fifi

Thank you for the information caroline. I really think the flour corn is what I am looking for. Now, the problem is where to get it or some seeds. OH.. that grilled corn. I had some collegues living in Mexico for a time. They had rented a house and the housekeeper came with the deal. She was also quite a cook. She had her own source for corn tortillas. She knew this family that grew their own corn and made and sold tortillas and she used them as her source of supply. I agree with you. Those tortillas were a whole new experience versus those that we picked up at the local supermarket. Most folks here can't understand what is so good about a tortilla hot off the comal with a spread of asiento. The real thing is a truly beautiful food. I won't even bring up her source for tamales, and homemade crema, and queso fresco, and the avocados from the tree in the yard, and... See ya... I gotta call my travel agent.

I have been wondering the same thing marie-louise. I have one of the newer Chef's Choice sharpeners and was beginning to worry about the metal loss thing. Before that, I had an older model that I gave away. (Metal loss has been mentioned before on earlier threads.) Then I got to thinking... I am not running a professional kitchen. I am a home cook. I only have to sharpen my knives every few months as I keep them in shape with a steel and am fanatic about sharpness. But then, I am also fanatic about proper use and storage. So, how many years would it take for the metal loss to become a problem? You have a lot more time on your Wustoff than I have on my Henkels so I guess I was right to question that particular worry. After that much time, I think I could justify throwing the thing out and starting over. Besides, by that time there will probably be some magical Terminator metal alloy available that I will just have to have. Point is... I will sharpen them with the Chef's Choice. I won't with anything more laborious or requiring any more skill. I'm going to check out the knife lesson anyway.

paper vs. plastic? At my previous house, we had curbside recycling. I would get some paper bags for putting out the newspapers. These were folded and kept in the little space between the washing machine and the wall as this was on the way to the garage and the recycling pile. Our recycling did not include the plastic bags for some dumb reason. There are recycling boxes at the grocery stores so I would save up wads of the plastic bags and never remember to take them with me. When the wad approached the size of a small elephant, I would give up and throw the whole thing out when various species of critters would take up residence. I am not an environmental fanatic but I do stay informed and try to do the right thing. I got used to the recycling and I miss it. That said... From the environmental standpoint I would have to go with plastic. I know a lot about the manufacturing processes for both and the process for making and recycling plastic is WAY cleaner than for paper. We need to do a better job on the recycling end, though. They are making progress on plastics that will self destruct in landfills but we are not quite there yet. There are some interesting studies on garbage at the University of Arizona (I think) that shows that paper doesn't decompose in landfills as readily as some might think.

cdh... That is a really interesting technique. I can see how it might work. I will have to try it. So any of you remember a thread some time back where we admitted to really dumb things we have done in the kitchen? Before this thread closes, I just have to ask... Did anyone strain their stock down the drain?

I am not sure what cattle corn is. I think that what we would call field corn is the stuff that is grown to be processed into corn meal, animal feed, corn starch, corn syrup, etc. so maybe that is what you mean by cattle corn. I have seen it called "dent" corn because the kernel has a little dent on top. I think Alton Brown had a show on corn and he made the distinction between sweet corn and dent corn. You have to pick it fresh, before the kernels get dry and hard.

Interestingly enough... This in today's Houston Chronicle Dining Guide. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/d.../dining/2032880

You are right. I have had "field corn" before and it was very like the corn I got in Mexico. This city folk can't find any. I am going to have to go for a drive in the country.

Nope... I LOVE those guys. I forget the exact relationship (cousins? in-laws?) but I think one of them is from the Mandola family. They have some excellent restaurants here in Houston. Carrabba's was just one of their ventures. They are just as entertaining in person.

Years ago my dad and I had to make an excursion from the country place. On the way back, we saw an old man with his pick-up truck parked by the side of the road. He was selling fresh corn. We stopped and bought some. When we got back to the farm house with it, my mother made fun of us for being stupid enough to get tricked into buying field corn. But we were undaunted and boiled it anyway. It was fabulous. Like I said... A whole different thing. The corn I had in Mexico years later was similar. I have to go now and find a farmer.

I am copying this from a post I made in the Gardening thread in General Food Topics. If this kind of copying is a no-no, my apologies. But I am not too sorry because I am getting desparate and will have to find my seeds before next spring. I am hoping some of you can help... "I have been reading about the ecstacies of sweet corn on some of the threads lately. Sweet corn is a nice thing and I enjoy it ok. But it doesn't hold a candle to the corn that you get in Mexico. Or, maybe, the corn you get in Mexico is an entirely different culinary experience. I am talking about the ears of corn that you might buy from the street vendor in Mexico City's Chapultapec Park. Here is a big ear of corn on a stick. You can get it dusted with chile powder, spritzed with lime juice, or (God forbid) with mayo. (Don't knock it.) It tastes like CORN, not sugar. I suspect that it is a variety of dent corn that is normally grown for other corn products, but I am not sure. I suspect that some of our domestic "field corn" has been bred to maximize some component or other for the chemical processing of corn. It probably does not resemble the corn grown to make the masa and eat out of hand. All of that being said... I suspect that I will have to grow my own to reach corn Nirvana. Does anyone have any idea what variety of corn is grown in Mexico for such purposes? If I don't get a lot of information from this post, I will start a thread on the Mexico forum and see what I come up with. All of you corn addicts really need to taste this variant."

I just went here... http://www.pappas.com/index.html I had no idea they had expanded so far. Since I am in Houston, I guess I have a rather parochial view of the Pappas family of restaurants. If you count all of them there are over fifty, according to their write up in "history". Even though the restaurants focus on differing cuisines, there are definitely common themes so I could make a case for lumping them together. All in all, they do a creditable job. I would put them in the same league as Houston's. The only gripe I have is that some of the restaurants seem to subscribe to the notion that louder is better. Pappasitos consistently gets the "best fajita" vote here but I can't go there. The noise level is actually painful.

mamster... you just gotta keep those mallards out of the lard pot! They belong in the garden eating pests. Lard is the only legitimate annointment for MY quesadillas.

What do you start with? Pork belly from a butcher's shop? How do you know when to pour it off? Don't you need it solid to cut into flour for dough? Would that be hydrogenated? Or do you refridgerate it first? I usually have no idea where the fat came from so I can't say that I use belly. It is usually packaged in a tray with plastic wrap at Fiesta. At the Asian market, you ask for it and they give you piles of it wrapped in butcher's paper. I look for firm white fat with just a little of the connective tissue here and there. You can tell that because it is not as firm as the purer fat. You want a little of that for flavor but not too much. (Now that is a precise description!) If you are after the light stuff for baking (I am usually not) you pour (I dip) that off as soon as you get enough liquid fat to work with and before your little cubes start to brown. After that, any time it is liquid it is lard. The only variable would be how far you go with the browning of the little cubes. I like mine where the little cubes look like nicely browned bacon. Then from the bottom of the pot, I lift out the cubes (CRACKLINS) and usually snack on those. Then I pour off the very bottom dregs separately. This is the "asiento" that you spread on a tortilla. If I am not after different types of lard, I do use the oven method. I just find that using my big LeCreuset on top of the stove lets me keep my eye on it a little better. Note that I said medium heat. It occurs to me that that was on my feeble home gas cook top and a really big LeCreuset. If you have one of those high BTU ranges, start lower. You can always crank it up if you get impatient. But, you shouldn't get impatient. To me, making lard is something to do on a lousy winter day. Sort of like stock, it takes time but only a little attention if you keep that burner low. For baking, you refrigerate it to get it solid. A friend that bakes puts it in the freezer on the reasoning that you can adjust your working time for it to warm up to where you want it. Works for her. You can't hydrogenate it. That takes high pressure equipment and a hydrogen supply. That is only found in the dark and evil food factories.

That design is awsome. Can those of us that can't attend buy a shirt? We need to pressure Cafe Press to get black shirts. How hard can that be?

Interesting. Carrabba's started here in Houston. Did they sell out or did they aquire Outback?

I have been reading about the ecstacies of sweet corn on some of the threads lately. Sweet corn is a nice thing and I enjoy it ok. But it doesn't hold a candle to the corn that you get in Mexico. Or, maybe, the corn you get in Mexico is an entirely different culinary experience. I am talking about the ears of corn that you might buy from the street vendor in Mexico City's Chapultapec Park. Here is a big ear of corn on a stick. You can get it dusted with chile powder, spritzed with lime juice, or (God forbid) with mayo. (Don't knock it.) It tastes like CORN, not sugar. I suspect that it is a variety of dent corn that is normally grown for other corn products, but I am not sure. I suspect that some of our domestic "field corn" has been bred to maximize some component or other for the chemical processing of corn. It probably does not resemble the corn grown to make the masa and eat out of hand. All of that being said... I suspect that I will have to grow my own to reach corn Nirvana. Does anyone have any idea what variety of corn is grown in Mexico for such purposes? If I don't get a lot of information from this post, I will start a thread on the Mexico forum and see what I come up with. All of you corn addicts really need to taste this variant.

I am glad to know that the art is alive and well. So, do you have a problem getting them with a good deal of meat left on? I can see why beef ribs would be problematic for a commercial operation. They do take up a lot of room in a smoker for the number of servings coming out at the end. Maybe that is why I don't see them anymore. We have a really good Asian grocery here that has a great butcher shop. That will be the first place I look. The only problem is that, for a while, the only smoking set-up I have is the Weber Smokey Mountain and I am having a hard time figuring out how to fit enough for several people in there. Maybe the brontosaurus really is nearing extinction.

I agree with you about Outback. I feel like they give you a pretty good value for the money. When I "grade" chains of any sort, I grade them based on my own expectations. I don't expect a chain to put out sublime haute cuisine. If they do a good job of what they do and the price is fair, I am ok with that and then proceed to enjoy the experience. My local Blackeyed Pea is pretty good. I stop by there for lunch sometimes when I am out and about shopping and such. They have consistently good "home cookin'". I like their squash casserole, rolls, vegetables in general. I will often order their vegetable plate. I have downgraded them to a C because several years ago they discontinued their signature dish... blackeyed pea salad. Otherwise they would have rated a good B. The salad was blackeyed peas with onion, little pieces of cauliflower, celery (I think), not sure what else. It was all tossed with a vinegrette. The stuff was addictive! I have yet to duplicate it and I WANT SOME NOW! There are some other smaller scale chains around here that are pretty good. Carrabba's comes to mind. The Red Onion Cafe looks like it is headed for chain-hood. So far, they have some really imaginative "Latin fusion" food that is a lot of fun. It seems to me that when a successful concept starts "chaining" they are pretty good but eventually fall off.

I remember the ribs having quite a bit of meat on them. Maybe not the same ratio to bone as pork but certainly enough to. When my grandpa brought the ribs in he would always say... "The brontosaurus ribs were extra meaty today." Makes me wonder if there is a lot of variation in brontosaurs.

I had apple mint once (well... it had me). Small mammals were nothing to that beast. I almost lost a 75 pound basset hound. Never plant apple mint. It doesn't even taste that good.

ooo... ooo... I found this thread... My lard method is in there. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...67&hl=lard&st=0

I am told that you can get it sometimes at small "ethnic" butcher shops. Some of the Mexican shops here have it but I am told you have to arrange ahead because most of it is spoken for. It is an important ingredient in tamales. I just make my own. Sometimes I can find good fresh fat at the Fiesta supermarket here in Houston. If anyone is interested, I will post my method in the archive. It yields 3 types of lard for various uses. If it is sitting on the shelf, not in the refrigerator case, and is a pure white solid at room temp... it is hydrogenated.

That is what was so much fun!

Can we assume that the lard is fresh and NOT hydrogenated? Hydrogenated=bad because of transfats, supposedly. By the way, thanks for the data. I have been hearing that and have just been too lazy to look it up. I have been telling you children... LARD RULES!

When I was a kid about 50 years ago, my grandfather would often pick up BBQ from Otto's (Houston) on a Saturday. He always brought me some beef ribs, telling me that they were brontosaurus ribs. (I was on the leading edge of the dinosaur craze.) There is even a picture of me somewhere gnawing on this huge rib. I don't think I have seen a well BBQed beef rib in years. And, I don't think I have seen anything in the market other than short ribs. What ever happened with that? Am I just missing something? Have any of you smoking fiends ever done beef ribs?