Jaymes

I don't really know. The last time I was down there, I went to Santa Clara del Cobre (which means, St. Claire of the Copper), a delightful small town that is the source of a lot of wonderful copper. I wasn't looking for tin-lined, though, so I'm not sure. The big copper cazuelas I bought were pretty basic. We actually stood there and watched them hammered out from disks of flaming, red-hot copper. At least at that one place, anyway, they weren't set up for anything more sophisticated or involved than that.

Actually, now that I think about it, there are TWO large supermercados at that intersection. Our own ExtraMSG did a report on it, complete with photos. You can see the photos at his website, here: San Jose, intersection of King and Story. And you can read his report here (just scroll down to the section on San Jose): Visiting the Bay Area.

So, cookman, I'm guessing that we all agree that the answer to your question is a resounding, "Maybe."

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do. The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone. If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified. ← It was the Baby back ribs at Schoepf's........ mushy....no way! Overdone.....not really...... good......Hell yea! Thank God I wasn't at a BBQ competition....I would have missed out. The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone. A perfect explanation of the ribs that I experienced on the trip! Except the baby backs. Ah....well, then. I obviously must get to Schoepf's the next time I'm down that way. And I guess you figgered out all by yourself why, when you got to Taylor, you were surprised to see TWO barbecue joints side by side, one of which is world famous, and the other of which you'd never heard. And have since forgotten.

San Jose has a large Mexican population. The intersection of King & Story (just east of I-280 & US101 interchange) seems to be sort of the unofficial capital. There are several excellent restaurants at that intersection, as well as bakeries, taquerias, etc. I particularly liked Los Jarritos and Tacos al Carbon. In addition, there is a large supermarket that will have everything you're searching for. And a lot more.

isn't that a bit strange...this is the web, isn't it? and there are some people here that are well informed...and there's other information on the web aside from eGullet that can lead you astray. hopefully people are smart enough to use their common sense to figure out what is right and wrong.Yep. People here can be, and usually are, very well-informed. But people here also can pass on uninformed rumor, opinion and speculation. If you read back through this thread, you'll see that there are some conflicting opinions. And that would be at least somewhat confusing to me, if I were the one that had asked the question. Reading this thread, I still might not be comfortable with any conclusion. And since I personally did quite a bit of research on this issue when I brought home my copper pots from Mexico, I know that there are official, scientific, documented conclusions elsewhere on the web. I think this is a great place to start, for most anything food and cooking related. It's particularly wonderful when there's general consensus here. But when opinions here conflict, I suggest that one search further. And I still do. Edit: Don't have time to find all the sites I discovered back several years ago. I did find one fairly lengthy dissertation, including results of a study, etc. The main thing I remember from that one was to be certain that your copper was well-polished before you use it, even to beat egg whites. Can't seem to find that one, but here's something interesting: Cooking in copper can be good for you. I'll look more later.

Lots of folks cook in unlined copper pots. There's a big apple festival near where I live and every year, they cook apple butter in these large unlined copper vats. They've been doing it for years, and have passed out apple butter to tens of thousands of fair participants. The health department oversees the whole thing, so clearly somebody thinks there's no problem with it. And apples are fairly acidic, so there you go. I have two large copper cazuelas that I bought in Mexico some years back. I use them for carnitas, since that's the traditional pot. I did some extensive research regarding cooking in copper before I started using them, and if you keep the copper polished, there's no problem. However, as Andie said, cooking tomato sauce is not advised. According to the information I found, it's not because it might hurt you; it's because the interaction between the copper and the tomatoes will turn your sauce an unappetizing color. There's a lot of information on the web that you can find. I'd suggest you do that, rather than listen to people here that might be uninformed.

Should have said that the "African-American-owned joints with which I am familiar here in Texas also often feature sausage." Although I stop for barbecue wherever I travel, and I travel a lot and have eaten barbecue all over the country, I haven't really paid that close attention to whether or not there are hot links elsewhere. And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do. The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone. If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

Hey, thanks for the compliment!

at the risk of extending this topic (but more on point than you might think), except in very, very rare cases it is the editor who has the sole power of hiring and firing. When writers fire editors, it is more commonly called "resigning".

I am not sure.....it has something to do with germans and immigrants, I wish I knew the whole story, but I know someone who could probably tell you......Jaymes is the one with the BBQ history knowledge. Unfortunately, I'm not as schooled on BBQ history elsewhere, other than Texas, so don't know about the sausage thing. I do think that the popularity of "hot links" (which, TexNewMex, is what you have to call that kind of sausage if you're gonna be a Texas boy, as that distinguishes it from the patties, etc., you get at breakfast) in Central Texas is, as you say, due in large measure to the Germans and Czechs that settled the area. But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage, so I suspect it's fairly universal. Interesting question. And sorry to say that I don't know the answer.

Okay, so how about foodee.

Which is why I said "most" and "usually" instead of "all" and "always." Of course, soaring imagination and uncommon creativity rise above. And of course there is a place for intelligent cursing. That's not what I'm talking about. Edit -- And sign me up on the "editing is not censorship" side of that debate. "Editing" certainly can be censorship, but when one agrees to put one's "stuff" (including an interview) into any publication, one should know in advance what that publication's policies are. And one agrees to submit to editing to fit those policies. That's not the same thing as having the warden or the government or other authority "fix" your writing, or ban it outright.

Yes, and it certainly did that when Rhett said to Scarlett that frankly, he didn't give a damn. But sadly (to me anyway) it has become so ubiquitous that it no longer catches "the eye or ear." And in my view, the unbridled use has coarsened, cheapened and vulgarized our society and has certainly "dumbed-down" our language. I long for the days of true wit, in entertainment, literature and discourse. And perhaps especially, insult. We've come a long way from Lady Astor and Winston Churchill: "If you were my husband, Winston, I should flavour your coffee with poison."; "If I were your husband, madam, I should drink it." To: "Fuck you." "Yeah? Well, fuck you, too." Although I do know that each generation has its list of words that once shocked but then, having become familiar, no longer do. And so...on to the next thing. Nothing to be done, really.

I think most writers will tell you that using profanity is usually the lazy way out. Say you're writing a piece for publication. You have a character that's a chef. In his hot, sweaty, miserably-vented and poorly-equipped kitchen, he is forced, every day, to make the same broccoli-cheese soup from a powdered mix that he despises, but that is the top seller in the restaurant. He's got one big soup pot that is so old that the handles have come off and it's awkward and unwieldy and even dangerous to use. He hates the job, hates the kitchen, hates the pot, hates the boss, hates the soup and hates the customers that insist upon it. You're writing for a publication that adores the use of profanity because it's so "raw and real and gritty and urban and blah blah blah." So you say that your chef hates that fucking kitchen and the fucking soup and the fucking pot and the fucking job and the fucking town and his fucking boss and all those fucking customers and the fucking horses they fucking rode in on. That works to get across the point that he's a little, um, upset and that his working conditions are less than ideal. But frankly, if I hadn't already described to you what was wrong with them all, that paragraph wouldn't give you a clue. But now, say, you are writing for a publication that only wants you to use fucking if people actually are. And expects a more descriptive set of adjectives if they are not. So the paragraph has to be rewritten. And this time, with clever, descriptive, evocative, compelling, interesting and non-repetitive adjectives that describe what's wrong with the kitchen, the pot, the soup, the boss, the town, the customers. Adjectives that enable you to actually see the scene and help you to understand his anger. Adjectives that tell you whether or not he's justified, or just a nutcase. Adjectives that drive the story, and pull in the reader. You try it. Not so fucking easy, is it.

Actually, school kids use profanity to sound like adults. Adults who use kiddie terms all the time haven't grown up. School kids, in my experience, used profanity to shock the rest of us. The rest of us whose hands, they hoped, would immediately fly to open shocked mouths. And to demonstrate how brave and unafraid of the established authority they were. What wild rebels! What unconstricted, unrestrained, unafraid explorers into this vast, old-fashioned prudish landscape! Get into trouble? Ha ha! Not me! Look, I'll say it again! I'm not afraid! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! And like I said, I don't think the reasons change that much. Okay, not at all. ← And the kids who never swore (all two of them) were the ideal little teachers' pets, doing exactly as they were told. And when they became adults, they continued to live in their happy little insulated worlds (if reality never intervened). ← Nanny nanny boo boo, stick your head in poo poo.

Actually, school kids use profanity to sound like adults. Adults who use kiddie terms all the time haven't grown up. School kids, in my experience, used profanity to shock the rest of us. The rest of us whose hands, they hoped, would immediately fly to open shocked mouths. And to demonstrate how brave and unafraid of the established authority they were. What wild rebels! What unconstricted, unrestrained, unafraid explorers into this vast, old-fashioned prudish landscape! Get into trouble? Ha ha! Not me! Look, I'll say it again! I'm not afraid! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! And like I said, I don't think the reasons change that much. Okay, not at all.

In my opinion, profanity is used now, among adults, for the exact same reasons it was used way back when you first heard it...on the schoolyard playground. By people whose methods of communication haven't grown much since then, either.

Well, Carolyn, you're back from your trip to Belize and Panama. In the "nations with bad foods" thread, many of us voted for Belize. You said that you had heard the food in Panama was worse. Now what say you?

And before you go, will you answer us your own question... BBQ - "Is it really that great?"

I, too, miss the olden days when people were forced to call upon the services of a wide array of colorful, descriptive adjectives. Rather than just the one.

I love this thread, and am sorry to see it end. But, TexNewMex.... Thanks for the memories Of brisket, ribs and more Of hot links by the score You may have had a gut-ache but you never were a bore So thank you, so much.

We all converge at your place for a won-ton wrap-off?

It looks like the 21st You'll get a double feature that night with the Beruit episode.Thanks. Looks like a dandy night for me.