What Manteca means
Manteca is a Mexican ingredient name of Spanish origin meaning "lard". It comes from Spanish manteca (fat, lard). It is pronounced man-TEH-kah, and it is most associated with the whole country.
Etymology uncertain, possibly pre-Roman Iberian. Pork fat was the cooking medium the Spanish added to a cuisine that had none, and it is what makes tamales and refried beans taste the way they do.
About this origin. The etymology is uncertain, disputed, or the name is a modern brand rather than an old word. The reading above is the best-supported one; food writing repeats stories that the dictionaries do not confirm.
This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: The words that appear inside dish names: the chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, chipotle), the corn words (nixtamal, masa, tortilla, elote), and the tools (comal, molcajete, metate). Learn these and most menu items decode themselves.
