Jaymes

In my view, nobody, nobody, should go to el DF without a visit to Churrería El Moro. They did have a fire a while back, but that's all been fixed, and they're back in delicious business: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Churrer%C3%ADa-El-Moro/195819727160183

I also am looking forward to your posts. where are you? How have you come by your emphasis on Ethiopian food?

There are a few things for which we use Velveeta - Ro-Tel dip, Mac & Cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, sauce for veggies like broccoli & cauliflower. During the last fall-football-TV viewing season, the several times I tried to make Ro-Tel dip, the Velveeta simply did not melt properly. It just disintegrated into a lumpy, disgusting, gagging mess. As has been discussed over in the Velveeta thread, turns out that Velveeta has changed the formula using, among other things, less dairy - ie, real cheese. Sure a long way from the days when Velveeta's ad jingle was, "Colby, Swiss and Cheddar, blended all together." Now it's awful. I realize that even at its best, Velveeta was pretty far down the fine-cheese ladder but what it was good at, it was really good at. And I miss it. So I've done some online research and discovered a few things; i.e., other folks were having the same problem, they had suggestions for substitutions, "Clancy's Cheese Melt" is a fine substitution as it is made with a close approximation of the Velveeta formula before the unpleasant changes, and Clancy's Cheese Melt is available at Trader Joe's, and at Aldi's. Which is another thing I've just discovered. Aldi's and Trader Joe's are owned by the same company. Who knew?

Sign me up with the folks that associate shrimp chips more with Indonesian food rather than Chinese. And I've been buying and enjoying the ready-to-eat ones since I lived in Southeast Asia several decades back.

How about the ruins at Aztec? Small, but I think they're my favorite. Maybe because my cousins and I have been scrambling over them since we were skinny-legged kids in shorts. But I've been to all the ruins many times and Aztec remains my favorite. There's an intimacy there that you don't find elsewhere.

I never had that sandwich, exactly. But one of my very favorite sandwiches has always been, and remains, a generous slice of good, strong Swiss cheese on some sort of wheat bread (it was Roman Meal in our house when I was a kid), topped with way too much Miracle Whip and a big, crunchy layer of iceberg lettuce.So I'll see your "tangy and crispy" and add, thanks to the Swiss, nutty. .

And, exactly like I said several posts back, the conformity regarding the "presentation box" is, in very large part, to keep the cookers from adding this or that garnish to make their entry easy to identify. Besides, the uniformity of the presentation helps keep the focus on the meat, as it should be. Regarding restaurant owners, caterers, etc., it's been my experience that there's usually a separate category for commercial cookers.

Sounds like there are many topics on eGullet to which you'll be able to add some great ideas - threads about what to take camping, and snacks for grandkids come immediately to mind. In what part to our world are you located?

I must say, sounds like you've got some great ideas for great discussions. I'm eager to hear the answers to those questions as well. Welcome.

I keep thinking about this and the implication that somehow corporate special interests influence the judging. This is completely nonsensical (in addition to being insulting). I can't imagine to what end this "influence" might be intended, and I sure can't imagine how it would be implemented. It convinces me that you don't know much about the process. The first thing of which I suspect you are unaware is that the CBJs at the KCBS cooking competitions receive no compensation. They do it as a hobby, and for the enjoyment of the camaraderie, and for the barbecue of course. They are not paid. Anything. In fact, it costs them money to judge. They must pay their own travel expenses, which can be considerable. So how on earth these "commercial sponsors" might influence the outcome is beyond me. Not to mention that the majority of the cookers are folks with day jobs that just come to these cook-offs to have a good time. So I don't see how Dr. Johnson, a dentist from Dallas (for example), who loads up his rig and travels to a barbecue competition in, say, Springfield MO, might benefit from his brisket being judged in the top three at the Rock n' Ribs Festival. Nothing in your "pure speculation" makes any sense to me. Whatsoever.

Yes. I've always blended my pellets "Secretly" as well.

Yeah. I'm really not an expert on the types of wood. Never done any real cooking/smoking myself. Just eating. But I have been around barbecue all my life and what I hear the pitmasters say is that there's something in mesquite that can impart a very unpleasant flavor. Maybe creosote? Don't know. It's been my experience that even people that say their brisket is "mesquite smoked" are putting in a few mesquite chips, rather than using just mesquite from scratch. Even most backyard barbecuers in Texas seem to do the same thing. That's what my son-in-law uses in his offset smoker. As does my son, who used to work in a barbecue joint up in Austin.

Re the wood - mesquite is actually not particularly popular with competition cookers. Re "garnish." Like most things, exactly what constitutes garnish is relative. I did say "no garnish," which, technically is not correct. But the rules for the KCBS are pretty strict (in fact, one of the first things you're supposed to learn at the KCBS Judging Certification Class is how to spot kale in somebody's box): 12) Garnish is optional. If used, it is limited to chopped, sliced, shredded or whole leaves of fresh green lettuce, curly parsley, flat leaf parsley and/or cilantro. Kale, endive, red tipped lettuce, lettuce cores and other vegetation are prohibited. Improper garnish shall receive a score of one (1) on Appearance.

Well, appearance (as in presentation and 'plating') does matter. In fact, that's the first score you give: appearance of the meat. The prohibition against 'garnish' is primarily so you can't say to your judge friend, "Look for the box with two green onions and a carved radish that looks like me."

Um, no. The "box" is just that - an actual box. The cookers put whatever is to be judged into a Styrofoam box, which is then taken to the judging tent where the folks in charge give it a number, so that the actual tasting and judging is done blind, with no one knowing which team cooked it. Each numbered box is then taken to a judging table and passed around that table and each of the six judges at that table sample it and score it. This is what the (opened) boxes look like: http://www.bbqcritic.com/judgemybox (naturally, when they first arrive at the table, they're closed). Here's a quick bit of judging info for y'all, speaking of ribs. If the judge picks up a barbecue rib and the meat "falls off of the bone" (like so many people seem to think is so wonderful), it's disqualified. The meat on the rib is supposed to have the texture of meat - not mush. And I don't get why anybody thinks meat falling off the bone is great. I mean, really, how hard is it to overcook meat? You want it to "fall off of the bone"? Easy. Just cook it to mush. Oh, and PS - 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' did a bit on the best Austin barbecue joints a few months back. I've never been to any of them because they all opened after I moved away from Austin. Pretty annoying. I lived in Austin for years, but there wasn't really any good barbecue in the city limits. Had to drive to Lockhart (Smitty's, Black's, Kreuz), Luling (City Market), Taylor (Louie Mueller's, Taylor Café), Lexington (Snow's), Llano (Cooper's), Giddings (City Market), etc. Now, however, Austin is a true barbecue town. I'm envious. Jimmy & Guillermo taste Austin's best barbecue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh2fl5463BE

Replacements.com You can look through the site on your own, or send them photos and they'll match it.

I think there's a right time for just about every food, given the appropriate place and circumstance. I've never been one much for turning up my nose at the food choices of others. People Magazine recently published an article wherein they asked several famous chefs a series of "Burning Food Questions." In response to, "What's your sneakiest chef ingredient?" Bourdain said, "I have a secret love for Velveeta; it's an amazing substance." http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20862620,00.html

Samyang Hot & Spicy seafood flavor. Our family has loved these since my husband spent a year in Korea several decades back. https://shopping.yahoo.com/1521195145-instant-noodle-ramen-korean-hot-spicy-seafood-flavor-samyang-ganchampong-493-oz-5-packs-stir-fried/?bfr=50.0

Somehow feel the need to clarify... Although I lived for years in New Mexico, I've also lived in southern Arizona, and traveled extensively throughout Mexico. Chile Verde, the version without tomatillos, is not found just in New Mexico, which I fear I kind of implied. I've also encountered it in most of the US Southwest, as well as throughout northern Mexico, in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, etc. In many ways, the cuisine of this arid part of Mexico differs greatly from what we think of as the "typical" Mexican foods that are more common farther south.

I'm wondering if I missed any. Spent the last two weeks in New Mexico and expected to come home and find two episodes recorded. But none were. Huh?

Although it probably doesn't affect the "freezing" issue, think we might be talking about two different kinds of Green Chile Stew - with and without tomatillos. I grew up with New Mexico-style, which, in my experience anyway, typically is made with green chiles - lots and lots of green chiles (and potatoes too BTW) - but no tomatillos. Although, as I say, regarding freezing, the issues are probably the same.

My kids loved them with sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes, and brown bread.