theabroma

IF ... she can eat almonds and eggs ... then you might want to look at some variety of Hungarian/Viennese sponge where the yolks and whites are whipped separately, with sugar and flavorings in the case of the yolks. They are then folded together and a small amount of starch crumbs are folded in ... can be flour or cake crumbs, but it can also be almond 'flour' by itself. The resulting sponge is delightfully tasty, and can even be very, very lightly syruped. I prefer this type of layer actually ... but in any event, it is a "real" cake that has been developed and used for a couple hundred years ... it is not a stab at 'backwards-logicking' a cake that is, in part, dependent on wheat gluten for its rise and texture. Regards, Theabroma

They tend to be bigger than their Mx cousins, more frequently wrapped in banana or papatla leaves, and the crucial turn: they contain a filling with meat. Often is it a type of picadillo with an amazing array of 'things' tucked in: olives, raisins, etc. along the sweet/tart axis. The masa is spred, the picadillo added, and then topped with cooked shredded meat, or sometimes a chunk of chicken leg, thigh, breast, bone and all. The fillings bear a close relation with Latin American hallacas. Regards, Theabroma

It's maciza. Ditto Kalypso's post. I have,though, seen it applied to similarly situated cuts of beef, most likely by analogy. Have never seen the term used with either lamb or goat. And its use with chicken or shrimp would go straight into that great Urban Myth Bin along with shrimp and chicken fajitas. Regards, Theabroma

Photos by, among others, Ignacio Urquiza ... whose food photography may be without peer. And text by a woman of whom Alma Guillermoprieto said saved a cuisine. It will be translated, and soon. In the meantime, it's a great reason to learn some Spanish, don't you think? Me? The piggy lies in shards all over the dining table, and a friend in Puebla has been charged with picking up a copy. I may be beans, chiles, and tlayuda diet for a year to pay for it ... but think of what she'll teach me to do with those ingredients! Regards, Theabroma

Per Cristina Barros and Marco Buenrostro in today's Itacate column in La Jornada: www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/03/31/index.php?section=opinion&article=a08o1cul Diana Kennedy's latest and long-awaited book on the cuisines of Oaxaca is finally out. Since Amazon does not have the title listed as an advance copy, I can only wonder whether it is now out in Spanish, shortly to appear in English. No surprise here, but Barros & Buenrostro seem to feel that she has really hit another one out of the park. I can hardly wait to get my hands on my promised copy. Excited regards, Theabroma

Ah, man ... that's such sad news. He was funny, wonderful, smart, kind, and wise-assy in a great way. My heart goes out to his family. I will add him, however reluctantly, to my ofrenda this year. Theabroma

There is a fair amount of starch in bananas, and that could be causing the stickiness. I would either rub them through a fine-grained tamis sieve with a bowl scraper or put them through a chinois. Alternatively, have you considered roasting black-skinned (ripened) plantains? Or sauteeing them? They have a wonderful flavor. You could cut them on the bias and layer them with pastry cream with a good hit of creme de banane. That would give you a huge banana flavor and and interesting texture counterpoint. Just a thought Theabroma

Generally, meat tamales - from nacatl 'meat' or 'flesh' and tamal 'tamale' in Nahuatl. You find them in Michoacan in Mexico, and they are all over Central America. It seems that the kitchen sink filling is a sort of picadillo ... similar to, and damn near as elaborately exhausting as, the one for the very traditional poblano Chiles en nogada .. Nacatamales ... at least the ones I've seen and eaten, were all made in sizeable portions of banana leaf, and were flattish, thin squares, rather than the more typical roundish, tube like corn-husk swaddled Mexican tamales. They remind me more of hallacas, with the no-holds-barred fillings. Regards, Thebroma

But, if you continue to whizz the pbrit in the fp, the friction should melt it down and you will have pralin paste ... well, peanut paste. When I make hazelnut buttercream, I use pralin paste in the buttercream ... couldn't you do the same with the peanut paste? Theabrom

http://www.lemonde.fr/carnet/article/2009/...39474_3382.html This article, from today's LeMonde, announced the death of Gaston LeNotre at the age of 88. A fascinating patissier and sharp businessman. Theabroma

Are you familiar with the 'stuff' known as florist's clay? It is mossy green, comes in blocks, and is like finely textured, supple styro. I could be that he was using something like that for the cone (only white), or else the cone is covered with fabric or something else. All this talk of macarons made me crazy, so I ran up to a little French bakery near me to grab one. They usually only have chocolate, they are 2.5" across, and have too much (in my opinion) ganache sandwiching them ... it is good ganache, but is not made with bittersweet choc ... I have gotten way sensitive to sugar content of chocolate .... Anyway, whining aside, I gobbled that sucker right up. O god, I love those things! Cheers, Theabroma

There was a Brit press interview with a Laduree patissier putting one together at, I believe, Harrods. He was using some sort of peg or pushpin, which he positioned in the styro cone and then pushed the macaron onto it. I found the link. At the beginning of the interview you will notice the chef sticking the pegs into the styro cone. It is not clear to me what he's using, but segments of hard-paper lollipop sticks come to mind, etc. ..... I believe that you will want to avoid any edible 'glue' with a sugar base - its contact point with the styro will not be firm and its contact with the macaron will turn the contact point gummy due to the hygroscopic nature of sugar. I think the peg is the way to go, but you will need to submerge at least 2/3 of the length of the peg into the styro to reduce the chance that it will come off the cone, stuck into the macaron. You will post photos, yes? Regards, Theabrom

my source for black cake ... my Trinidadian friend Leslie's mamma, said dark rum and Manishevitz (!!!) although I like the idea of port better. Hard to argue with Mamma,however ... lift the lid of that cake tin and out came the most floral fog of rum ... Theabroma

"...I do not think today Mexicans are influenced by class choices but rather what people can afford at one time or another..." With all due respect, I strongly disagree with the above statement. Let me quote Earl Shorris, author of The Life and Times of Mexico (W.W. Norton, 2004). "Nothing so distinguishes the European from the American worlds in Mexico as corn and bread. They are the primary symbols, native and imported, Mesoamerican and Christian, poor and rich, dark and light, ancient and modern, ignorant and intelligent. The conflict between corn and bread affects Mexican religion, regionalism, corruption, language, diet, personality, and politics. It is at the heart of Mexico. And it is learned early, even now. When I was a boy, the mothers of my schoolmates told their children to eat only tortillas made of wheat or bread baked in an oven; corn was for Indians, they said. As I remember their faces now, my classmates were all mestizo. Their mothers, especially the mothers of the girls, wanted them to be white, to live and think and look like people of pure Spanish ancestry, like criollos. It was a matter of class as well as culture. Wheat and white were the signs." (p. 79) ← Quite to the point, Esperanza And may I add, based on having the blessing of having been invited to break bread and tear tortillas with Mexicans from all across the class spectrum - of European heritage as well as Indigena to the core - that the class and caste divide is alive and well in Mexico, and it very much influences choices. One of the stranger things is that many of the "lo mexicano" food researchers now working and writing and organizing in Mexico are from the top of the alto-rango of Mexican (the country) society, largely of European ancestry, they have formed links to the most indigenous kitchens and their elaborators. At any conference celebrating "lo mexicano en la cocina regional y tradicional" you will see these women (many are) swanning about in museum-quality huipiles, some with trenzas listonadas (ribboned hair braids). But this is a class choice (these are, after all the people who assign slots in the country's class system), and though I wish to create a loose analogy and do not wish or intend to be snarky about it, while watching this scene it is hard to keep the images of Marie Antoinette and her coutrieres playing at being milkmaids on the grounds at Versailles. The (economically disadvantaged city dwellers are so busy and desperate to keep something in their stomachs, that food studies can be a bit of a luxury. Time constraints from family and work make shopping at the Gigante a necessity, and this is a crucial point of entry of convenience and fast foods: the aguas frescas made with fruit are now gallon jugs of high-fructose corn syrup sweetened water and chemical fruit flavors. Tortillas have additives, and dough conditioners at every stage to hasten and cheapen production, and this is where trans-fats go when the are banished en el Norte. Now, this is/is not a class choice. They are of a class that has to keep the stomach from having too much of a conversation with the mouth - as the saying goes - to be able to worry about anything but filling the belly. But it is those arrived in or massing in the anteroom to, the middle class (whatever that may mean in Mexico) who eschew lo mexicano in the tradtional kitchen. They are trend-bitten, and will strive to their detriment to "afford" what they have been shown as the latest and coolest in America. And this, I submit, it the biggest class choice of all - what you eat, wear, drive, etc. is chosen by how you will be perceived ... not by what is the best value for the money and your condition.

Alas, the source is just a local grocer who gets it from a tortilleria in Ft. Worth: there is no one to ask. The ingredients list is un-helpful, listing corn, cal and water. I was sort of hoping for some kind of indicator of fresh masa... I don't know if I've ever had it, so I can't do a direct comparison with experience. ← A lot of tamal makers in Mexico buy harina para tamales in the markets. However, if you cook your own at home, you take a bucket of the corn to the local molino as ask the molinera to grind it "para tamal." However, in the waste-not-want-not mode, if you've got extra masa para tortillas on hand, that is what is used. Regards, Theabroma

And.... those bags of "fresh" masa lurking under the bakery counters at Fiesta are not "fresh" ... its made from Maseca which has been reconstituted. As for the Maseca (white bag) and Maseca para Tamal (pink bag), the pink bag is typically a coarser grind than the tortilla version. Of course, you can use the white bag stuff to make tamales. In Mexico the coarser grind is used for tamal masa, and the finer grind is used to make certain more specialized, regional varieties. The difference was lost on me until I moved my tamal-making focus to the DF, Tlaxcala, Puebla, and the center in general. There the tamales are made with an even coarser grind of masa, and they are wonderfully textured, spongy, and fluffy. The Nortenos we are used to here in Texas ... and most of the US have a finer grind and a denser dough than what you typically find in the Centro. I now make my own harina para tamal from scratch ... and I am trying to source a table-top sized molino I saw in a market in Chihuaha to be able to make more of it more easily. Currently I use a commercial grade Cuisinart (I beg its pardon every time I load the bowl and turn it on) and then sift it out in a huge tamis. It is a royal pain in the nalgas, but it makes wondrous masa and superbly fluffy tamales. In Dallas there are several tortilleras that make masa from scratch ... Luna's is probably the best. If you purchase it from one, ask at least 2 Questions: 1) is it masa or masa preparada? (already contains fat) and 2) does it contain any additives or dough conditioners? (it should contain only field corn, cal, and water. That, at least, is one benefit of Maseca - it is only corn and cal, cooked, dried, and ground ... none of the other gummy gunk. Regards, Theabroma

chocolate dipped - especially white chocolate - fresh or crystallized fruit? Large glaceed apricots stuffed w/marzipan kneaded with rum and half dipped in white chocolate? Truffles, or marzipan, shaped into ovals, dipped in white choc and decorated - like sugar eggs? All inside a chocolate box or bag? or basket - plastic chocolate basket? Spun sugar grass? Hope this kick-starts some ideas ... Theabroma

Did you happen to check out the original site in Spanish that you posted above. It's very cool. Thanks for the link! ← Glanced at it but my Spanish is not that good so didn't linger. The Pambazo - So is the pambazo a regional specialty or pretty universal? The restaurant ← Reasonably universal - it's just so spicy-crispy-crunchy-tastefully-greasy ... and so good for the pelt! A really good pambazo, made with great bread, real chorizo, and unstintingly pomaded with guajillo salsa then crisped to a fare-thee-well is a things of awesome beauty. I will, however, be the first to admit that if it is not a prime example of the art, it is not such a great choice. And for those who do not love sour cream ... try creme fraiche ... lighter, and should be a bit sweeter which makes a nice counterpoint to the assertive chorizo. Oh, yum! Regards, Theabroma

I think that you are going for degrees Baume, and yes, you prepare a sirop a trente, then in go the fruit, and each day you bring the pan of fruit & syrup to a boil for a set period of time, then remove it from the heat and let the syrup cool. The syrup should increase a certain number of degrees Baume each day for 10-14 days. If you can lay hands on Passion for Chocolate by Bernachon, tr. is Rose Levy Beranbaum, she outlines the entire process for candied orange peel, in her usual very precise, clear manner. Regards, Theabroma

who is teaching it?

avant garde in this case is restaurants that are using molecular gastronomy ← Please! Dallas? No ... unless you want to count the fact that I-35 runs through it on the way to Chicago. I'd save my frequent fliers and head off to face the linen at Adria's, Blumenthal's, Achatz', or Dufresne's tables. Keller flirts with it, but has not, to date, taken a full gainer into the pool. This, however, is not really a 'cuisine' which would lend itself to a high-end WalMartization ... think of the godawful spawn of the Isi siphon and gelling media. There are, however, several excellent and not self-consciously flashy here in Big-D. Regards, Theabroma

Cemitas from Puebla (photo will follow), Pan de cazon from the Yucatan, and Pambazos - potatoes & chorizo fill, quesillo, bathed in salsa de chile guajillo, and griddled ... oh, yum! Theabroma

There are times in one's life when one is grateful for the age one really is, to wit: I mourn for you in that you only know the latkeria @ 57th. The times & urban development 86'ed Rattner's and the other dairly delis on the Lower East Side - now those were LATKES, though cooked in oil to maintain kashrut. Latkes as I know them were cooked in schmaltz - chicken or goose fat. They were ethereally crisp and delicious. Heaven forbid they were cooked in butter ... unless, of course, it had been clarified to its oil-essence to preserve the ability to turn out crisp, elegant golden coins of shredded potato, onion, and finely minced parsley. Latkes without schmaltz are like sex without passion ... mere potato pancakes. Cheers, Theabroma ← As I said it before we use pork fat or salo ← Sorry, love ... not for Latkes ... I am speaking from the Jewish bench, so to speak, so, although I heartily agree that manteca de puerco will admirably fill the bill, not for Latkes... You'll have to call them by their Polish, Ukranian, or Russian name. Cheers! Theabroma

It doesn't. Cal isn't the issue. It's a white corn vs. yellow corn thing. I've heard, and been told, that tortillas made from white corn masa are more costly and, therefore, more desirable by the those that can afford them because it allows them to display their financial status, not necessarily that it's a better quality tortilla. ← BINGO! Let me try this again: In order to be able to make the bread we know as tortillas, the corn must first be nixtamalized. You can nixtamalize any of the field/flint/dent flour corns to achieve a masa with the desired characteristics. Now, where I suggested that culture waltzed through the door is in the choice of the color of corn used or preferred tp make the masa. Cal (calcium hydroxice) is the medium for the nixtamalization process ... the fact that it happens to be blindingly white is a coincidence that has nothing to do with the cultural preference for white flours for white breads. (Beside s cal, wood ash dissolved in water -lye- or tequesquite - a naturally occurring alkalai forming around brackish water lakes - are also traditionally used to process the corn (think corundas, the famous ash tamales from Michoacan). Neither wood ash nor tequesuqite are white. Color preferences in breadstuffs are socio-cultural, and are historically evident in Europe, Eastern Europe, to some extent the Middle East, and in Russia, the Trans-Caucasus, and Asia. Off the top of my head I cannot recall research indicating the color preference prior to or at the time of the Conquest - although a quick run through Sahagun indicates that white corn may have had the edge even then. Post Conquest, with the advent of wheat cultivation in Mexico, the European preference for white bread as a status symbol came to the fore. It would not be unusual to find that preference further reinforced the color choice of corn for tortillas or, for that matter, tamal masa. The corn of preference is cacahuazintle - a thumb-nail sized, snowy white grain, which when processed with cal, and with the pedicel removed, and then cooked in pozole, will open like some fleshy lily. It is beautiful. I have never seen or been served pozole made with yellow filed corn .... but there is no reason, other than cultural that is cannot be used to make pozole. There is also no reason it cannot be make into tortillas or tamales, but custom wold have it otherwise. My teachers in the ranchos and mercados won't use anything but white corn. Punto. In fact, the one place in Dallas where you could always get freshly made tortillas was El Ranchito on Jefferson Ave. at Llewellyn ... but the masa they use is made from yellow corn. Their explanation to me was that yellow was more traditional in the ranching country along the Frontera ... and I suspect that one uses what corn one has on hand. Yellow, at least in the norte is used as animal feed as well. You will see yellow corn used in caldos and stews. So my reference to whiteness had to do with color and prestige ... and light/white breads have universally, historically had prestige. This preference is the fulcrum of a bizarre and twisted short story, "White Challah," perhaps the ultimate in prestige breads. The story is a tough read, but it explores the white bread/brown-black bread as contrast and metaphor, making clear the prestige implications. BTW, I am using 'prestige' in the cultural anthropological sense ... which is a rather different cast of the word than the more narrow "I by all my clothes at Neiman's"-credit-card prestige. Regards, Theabroma