kalypso

Salsa de Chile Pasilla de Oaxaca (Oaxacan Pasilla Chile Sauce) pg. 56 Chile pasilla de Oaxaca is a dried, smoked chile. It's fairly rare and probably one of the most expensive chiles. Last December 2 kilos of them cost $460 pesos (about $35 USD, or about $17/lb). The flavor is unique and exotic; the smoked flavor is prounounced by not over powering. This chile is not often found outside of Oaxaca, not even in other parts of Mexico. I've never seen it available for purchase in the U.S. This salsa is addictive and wonderful. It's made with 5 ingredients, 10 oz of tomate verde, 4 chile pasilla de Oaxaca, 4 cloves of garlic, a little water and some salt. The tomates verdes are diced and cooked until soft with a bit of water. The recommended way of toasting the chiles and garlic is to bury them in hot (but not red) ashes until they have softened. Since I didn't have any hot ashes handy, I just toasted them on a comal. The chiles are not seeded or soaked. The recipe says to make this salsa in a molcajete, mine isn't big enough so I made it in the small bowl of my food processor. That worked just fine. Mince the garlic and salt in the food processor, add the chiles 1 or 2 at a time along with some water. Gradually add the tomates verdes along with a little of their water. Process to blend, sauce should retain some of it's texutre. The salsa has a wonderfully deep smokey flavor and packs a reasonable punch. It did mellow some sitting over night. It goes well with eggs, chicken, pork starches like rice or potatoes and vegetables such as corn or chayote. I also tried it with some requeson (lightly salted, cheese that is slightly wetter than ricotta) this afternoon and it paired well with that. The photo for this dish wouldn't load either. 10 oz. of tomatillos could be easily be substituted for the tomates verdes. Unforutnately a regular pasilla can not be substituted for the chile pasilla de Oaxaca. The whole point of this salsa is the piquant smokey bite.

I will confess right up front I have been a huge fan of Diana Kennedy since I purhcased "The Cuisines of Mexico" some 25+ years ago. I've read her books like novels and they've inhabited my nightstand off and on for years. I've heard many comments over the years that her recipes are intimidating and not approachable. Funny, for me it was just the opposite, she made the food and Mexico come alive for me. If her cookbooks hooked me, my first class with her back in 1993 set the hook. So even thought I own the Spanish version of Oaxaca al Gusto, and knew it was classic Diana, I was looking forward to the English version as I knew it would be easier for me to manage. I also knew it would be possible to cook from the book and decided to find out just how accessible - or not - it really is. I chose to make 2 easy recipes over the weekend just to get a feel for the how the book and recipes work in practice, not theory. Arroz con Pollo Pag. 11 I had 2 concerns with this recipe, one that it would be bland and two, with 5 cups of liquid to 8 oz of rice, that the rice would be mushy. Turns out neither were a problem. Diana recommends leaving the skin on the chicken when poaching, which I did and just defatted the broth. There aren't a huge amount of seasonings in this dish, just some tomatoes (not even charred), garlic and salt, along with some onion, 2 tomates verde (tomatillos de milpa, i.e. wild tomatillos) 1 allspice berry, 1 clove and a sprig of parsley. This is not an assertive, in-your-face kind of dish, but the flavor profile was surprisingly potent. I cook for my 91 year old mother who constantly surprises me with the subtleties of her palate. She can tell almost instantly when a dish is off. Not a big rice lover, she actually loved this dish, and I have instructions to make it again. The flavors all play well together with no one single flavor dominating another. Diana says the rice should be "moist", I think it walks the fine line between being soft and mushy. My rice turned out pretty well. Each grain was separate and did not clump together. The recipe called for using a whole chicken, which I did. I think when I make this again, I will probably start with 2 whole skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts, each whole breast cut into 4 pieces. And because the white meat dries out so much, I'll probably poach them less than called for in the recipe and make up some of the liquid with chicken stock. This won't change the integrity of the dish for me, just the ease of preparation. I am lucky enough to be able to source tomate verde at the Mexican markets here in San Diego. These are tiny tomatillos about the size of a marble. They are quite tart and have lots of seeds. I couldn't see how just two of them were going to impart any flavor. But the beauty of Mexican sauces is that when made correctly they are perfectly balanced and the flavors in this dish were. The little tomatillos contributed just enough tart to counteract the tomatoes in the sauce. If regular tomatillos are all that are available, chose one that is on the small side. This was a lovely dish, not earth shattering, nor particularly challenging, but it was easy to make and tasty to eat. I do have pictures of the dish, but I am having problems uploading them.

I tend to agree on the index piece. I actually cooked from this book over the weekend. I knew the recipe I wanted to do but couldn't remember where it was in the book. When I flipped to the back and saw how the recipes were indexed, I was a bit crestfallen at the thought of having to comb through all those sections just to find one recipe. Luckily for me, it was on page 11 so I didn't have to comb far.

I may run into you Nov. 13th is a Saturday and Long Beach isn't that far from San Diego. I've been over due for a trip to the Latin American museum there.

I don't know how many of you have seen this video of Diana Kennedy talking about Oaxaca al Gusto but thought it might be a good idea to pass it along

And try you did...A for effort? My oven has both conventional and convection settings. When baking - which I do frequently - I usually use the conventional setting. So that is what I used the first time I made the Chocoflan recipe. I had to bake it 20 mintues more than the recipe indicated in order to get it done. The second time I made it I used the convection setting on the oven and it only took 10 extra minutes. I did get a little sagging of the center, but I was using a 10" springform pan and thought it might be because of the breadth across the pan. It makes a cake that is pretty wide, and I kind of wondered if there was enough support (i.e. internal structure) for the 10" cake.

Dan, I think you can just make the cake. The recipe is fairly forgiving, so even if you need to bake it longer you probably won't end up with a cake that's too dry. All ovens are different and yours might be exactly right for this cake, but you won't know til you try

I've done these a couple times for my employees at work. I've done them straight, but they seem to prefer the version with cheese inside. To do that, I usually take a slice of regular American cheese and cut it into 4 strips. Then I slit the hot dog lengthwise starting and ending somewhere between a 1/4 and 1/2 inch from each end. The slit needs to be deep enough to fit the cheese slices into so they almost fit, they will overlap somewhat and stick up past the edge of the slit. Each hot dog takes 2 slices of bacon. Start at one end and tightly wrap the bacon around the hot dog generously overlapping the bacon each time you make a lap around the dog. The trick is to wrap tightly and overlap generously. Overlap the 2nd slice of bacon and continue wrapping tightly until you get to the end of the dog. We've never had to use a toothpick to hold the bacon on. Once it's wrapped, I usually use my hands and press the bacon firmly onto the dog. We've got an 8' flat top at work, one end of which is alwyas set to a cooler temp than the other. I usually just throw them on the cooler end of the flat top and forget about them. The bacon starts cooking slowly at first, then quicker as the fat renders out of the bacon. Every so often my employees will take a turner and roll them so that the bacon eventually gets totally crispy and brown on all sides. It takes about 35-45 mintues, depending upon where my employees have set the temp on the flat top and how long it's been on, to get them fully cooked. Sometimes all the cheese seeps out, usually, if the dog has been tightly wrapped, most of it stays inside. These things are insanely good.

Me too. I think your dinner looks great and the fact you had it on the table in 30 minutes is impressive

Chilcosle chiles Yerbasanta - This grows pretty well in CA and some parts of TX. You may be able to find it growing wild in OK. Also check with local nurseries for plants, they often have them here in CA Chilhuacles negros - Generally not available in the U.S. BUT...if you're willing to try growing them you can get them here - The Chile Woman I ordered from The Chile Woman with good success. All plants arrived in great shape and thrived, as did the tomatillos I ordered from her. You may also be able to find them at the Melissa Guerra store in San Antonio, TX. It's right next door to the new CIA facility in SA. I was in there in April and remember that she had some of the less common chiles for sale. Avocado leaves (fresh) - Be very careful as the avocados generally grown in the American SW are not the same variety as grown in MX and have some toxic properties. I have dried avocado leaves and can send a small amount. Hierba de conejo - generally not available in the U.S. Chiles de agua - Generally not found outside of Oaxaca, even in MX. Gueros can often be subbed. Cuitlacoche - also spelled Huitlacoche. There are a couple of on-line sources for it frozen, Google search. It is also sold canned in the U.S. Taviche chiles - This is one chile I've not seen de Onza chiles - not available Chapulines - any Oaxacan restaurant will sell them to you. I looked for an on-line source for you but couldn't find one. Piojito - not avaiable as far as I can tell Costeños chiles - hard to find outside of Oaxaca and central Mex. I've not found them in the U.S. and I've not seen them in Tijuana Iguana - See Rancho Gordo's source :-) Moste leaves - not available Chilpayas - not available Chiltepines - I have some of these that I actually got in Veracruz, very tiny, hot chile. Chayote leaves and vines - I have eaten both vines and leaves and they are delicious. The flavor is very soft, green and somewhat herbaceous and a little grassy. They are not hard to find in Oaxaca (or Veracruze for that matter) as Sope de Guias is a fairly common soup.

I should add that I have some Oaxacan smoked chile pasilla that I brought back from a recent trip to Oaxaca that I'd be happy to ship to anyone for the cost of shipping. It's looking like I will probably be back in Oaxaca at Christmas time and I'd be happy to bring back supplies. As long as it's dried, I can bring it back (and that includes bugs)

Chris, would you post a list of what you can't find? I might be able to help. My copy arrived today and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I can actually do. I've got access to more ingredients than I thought, plus some are probably available on-line somewhere.

RG, I have the Spanish version and my English version just arrived today. I thought I did a decent job of reading/understanding the Spanish version, now I know just how much I missed Oh, well. If I thought it was amazing in Spanish, I am even more wowed with the English version. I'm planning to put the 2 English and Spanish books side by side next weekend, but at first blush they do look to be very close mirror images. The one thing I'm discovering right off, is that more of the recipes are actually doable than I thought and I can source more of the ingredient than I had originally anticipated. That may change as I go through the book in much greater detail but I'm really encouraged by my first pass through it. I can hardly wait to see how many of the recipes are really possible.

I wonder if they made up that last "Truck Stop" on the spot to give the Nom Noms, who up until now dominated but had a rather bad break on the final lap, at least a fighting chance, in order to generate some suspense. _________________ I had the same thought. The Grill em All guys were really rocking it out and the Nom Nom gals were pretty lame at Yankee Stadium. They were so far ahead there was no way Nom Nom was going to be able to catch 'em

In honor of El Grito and Mexico's 200th anniversary, I thought I'd post photos of some Chiles en Nogada that I made last week. The recipe was courtesy of Iliana de la Vega former chef/owner of El Naranjo in Oaxaca. Ingredients for the stuffing. Lean pork and beef, onion, tomato, pear, apple, plantain, a little canela, a few cloves and probably some other things I'm forgetting Chiles ready to stuff Stuffed Ready for sauce (walnuts, almonds, crema, cream cheese, salt, sugar, white pepper and milk to thin) Sauced and ready to eat

Here you go: http://ridiculousfoodsociety.blogspot.com/2008/11/bacon-rice-krispies-treats.html Enjoy! Okay, you are now officially my hero SpecialK

So the Crema didn't work, good to know. I agree Mezcal isn't the best mixer in the bar, doesn't always play well with others. I usually drink it straight, but then I drink most of my liquor straight, or darn close to straight. I have used mezcal in Oaxaca Old Fashioneds which are pretty good, nice smokey notes to the cocktail. But that's about the only cocktail I've used it in with good results.

Chris, I think your ice cream looks delicious. It is a food group right I had the first same reaction as the other Chris, which Del Maguey did you use. I think I'd be inclined to use the Crema which has a high sugar content and isn't quite a sharp (for lack of a better descriptor) or maybe the Pechuga, tho' ice cream would not be a good or cost effective use of Pechuga. I've tasted all the Del Magueys and own 3 or 4 different bottles of them, as well as having the great good fortune to taste them with Ron Cooper at his facility. The Del Magueys are not all created equal and some of them do have a harder, mineral-like taste than others and, IIRC, one of them is pretty lean and austere. I like Mezcal...a lot...but I also think it's something of an aquired taste. Right now I'm really taken with the Los Danzantes reposado which I think is a little smoother and has a little less edge than the Del Magueys. The LD silver is also pretty good too, had that in Baja a while back. Either of the LDs - reposado or silver - would probably be good in the ice cream. Unfortunately, I don't think either is readily available in the U.S., or at least not in my neck of the woods.

Okay, I'll have to confess, I'm the Director of Food Service for a very large community college district (combined enrollment 100,000+). I operate 7 operations scattered over 3 campuses, not counting vending. We do a pretty good job on a lot of things and some things we probably just shouldn't sell. The guilty pleasures in my operations are Carne Asada Fries - seasoned twister fries (a guilty pleasure by all alone ) topped with canned cheese sauce, shredded cheese, carne asada, salsa quemada, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream. Loaded Fries - fries, sour cream, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, chopped green onions House made rice krispie treats House made hummus & pita Oh...and bacon. We cook off cases and cases of bacon. I have unlimited access to bacon...not a good thing for me. I am so addicted to our rice krispie treats and bacon my production employees are trying to create a bacon rice krispie treat for me My largest operation is also home to a San Diego City Schools high school. Their school lunches are delivered daily to our kitchen in a heated Cres-Cor for distribution later to their students. Problem is their students don't want the lunches (and some of them are pretty bleak). My employees often scavange the leftovers. Their favorits is, hands down, the spaghetti & meat sauce. I've tried it and it's probably the best thing they do. If you grew up eating school lunch in the 50s and 60s you'll recognize City Schools spaghetti & meat sauce.

Darn you Chris Hennes. I love Dorie's baking book but was hoping to wait on purchasing this new one until it was available in Kindle format like the baking book. But your kitchen escapes have moved the new book up to the top of the list, Kindle format or not

Rick Bayless has a Mexican Chocolate Strusel Cake in one of his cookbooks, I can't remember which one tho'. It uses a lot of Mexican Chocolate. I've made this cake several times and it's pretty good. It makes a big cake and is great for a party or pot luck. Best warm with ice cream Here's a link to the recipe - http://www.fronterakitchens.com/cooking/recipes/recipe_streusel.html

I spent some time a few years ago trying to bake with Mexican chocolate with mixed success. A lot depends upon the variety of Mexican chocolate you've got, they are definitely not created equal Ibarra and Abuelita are the 2 most common brands available to those of use NOB. They've got a good bit of sugar, more than some of the Mexican brands I've tried. Here are some of the observations I had when working with any of the Mexican chocolates 1) Because of the sugar in the chocolate, the amount of the sugar in the recipe needs to be decrease anywhere form 2-4 tablespoons to compensate for the sugar in the chocolate 2) Mexican chocolate will not melt very well in the microwave 3) Mexican chocolate will not melt in ganache fashion (i.e. pour hot liquid over chopped chocolate) 4) Mexican chocolate will melt on the stove top if it is in another liquid such as coffee or melted butter 5) Mexican chocolate has a tendency to sieze and does not smooth out 6) It's easier to chop Mexican chocolate with a chefs knife than food processor or blender The best success I had with incorporating Mexican chocolate into a recipe was using it in brownies Piloncillo is great and it's easy to work with. Think of it as really hard brown sugar. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT attempt to break it down in a food processor or blender. I can almost guarantee you will have to buy a new work bowl or blender jar if you do. This stuff is almost as hard as diamonds, but luckily a lot less expensive . It melts pretty readily in most liquids. Some recipes do call for a volume amount(a few tablespoons or cups). In that case I just stick a cone of it in a zip lock bag and pound on it with a hammer until I get as much as needed in the recipe. If the piloncillo is fairly fresh it will eventually crumble. If it's been around a while and dried out even more, it takes a lot more pounding. In addition to using it in cafe de olla, various other drinks and moles, there is one use that I really, really like, and that is to rehydrate dried chiles. Dissolve some piloncillo in some warm/hot water. Then toast some ancho or pasilla chiles (moritas or guajillos would work, but the anchos or pasillas are the best choice because their skin is thinner)and soak them in the piloncillo water for 20-25 mintues. You kind of get the spicy sweet thing going. Chile rehydrated this way are really good stuffed with beef or pork, not so much with poultry or vegetarian.

Oh, do I hear you on that one. English, Spanish, makes no difference. If it's a half-way decent Mexican cookbook I'll buy it. They're like catnip... One time last year when I was in Mexico, I ended up buying so many cookbooks, I actually had to buy another suitcase to get them all home. Thank god it was in International flight that allowed 2 checked bags at no extra charge.

I agree with this assessment: my argument is that's not such a bad thing. I really enjoy seeing how Bayless takes a traditional Mexican approach, or ingredient, or dish, and twists it around into something "contemporary." Chris, I actually agree with you to a large extent. As much as I love traditional Mexican cuisine and find the traditional methods and techniques fun to work with, over the last several years I've been drawn more to some of the alta cocina and refinement that's been showing up in Mexican cooking. Since my first trip to Central Mexico in 1984 I have been completely amazed and seduced by the aromas, flavors and sheer abundance of the Mexican kitchen and the ingredients that lend themselves to multiple uses and interpretations. There is tremendous value in preserving the traditional recipes and ingredients, but too much rigidity stifles the natural evolution of food and recipes, not to mention creativity. I think the real trick is in taking traditional dishes and modernizing them in such a way that they don't loose their original integrity. I also think that Rick Bayless has been luck enough to be in the right place at the right time for a lot of his career (perhaps because he did what Joseph Campbell suggested and followed his bliss? ). It's not terribly hard to see how his approach has grown and evolved over time, and that's not a bad thing. Think how boring we'd all be if we didn't grown and change over time. I have the DK book in Spanish and am anxiously awaiting my English copy as well. I do okay reading in Spanish - and really well with recipe translation - but Diana always has interesting stories to relate about where she's been, how she acquired a recipe, and the people she's met along the way that I'm afraid my Spanish reading missed as much as it understood when I read it when I got it. Whether you cook from the book or not, I can attest that the Spanish edition is a beautifully produced cookbook. I think you'll enjoy it.

Chris, for someone familiar with Mexican cooking techniques, this isn't the book. However, if you're looking for some decent party ideas and larger volume recipes, it has some value. I was really excited when I got it, but have become less enamored of it as I've cooked from it. In the first chapter of the book he states that he viewed Fiesta as a companion volume to Everyday Mexican (which I own and like). In Rick's opinion, the 2 volume when taken and used together present an overview of the breadth of Mexican cooking from the things people make and eat everyday to the party food, and Mexicans can throw a darn good party . I can see his point, though I personally think it's something of a stretch. I own all of RBs cook books and have cooked from everyone of them. My 2 favorites are Saslas that Cook and Mexican Kitchen (his 2nd book). Fiesta is the only one of his cookbooks that I have consistently had recipes either fail, be less than thrilling, or have structural problems. What I have noticed, starting with Mexico: One Plate at a Time is that his recipes have become more and more Americanized and less and less traditionaly Mexican. For technique, Fiesta will not cut any new ground. Compared to his other cookbooks, I found it disappointing.