Jaymes

I know I just saw a recent recipe for those - now, can I find it?? ← Here you go. A recipe from Southern Living, the final authority on all things southern. Pecan Tassies from Southern Living And I do have to add that although Pecan Tassies are indeed tasty little morsels, and drip 'southern' as much as Spanish moss swinging from low tree branches, I think one reason for their popularity is how much fun that name is to say. You try it... Just try to say Pecan Tassies without a southern accent. Now see there? Doesn't that make you jes' wanna join the Natchez Junior League?

Pecan Tassies. The traditional southern holiday party "finger food" dessert.

And sweet potato pie, too. Of course, of course.

Here's my recipe for stacked green chile enchiladas. My suggestion would be to find a green chile sauce that you like, set aside however much 'wet' you think you need, and then continue to simmer the remainder to reduce it to whatever consistency you desire for your panini. Sonoran-Style Stacked Green Chile Enchiladas Prepare your green chile sauce first: For sauce: 12 medium green chile peppers (of course, fresh are way best, but if you must....), peeled, seeded, deveined and chopped 2 medium tomatoes (or 1 cup canned tomatoes), chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 2 small garlic cloves, smashed and chopped 1 tsp salt Roast chiles over gas burners, or on outdoor grill, or under broiler until blistered. Put into plastic baggies and allow steam to permeate. This makes the chiles easy to peel. Remove peel, core, seeds, and visible veins. (Edit: Should have added that if you are using canned green chiles, you don't have to take this step of roasting, peeling, etc.) Chop into half-inch pieces. Place into saucepan and add tomatoes, onion, salt and garlic. Pour in enough water just to cover and simmer ten minutes. (If you wish, in addition to roasting the chiles, you can roast or grill the tomatoes, onion and garlic to give the whole thing a more smoky flavor.) For enchiladas: 1 doz corn tortillas 2 C grated cheese (again, if you have a fave Mex cheese, use it; if not, half good quality mild cheddar and half jack) 3 C green chile sauce Allow two or three tortillas per person. Fry tortillas quickly in hot fat just to soften, then dip into hot green chile sauce. You are going to assemble these on the individual serving plates. I usually have my plates stacked in a warm oven. One at a time, place a prepared tortilla on warm plate, sprinkle with cheeses, another hot tortilla, more cheese, top with hot tortilla. Pour over as much green chile sauce as you like for desired wetness. Serve immediately. You can top it with a dollop of sour cream if youd like. That turns it into Enchilada Suiza, a reference to the Swiss immigrants to Mexico, who incorporated dairy into many traditional Mexican recipes.

Not Chinese, but this seems to be also a problem with Mexican food for some folks. They mistake caliente to mean spicy, which it doesn't. So they'll ask whether or not something is caliente, like a cold salsa, and they'll be told 'no,' and they try it and it burns off the roof of their mouth. The problem here is that caliente only means 'hot' in the temperature sense. So the cold salsa isn't caliente, it's picante, the true word for 'hot' in the spicy sense. Unlike English, in Spanish "hot" isn't used to mean both temperature and spicy. But picante is easy to remember. Just think of Pace picante sauce.

I know what you mean!! I'm really tempted myself. But most of all, I want to thank everybody that offered their thoughts and opinions. I just knew I could count on you. Now, armed with these suggestions, I'm going to figure out which one will be just right. Thanks again!

I've got a nephew, 26 years old, who lives alone in his apartment, cooks for himself and occasional guests, who has asked for "a good knife" for Christmas. This fellow has never had "a good knife," but suddenly suspects, after several years of using bad ones, that such things do exist, and I'd like to buy him one. I need to select one good "starter knife" for him. And I need to keep the price under $100. I'd prefer something that keeps a good edge, since he knows nothing about sharpening good knives, either, and I can't afford to start him off with $500 dollar's worth of knives, sharpeners and knowledge. Any suggestions? What would you buy a young bachelor for his "first good knife"?

Are you saying that you roast coffee beans in your popcorn popper? If so, that's the best tip I've had in absolute years. ← For many years the stovetop popcorn popper made by Whirley-Pop included instructions for roasting coffee in it. I don't recall just when they stopped including the instructions, but somebody has continued it as can be seen HERE ← Thanks!

I could not agree more, with both the assessment of the Reuben, and with the production technique. In addition, I prefer to give the bread a generous dose of melted butter on the outside, and to start on a cold griddle over a medium-low flame. This seems to result in the best texture: shatteringly crisp exterior, and warmed through but still soft interior. I heat the sauerkraut separately to keep it from making the bread soggy. ← Right. But about the sauerkraut... To me, the best Reuben has to be grilled intact, so that the cheese melts into the sauerkraut and the entire sandwich seals itself together. Heating parts separately wouldn't achieve that. But my sauerkraut never gets my bread soggy because I take out the appropriate amount, pile it onto a paper towel in a mound the approximate size of the bread, put more paper towels on top, and then squeeze the water out with either a rolling pin or handy bottle until it's dry. No more soggy bread, but the Reuben comes out sealed together and crunchy. Just how I like it.

Are you saying that you roast coffee beans in your popcorn popper? If so, that's the best tip I've had in absolute years.

One fun thing is a popcorn cake. There are quite a few recipes for it online, if you google. I had a friend that always brought one to events that had a lot of children present, and it was a big hit. She made it in a bundt pan. You can adapt the recipes to your preferences, but hers had popcorn, M&M's, caramel and either peanuts or cashews. Pretty darn tasty, unusual if you've never seen one, easy to make, and loaded with M&M's.

I've made it and sealed it up good and sent it to folks overseas. Guess it took a couple of weeks to get there and they said it was still wonderful, but I don't know for sure, since I never sampled it after that long (although now that I'm writing this, it occurs to me that I should have). Often, however, I've intentionally made more than I thought I needed, so that it would last longer. But it just never does. It gets gobbled up and carted home. Sorry that I can't give you a more definitive answer, but I definitely think if you seal it well, like in tins or something, it should last at least a week to ten days.

Wow. A triple recipe. That's a lot o' corn! The steam table tray is a great idea. Think I might look for one myself. And thanks to you, and to everyone else that took the time to let me know you're enjoying the recipe. Got a big ol' smile on my face. Oh, and PS Mike: I note that's your first post. Welcome!

Well, buena suerte. I haven't had all that much luck with fish tacos in the US. Get back with us and let us know how they were, will you?

I thought you had typed this note on Friday so I didn't reply. I guess I didn't interpret the time difference correctly. A fun thing to do is make your favourite brownie recipe in a mini muffin pan, when cooled a bit I turn the pan upside down and press to flatten the tops. Then tip them out upside down, pour some ganache over each one so it's running down the sides and then decorate with whatever you like. I often use a chocolate covered coffee bean or some edible gold. Simple and always popular. ← What a great idea! Thanks.

Several of you mentioned mayo on your torta, but don't think anybody went into more detail. I've found that mayo with lime is the most popular version. You can find it in any Mexican grocery store and if you live in an area with a large Mexican population, most of the regular grocery stores carry it, too. If not, though, you can always order it online from folks like MexGrocers: mayonnaise with lime

I mentioned Frida in one of the two other "Food Movie" threads, Movies & Food, but the Christmas connection in this one got me to thinking. This year, I'm going to give a friend a copy of the movie, along with the cookbook Frida's Fiestas: Recipes & Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo So after my friend sees all that sumptuous food in the movie, she can make some sumptuous food of her own!

Authenticity, to me, is seeing how the people of an area actually live. To that end, I sincerely hope that most Mexicans are not frequenting the kinds of establishments that are commonplace in Cancun. You don't have to worry about that. "Most Mexicans" cannot afford the "kinds of establishments that are commonplace in Cancun." But as I said, my upscale business friends that live elsewhere in Mexico are proud of Cancun, see it as a world-class resort destination (having as much or as little to do with the country it's in as do most world-class resort destinations, by the way, as they are primarily a breed unto themselves), and love going there on vacation. From their point of view, they can and do get "authentic" tacos al pastor and charro beans at home anytime. But dinner at Bubba Gumps followed by a night at a fancy disco is a welcome change. As an aside: anyone reading this who is going to Cancun for one reason or another and wants to see "how the people of the area actually live" should go into the little town of Cancun. It's chock full of the Mexicans that work in the big resorts over in the hotel zone, which is basically one long street that runs along the beach. And that is an entirely different world. You can stay in the little town for $35 (and under) and eat for practically nothing. No beach, of course. Although you can take the same transportation out to the tourist strip that the hotel workers take. The little town is really a very interesting place. Although located adjacent to one of the most famous destinations in the world, it qualifies as being "off the beaten path," because very few tourists ever go there. However, almost everyone speaks some English (and often at least a spattering of French, German and even Japanese) because it's populated with the workers that fill the hotels that cater to visitors from around the globe.

Yes, but interestingly enough, all of my upscale Mexican friends love it. You'd be surprised how little they enjoy visiting "authentic Mexico." And frankly, I've noticed very few other North Americans like me while in Cancun; primarily there are Europeans and tourists from elsewhere in the Americas. Although don't get me wrong, I don't much like Cancun either. I've traveled there primarily on business and wouldn't be interested in vacationing there. Still, it's always interesting to me how much we want Mexico to stay "authentic" so that we can visit it, like some kind of Disneyesque "Mexicoland." But the majority of the Mexicans seem to prefer joining the 21st Century. I do love the rest of the Yucatan, though. And adore spending time in Merida, one of my favorite of Mexican cities. Thus far your report has been terrific and I'm really looking forward to the rest of it!

Speaking of Penelope Cruz, how about Volver? Cruz, certainly a yummy little number all by herself, enlists the help of the entire neighborhood in order to take over a defunct restaurant. Terrific movie, I thought.

I find it really interesting and telling that so many movies mentioned in all these "food movie" threads are not actually about food. But from Tom Jones to Frida to all the various Christmas comedies, food plays such an integral part that those are often the scenes we love best and remember longest. No wonder "breaking bread" is such a powerful symbol for human connectedness.

You're right, there are several pecan pie threads. My recipe for Bourbon Pecan Pie is in this one: The Pecan Pie Topic ----- ETA: search results for titles with Pecan Pie. There are many interesting subjects, including troubleshooting pecan pie recipes and "What makes Pecan Pie southern?"

Here's how I feel. I have most of the books that each one has written. I use and enjoy my Bayless books. But I cannot imagine my life without Kennedy.

I think a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast is about as good as it gets. Unless it's a piece of apple pie. Of course, of course.

If you'd like something at least similar before March, there's a thread somewhere here on eG about how to make that grilled chicken at home. And then some salsas and tortillas, and your pollo can be loco, tambien!Thanks, I'll have to look for that thread. Here it is: El Pollo Loco