gulfporter

I feel the opposite....foraging by chefs is relatively new and many of the chefs are young and from non-agrarian backgrounds. The guy selling out of his car may (and I say, may) be a seasoned mushroom picker for decades and more knowledgeable than a recent culinary school grad. As kids we were sent to the nearby hills and culm dumps (coal mine leavings) to pick mushrooms. Before going home with them we always stopped at a neighbor's house where "Aunt Annie" would inspect them. While she rarely found a reject, it was part of our routine. Only exception was if my Dad was with us as he was also well-versed in mushroom identification. They didn't refer to any books to ID, they just knew. No mushroom-related deaths in our family 😄

I ordered these as they had the lowest shipping cost to Mexico in the fastest timeframe. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HC8X512/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks all. @liuzhou the size and bulkiness of your tweezers look down-the-drain proof. Will look for similar product.

I bought new standard tweezers to pluck errant bones out of raw salmon before cooking. Worked like a charm! I normally throw my prep utensils, pots, pans, etc. into the sink as I go along; my DH is the dishwasher if I cook. I threw the tweezers into the sink out of habit but quickly realized they were destined to fall into drain and cause some sort of plumbing issue. Before I decided to use standard "eyebrow" tweezers, I looked at longer kitchen tweezers on-line and decided they might not have the torque (is that the right term??) to pull out salmon bones (these bones need more than a standard "pull"). It seemed the grip area was too far removed from the end of the tweezers. Am trying to think of what I might attach to the small tweezers so they won't get lost in the sink with a boatload of other items.

Mexican cheeses are too mild for us. Sharper cheeses are imports and can be pricey. However, goats abound in Mexico and goat cheese is cheap, local and varied by both aging and flavorings. I am cooking more with goat cheese than I thought possible. My go-to quesadillas include chicken al carbon from a local stand with the accompanying onions and peppers and whatever goat cheese is in my fridge. I toast the filled flour tortillas on my gas grill until the goat cheese is warm and soft....that's lonche! While I am usually firmly in the camp of 'no cheese with seafood,' goat cheese on top of grilled shrimp served over fresh pasta with just a drizzle of olive oil and blistered cherry tomatoes and fresh basil, works for us.

We are doing a moveable feast in the neighborhood. I am doing the main course and plan to make paella. My recipe is not authentic, but it is one that always pleases the masses; it is Pierre Franey's recipe from one of his 60 Minute Gourmet Cookbooks. The recipe is basically: Saute skin-on bone-in thighs and sausage chunks separately, then add onions/sweet peppers and saute as well. Then these items are added to a large pot with raw rice, stock, canned tomatoes and seasonings. It is cooked stovetop, covered for 20-30 minutes until the rice is tender and chicken cooked through. Then the raw shrimps are added with frozen peas and simmered for 8-10 minutes covered until the shrimps are done. I turn up the heat when I add the shrimp to form a socarrat. We will start the meal at a nearby neighbors for drinks and appetizers and I neither want to leave the group too early, nor make the guests wait too long at my house before being served the paella. There are 2 other houses after mine (one for dessert and another for digestivos/coffee). I don't want to slow down the feast; we have done others where they have lasted too long since there is some walking in-between each home in addition to the eating time for each course. My plan is to make the paella up to the cooking of the rice then park it until the group comes to our home to eat. At that time I will blast the heat under the paella, then add the shrimps and peas for the 8-10 minutes final cooking and hopefully develop a socarrat. Will that work??? Cautions??? Will the rice get overcooked...should I undercook it a bit before the rest period?? Should I park it tightly covered, or lid ajar? I think the chicken will benefit from the rest period when we are elsewhere eating an appetizer (est. 20-30 minutes), but am a little worried about the rice. I don't cook rice very often.

It's been 8 years since our last visit and we were delighted with the restaurant scene back then. We will be there all of next week. Anyone been recently?

Oh those furry pickers.....ouch! But in AZ and here in MX they are removed, at least at stores we shopped at. My Bisbee AZ house had a row of pink prickly pears along a patio wall where I hung party lights and those furry pickers got me every time I changed a bulb. In dry months, the javelinas would come down from the hills and feast on the cacti but the plants always grew back. Out of a dozen plants, we only lost 1 when temps plunged to 2 degrees F one wicked winter. They are hardy....and a food source for both 2 and 4 legged creatures 🌵

Chipotle cheese ravioli covered with a shallot, sweet red pepper, huitlacoche lime-butter sauce finished with toasted pine nuts and cilantro. Feliz Navidad!!

@Thanks for the Crepes Are you certain the cactus pads had thorns and not just the nubs that remain after the thorns are removed? Here and in southeast AZ they were always sold denuded. I like nopales but often they are overcooked here and they get the same slime texture as overcooked okra. My go-to place for chicken al carbon (over real wood charcoal) is the chain Pollo Feliz and they make a very nice nopales salad which is never slimey. I think Pollo Feliz has expanded into the US but not sure which states. That market sounds great!

Long called "corn fungus" or "corn smut" in the US. High profile chefs are now calling it "corn truffle." What's in a name....everything when it comes to marketing 🤑

Is my math correct....about 90 cents US a can? Great price!

If you have ever had bunuelos you will understand my swoon. I went to our weekly open air street market and on the walk home scored these in the drug store parking lot. Light as gossamer despite the heavy load of cinnamon sugar. 30 pesos a bag. Only seen here at Christmas time, then pffffft they're gone.

Still not sure what we are making for Xmas or Xmas Eve. It's just the two of us, so it's not a panic situation. This morning I went to a local carniceria and placed an order for two duck breasts and two lamb shanks. I had never ordered lamb shanks here before and I wrote down the translation. El jefe understood what I wanted but was surprised that I wanted them. He kept asking me if I was sure and whether what I really wanted was pierna (leg), and sin huesos (boneless). He does business with CDN and US expats and I guess this is the more standard special order for lamb. He was dubious whether he could get either item by Saturday (he like most businesses will be closed Xmas Eve). His duck breasts are very large (way bigger than what I buy in US) and one is enough to share, seared with a few interesting sides. The other breast was slated to be made into prosciutto by my DH but it takes 7 days to cure so that's now a NYE target for sure (yeah, I am late in ordering for Xmas....I have finally adopted the manana mindset, for good or bad).

Fresh huitlacoche....will use in filling of chicken quesadillas and as a sauce on chipotle/cream cheese raviolis. It was 20 pesos which is 1 USD right now. I don't often see it here in our area, it is far more popular in other parts of Mexico.

Thx for the advice. A new pan is on its way via Amazon.com.mx

I have made cranberry squares for over 20 years; last year I doubled it for the first time. I baked it 50% longer (from 1 hr to 90 minutes). By then the outer crust was getting too dark. I did what I can best describe as an inconclusive toothpick test. After it cooled, I discovered the center was severely underbaked. This 'cake' has no leavening, eggs, a ton of melted butter with plenty of nuts and fresh cranberries. It calls for an 9 inch square pan. It has always been fully baked at the 1 hour mark. I haven't even toothpick tested it for the last 15 years....it has always been fine. If I try to double it again this year, I am thinking of using my thermapen rather than the toothpick test. Google indicates a cake should have an internal temperature between 185 and 200. Should I aim for the lower or higher end for this sort of bake? Or should I just go buy another 9 inch square pan and forget about doubling it in one oblong pan (9 x 13 is what I used last year).

Getting ready for some holiday baking. Here is the "carton" of Mexican eggs I bought at the local tienda. They sell by the kilo here, not dozen. This bag is just a tad over 1K.

The hunt is on. Noche Buena as its translated name indicates (Christmas Eve) is only available at the holidays. Due to illness, we missed out on it last year. Haven't seen any yet, but it sells out extremely fast so we have to be prepared to act fast. Is it available in the US? I never looked for it there. Wondering if others have comments on it?? Maybe it is so desirable here due to the limited marketing and its dark taste compared to most MXN beers??

This is a series that began earlier this year but we just happened upon it. Watched the 1st show of season about pizza and enjoyed it. Fast moving with lots of debate about WHAT a pizza is. From Brooklyn to Naples to Tokyo to.......Domino's. Host is Chef David Chang of Momofuku fame.

Local blueberries....kids walk around selling from cardboard boxes (our version of a farmers market). Never seen them this big before. We couldn't find any US coins for a proper size comparison so used a Bic pen cap.

On our first trip to New Mexico in the early 1980s we found ourselves outside Los Alamos (great museum BTW), in a hurry and hungry and saw a Pizza Hut. Any port in a storm. Well, they offered Hatch chilies as a topping....our first taste of them. Blown away is putting it mildly. When I made pizza in Arizona I always topped with roasted Hatch chilies (or other green chilies) as there were chili roasters set up outside a few grocery stores in Douglas and Sierra Vista nearly year round.

We don't see mustard used with pizza here....many things in MX are local. Yes to pickled jalapenos....I have asked for raw jalapenos but never found a place that had them. Same with hamburguesas.....always pickled. On hamburguesas, yes mustard used by the locals and LOTS of it.

When we first began visiting Mexico in 2006 I did my best to learn "food" words first. Quite proudly one night in San Miguel de Allende I phoned in a pizza order, un grande con salchicha, correctly translating sausage. Well......salchicha on a pizza in Mexico turned out to be hot dogs. Not crisped up or blackened or grilled or even fried....just warmish thick rounds of sliced, cheap hot dogs. FFWD 10+ years and nowadays most MXN pizza menus include topping listing for both salchicha and another for salchicha Italiano. All orders of pizza still come with ketchup packets 😝