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EatNopales

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  1. This was seriously good.... "Farmer's Market Margarita" Citrus is in season at my local farmer's market (fruit grown in California's Central Valley within 200 miles of where I live) picked up Keffir Lime, Blood Limes, Sweet Limes, Pink Grapefruit etc., 1 Cup decent, light Anejo Tequila (Cazadores for example) 1 tsp sugar 1/8 tsp salt zest of 1 keffir lime Macerate tequila & other ingredients for 6 hours then strain & combine with the following ingredients: 1/2 Cup Cointreau 4 ounces Agave Syrup Juice of 1 Keffir Lime Juice of 2 Blood Limes Juice of 2 Sweet Limes Age in glass jar, refrigerated for 5 days (it improves substantially within 48 hours... and peaks about 5 days into it... after that I see no more noticeable improvement)
  2. BTW... anyone curious can see pictures from this episode at: http://oncetv-ipn.net/rutadelsabor/capitulo06/a_galeria.html The last three images at the bottom are the Garbanzos en Amarillo
  3. I can't seem to find any pictures of the root for Costus Lasius... do you have something that I can take a quick look at?
  4. Awesome... yes Tumeric root looks alot like what I saw... a great candidate. It is commonly used in Mexico but I had always seen it only in its powder form. Does the fresh Tumeric have a noticeable flavor?
  5. FYI... if you have a little extra masa that you don't want to freeze... make sure you make Tejuino (soured masa beverage) or something else of you inspiration.. there are quite a few very interesting savory indigenious made with soured masa... that of course are still seen as backward in mainstream Mexico... but will probably be on the menus at Izote in a few decades (beat the trend people!)
  6. I recently watched the Amealco (northern Queretaro) episode of La Ruta del Sabor (originally broadcast in 2003)... and one of the dishes prepared by an Otomi abuelita was Garbanzos en Amarillo (Chickpeas in a light, masa thickened vibrant yellow-orange hued Mole de Olla). To provide its color she used a substantial quantities of a tuber that looks like ginger, but she referred to as Azafran (Saffron)... I guess its possible that it is just Safflower roots (as Safflower is commonly referred to as Azafran in Mexico & its threads used in cooking) but these were very large (thick) roots. It is possibly something completely endemic to the area, as Amealco lies in the Sierra Gorda, a very dense bio diverse hot spot, with a catalog of 2,500+ different plant species (many of them endemic). As is typical with Mexico.. there I can't find any information on this "Saffron" other than many internet listings of Garbanzos con Azafran as a typical dish in Amealco, Toliman & other nearby towns. Interestingly there is a forest area in the region called Sierra el Azafran where I would presume this plant can be easily gathered? In general this tiny municipality has more than its fair share of interesting traditions... on the same episode she made a thin, warm Mezquite seed & Cinnamon syrup / soup to drink with plain tamales. Internet searches also site a savory dish of Aloe flowers, roasted Tantarrias (an insect that lives in / around mezquite), Century Plant blossom "albondigas", gorditas with something called mamanxa, Pulque bread etc.,
  7. Regarding Beans... Pinto Beans are certainly not requisite for cooking Mexican cuisine... 100 years ago very few people in Mexico used Pinto Beans it wasn't until industrial farming & the country's rapid urbanization in the 1960's & 1970's that Pinto Beans took a major share of the bean market.... prior to that Mexico was the dominion of hundreds of heirloom bean varieties. Even nowadays Pinto beans are much more "Tex-Mex" than Mexican as the country still retains some strong regional affinities... Black Beans are the norm from the southern tip of Veracruz, to the Yucatan down the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Oaxacan coasts, Flor de Mayo beans in the Anahuac basin, Mayocoba (Peruano) in Michoacan & Jalisco etc., etc.,
  8. Hello.. those look good.. in case you don't know.. there is a final step when making tortillas... keep them in cotton towels, inside a lidded container while you are making the rest... they will steam in their own moist heat, get soft & pliable.
  9. Minsa... it is one of the major mills of Masa Harina (Maseca being the other giant) I am not surprised Tres Pesos exists in Israel... I have heard several Jewish-Mexican celebrities talk about going abroad to Israel to reconnect with roots etc., whine about how much they missed the food after a few weeks.
  10. Which CONACULTA book EN? That sounds pretty good. BTW, did I tell you I found amaranth flour when I was in Veracruz? In Xico, to be exact. Bought some, but haven't worked with it yet. It's a very fine, light and airy grind, akin to cake flour. Hola... how does it compare to the stuff from Bob's Red Mill? I was just gifted a book written by Sebastian Verti where he has an entire section devoted to Amaranth... it seems that La Costena (which sponsored the book) sells Amaranth pasta.
  11. Which CONACULTA book EN? That sounds pretty good. BTW, did I tell you I found amaranth flour when I was in Veracruz? In Xico, to be exact. Bought some, but haven't worked with it yet. It's a very fine, light and airy grind, akin to cake flour. Sorry I don't remember exactly which volume (I borrow them from the local library) but it was one of the Guerrero issues.
  12. Coincidentally wheat flour tortillas were invented in the late 16th Century by Sephardic Jews in what is now Monterrey
  13. Sorry, you can't make tortillas from regular corn meal. It's not the same thing. Masa harina has been nixtamalized which changes the properties of the corn, making the protein and other nutrients easier to digest. A friend in Alabama says she has had some luck with grinding canned hominy (similar process) and pressing it in a colander and drying it then grinding it again but it is a time-consuming project and I don't think she is truly pleased with the results. Some friends who visited Israel a couple of years ago found a Mexican restaurant not too far from Tel Aviv and they sent me the URL to pass on to other folks who had planned a trip over there and who keep kosher and this restaurant is so. You might phone them and ask if they can recommend a source. Amigos Mexican Grille (They tried another Mexican restaurant in Jerusalem which was not even remotely authentic with "tortillas" which were sort of like pita.) You can't make tortillas from Hominy... but I did recently make Hominy Cakes from some Pozole leftovers based on a recipe in the CONACULTA series.. and those were pretty delicious & simple.... grind the hominy, mix in an egg & a tablespoon of masa harina per cup.. add in some leftover proteins and/or cheese... panfry or roast on a cookie sheet. They are very nice with a Guajillo sauce.
  14. Sorry, you can't make tortillas from regular corn meal. It's not the same thing. Masa harina has been nixtamalized which changes the properties of the corn, making the protein and other nutrients easier to digest. A friend in Alabama says she has had some luck with grinding canned hominy (similar process) and pressing it in a colander and drying it then grinding it again but it is a time-consuming project and I don't think she is truly pleased with the results. Some friends who visited Israel a couple of years ago found a Mexican restaurant not too far from Tel Aviv and they sent me the URL to pass on to other folks who had planned a trip over there and who keep kosher and this restaurant is so. You might phone them and ask if they can recommend a source. Amigos Mexican Grille (They tried another Mexican restaurant in Jerusalem which was not even remotely authentic with "tortillas" which were sort of like pita.) You can't make tortillas from Hominy... but I did recently make Hominy Cakes from some Pozole leftovers based on a recipe in the CONACULTA series.. and those were pretty delicious & simple.... grind the hominy, mix in an egg & a tablespoon of masa harina per cup.. add in some leftover proteins and/or cheese... panfry or roast on a cookie sheet. They are very nice with a Guajillo sauce.
  15. Congrats on the warrior wound! How was the Cochinita versus your prior attempts?
  16. I should note... Gandhi is one of Mexico's most reputable book stores you can buy from them with confidence... they ship via UPS... but its $20 for the 1st book + $2 for each additional resource. If you have to prioritize, I would say 1) Los Tops Chefs de Mexico 2) La Nueva Cocina Mexicana (Enrique Olvera) 3) Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana & Larousse de la Cocina Peruana
  17. Yeah... I don't know what has happened to the Larousse site.. I bought from them not more than 6 months ago. With regards to other English language resources... Salpicon by Priscilla Satkoff is decent, as well as the Fiona Dunlap book (both available on Amazon)... they both lack depth & breadth in my opinion. Priscilla is from Mexico City and has experience with actual Latin American cooking but she has spent her adult life in the U.S., and the Modern side of the cooking at Salpicon is heavily influenced by Homaro Cantu's cooking at Moto and Grant Aschatz / Alinea.. and in general pulled by the gravitational forces of U.S. trends Latin America has its own Modern cuisine that comes from a very different place (U.S. Modern Cuisine plays lots of deference to the European cutting edge plus some whimsical takes on U.S. post industrial populist cuisine, street cuisine, fast food etc.,)... wheras in Mexico... Modern cuisine, born with comes from rescuing very Ancient traditions through Post Modern aesthetics etc., While the composition may be similar the subject matter & very ingredients are very different. In my opinion the U.S. based exponents of Modern Latin cuisine are espousing a shallow, faddish, disposable Latin-esque Modern... wheras when you analyze the dishes that have evolved from the restaurants of Monica Patino, Ricardo Munoz Zurita, Patricia Quintana, Enrique Olvera, Benito Molina & Gaston Acuario of Peru, etc., you see a cohesive repertoire growing like a Snowball with dishes that are quickly becoming part of something lasting. Here are some links where you can purchase Larousse books http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=larousse+de+la+cocina+mexicana&cid=3822006904663706917&ei=Zwq0TrzTGYqMjQTk_7H0DA&ved=0CAkQrRI http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/356263 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/351106 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/417184 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/415737 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/382835 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/387538 http://www.gandhi.com.mx/index.cfm/id/Producto/dept/libros/pid/356261
  18. Good tip... I've always just used old piloncillo as housing construction material
  19. Pictures of Food at Pujol Go to Google Images, click on Advanced Search... under Region select Mexico & then search for the restaurants & their chefs you will find plenty of examples of Modern Mexican cuisine.
  20. http://cesarts.blogspot.com/ http://www.culinariamexicana.com.mx/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X36shnnGb0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLDD36F91A07E7527B
  21. Editorial Larousse de Mexico is the best resource of Modern Mexican cookbooks. Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana is an impressive first resource for professional cooks & serious home cooks. All the stuff published by Larousse is money, though. http://www.compraslarousse.com/larousse.html If you want to browse some restaurant menus, see photos etc., here you go (BTW booking a flight to Mexico City eating at Pujol etc., is the best exposure of course) http://pujol.com.mx/english/ http://www.azulcondesa.com/ http://www.bistroestoril.com/ http://www.guadiana.com.mx/ http://www.paxia.com.mx/ http://cafeazulyoro.com/ http://www.biko.com.mx/ http://www.contramar.com.mx/ http://www.hoteldistritocapital.com/restaurante.html http://www.lajamexico.com/es/cocina.php http://www.amarantarestaurante.com/ http://www.losdanzantes.com/web/
  22. No that was just Cesar's story after he started bottling the dressing in Los Angeles as a convenience product.
  23. Does very traditional mean no anchovy though? I heard the original version didn't have anchovies, but good salt-cured anchovies are crucial to the dish. I want one now just thinking about it! Actually whether you believe the Cesar Cardini or Alex Cardini descendants' side of the story... both brothers' version of the salad early on had Anchovies... the Alex Cardini version known in Mexico City as Ensalada de Aviadores up until the 1970's always kept the whole Anchovies... and it wasn't until Cesar moved from Tijuana to Los Angeles and started bottling the dressing that the Cesar was popularized without salted anchovies accommodating to local tastes.
  24. I would suggest reading the following: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_1501-1550/sb_1520_cfa_20040506_152512_sen_floor.html
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