Tropicalsenior

Thanks, @chileheadmikeThat looks absolutely delicious. Were the Chile's ancho's? Just a small tip, my daughter-in-law's mother is Mexican and she puts them in a blender with boiling water and then weighs them down with a glass of hot water. When when they cool down, she purees them.

Since it had mustard, I would think Emmentaler, Jarlsberg or Gruyère.

Last night I made bean soup in the instant pot. I was able to get some nice fresh beans from my little Chinese market and a nice big chunk of smoked pork from their butcher shop. To that I added every little bit of ham, chicharrones and sausage that I had lurking in the freezer, seasoned it with lots of celery, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika and a little bit of chili powder. I missed being able to add onions and garlic but in my house that's strictly a no no. The whole the whole thing cooked in 7 minutes. Since I can get just about every kind of fresh being here, I've pretty much stopped using dried beans. Fresh beans don't split as much and the texture is always creamy. Beans in the pot. Ready for the table. Served with corn muffins and fresh pineapple.

Isn't it wonderful. It's almost worth the price of the instant pot if that was all it could do. I like beets but I hated cooking them. I boiled them, I baked them, I tried to cook them in the microwave. They were still miserable. Then, one of the first things that I did was beets. They were a thing of joy. I'll never do them any other way again. Pickled beets and pickled eggs, also steamed in the instant pot.

I'd swap out the okra for some good skillet cornbread.

@chileheadmikeit sounds like they were great. I would probably forgo the time for the flavor that you put in it them. I'm glad that you like the instant pot. I've only had mine since September, but I love it. I had an Oster electric pressure cooker before this but it blew up with me! I got this one by accident to replace that one and it is only a Chinese knockoff of a Chinese instant pot. It's almost the same thing and it works the same so I'll take it. BTY, I would love to have a good recipe for chili Colorado. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures

@chileheadmike I'm not questioning your preference, far from it. I have a few myself that no one else agrees with, and that's their problem not mine. I'm just saying that this worked for me. I do have one question for you. Did you cook them in the water or did you steam them? The difference in the method might make a difference in your timing. I have found in cooking other vegetables, that I much prefer steaming them because they don't absorb extra moisture and they seem to cook just a bit quicker.

That kind of got me, too. After 1.5 hours, all I could imagine was a pile of mush. So, yesterday, after finding some nice fresh beans in my little Chinese market, I decided to give it a try. I checked the internet for recipes and found two that sounded logical. One recommended cooking them in water for 1 minute, the other said to steam them for 2 minutes. being a contrarian, I decided to steam them for 3 minutes with NPR release. They had just the right texture but I wished I had stayed with 2 minutes because I wanted to reheat them in a skillet with a vinaigrette of crispy Serano ham, bacon fat and vinegar. That one minute over was just too much for my taste. Fresh beans ready to steam. Fresh from the instant pot. There was no crunch to them at all. Finished dish with crispy ham and vinaigrette. They were delicious. Dessert that night, was an orange bread pudding made from some leftover Moroccan orange cake. Here it is, fresh from the instant pot.

Don't bother. Taco Bell today is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Now days, they're sticking red corn chips in everything and calling them crunch somethings. The meat, if you can find it, tastes like wet saw dust. If you want real Taco Bell, you have to look on the internet for the Taco Bell copycat recipes and make your own. The only thing they really have going for them is their photographer.

It looks okay to me. I'll take it anyday to the 'nice' rare chicken that some people serve at BBQs.

Actually, to this offal-phobe it looks darn good. Is the texture more like liver or like heart?

I did try making chocolates and failed miserably so I admire anyone who perseveres and can make them. I'd much rather just eat them. I'm glad you joined us and I'm looking forward to your contributions.

Welcome, the food of Goa sounds wonderful. Please tell us a little more about yourself.

My point exactly!

I am certainly not an expert on schnitzel, however, I am fairly conversant on the history of food. It does seem that each area has some particular dish that they can claim as their own. Then, each home cook, restaurant, and Chef has their own version. As people migrate to other regions and other countries, they take their recipes with them and adapt them to the ingredients that they can find in their new areas. Some of these migrations are just over the border into the next country where the food becomes so popular that that region now claims it as their own. Confusion reigns and food fights begin. I once worked in a Greek owned restaurant that had many Turkish customers. I have seen screaming fights over baklava and souvlaki, each culture fiercely claiming it as their own and no one ever winning. I think that in order for a recipe to be completely authentic, every country has to do what Italy has done about marinara sauce. They have declared and published an authentic recipe. I thought I had the reference to it but I can't find it. It's the recipe that I use and follow to the letter. Except that, I can't use onions or garlic because of dietary restrictions in my home and instead of fresh herbs, I prefer to use my own homemade Italian seasoning mix to make up for the lack of garlic and onions. It's the best one hundred percent authentic marinara sauce that I have ever made. And so, recipes evolve. Can you imagine what it would be like if we were all just using one approved recipe for something? How bored are palates would become. BTY, I wonder how my marinara sauce would be with schnitzel? Could I still call it schnitzel?

That's an interesting photo. You're right it does look more like Swiss steak. It's a shame to see all that sauce on a crispy fried cutlet. But what is more interesting, is that it looks like Swiss steak with mashed potatoes with a side of mashed potatoes.

Quote: A recipe is not meant to be followed exactly - it is a canvas on which you can embroider. Roger Verge This has always, for the most part, been my philosophy. Because of some dietary restrictions in my house, I have to alter just about every recipe that I try or that I have used in the past. Rather than claiming authenticity, I just call it my version of… As for sides, I opt for the fresh ingredients available. For condiments, I stick with the traditional. Tonkatsu sauce with tonkatsu, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa for Mexican, Etc. Having lived in a foreign country for almost 30 years, without having the availability of a lot of things that I would like to cook with, rules have to go out the window. Rules are for people a bit more obsessive than I am. I'm more interested in flavor, presentation, and using the good food available to me. I will admit that some dishes are not meant to be tampered with. Fettuccine Alfredo never has chicken or ham. Caesar salad must have anchovies. Carpaccio is always made with raw beef, never salmon. Some things are just too good to spoil with Innovation or fusion.

Unfortunately for me, my housemate is allergic to every type of fresh pepper, garlic, onions, scallions, leeks, in fact, everything in that family. So like you, when he is out for the night I go all out and indulge my flavor starved taste buds. He always laughs when it comes in and takes a big whiff. Now when he's going to be gone for the evening, he stops and buys me a big onion, a head of garlic and some peppers.

Your Mexican rice looks delicious. Would you be willing to share the recipe?

I know that I am going to offend a lot of vegetarians and vegans, but now that you asked. I respect, completely, their decision not to eat meat for whatever reason, but, why try to pretend that they are eating meat by giving it a meat name. Schnitzel is meat. Had it been a filet, I could probably have even gone along with carp schnitzel.

Maybe they're operating on the same concept of chicken fried steak. If it's breaded and fried it's schnitzel. But then... where does that leave us with the unbreaded schnitzel? Must we then call that something else? One of my pet peeves is adding to a classic dish or completely changing the recipe and still calling it by the classic name. i.e. Chicken Alfredo, Salmon Carpaccio and so on.

According to Dear Old Google, who incidentally isn't always right. Quote "What is the difference between country fried steak and chicken fried steak? The other distinction that sometimes comes up is that, where country-fried steak is flour-dusted and usually served with brown gravy and onions, chicken-fried steak is breaded with eggs and served with cream gravy." I was always told that it was called chicken fried steak because the breading is reminiscent of the breading used to fry chicken.

@Duvelyou're right, I've learned more about schnitzel from this discussion then I ever knew before. All the more reason to love it. I've even learned a lot from our slight disagreements. Schnitzel is kind of like meatloaf. Everyone has their own recipe, and well made meatloaf can be a thing of joy. As long as it's not like my ex mother-in-law's meatloaf. Even the dog wouldn't eat it.

Actually, you're both right. By definition @heidih is right. the Schnitzel is the unsauced piece of meat. A thinly pounded, well breaded, well fried schnitzel is a thing of joy all by itself. But then, @Duvel is also right in that the sauce defines the dish. Example, a hamburger is a patty of meat served on a bun. The flourishes one puts on that hamburger defines the type of hamburger. Cheeseburger, mushroom burger, bacon cheeseburger burger, and so forth. Personally, I love a sauce with schnitzel, served under the meat so as to not destroy that beautiful crisp crust.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I'm afraid that trying to find something like that down here is just the impossible dream. I would ask my grandson to bring it down when it comes next month but he's informed me that I've reached my limit of available space. He makes quick trips down here quite often and only brings a carry on. However, I have saved the page and I will put it down for a future trip In the meantime, I have found a recipe for a mushroom Dashi and I think I'll give that a try. I'm not even sure if it can properly be called Dashi without the Bonito flakes.