OldHobo

It's not new. Googling aquaponics yields millions of links from ignorant amateurs like me and hundreds or thousands of peer-reviewed scientific and academic articles.

Note: This discussion was split from the Can hydroponic or aquaponic = organic? topic. I'm about a year late here but this thread caught my eye because I'm setting up a very small aquaponic system inside my tiny apartment. I don't think hydroponic systems are typically organic but aquaponic systems certainly could be. The reason is organic fertilizers promote the development of life; all kinds of life; like algae. So controlling algae and other flora and fauna, much of it microscopic, is a real problem. Aquaponic systems, however, are little ecosystems in which people theoretically only add fish food. The fish consume the food and produce ammonia which is consumed by bacteria and microbes which produce nitrites, which are consumed by other bacteria and microbes which produce nitrates, which are consumed by basil and lettuce plants, producing salad and pizza topping for people, decaying leaves and roots for worms, and clean water for the fish. So far, I'm only growing microbes but hope to grow herbs and vegetables in half a dozen square feet of indoor garden by Christmas.

I've lived more than half my life, maybe 35 years, in various territories ceded by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. My opinion is the culinary culture lines are pretty fuzzy.

I follow Mario Batali's basic tomato sauce recipe. It's inexpensive, quick, and easy to make. Usually, that will be the base for whatever additions are called for. I thought the prices discussed here were very high until I looked it up and saw MB's sauce is ridiculously expensive as well. I don't splurge on San Marzanos anymore. Hunts taste pretty good to me.

Katie, thanks for this post. I've been mulling it over. I like combining green pepper, poblanos in particular, with red chile/tomato based sauce. In fact, I tend to use poblanos in place of bell peppers most of the time; sometimes broiled and charred skin removed and sometimes in a sofrito or creole mirepoix. Like it in tomato-based pasta sauces also. But back to chili. Sometimes I'll use a homemade red chile sauce made from anchos, pasillas, or guajillos in place of some or all the tomatoes; didn't have any on hand the other day. With a chile sauce, fresh green peppers wouldn't have been needed but I wouldn't hesitate to use them if the fancy struck me. Not having any culinary customers or bosses can sometimes leave me out by myself on a desert island but I checked and I'm not the only one. Rick Bayless combines tomatoes and poblanos in Grilled Tomato-Poblano Rajas Don't follow many recipes but have made Daisy Martinez' Pork Braised in Guajillo Chile Sauce many times. Even a purist like Diana Kennedy writes about using poblanos in tomato sauce for eggs or pork. Please know that I intend no disrespect toward you or your New Mexico mentor, but speaking of that. New Mexico Hatch chiles are a linchpin of that region's cuisine. We never see them red-ripe in this neck of the woods but I believe they are commonly used both red a green locally. Could these be the red and green chiles that your friend's father warned you not to combine? Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to think about the question and do a little research. I had to look pretty hard to find an example of Diana Kennedy breaking this "rule." There isn't an example of it in the one book of hers on my shelf.

They're very popular. I've gotten them at mom n pop gas station/convenience/grocery/lunch counter type places of which there are many in Memphis. Here is more about them.

In Memphis, BBQ is either pork shoulder or pork ribs. The chopped pork sandwiches at Payne's BBQ are among the best in town and the only thing I've had there. Here is the menu. Nowadays I eat out on average less than once a month. So for the most part, if I can't make it at home I don't eat it.

Thanks for the advice kayb. The local paper recently reported Larry's in Clarksdale closed but they reopened on N. Getwell in Memphis. Haven't been there yet though. There are a number of food trucks, one within walking distance, that do Mexican food very well. Haven't sampled the tamales. I'll probably make a small batch in the next week or so.

Interesting Katie. Anyway, it's unlikely that anything I ever cook doesn't violate somebody's rule, convention, or honored tradition.

Hi folks. I'm new to this forum and unsure of the community attitude toward bumping old threads. Lived most my life in the West and the South. After moving to Memphis twenty-odd years ago was surprised to discover the delta tamale tradition. I was mainly accustomed to the kind made in California according to elaborate holiday traditions or by a talented semi-pro artesans, usually called "The Tamale Lady," apparently a very successful franchise operating in every So. Ca. community with a genuine abuelita, or within reasonable distance of a barrio worthy of the name. Found a beautiful 15-year-old eG thread about these here. The Delta tamales that Robert Johnson and his musical tutors (no, not the devil) knew and loved were typically simmered, not steamed, and rooted in workingman lunches and Juke Joint fare. It seems to be a dying art. The ones I've seen Memphis are either based on la abuela's recipes described above or, hearbreakingly sad, doctored up Hormel Tamales from a can. Thinking about this is making my mouth water. ... I do have some corn husks...

Thanks Kim and Okanagan. Modest post about tomorrow's dinner in the chili thread.

I rarely make stuff the same way twice. Depends on what's in the fridge mostly. Tomorrow's chili will be made with about a pound of dark meat from the rib end of a pork loin which I'll brown, set aside, and add back near the end. Never used pork loin in chili before but think it will be ok. Will also have 1/2 lb. dried pintos, 2 poblanos and two jalapenos, 28 oz can of tomatoes, onion, garlic, lots of generic chili powder, cocoa, crushed cumin and coriander. About 20 minutes before it's done I'll add cilantro with the browned pork. Guava paste is new to me. I'll look for it.

I'm an old, retired, mostly bachelor cook. Not a foodie but been eating my own simple, usually scratch, cooking most of my life. Fortunately, I've acquired a taste for it. I almost always cook for one and almost always just eat my own cooking. There are advantages to this arrangement but the lack of feedback and input can be a little limiting. That's why I appreciate being allowed to join your esteemed group even though nobody ever called me modern and I don't know a sous vide from a charcuterie.