rancho_gordo

And I have to disagree again. Please keep in mind that they are a customer so maybe I am a little protective. They are part of the Houstons family but they have a a lot of independence as well. And locals love it. I've seen them change the menu based on what is available and good. Another thing is that during the market seasons, you see the chef (McFeely) and his staff in both St Helena and Napa markets every week buying produce, something you don't see from the more reknowned, psuedo-green chefs in the valley. Buy me a drink and I can tell you who buys local and who would like to but is too busy waiting for the Sysco truck! I think Carrie is right in that if you have limited time, this might not make the top 3 but if you make friends with a local, you're just as likely to end up at Rutherford Grill as the bar at Martini House or Pizza Azzuro.

With three hungry roommates, what I have won't last long. After having another bowl today, I've decided that it could have used another can of hominy, and I probably could have doubled the number of chiles I used. It's quite mild, but all the better to juice it up with some hot sauce. ← I have made pozole but twice in my life (always using smoked meat and stock), and my family always felt that more was better than less when it came to the posole. ← And leftover hominy can be pureed for grits. Out of this WORLD! Here's my version.

Hi Stan. Was I there? Did we meet? We had a lot of visitors at the warehouse last week. Was I nice? Incredibly good looking? The Napa Nuts folks are great and supply the pumpkin seeds for my Rio Fuego hot sauce. Glad you got to stop in!

I tasted El Rey (note spelling) at the Fancy Food Show today. Sublime.

And I still do, but uncooked. Just chopping in advance makes a huge time difference and sweating them just takes minutes. ← I do it and vacuum seal it. Plus just onion and garlic for Mexican. All great for a foundation for a pot of beans. It's also great because I rarely can use up a whole celery bunch before it goes bad. This solves that problem.

I bought a set for an great price, even with shipping from Bridge, about a year ago and I love them more than ever. I'm sure All Clad is excellent but it seems like people with sets of All Clad and fab kitchens with Viking ranges are often crappy cooks. I know there are exceptions but I have this thing in my mind against All Clad and pristine,underused kitchens.

If Oaxacan food isn't Mexican I don't know what is! The fried grasshoppers sound like Mexico City, where you can also get insect mole (ant to be exact). I think of the grasshoppers as a very Oaxacan thing. Maybe I'm wrong.

A few years ago I bought a bunch of Anchor-Hocking glass rectangle things with glass lids. I think I first found them at Restoration Hardware and later with less interesting packaging at Bed and Bath Superstore, but cheaper and exactly the same thing. They look very 1930s and I love them. Not good for travel but good for the fridge and microwave and you can see through them.

I think it makes sense if they're in Arizona. Posole in the US for the grain and the stew, Pozole in Mexico for the stew only. I'm sure someone will now tell me about a village in Nayarit that call the corn pozole. And I will smile!

You can bet I'll be watching the results of this! I've made the clarification before, but I think I should repeat it. I sell dried, prepared hominy/posole. The skin has been removed already (as it has with the canned). You just have to soak and simmer. it is an American Indian style product. You wouldn't find it in Mexico. i think it's better than the Mexican, but that's a matter of preference. If you really like to butch things up, Mexican style, you can buy buy the large kernels of dried corn, soak it in CaL (lime) and then rub the skins off and rinse. I hear some Latin markets have this frozen, which I've never tried. Posole= the actual corn and the stew/dish, from the American Southwest courtesy of our Native Americans Pozole = A Mexican stew. The corn itself is never referred to as "pozole", only the final dish. Abra, I can no longer eat the canned! Unless it's pureed (grits) with chiles and cheese and cream and then sauteed. but I could probably handle most anything with chiles and cheese.

There are references to grilled pasilla peppers. These are dried peppers. Are they really Anchos? I know some stores call Anchos as Pasillas but is this the case here?

What's interesting is a lot of people would tell you to take a cup or more out and puree it in the blender and then return it to the pot for a creamy soup. Nay, say I! The pot liquor as you have it is one of the most wonderful things going. I like the creamy, too, depending on the dish, but this looks super.

Upvalley, there's a sign that welcomes you to Napa Valley and there's a quote from RL Stevenson: ...and the wine was bottled poetry... In this segement I mentioned if they ever were to change it, I'd suggest ...and the beans were boiled poetry... and then I'd know I'd made it. The prodicers of the TV show morphed the sign into my quote. I laughed pretty loud at that! Glad the show made it to Florida! And thanks for the support. And you have excellent taste. That is an amazing bean.

I won't go into the politics but I will say transfats have made processed American foods from crackers to cookies to whatever taste like crap. They last a lifetime but they taste nasty.

Thanks for all the nice comments. It does take me a long time to hand paint each bean, but in the end, I do think it's worth the bother! I did want to let you know that late this summer the TV show In Wine Country filmed here for a few days and saw my trial gardens and how we hand thresh the beans (just the trial beans, not the production beans, which is almost all automated). They filmed for 2 days so it should be at least somewhat interesting and you can laugh at my bad "TV presence". The show airs Saturday. Here in the Bay Area it's NBC11 (at 6:30 pm) but across the country it's NBC affiliates in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Miami, Philadelphia and Hartford, CT. To avoid trouble with this thread, please PM if you have any questions about the show rather than post here. I think it's OK to ask about actual bean things here, however. I'd be curious to see how you clean your beans at home after harvesting. I think you'll like the technique we use, if it makes it in the final cut. This broadcast will also apparently feature David Kinch and Manresa.

In my experience, they love new greens and not so much the established plants. But they are going for bugs and if you have any kind of irrigation system, you can kiss it goodbye. They just aren't very considerate, which isn't wise considering how good they taste in a taco.

Has D&D gone through a major change? The branch here in Napa is decidedly different and not better. I'm not sure what's going on and thought maybe they had been bought out.

(Nathan @ Dec 5 2006, 11:57 AM) I have chickens and they leave their coop and roam around their large pen all day. One flies over the fence and escapes almost daily. Once the dogs are in they can't wait to go out for their evening "constitutional" around the property before dusk. They also show no interest in their own feces.

I have that one, too! I bought it, in fact, at Acres of Books in Long Beach a million and a half years ago! copyright 1934. It's still pretty good and the woodcut illustrations are great.

I really loved The Feast of Santa Fe. No pictures but lots of interesting text (both pro and con re the cuisine) and not just recipes.

Try BaRKeepers Friend. Let it stand for five minutes, then rinse. It will be gone! John de Paula wrote: You are "one of us". The temptaion is to tart them up but good beans need very little, don't you think?

I always make the posole and then put the leftovers (if there are any) in a food processor to make grits. How do you make them directly from the prepared hominy? I'm kind of excited!

It's clay, from The Spanish Table (Seattle-Berkeley-Mill Valley). I love it and cook right on the fire with it. I can even turn it up pretty high, although it's not neccasary, really.

The Slow Food bean that's on the Ark of Taste refers to the Marrow or Marrowfat bean, not a pea.

I just looked at the list Steve has available right now at Rancho Gordo and don't see any. But there is no doubt, he should be your 'go to' source for heirloom beans ← thanks. It feels like "old home" week here on eG. We grow Marrow beans, which are a small white bean, not a pea. In fact, we only grown indigenous beans to the Americas, which is why we grow Flageolet but not lentils.