fifi

The waste they generate is nothing compared to what I would. I live alone and if I bought all of the greens in their original heads they would rot long before I got through them. The bagged salad mixes are the only way I can get a good variety without an unreasonable amount of waste. I use those round disc things in my crisper that I get at Bed Bath & Beyond. They really work. They have a catalyst in them that inactivates ethylene gas, the natural respiration product of ripening fruits and veggies that causes them to ripen (first stage to rot). My stuff lasts at least three times as long as without them. Bagged salad greens last at least three weeks.

No starch??? How do they do that. The foundation of Mexican food is the corn tortilla, corn masa (tamales) and flour tortillas (a northern thing). No beans?... black, red, refried, charro. Here in Houston we have a reverse English on this one. You go into a Chinese, or other Asian, restaurant and see a lot of Latin Americans in the kitchen. And damn fine cooks they are, too. And you see the reverse situation. I don't see a lot of mixing of the cuisines though. We have large Asian and Latin American populations with well defined cuisines so maybe it is a lot easier to get it right no matter where you came from. Some of the fusions are interesting, though. There is a theory (not necessarily bunk) that the Chinese reached the Americas long before Columbus. I had a long discussion with a distinguished anthropologist in Mexico City (wife of a friend) and she is just about a believer. She was looking into some of traditional, pre-Columbian, cooking techniques and their similarity to some Indonesian and Chinese techniques of the era. Maybe a fusion of those two is not as nuts as it might sound. Look at how quickly the Asians adopted the chile pepper. edit: added new thought

Makes sense to me. Question answered.

This is one of those questions that makes me smack my forehead and wonder why I haven't thought of it. All of the discussion around salting the water hasn't answered the original question. Why isn't salt in the dough? Inquiring minds want to know!

One hopes nutcakes is being facetious. JAZ... Great article. This thread, particularly the tabouli comment, is making me wonder about my raw tomato etiquette. I agree with all of the principles in the article and try very hard to comply, as a guest and as a host. I don't have any dietary "taboos" but I do ABSOLUTELY HATE raw tomato. I mean, it makes me gag. If it is served in my salad, I just leave it. If I get tabouli, I eat around it. (I actually like the part around the tomato.) If someone notices, I just say something like... "Oh, I am weird. Raw tomato is one of those things I just really don't like. Maybe it is genetic." or something like that. I agree that for a host to press the point really bugs me. I gave a very large party for my son. Between his friends, my friends, and our friends, we had one vegetarian, one who doesn't eat anything green, two fairly observant Jewish, and one allergic to shellfish. The answer was a buffet that featured a lot of different authentic Mexican dishes, some of which could be used to assemble "burritos" in tortillas. Since everyone here expects shrimp, I was able to keep that separated from all of the other food as a pickled shrimp recipe served at another "station" along with a crabmeat dish. It all worked. (The guy who doesn't eat anything green almost cleaned out the guacamole and still talks about it to this day.)

Our pediatrician used the BRAT method and it works ok as I have adopted it. He also added Welch's purple grape juice (the real stuff, that was in the years before they came out with that cocktail junk) once the tummy had settled a little. It seemed to help. I always know that I am cured when I develop an irrestistable craving for a Pizza Hut pizza!

I did a boneless pork loin once similar to the Emeril recipe. Roughly crushed the pistachios, olive oil, herbs... I forget what else. I had "spiral sliced" the loin (lengthwise, basicallly unrolled it), Spread it with a LIBERAL amount of pistachios (I had a lot to work with) and rolled it back up and tied it. I roasted it with the fat on top and it was gorgeous. It was a pistacio and pork pinwheel. The loin is so lean I used quite a bit of olive oil. I want to try it with fresh lard!

And the use of leftovers reaches a new pinnacle. Only on eGullet!

Jin... I am trying to imagine mechanical feet. I'm not getting there.

Totally agree. The HEB pasta sauce is not bad at all. It is a good start for adding some garlic and fresh basil.

I'll play Chicken,lemon,garlic Beef, horseradish Fish, lemon Lime, tequila Papaya, lime Beer, Oreos (yeeessss!) Jalapenos, sharp cheddar Orange, chocolate Mint, chocolate Bourbon, mint

My mojo de ajo came out great. i will use some of the oil to grill some fresh fish tomorrow. Now... About that machine that dices the garlic for all of those jars. How DO they DO that? I have visions of lasers going zap-zap-zap as the hapless garlic cloves pass through their gauntlet. Really, does anyone know how they do that?

Oh... It has flour. That is why it looks so pale. Forgive me. I am a Texan. Flour in cornbread is heresy.

You might be right FG. I just remember something made me feel guilty using all of that coconut milk in my Thai curries and the palm oil in my popcorn. That was before I decided "To hell with it!" and proceeded to use what tastes good, works for the job at hand, and maybe had some passing resemblance to a natural product. With the exception of fried chicken, of course. In the absence of lard, Crisco rules. But then, you don't eat that every day.

Predictably... Some studies are now finding that palm and coconut oils aren't as bad as once thought. This seems to be leading to the further incrimination of the trans fats, which don't occur in nature (I don't think) but are a product of those nasty old food chemists messing with Mother Nature again. If you are not confused... you aren't listening.

I just finished mincing a whole cup of garlic. I am making a batch of mojo de ajo. (minced garlic slowly simmered in butter or oil or half of each until toasted) What a pain in the ass!!! I want one of those machines that dices garlic for that stuff in the jar. No... I can't bring myself to cheat and use the stuff in the jar. Am I a masochist, too picky, or just plain dumb?

On a trip to Hawaii last year I stayed mostly in condos with pretty well equipped kitchens. Fabulous fish was availble in the local supermarkets and macadamias were pretty cheap (for macadamias) at Wal-Mart! We almost OD'd on macadamia crusted fish. The leftovers (we cooked a lot of fish) made fabulous lunch salads the next day... great organically grown greens from the produce lady, sliced papaya and mango, papaya seed dressing... I highly recommend that recipe. Hmmmm... I did pick up that bag of blanched almonds at my Asian market last week.

I am going to try it. I will let you know how it turns out. edit: Forgot to add... I HATE rare, raw undercooked fish of any kind. I like it cooked to just done, not overcooked. I go by when it is just ready to flake.

Noooooo... I mean the REAL indigenes. This is a true story, well estabilished by cultural anthropoligists.

Hopefully... never. FRY EVERYTHING! FRY IN LARD! Did you know that the fried turkey actually originated with the Gulf Coast Indians? They fried turkeys, ducks, geese, etc. in bear fat.

Being a veteran of that fried pork roast, I am dying to try it.

Milk a duck... CFW... Why wouldn't mahi be optimal. This stuff is less than 24 hours off the hook, never frozen? Having been exposed to really fresh mahi, I can say that it is not the same as previously frozen. It is actually pretty firm flesh.

Forget food science... KFC or Popeye's cold... yuk! (Based on recent taste tests.) Homemade pan fried in Crisco and/or lard... Delicious until it rots. Case closed.

I don't know if this is off-topic but... when I was in high school (40 years ago?) my best friend and I would ride our bicycles 2 miles to the nearest Kentucky Fried Chicken (before it became KFC) on Thursdays during the summer. They would have fried chicken livers only on Thurdays. We would load up with a bucket or so and pig out! Wonderful stuff.

I have some lovely fresh Mahi Mahi (Dorado, Dolphin FISH) filets from a fisherman friend. Would putting them in a shallow pan in a very low oven with the butter accomplish the same thing? I am really wanting to try this.