theabroma

Yes, they are. I have his one on chiles rellenos, and the Dictionario Encyclopedico which is incredible, and I just got his latest Verde en la Cocina Mexicana. He is rather a rare character, and quite charming. Rather handsome, actually. But I just love his books. You can buy them at CONACULTA's Libros y Arte stores, and through Howard Karno Books www.karnobooks.com or Libros Latinos www.libroslatinos.com. The great Ignacio Urquiza was the photographer for Verde - it is also a gorgeous production. I think I paid about $45.00 US for it, in Mexico. It will set you back about $80.00 or so if you buy it through either Libros or Karno. I have bought books through Karno for several years now, and they are really great. Theabroma

Hah! And that from a man famous for using smoked water in an amuse-bouche!! Lordy, Lordy! Next thing you know Albert Adria will be shilling a line of deconstructed Twinkies or Zingers. There's hope for all of us, Caroline, dear. Theabroma

Depends on how you define high end and respected. Remeber the film, Big Night? Fifi is absolutely right about sauteeing in a liquid. At those temperatures, you are striving to keep the pan itself from carbonizing! Also, it is the play of hot oil against its old foe, water - which it is madly evaporating off, while caramelizing any sugars present that, very crudely explained, covers the searing or browning action going on. Besides, you use very little fat when sauteeing properly. Butter in the marinara? Most places would have margarine or a butter/margarine mix (think: food cost, bottom line, p&l, etc). Any restaurant that would see the need to use 100% butter, would likely understand that it does not belong in marinara. That alone should tell you all you need to know about that 'respected' restaurant. In all but a very few true palaces of the palate, waitstaff is rarely knowledgeable about food, and less rarely expected to become so. If there are pre-service meetings of the wait staff to go over specials, etc., it is not common for there to be anything more than a lose, adjective strewn explanation, combined with one bite to 'educate' them about the foods, and what goes into them. They are dismissed to the restaurant floor with the ringing admonition to 'upsell.' Most hot - not truly haute - kitchens pride themselves on how many covers they can turn out in one service period. They are known in the trade as 'slam kitchens.' Chefs are proud of heading or working in a slam kitchen. At one of my positions in a hot, self-anointed haute, kitchen everyone at the end of the evening would take on a chemically orgasmic look when it was announced that we had just run over 400 covers. Fine European kitchens are rated in stars or toques, here, fine kitchens are rated in number of covers per service period, rather like fast food outlets. I will leave it to you to decide whether you can have really fine dining, be a respected restaurant (at least as I understand the term) when you are serving 400+ per service period. RE: the oil. Yes, it flows like the rivers of Babylon in a kitchen. It is, in many cases over used, to wit: vegetables are indeed blanched, shocked in cold water, dried, and held for service. At service, a handful of the veg is tossed into a hot saute pan, typically on the heels of an over generous dousing of the pan with oil. Fat, per se, is not the demon. I think I will likely get little argument from you that processed fats, hydrogenated fats, chemically engineered fats (like Melfry tm, full of surfactants and anti-foaming agents, and used in deep fat fryers, treated to withstand constant heating, and the introduction of large amounts of water and seasonings that come from frozen, institutional french fries, etc, without breaking down. To fry in pure canola oil would cost a fortune, because it would have to be dumped at least daily.) Or places that use margarine for all but the finishing dollop on top of the entree just before it leaves the kitchen. It is not the fat, rather it is the type and quality of the fat, and the total quantity. I am a great fan of saturated fats as well as olive and nut oils, etc. All you have to do is eat one tamal made with Crisco, and one with homemade lard to know the difference. I have no problem eating fat ... I just want to know what kinds, and how much. There are places where it is appropriate to the food items. And there are places where it is not. Mc Donald picks up on some things worth considering and discussing, but for all the wrong reasons. And just for a giggle, guess what the favorite foods are for the uninformed, pc, fat phobic habitue of high end restaurants? Caviare (unless, of course they plead salt phobia, or are to shaken to eat fish eggs), and foie gras. And they are shocked, shocked! to learn that both are like 459% fat ... saturated at that. As for the foie gras, may as well eat a stick of butter. There are valid reasons for being aware of one's fat intake, by amount and by type. McDonald's are not the ones - at least for me. Speaking from the inside of restaurant kitchens, where most sane folks do not venture, and about which most food servers know little (cooking and preparation), fat can be a dirty little secret, and a way to take some shortcuts instead of preparing the food items in question appropriately for maximum flavor, texture, etc. That said - Julia died while I was deep in a barranca in Mexico. The news reached us, even there. Since returning, while teaching my classes, I have found myself about to use butter for something, or having just been asked by a student if you HAVE to use butter, when I ask for a moment of silence for Ms. Child. In all sincerity, to note a great loss to us all, and to make a point. She once told an interviewer (to paraphrase) There is too much fear of fat in this land. That from a lady who knew her fats and used them well. Theabroma

Oy vey iz mir! One would have thought that the Adrias owned so much of this galaxy's culinary real estate that they would be immune to the blandishments of package-itis! I cannot wait to hear how it tastes. And, why stop at spinach? Quelites! Papalo or lamb's quarters come to mind. How do you think it would be on the huauhzontli? Or berros? Or for dunking pieces of pan de muerto into? Sort of a Mexican/Spanish/Swedish (the cardamom in sweet yeast pastry) fusion! Tell, tell! Theabroma

He's also wickedly handsome ... which never hurts. BTW - is Miguel Ravago still at FSM? I know he left, and that was when Santibanez came in. And then he went back to Mx and Miguel came back. Theabroma

Re: huauhzontli. I've had it in street markets where the mercadera blanched it in boiling water, squeezed it dry in a towel, buried a few thick fingers of queso in it and then trussed it rather like a roast beef with thin cotton thread. She dusted it lightly with harina de masa, then into the capa, and into the oil They all seem to serve them in chilmole - some chopped tomato, onion, garlic, epazote and chile sauce quickly made in a sauce pan. She left a 'tail' of the thin thread which peeked out through the capa. You just gave it a petite yank, and it began to pull out. Now I'm really hungry! FiestaMart sells huauhzontli from time to time here in Dallas. As for popularizing it here, there are few restaurants that have figured out the way to put nitty gritty traditional in a nice plate on a white tablecloth. It will happen, though. And when I find the $$$$, I'll do it! Theabroma PS: also, tortitas de ... papa and other things, swimming in that heavenly tomato mole. Damn, I'm going to cry ... T.

Any further word on Santibanez? Knew him when he was a Fonda San Miguel in Austin ... and absolutely adore him. Theabroma

Zarela has a charming story about the plant... It seems that the Virgin Mary, being very poor, had very few diapers for the Baby Jesus. There was this big leafy bush growing in her yard and she would spread the washed diapers on the big leaves to dry. God blessed the bush and to thank it for helping the Virgin Mary in her time of need, he named it Hoja santa. ←

Over use of a commercial bakery product known as 'egg shade.' It implies that the resulting doughs are egg and butter - and perhaps saffron - rich. T'ain't so. Just food color. theabroma

Stuffed dried (toasted, then soaked) red chiles are common in Mexico. And as for the yellow mole, Alicia Gironella de'Angeli of El Tajin made a fantastic one with chicken, chile chilcoztli, and onion. It was served with a puree of hoja santa. It both ancient and traditional in Southern Puebla/Northern Oaxaca. I have the recipe somewhere if you would like it. Regards, Theabroma PS: I have poached anchos in vanilla syrup and stuffed them with arroz con leche or chocolate mousse. Eats pretty good. T.

I wandered in to that store this weekend ... not having read this post. And I can second the observation. I thought I'd been suctioned off the planet. But, hey. That's Austin. Remember the GM steakhouse downtown on Congress Ave between 4th & 5th? Ted added souvlaki, Greek salad, taratoor sauce, and gyros before they were the latest thang. Had the highest sales for all of the GM stores - but chain mgmt didn't like him dancing his steps and so threatend him with a sacking. He bought the store, renamed it Ted's, kept the GM menu, and ran, for years, the best Greek restaurant in Austin. Ted was, of course, Greek. He became a wealthy Greek with his restaurant. It's people like that and the wonderful outta step things they do that really make Austin cool. Just as I was missing Ted, along comes some more innovation. Maybe 7-11 really did wake up and smell the coffee. Although I save the marshmallows for my hot chocolate! Theabroma

SSB=Priceless!! Re: tequesquite It is sodium nitrate, or saltpeter, mixed with sodium bicarbonate. (??does this make sense?? Although Munoz Zurita is usually spot on, he is not a chemist, so there. If you'll accept a Lance Armstrong quick, and mudsllinging dirty translation of from Ricardo Munoz Zurita's Diccionario enciclopedico de gastronomia mexicana, here goes: "Saltpeter with bicarbonate of soda, which is used in cooking and in the fermentation of doughs. It mainly appears during the dry season in lagoons and lakes in the Valley of Mexico (precipitates out - I've seen it compared loosely to the Egyptians' natron), where it is collected for culinary uses. Dating to the pre-Hispanic era, it is known as tequixqutl, from Nahuatl tetl 'stone, rock' and quixquitl, 'gushing, flowing, budding.' ... "Before the Conquest the region of Iztapalapa was where it was gathered (just east of Mexico City, where the new Central de Abastos is located; the southern part of the historical region was under chinampa cultivation in the fresh water lakes. The lakes to the north had brackish waters and it is from these that they derived tequesquite)' and used it as a salt (sodium chloride) substitute." ... "Tequesquite's most important use in traditional Mexican cuisine is in its capacity as leaven. Tamales from Central Mexico owe the lightness of their masa to tequesquite. It is also used in the dough for bunuelos (obviously a post-Conquest adaptation). Ground tequesquite is mixed with water and husks of tomtillos, boiled, allowed to cool, strained, and added to dough to ferment it.... "Another use is to soften grains of corn and geans: in this use ground tequesquite is added to the water in which thay are cooked; it use is evidenced in the softness and yellow color of the ears of corn sold in the streets of Mexico City. Dried corn is also cooked with tequesquite in place of cal (calcium hydroxide) in order to nixtamalize the corn. Many people alsoo use it when cooking greens and cactus paddles, in order to keep their green color, soften them, and aid in their digestion; in the case of cactus paddles, it helps cut down on the slime (think okrs). And the the Pulque Belt, it is used to make pulque vinegar." (comments in parentheses are mine) So there. More than you EVER wanted to know about it! There are little blink of the eye towns in Mexico named things like Tequisquipan and Carmen el Tequesquite (which I drove through - its in the southern part of the state of Tlaxcala where it meets Puebla. It is desolate, flat, an extinct lakebed. It is a totally lunar landscape - very pretty in an odd way and quite eerie at the same time. There were several groups of people digging tequesquite there. Now, for sources: usually, individuals. I have a small stash of it which I will look for. My Poblana friend, Nuria, is in Houston now and I will check with her to see if she can track some down. I leave for Mexico in a week ... but will be in the western part of the country. I will look for some and bring a quantity back if I locate it. I intend to make a coccion, or infusion of all of that goo, and give it a whirl in some tamales. I'll let you know. Regards, Theabroma

Hey, Fifi! SSB? My acronym/initial bank is in overdraft! Well, the anise seeds are a post-conquest addition, although there were certainly other things - hoja santa, tagetes lucida, etc, which would provide an "anisey" flavor. My guess to date - based on what I've been told plus the taste that tequesquite in particular lends to food - is that the anise flavor is a welcome screen for the more metallic, "grabby" and slightly acrid taste of the tequesquite (I will dig up and provide proper nomenclature). I want to know what's in the tomatillo husks that cause a leavening action. That has always intrigued me. Caroline? Theabroma

Yeah - the tomatillo husk thing is really fascinating. I have a couple of books that specify how to make it - by that I mean they give proportions, etc. But basically you take about a tsp of anise seeds and 6 to 10 slightly dried husks (from 6-10 tomatillos), and about a tsp of tequesquite (an alkaline substance that precipitates out on the banks of certain brackish water lakes - Lake Texcoco for example. I suspect that the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah contain a similar item.) You pour on boiling water and let it steep until it is cool. Strain it and use it for a chemical leavening agent in tamal masa and in cakes. It is also used very, very traditionally in the processing of dried corn into nixtamal. I am guessing that the anise is to re-balance the flavor of the tequesquite. I will be trying to make some tamal masa with it - I have a small bag of tequesquite - and will probably try to buy more, and some cal, and maybe some dried corn on my trip. It is just too fascinating to figure out how people figured out the use of all of these things, and the chemical reactions to them. Theabroma

Spoonbread, you know, it could have been baking soda that was used. It appears you took my musings into my own ignorance as some sort of corrective comment. There are some other things - like an infusion made from the husks of a tomatillo, and a mineral salt, tequesquite, and, of course, cal - which have been used in Mexico for centuries to leaven or process foods. I don't have a chemical clue about what's going on in these processes, so when I find out about something other than baking powder, it fascinates me. And that was it - no more, no less. Regards, Theabroma PS: And if anyone out there can explain the soda and bp and tomatillo husk and tequesquite thing, I'd be much obliged. T.

Scott, I just had a deep conversation and a demonstration from a deep East Texas gal on making tamale masa from cornmeal. That's all she, her family, and neighbors ever used to make 'hot tamales,' and she found my description of masa or Maseca very strange. She added salt to the cornmeal, and bit by bit some boiling water. No fat, no baking powder. It was a little like starting a batch of hot water cornbread. Once this not very wet mix was wet enough to stick together, she spread it onto corn husks, filled it with pork in chile con carne, closed the wrapper and steamed it. And steamed it. For about half an hour longer than tamales normally take (about an hour). I have not tried tortillas, nor have I seen them done from cornmeal, but I think that you would make a somehwhat less damp, hot water cornbread type dough from cornmeal and boiling water, and then pat them out between banana leaves or plastic bags, and then pull off the top bag, and turn the 'tortilla' onto a hot, lightly greased griddle. Cook and flip. I am morbidly curious now and will 1) give this a try over the weekend, and 2) follow the Q&A for your question ... Theabroma

It helps enormously to start with raw masa. Although it is possible to puff a ready made corn tortilla, it is difficult and frustrating, and a way to make a pile of oddly shaped tostadas. A freshly cooked tortilla that has inflated, and has a 'pocket' like a pita will work, because it will re-inflate. But the easiest and best is to get some fresh masa or make some from Maseca, and chuck in some flour and some baking powder. Theabroma

Bingo!!! Love each in their own way, but little sauce, little cheese, but of very good quality, some fresh herbs, and, on occasion, maybe a little cured meat. But at this point, I'll take a Manhattan 'slice' or a Chicago dish-so-deep-its-a-wading-pool. The pile of proscuitto on the Fireside pie was, frankly, a bit scary. But, pizza on this side of the pond is a very American thing, so hey. That's just my personal preference. In the US, probably the most 'real' pizza used to come (and may still) from Sally's or Frank Pepe's in New Haven, Conn. Thin crust, little sauce, some mozz, and that's about it. Theabroma PS: I think pizza Margherita qualifies as "real pie."

In making masa for gorditas, and some of the other thicker "tortilla"-like masa antojitos - and this includes puffy tacos - a small amount of wheat flour (all-purpose) is added to the masa, along with some baking powder. Soda would work in the presence of an acid substance = and in masa, I'm not sure what that would be, especiall since the cal used to process the corn is strongly alkaline. Addition of the small amount of wheat flour contributes gluten which the corn dough is missing, and the mesh formed by the gluten strands can help the dough take advantage of the gas released by the baking powder in the presence of moisture and heat. Kaboom! Puffy taco! They're greasy little suckers, but jeez they're good! Theabroma

Tried Fireside. Like its sibling, Cuba Libre, wonderful, hip decor, good beer, ok wine, and alcoholic mix of the mo', and a menu of aggressively tasty items that leave me, and my dining companions, lusting for Cuban food and a classic p/Margherita, or something with the essence and soul of 'a slice.' The food is quite good, the concept is financially successful, and I'm delighted that they are supporting and advertising that support for Jimmy's ... but I leave there on the hunt for a real pie. Theabroma

Ah, yes. Meskin food. Wouldn't have eaten at Tezka in Mexico City, would you? The patron's got 3 big ones back in San Sebastian. I am surprised that you are so shocked by chile gravy - it's roots are deep in the New Mexican dirt. French breads and pastries - called, I believe, viennoiserie in French, came from the well-known French suburb, Vienna. And the French, like the Mexica, made the most of what they took into their hands - but had it not been for the French king's de Medici bride, how much longer would the French court have been eating off bread trenchers with their hands? To know tacos, enchiladas, and tamales is, under certain circumstances, to indicate a familiarity with Mexican street foods. I assure you that there is, and has been 'white tablecloth' fare served in Mexico for some time now, whether or not it was actually set out on a white tablecloth. Perhaps a quick read of Sahagun's Florentine Codex will give you a rough idea of the refinement of the table at the Aztec court. What was that wonderful quote, so often slipped into the mouth of Benjamin Disraeli as a riposte to a member of Parliament who had made a common slander of the Prime Minister's Jewish culture? "When your ancestors were running after wild boar in the forests of Silesia, mine were priests in the Temple of Solomon? But Temple of Huiztlipochtli would sound funny here, wouldn't it? We could just recall the corn, the tomatoes, squashes, potatoes, chocolate, vanilla, etc. from the rest of the world's kitchens, or we could call many other cooking styles the spade that they are: Mexican fusion. Theabroma

Salutations. Theabroma, who can be remarkably clumsy, quite simply fell off the planet, and has just managed to climb back on. So to speak. Response on chiles forthcoming. Rachel, I loved the mole article, and am delighted and a bit surprised that the DF crowd has not sounded an alarm. I would love to be a scan recipient of the Gastronomica article. And where are you on the Sta Rosa mole invention? I agree that the nuns wouldn't likely honor the visiting dignitaries with an indigenous dish ... but I don't see the nuns being much in the cooking department, either (Sor Juana excepted). I've always wondered whether the good sisters put the 'finishing school' touch on a basically native dish ... and the result, refined, more perfumed with spices, etc. was the result? Regards, Theabroma

The only DK book that I do not have is My Mexico (that's more or less the title). I will wind up getting it at some point. Yes, I meant Essentials and the other one with the yellow cover - cannot think of the proper title, and am not near my bks at the mo'. Theabroma

Bialys at Kossar's are a must. Also Patisserie Payard, Jaques Torres Chocolate in DUMBO (down by the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Orwasher's on East 72nd St. is an old, old Czech bakery with crisp crescent rolls with coarse salt and caraway seeds, and onion flatbreads you really want to just curl up in. And if it is still there, the Cafe di Roma with an espresso machine that looks like the boiler from an apartment buidling, and rich, syrup drenched, squoshy Italian pastries. Orwasher's and di Roma are some of the last of their kind. Theabroma

The Art of Mexican Cooking - which pretty neatly rolls the ground she covered in Cuisines of Mexico, Recipes from the Regional Cooks, and Tortilla Book all in one. My second one would be Nothing Fancy ... which is not really Mx but a very personal collection of her favorites, plus a lot of tales and stories ... not all happy (such as the account of returning to NYC with her beloved husband and NY Times Mx City correspondent Paul Kennedy, as he was dying of cancer). Her personal happiness in Paul Kennedy was our public happiness as well: that's how she got to Mx in the first place). In it are the famous Sopa Diana Kennedy, a soup starring epazote, created for her by a friend who knew her love of epazote, and DK's recipe for 'Rougail of Salt Cod' which is a bit of a tedious pain to make, but oh, so incredibly good. My second Mx. book would, indeed, be either of her last two books. But best of all, when it comes to DK, chuck restraint to the winds. Get all of her books. I bow at the altar of Julia, for her passion, and her passion to teach us about it; however, I am truly awestruck by DK - as Alma Guillermoprieto has written, this is a woman who literally saved a cuisine. She, and the glorious kitchens of Mexico that so impassioned her, deserve - no, long ago earned - a place of pre-eminence on the world stage. Theabroma