rancho_gordo

Alas, the source is just a local grocer who gets it from a tortilleria in Ft. Worth: there is no one to ask. The ingredients list is un-helpful, listing corn, cal and water. I was sort of hoping for some kind of indicator of fresh masa... I don't know if I've ever had it, so I can't do a direct comparison with experience. ← I'd probably assume it's from masa harina then. Fresh has slightly spongy texture and fresher taste. How's that for no help at all?

Is there a reliable way to tell if the "fresh masa" I buy is really fresh, or if it's just reconstituted dried? After months of searching I finally found a source for "fresh masa" in Oklahoma City, and I'd love to figure out (even if it is only academic) whether it is really fresh. ← I think the thing you need to ask is if it's made from Nixtamal or masa harina.

I love them both and would hate to have to do without either, but at gunpoint, I'd grab the Kennedy books. She's an excellent writer and goes narrow and deep, which is welcome if you enjoy the subject. The reality is that there are many Mexicos and one book isn't likely to do it. I like to think I know a lot about Mexican food but I also am well aware of my huge pockets of ignorance. Having said all that, I think the crockpot recipes for Bayless' Mexican Everyday are muy clever. (Hi Kalypso. Nice to see you. Where have you been?)

Sorry- I missed this. To make hominy, you need nixtamalize the corn, as described by rooftop1000, only you can use common lime (cal, not the citrus). To a pot of corn and water, you add about 2 spoonfuls of cal and gently bring it to just short of a boil. Cook for about 40 minutes for hominy (10 to 15 if you're going to make tortillas) and then cover and let rest all night. Then you rub, rinse and (here comes the hard part), you pinch the small germ off of each kernel. You don't have to pinch but if you want the hominy to "flower" when it's cooked, you'll need to. An alternate is buying Prepared Hominy or Posole (in the US Southwest and from ranchogordo.com) where the work has been done. You just soak (in plain water) and simmer. The germ is there but the process allows it to flower without the labor. WHole corn with the skin on is good for grinding dry into polenta, cornmeal and mush but I can't imagine a situation where you just cook it.

There are lots of clay pots that can be used on the stove, with direct flame. I have dozens and dozens. I'm pretty sure those Asian sand pots are fine. Almost all the Mexican pots are good and many from Europe.

They're pretty adamant that I don't and I understand. Luckily, there apparently is someone who grows them and they'll have them for sale. Mine are just available at Marlow and Sons in NY, and of course mail order.

I'm glad you like what you see so far. My editor told me we're all ready going into another printing, based on reaction and pre-sales. I told him it was probably my mother and her friends and not to get too excited but it seems a go. adey73, there's a metric conversion chart in the back, but this kind of cooking isn't so specific. Some of this and that and you have magic. rohandaft, I'm loving your book, Menu del Dia. I hope mine works for you!

Word comes back that shipping notices have been received and smaller bookstores actually have it in stock. Help is on the way!

It's a recipe book, but we've listed substitutions if you can't find that exact bean. The introduction is by Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. I thought I'd give him a break and help him out with a little promotion! Some of the recipes are from my restaurant customers like Manresa, Range, Blue Hill at Stonebarns and some are original, from my kitchen and some by Vanessa Barrington. We chose not to make it Mexican even though there is a lot of Mexican and Latin included. There's a lot of theory on cooking beans (including The Parson's Method from our own Russ) and an entry on how to reinvent a pot of beans. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out. Amazon seems nutty today but it's on Barnes and Noble and smaller bookstores seem to have it already.

Maybe they're waiting for some free samples? I'm waiting for it to show up on amazon.co.jp. Tick...tock... ← I think it's here!

Anyone seen this one, yet? It should be out shortly according to Amazon, but I find books often come out earlier than stated (at least from Amazon). ← The original date was 9/1. Even though the book is in warehouses ready to ship, they changed the date to 9/17. Growing and cooking beans makes much more sense than the publishing industry. If you're in the bay area this Sunday, we're having a book signing at the Jimtown store in Healdsburg. Invite.

Technically true, but in the southeast the term has come to mean flat, stringed beans that require lengthy cooking to render them edible. The cured pork not only gives the beans a nice flavor, but means that they can more or less stand in for "meat" in an otherwise meat-poor diet. ← Wow. that's too bad. it's incredibly wrong! I think what you're describing is an old fashioned string bean. And not so fresh. There are many very delicate, delicious beans that can be steamed that grow as poles.

There's a great, interesting article in this month's San Francisco magazine on Slow Food Nation: It's very thoughtful and shows all the pros and cons much better than I've seen anywhere else. It's also nice to see Anya Fernald admit mistakes were made. It calms the critics and allows things to move forward. And of course I'm quoted a little, making Pulitzer prize potential. Slow Food was here in San Francisco Magazine.

If you like hot food and the chiles are fresh, like jalapeños or serranos, I'd always include the seeds. Roasted poblanos get no seeds for me. Dried hydrated chiles are generally seeded except in some recipes, like for cascabels, you roast and grind the seeds and add to some dishes. The black seeds from a manzano/peron chile are supposed to be toxic.

I wonder if they aren't De Arbol chiles from the way the chile is growing upwards, like a tree. They normally are longer and thinner and used dried. Do they taste good?

Obviously I've been thinking more and more on this. Our situation is very different than Italy's and this group is being run as if we're the same. We don't have a rich food tradition. We have one, but it's not comparable to Italy's and we'd throw it out the window in a second if we thought we could make a buck. So Slow Food's worrying about the type of person who chooses to enter the realm of producing clean, safe, real food and having the chutzpah to base the success on who attends their jamboree, is irrelevant here. As long as someone is buying it and producing it, we can at least tread water. You may not agree with them 100%, but remember, the head of the worldwide organization, the head of the US organization and at least one board member who understood he was talking to the New York Times feels this way. Of course it's going to be wealthy 35 year olds and up who are going to dictate this with their dollars. I just saw in Wal-Mart that they have organic cotton tees. And logo totes to avoid using plastic bags. It's not perfect, but it's a start and it wasn't from management sitting around pondering how to make the world a more loving place. And why should a poor person who is working a crap job and loves football going to go to the farmers market and spend the afternoon lovingly preparing French lettuces? He's just not that into food. It starts with the "elite" things like the ferry plaza market that gets locals and tourists excited about food.

Congratulations, Steve! Does this mean we can look forward to lower bean prices in the future? Sorry - just trying to bring a little levity to the situation. Not a chance! And double for you! That's funny. It's still a pretty big thing here and I knew people who went last year and still haven't shut up about it.

that's well and good and just. But the message is also that our producers need to be well paid working class people. That our model, heaven forbid, should be on Italy. That a market that is actually feeding people and helping farmers is a problem. It's like a church. Your congregation may dig farm dinners and bake sales but the message from the Vatican is very different. You get Lesser or Petrini or even better, Kummer, to say that and I'll happily concede that point. But they won't. The funny thing is all those cool under 35 year olds are going to be at Burning Man and if it is a success, it will be because of those natty seniors who pay Petrini's bills. You threw her name out. I only responded. I was being interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about all the hoopla and called her as a courtesy to see if we couldn't solve things before it went further. She couldn't bring herself to answer a direct question but promised some kind of statement that would "help". Nothing ever arrived. But what disturbs me most, and why I think SF should have a very limited leadership role, is this inability to own up. Petrini made up facts to bolster his impression. Oops! Sorry about that. Doesn't mean we don't believe in the rest of it or that all the kool-aid is tainted. He just blew it. But it take a certain brave brand of hubris to pretend it didn't happen. I wonder if Kummer could say he should have said things more tactfully. It wouldn't hurt.

Well, it sure would help if the folks with money would come on board. I think what I react to is that it's not enough that Slow is dictating how to grow the food and to some degree, which food to grow. When the hoopla happened, it was then a question of who grows it. I don't think that matters Now it seems they want you to be a certain kind of customer as well. Don't forget, the end of the sentence "Slow Food is elitist" is "and arrogant." Dictating the aesthetics and politics of dining is a real mistake, especially in America. And you would think I would be the poster child for the cause. I take rare and neglected seeds that often are on the verge of extinction, most of them certainly not grown commercially by anyone else. You have to slow cook my food. You don't just heat it up, you have to learn the tiniest bit about cooking. Happily I'm on the brink of actually making a small profit after many years and many 7 day work weeks, not thanks to Slow Food, but in a large part because of the very farmers market they respond to with such disdain. My book comes out in about 4 weeks and in the bio on the back flap it states I'm a member of Slow Food Napa Valley. I am completely embarrassed that this is stated. It's not a membership I can be proud of.

I keep thinking there is some kind of communication problem but with this, a board member speaking to the NYTimes, I now have no doubt SF has a basic disdain for the US. Or they are completely nuts. What possible kind of reaction do they expect from a comment like this? Link to the entire article, including a great quote from eG's Steven Shaw. ← Steve, I understand and respect your disdain for Petrini and Slow Food as well as the (incorrect IMO) attitude and disrespect displayed towards the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, but one of the biggest criticisms lobbed against Slow Food USA and one they are trying hard to change is the appearance of being an elitist organization geared towards a single demographic - the one highlighted by Kummer. As wonderful as it is and as much as I do not begrudge any of the farmers getting the prices they deserve, as a whole the market is not reflective of the broader appeal that the organization is trying to achieve. While it sounds like a slap in the face to the market and that demographic, I don't believe that it was intended as such to either party. The fact is, though, Kummer is correct. If that is what the event is, it will have failed. Slow Food needs to broaden its appeal, its message and its success beyond limited demographics. It has to become more mainstream for it to ultimately make a difference. FWIW, I will be meeting Erika Lesser, the Executive Director of Slow Food tonight and spending a good portion of the weekend with her. I will try to get a better feel for this then. ← Is it a crime to be over 35? Is a crime to to have an interest in fashion? What the hell does that have to do with food? Rather than pick on something that is actually doing something, why not lower the price of a Slow Food event or the membership fee, which is pretty much guaranteed to be affordable by mostly over 35 well-dressed people who support farmers markets and CSA? Sorry. I don't buy it and Lesser is a huge part of the problem. She made the situation even worse when Petrini was making up farmers to make his point by refusing to address them. And she tried to sneak into the meeting about the very situation by introducing herself as interpreter, not the head of the US organization. I think people over 35 and people who like fashion should find something else to do. Why go to a party that doesn't want you?

How can I put this delicately? Maybe this isn't the best way to win the hearts and minds of those who are interested in food, food politics and standard hygiene. From the NYTimes: I keep thinking there is some kind of communication problem but with this, a board member speaking to the NYTimes, I now have no doubt SF has a basic disdain for the US. Or they are completely nuts. What possible kind of reaction do they expect from a comment like this? Link to the entire article, including a great quote from eG's Steven Shaw.

it's back!

6ppc, I'm glad you liked the black calypsos. I think they are great with bacon. And just to make sure you know how hip you are, Metropolitan Home named them number 60 in their Design 100. It's kind of silly but I'm happy they get their due. 50$ re the health: Last week it was black beans and next week it will be pink. I'm hearing rumblings about white lupini as well. I think all the beans are a super food and they tend to pick one when they do these studies but not compare it to other beans. They're all Phaselous vulgaris and of the same family (except for runners, limas and teparies) so I doubt there's that much of a difference. But I'm no scientist. I eat them because they taste so good.

Wow. It's beautiful and you should be proud! Already learned a new trick with shears and pizza, just by scanning. Good job!

Don't you have the Greenmarket system? What is this Hudson Valley I keep hearing about? I'm not sure the last time you were in Napa, but there is a thriving Applebee's that made headlines when it opened. We have seasonal farmers markets that don't go all year. As I said, I pulled citrus out of a hat. But why not get citrus from Florida or Calif for all the reasons I mentioned? Why have another country grow our food? I think I know. But change it to chard or carrots.