shelora
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Posts posted by shelora
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Here in London, the dinner on the 15th capped of a whole Gastronomic Week in a new Mexican restaurant where I have been cooking, you may have seen the posts here: Mestizo in London
The menu was very complete, unfortunately, I don't have the photos, but everything was great, we even managed to get fresh poblanos for the chiles en nogada, which is a great feat in the UK! Here is what we made and ate:
Tostadas de Salpicon de Carne
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Tlacoyo de Frijol Negro
Sopa Seca de Fideos
Ensalada de Berros
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Ensalada de nopales
Mixiote de Cordero en Mole Colorado
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Pollo en Pipian
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Pescado al Chipotle
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Medallones de Filete en Salsa de Cuitlacoche Metzli
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Chiles en Nogada
Buñuelos
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Capirotada
We had mariachis, a lot of dancing, and at midnight, one of the owners called out the GRITO, very nicely!
Of course the next day we had a menu for the cruda, birria, menudo, torats ahogadas, huevos rancheros and pozole... it was sorley needed!
Sandra,
I applaud your pioneering efforts to create these dishes in the UK. I wish you great future success.
Where are you finding most of your ingredients?
shelora
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Either our interpretation, or the traditional dish prepared by a native of the culture, but in a location where the usual ingredients are not available, and desire for the foods of home outstrips the willingness to wait until they can find the culturally appropriate, or 'real' ingredients to make it with.
This is the reason that I haven't made that unusual mole recipe you sent me, that is taped to my kitchen cupboard. I'll find those chilcoztlis when I'm in Oaxaca this December.
I prefer exploring the original recipe first, before substituting chilies.
But now that I've said that and again reread your post, substituting ingredients happens a lot in "authentic" Mexican kitchens, no?
Thickening types of moles for example. If stale bread isn't available, I've heard of some women using animal crackers.
Are you saying that a recipe pre-conquest would be the most traditional?
A lot of what we think of as 'ethnic' food is really the foods or cuisines of the financially and politically fortunate or elite of the country or culture in question. That is the only form of cooking that contemplates such a thing as a chef, or specially trained person, to elaborate and promulgate it. It is, nine times out of ten, the only cuisine which is widely written about. And that is often true even today. The written records - ancient or contemporary, ethnographic piece or cookbook - is largely devoted to these dishes and not those of 'the people.' Since it is these records which provide the majority of us with our access to learning about a particular cuisine, it further skews our view of what is 'authentic' xyz cooking.I'm not sure I understand this, Thea. Can you site an example of an 'ethnic' food that is of the financially or politically fortunate?
Shelora
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I've got a line on Droste cocoa.
I also know where you can get some Scharffenberger.
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The most glaring result of egullet in my life is the recurring scenario.
"Honey, what did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Well, who are you talking to?"
"Um. Egullet."
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Ever heard of poutine? It's a French Canadian "delicacy" involving melted cheese curds and gravy over French fries.
On a cold winter day with lots of black pepper? Watch out.
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Potato issue:
I just got off the phone with my local produce guy and he informed me of the following.
The kind of potatoes that I wanted Russet Burbank are not available all year, I guess there are two months out of the year where they are not available.
He also went on to tell me that the Burbank is only one kind of Russet. They also grow a potato called Norcoda and Gold Rush. From what I gather, the Burbank is the best because of the low moisture content. They will be unavailable from the middle of Sept to the end of Oct. This means that I may need to switch to the Gold Rush potato and adjust the fryer temp to acount for the higher moisture content.
With a fresh potato, I will also have to deal with the price going up and down along with potato size. These I can not control...I have to leave this up to mother nature and the whole supply and demand rules of the market.
It takes alot of work to produce a great product. Now I see why so many (fast food) establishments go with a frozen fry
Having done some research into the French fries available where I live, the restaurnts who cut their own use, without a doubt, Kennebeck potatoes. Why? Consistency. The majority of these potatoes hail from the U.S. Have you ever heard of them?
I found the oil used in frying is 100% canola, with one location using peanut oil and another beef tallow.
All the places have different degrees of fry excellence but the potato used remains the same throughout. I've seen these great boxes of spuds in restaurants and each potato is pretty much the same size.
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The plate of beans and tortillas, but not always rice, is typically rounded off with greens of some sort, and salsas. Chiles bring much to the plate other than heat: stimulation of gastric juices, flavor, aroma, and Vitamins A and C. It is, all in all, a very healthful diet. The problem comes in when you fry everything , and do it up with sour cream, flour tortillas, and yellow cheese.
And yes, they do do this so much in Mexico.
Thanks for setting the record straight Theabroma. Just beautiful.
I've missed you on this forum.
Welcome back.
s
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Just got back from Mexico, and ate at Izote. It was a disappointment; the worst kind. The setting is very fresh and well done, in the bosom of the haute chichi Polanco. The menu promised much, and delivered good food, but well below expectations from the press, classes w/Quintana over the years, working with her books (including Mullis), and eating a Isidora's, another nueva cocina azteca spot for which she was the consultant.
Interesting items, not at the top of the execution required, and not enitrely thought through. The quartet of tamalitos had a gorgeous, austere presentation, and mouth-engaging fillings. But. The proportion of cheese to masa was, for me and I think for a tamal, way off. When you steam Mx cheeses like quesillo for a long time they can become rubbery. I had a moment's panic that I had tied into some exotic form of Mexican albino Double Bubble. The foie gras in the pickled ancho, with caramelized onions was a well tuned symphony of flavors, but the textures got away from the dish, and the foie gras was constructed more like sweetbreads, rather than in one glossy, unctuous slab. A little like trim. And trim of good foie gras is fine, depending on how it is handled.
A more satisfying, and less expensive, meal was had a El Cardenal, an old warhorse in the Centro Historico. A taqueza of cuitlacoche with kernels the size of the Hope Diamond, lightly sauteed with rajas of poblana, cebolla de cambray, and a touch of garlic with a deck of hand made tortillas in a linen napkin. Escamoles like a pile of pearls atop the jade green velvet of avocado. Nothing forced, everything at the top of its game. A superb meal.
I just wish Izote were more articulate.
Theabroma
I value your opinion, Theabroma. Excellent review. Since I'll be staying the Centro Historico in December, I think I will concentrate on the restaurants there. Coox Hanal, from a previous thread and your recommendations of El Cardenal are intriguing.
Izote is still on my top ten to try, but I'm too jazzed about classic Mexican cuisine and Mexico is the only chance I get to feast on it. I've already been daydreaming about freshly made quesadillas with squash blossoms, epazote, quesillo and a smearing of asiento. Only two more months and I'll be there.
s
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When I make Mexican food and need to use raisins, for a picadillo for example, I plump them up in a warm mixture of tequila, orange juice and a bit of panela (cane sugar).
I never thought about adding them to the cheeseboard. Until now. What an exquisite idea. Thanks Genevieve M.!
s
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Thanks for resurrecting this thread.
Honestly, i am not a risotto fan, but recently i've learnt about so many other possibilities with italian rice - rice salad, roasted rice (riso arrosto), savory rice cake (bomba di riso).I'm so curious as to why you aren't a risotto fan. Is it the creamy-ness? Because if it is I won't wax poetic about arborio rice pudding.
Then there is that wonderful show stopper of a dish, Tumala. A Sicilian based rice and pasta timbale. Baked in a stainless steel bowl, the dish is inverted to release the now perfectly round dish. Sliced like a cake, served with a tomato sauce and lots of pecorino. s
The recipe was featured in a back issue of Saveur mag and then printed in their book Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian.
And of course, leftover risotto makes killer croquettes or fried rice cakes with a bit of bread crumbs and egg.
s
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Quite sad isn't it. Believe me, they are there, lurking in the distance. Come out, come out, wherever you are.
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That would be a molcajete (the mortar) and tejolote (the pestle). I thought those were the dog's teeth--are you sure it's a corn cob?
Yes, the tejolote dog has a corn cob in it's mouth. Sorry I cannot provide a side profile.
What a great post Esperanza! What a great party! And thanks for the explanation on the grito.
It never did happen up here.
Maybe next year!
s
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I make a sorbet of flor de jamaica for our restaurant. For many of our customers it is their first introduction to jamaica ... until I tell them about Red Zinger.
The sorbet is very easy and very popular. I just steep a bunch of jamaica to make a very strong tea, then mix it with sugar syrup and freeze in the Simac into a gorgeous fuchsia sorbet.
I serve it in a martini glass garnished with a twist of lime. If I had hibiscus flowers I'd use those.
Barb
Do you add more sugar syrup to make a sorbet than you would to make an agua fresca?
Great to hear a new voice on the forum here. Welcome.
Shelora
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Concern for caloric intake has limited my bubble tea consumption, but I have fond memories of Milk bubble tea and taro. Don't care for the fruit flavours.
The bubbles are wonderfully chewy. Mmmm.
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I'm gonna go check out this HSG. Any recommendations on what I should order. I like to try recommendations, otherwise I always find myself ordering the things I like. But recommendations better allow me to explore a menu.
My favourites? Mussels Diablo. Pear and Stilton Salad. Black and Blue Tuna. Any risotto that comes out of Neil's kitchen. Hanger Steak. And Warm Gingerbread Pudding.
Enjoy your dinner!
Ditto on the hanger steak and the gingerbread pudding. I have yet to go beyond these two, but plan on it in the near future.
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Does anyone know a local shop that carries the Chef Revival line of uniforms? I can't seem to find any, besides the original website, which only does mail order. I'm looking for short sleeve jackets. Thanks in advance!
Have you tried Blackwood Career Apparel? They may be able to help you.
1055 Clark Dr. ph. 604-872-5088 or toll free 1-800-325-2322
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dude you need to get the name right its called "taste of the city", and yes it was a good time, we need more events of its kind
Can you please elaborate on why you need more of these kinds of events? As an outsider, the restaurant industry seems to be doing just fine, even a lot more than just fine in Vancouver.
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Oh, those.
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For all those garlic lovers out there, Mark Bittman's column from today's Times is all about dishes made with abundant amounts of garlic!
I do adore that man!
I'm on my second batch of skordalia and this time I'm using it as a throw-in to pasta along with - isn't this a coincidence - a roasted red pepper puree from Bittman's book, The Minimalist Cooks at Home.
I also paid a visit to an old friend - the classic roasted whole bulb of garlic spread on good bread with a slice of cambazola cheese. It was a nice visit, but really that skordalia rules!
Shelora,If you have a small plot of soil you can grow your own. You plant the cloves (bulbs) in the fall and in the summer you'll have all the garlic you want. My dad did this one year, we had tons of garlic. None of that supermarket with the green sprout in the middle of the clove, for us that season.
I have just been gifted with a head of "old bulb" Yugoslavian garlic from a friend. I'm to plant it just before the October new moon.
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Take-out.
Rip open the bags and let them go at it.
No matter what you make, they aren't going to appreciate the effort or have sympathy for your underlying stress.
When you say you have to grow a pair, are you referring to horns?
If you would like to acquire some sense of evil, why not make a big pot of bean soup - you can make that days in advance or even freeze - you know, something they may be reminded of when they get home later that night. You know how beans can be.
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I hear the duck is divine and probably one of the best places for duck (prepared in this fashion) in th province.
And pray tell, how do they do this duck?
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(The same's true for hogs; leaf fat, the fat surrouding the kidneys, is considered the best for making lard.)
Sorry to pipe in OT, but I have rendered the leaf lard (pork) and it is much sweeter smelling and cleaner tasting the other pork fat.
Glad to see this thread still going.
S
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Bravo Matt R. Outstanding post and photos! Thanks so much.
s
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Don't just tell them where to go-- take them. Your treat. I totally revamped my boyfriend's eating habits that way.
Nice.
Food Rules in Mexico
in Mexico: Cooking & Baking
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The waiter handled that so gracefully. Reading that story made me first repulsed, then nauseous followed by a wave of sadness. Sigh!