in the picture looks like the tamarind soda!)

Ready, Set, Kate is Kate's blog about exploring cheeses.  Lily's is the best local Hispanic market -- click here for all the posts about Lily's.

Delicious: Zambos Plantain Chips at Lily's Mexican Market

You can sample big, exotic tastes in little bags if you browse the chips at Lily's Mexican Market or the other Hispanic markets around.

Zambos plantain chips are one of the dozens of varieties for sale at the front of Lily's. They're like potato chips, but thin-cut plantains instead. And they're dusted with chile, lime and salt -- a spectacular variation on the Old Bay chip or the BBQ classic.

I served the Zambos chips with sandwiches one Saturday. Both of my pre-school guests complained and went back to Tostitos. But the adults reached for more. I thought they were delicious. If anything, less greasy than good potato chips, and the lime flavor was different without being overwhelming like too many Doritos and other snacks.

You could bring a bag home, or you could snack on chips if you stop at Lily's for tacos. They'd be especially good with the carnitas or the carne asada.

Click here for all the posts about Lily's Mexican Market. And if you like Mexican snacks, check out the Mexican candies like the tamarind maracas at Lily's or the El Club Mexicano variety packs at Mexican Bazaar.

Lily's Mexican Market
6490 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia, MD 21045
410-772-5459

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with the DMV, Lily's and Sushi King restaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

Take Out Tacos at Lily's Mexican Market

Lily's Mexican Market now leads the parade of Howard County taco trucks.

Ok, so Lily's isn't actually a truck. It's one of the best ethnic markets around. But the takeout counter that Lily's opened with its fresh tortilla machine transforms a great place for groceries into a spectacular place to stop for a quick meal.

The tacos are a touch more expensive than El Nayar or the trucks on U.S. 1 like Pupuseria Lorenita's in Elkridge and Pupuceria Y Taqueria Los Pinos in Laurel. But for $2.50, you get a much larger taco -- meat filing, vegetables, salsa, and two of Lily's warm tortillas. Three was honestly too much in one sitting. These are simple fare, but I loved the carne asada and the pork carnitas. The barbacoa at Lily's is barbequed meat more like pulled pork than the chopped steak that you get at other taco joints.

They're an easy lunch for $7 -- two tacos and a drink. Lily's has Mexican sodas in the cooler, but it also has horchata and tamarind drink in fountain dispenser across from the takeout stand. The horchata was a nice diversion, although I think the metal cart outside the U.S. 1 flea market was a touch creamier. If you have the interest, you should definitely sample the tacos around town.

Lily's also does takeout chickens -- quarters and halves. You can build yourself a great takeout dinner with some avocados from the produce area or maybe some chorizo from Lily's butcher. You can pair it all with one of the lightly sweet pastries near the entrance for dessert.

While you're waiting for your food, check out Lily's aisles, including the jars of yellow aji peppers.  If you like tacos, consider buying cactus in Lily's produce section for easy cactus tacos.  If you like Mexican food, definitely check out El Azteca in Clarksville or La Palapa Too in Laurel.   If you are looking for great takeout dinners, try Lotte in Ellicott City for the makings of a Korean feast.

(Update: I had an old address here. Lily's is at 6490 Dobbin -- in the same shopping center as the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market
6490 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia, MD 21045
410-772-5459

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with the DMV, Lily's and Sushi King restaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

Tortillas: Hot off the press at Lily's Mexican Market

Fresh, warm tortillas are a luxury that you can now enjoy any time that you can drive to Dobbin Road.

Lily's Mexican Market is doubling in size, expanding next door into the space that Second Hand Books vacated to move down the shopping center. Lily's is adding a takeout counter to go with the existing butcher, and, in the last week or so, they installed a tortilla machine. The long metal machine presses dough and kicks out soft, warm tortillas, which cost about $1.50 for a bag of about 30. (Update: Now, you can buy takeout tacos that are out of this world. And you can drink horchata.)

Less than $2 for tortillas that are soft with a light smell like corn-on-the-cob grilled on a barbecue. They're a treat and an authentic flavor that you just can't get from factory-made food, and they are strong -- stretching, not splitting, around the filling. Wrap up any taco makings. Try the fajita meat from Lily's butcher. Try the cactus pads in the produce section for easy cactus tacos. Or borrow Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless from the HoCo Library and explore Mexican food like I recommended in February.

The expansion improves a store that already offered a selection of Mexican and Salvadoran goods. With Caezar International for Middle Eastern's food, this is the class of local markets. Fajita meat and three kinds of chorizo at the butcher. Mild, soft cheeses. Jars of cactus or spicy, yellow aji peppers. Fresh cactus, avocados and other produce. Bags of corn meal. Mexican sodas and candy. The extended selection of Goya beans and sauces. I had an orange empanada Sunday morning from the bakery display case, and it was delicious -- a soft pastry with a filling like the best orange marmalade.

Now, Lily's is the standard for any ethnic market around. Great selection. Professional employees. You can get someone on the phone to answer questions in English or Spanish. The butcher was pleased to explain the difference between Mexican and El Salvadoran sausages. You could go to Lily's for basic ingredients, or you could treat it like takeout and buy tortillas, meat, salsa, cheese and some vegetables to chop.

You can even go if the only cooking that you do is reheating. Try the tamales in the freezer section. They're corn meal tamales wrapped in corn husks. They'll stay in your freezer. To make them, you just let them defrost in the fridge, then steam them for 8-10 minutes. Mrs. HowChow savors her memories of tamales at the the farmers market near the UCLA hospital. These aren't as perfect as her memories, but they're delicious served with salsa.

If you like Lily's, then go explore other ethnic shopping in a post about Middle Eastern, Indian, etc. markets.

If you want more Mexican shopping, then consider the Panam Supermarket in Laurel. Panam has full produce and butcher sections, offering a greater selection than Lily's. If you want another Mexican adventure, check out "The Taco Truck" (Pupuseria Lorenita's).

(Update: I had an old address here. Lily's is at 6490 Dobbin -- in the same shopping center as the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market

6490 Dobbin Road

Columbia, MD 21045

410-772-5459

An earlier profile

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with the DMV, Lily's and Sushi King restaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

Delicious: Chipotle Peppers

Chipotle peppers are the easiest way to add Mexican flavor to anything.

They're smoked jalepeno peppers, and they're sold in cans packed in adobo sauce -- a dark red sauce made from vinegar, oil, garlic and onions. I assume it's the vinegar, but chipotle peppers last for weeks if not months in my fridge. I pour the entire can into a plastic tub and pull that out whenever I need one pepper or even just a teaspoon of the adobo sauce.

They're essential for cooking many Mexican foods. See my post about Rick Bayless' book Mexican Everyday. They're also delicious mixed into your favorite foods like omelets, chili, or salsas. Make BBQ sauce. Make chipotle mayonnaise. Or better yet, go buy some avocados, goat cheese and salted pistachios for Mrs. HowChow's Philadelphia Guacamole.

Inspired by guacamole at El Vez in Philadelphia, Mrs. HowChow has developed a guacamole with bite, heat and crunch. It took months of experimenting, so we don't know how far her changes have taken the guacamole, but the chipotles and their adobo sauce provide the basic flavor. There are enough nuts, but no so many that you get one every bite. So the crunch is a surprise.

"Philadelphia" Guacamole

2 avocados, flesh removed and put in a bowl

1/3 c. soft, white goat cheese

scant (just less than) 1/4 c. chipotle peppers, chopped

scant (just less than) 1/3 c. salted pistachios (out of the shell)

Mix all these ingredients together. You'll see little flecks of red from the peppers and white from the cheese. Taste. Add adobo sauce in 1 tsp. increments and stir. Taste each time to reach the heat that you want. A little sauce is essential because it spreads more flavor than the peppers on their own. But heat increases with each spoonful, so go slow.

You can buy Chipotle peppers at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia, Tere's Latin Market in Ellicott City, or at the H-Mart in Catonsville. You can also find them in some supermarkets.

Ethnic Markets and Cookbooks

Ethic groceries are a luxury of modern life. For $10, you can walk out with a slice of somewhere far away -- a sauce, a spice, a cheese. For immigrants, that slice can be a taste of home, but for anyone else, it is a chance to explore without paying for an airline ticket.

This is a brief summary of three markets that I have come to like -- Mexican, Middle Eastern and Asian. I hope to return to each in detail and visit an Indian market in Columbia, but for now, I paired some with cookbooks that would help you take advantage of the things that you'll find.

(Update: I profiled three more markets, including an Indian one, in May. Or check out a comprehensive list of organic and ethnic markets.)

Mexican: Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia

Lily's is a small, professional market at the end of the shopping center with the Express DMV and Sushi King. It has well-stocked shelves and a butcher in the back. Although there is a small amount of produce, the shelves are mostly cans, jars and packages labeled in Spanish and English and sold by national or international brands.

Terrific for finding Mexican staples like masa, the soft and crumbling cheeses, and both thin and hand-made tortillas. There are some unique items like fresh cactus, but mostly, it is Mexican brands of things you know -- sodas, cookies, chipotle peppers, beans, etc. There is a broader selection of Goya products, including recaito and several types of refried beans.

Buy a copy of any cookbook by Rick Bayless and see if the butcher can hook you up with something new. In Mexican Everyday, Bayless cooks mostly with fresh vegetables and simple recipes. I prefer it. But in earlier books, he preached an authenticity that probably calls for some visits down Lily's Market's aisles.

(Update: Lily's now sells fresh tortillas. And Lily's sells take-out tacos.)

(Update: I had an old address here. Lily's is at 6490 Dobbin -- in the same shopping center as the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market
6490 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia, MD 21045

410-772-5459

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with DMV, Lily's and Sushi King restaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

Blog link to Lily's Mexican Market: http://www.toomanychefs.net/archives/001848.php

Greek and Middle Eastern: Aladdin in Laurel

Start with the bread, olives and yogurt. Aladdin is a small shop steps from Rte 1 in downtown Laurel. The shelves are mostly cans, bottles and bags, but you can start with fresh pita and lavash breads, including a whole wheat lavash that tears into delicious strips to be dipped in Greek-style yogurt or eaten with spicy olives. The yogurt is thicker than American yogurt, mild but somehow more flavorful than Dannon.

I don't have a Middle Eastern cookbook, but the shop is a no-cook dinner party waiting to happen. For $30, you could assemble a feast and unpack it right to the table. Fill bowls with with those olives and yogurt, then faugment the table with feta or Kashkaval cheese, baba ganoush and hummus. You can buy the dips canned, or you can buy the ingredients -- tahini, chick peas, even canned eggplant. Add a can of foul, the Egyptian-style fava beans, and six people could graze with a bag of bread. Dessert could be some figs or baklava (fresh from Canada or refrigerated from a Greek bakery apparently in Cleveland).

On top of the ready-to-eat, you can buy basic ingredients for your own cooking -- lentils, bulgar, lupini beans, rose syrup, pomegranate molasses. There are juices, including a Marco Polo brand pomegranate/sour cherry. There is an entire wall of spices (including black, dried lemons that I want to learn how to use) and a freezer with spanakopita and other heatable treats. Try the spicy samosas. I cooked them over high heat in a Pam-coated frying pan rather than deep-fry them as the package suggested. Spectacular flavor. The type of spiciness so intense that I stopped reading my newspaper, but still full of flavor and not discomfort.

Aladdin Food Mart
308 Main Street
Laurel, MD 20707
301-362-5060

NEAR: Downtown Laurel off U.S. 1. You can take Rte 216 East from I-95, then turn left at the light on Main Street.

Asian: H Mart in Catonsville and Lotte in Ellicott City

These supermarkets -- or at least the H Mart -- are worthy of long posts extolling their value and giving some suggestions. The H Mart is better, but both offer an enormous array of fruits and vegetables, large seafood sections, and an encyclopedic selection of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai packaged goods -- sauces, rices, noodles, canned vegetables and fruits, etc. Lotte really excels at prepared food -- marinated meats and panchan -- that you can buy in whatever amounts you want.

Buy Thai Food and Cooking by Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson. Great recipes that taste like the food I ate in Thailand. Great pictures, and I am often suspect of any cookbook that invests so much in the showing. An opening section describes and shows various rices, noodles, vegetables, etc. You can carry it through the H Mart and pick up everything you need except maybe kaffir lime leaves, which should be available online.

(Update: Why H Mart Is My Favorite Place For Food.)

H Mart

800 N. Rolling Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
443-612-9020

NEAR: Rte 40 just west of I-695. If you are driving from HoCo, you'll see a Starbucks and a FedEx at the end of the shopping center. Turn right immediately after the Starbucks. If you miss it, just turn right at the next intersection.

Lotte Market
8801 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-750-9656

NEAR: On Rte 40, just west of Rte 29. From Rte 29 south, you take the Rte 40 East exit, then stay in the left lane on the exit ramp. That takes you into the shopping center.

Delicious: Tamarind Maracas at Lily's Mexican Market

Great fun, but don't give to any children that you actually like.

The Tamarind Maraca is a sweet, tart and spicy candy. Imagine a chewy lollipop with the consistency of gummy bears. It's tart, almost sour, and sweet. But dusted with hot pepper. A treat for an adult. An impolite trick for any child accustomed to taste "Power Berry" or "Cran-Apple-Sugar."

Tamarind is a popular flavor in Mexican food, especially candy and sodas like the "Boing!" soft drink pictured with the Tamarind Maraca to the left. The paste tastes sour to me, but, like lemon, the flavor mixes well with sugar or used in sweet-sour cooking.

The "maracas" are a two-lollipop package sold for $1.69 at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia. They're named for those "shaker" instruments.

For more about Lily's, check out this profile or read all the posts about Lily's.  Or look through a comprehensive list of Howard County markets.

(Update: I had the wrong address here.  Lily's is in the shopping center with the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market

6490 Dobbin Center Way

Columbia, MD 21045

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Turn into the center at the intersection with a Blockbuster. Sushi King and the DMV are in the same shopping center.

Recipes that use Tamarind pulp that you can also buy at Lily's: http://recipes.epicurean.com/asc_results.jsp?ingredients=Tamarind