Notes on ingredients:

Molasses  When cane sugar is used to make granulated sugar, a side product is molasses.  It has a strong smokey taste and is only slightly sweet.  This is a necessary ingredient in gingerbread and BBQ sauce.

Brown Sugar  Brown sugar in the US is darker and has a different flavor from European brown sugar because most American brown sugar is made from cane and most European brown sugar is made from beets.  When brown sugar is used in a recipe here, brown sugar from cane is prefered but when it is not available, 1 tbsp of molasses and 1 c of white sugar works as a good substitute.  European brown sugar is the last choice as a substitute.

Flour  A flour that is neither really finely ground nor really coarsely ground works for the recipes in these books.

Achoite paste  Achiote paste is a Mexican spice from the Yucatan penninsula.  It is also called annato seed paste.  This has a mild but rich flavor.

Chicken fat  I use chicken fat in a lot of the stir fry recipes and soups.  It can be substituted by another animal fat.  Butter works but will give a different flavor.  Other animal fats typically have a stronger flavor.

Shortening  This is a vegetable fat with the consistency of lard.  In cookies, it can be substituted by butter, although since butter browns faster than shortening, the cookies will need to be watched closer.  In pie crusts, sopapillas, and tortillas, animal fats like lard and chicken fat work as substitutes.  Another substitute that works in these recipes is vegetable oil.  Use about 2/3 the volume of vegetable oil and mix the oil well with the flour before adding the other ingredients.  You may need to add flour or water to the recipe to get it to the right consistency for rolling out.

Oil  When the type of oil is unspecified, use a vegetable oil other than olive oil.  Canola, corn, or sunflower seed oil work well.  (Note that sunflower oil has a stronger taste but is also higher in saturated fatty acides.  Canola is the healthiest.)