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I recently watched the Amealco (northern Queretaro) episode of La Ruta del Sabor (originally broadcast in 2003)... and one of the dishes prepared by an Otomi abuelita was Garbanzos en Amarillo (Chickpeas in a light, masa thickened vibrant yellow-orange hued Mole de Olla). To provide its color she used a substantial quantities of a tuber that looks like ginger, but she referred to as Azafran (Saffron)... I guess its possible that it is just Safflower roots (as Safflower is commonly referred to as Azafran in Mexico & its threads used in cooking) but these were very large (thick) roots. It is possibly something completely endemic to the area, as Amealco lies in the Sierra Gorda, a very dense bio diverse hot spot, with a catalog of 2,500+ different plant species (many of them endemic). As is typical with Mexico.. there I can't find any information on this "Saffron" other than many internet listings of Garbanzos con Azafran as a typical dish in Amealco, Toliman & other nearby towns. Interestingly there is a forest area in the region called Sierra el Azafran where I would presume this plant can be easily gathered? In general this tiny municipality has more than its fair share of interesting traditions... on the same episode she made a thin, warm Mezquite seed & Cinnamon syrup / soup to drink with plain tamales. Internet searches also site a savory dish of Aloe flowers, roasted Tantarrias (an insect that lives in / around mezquite), Century Plant blossom "albondigas", gorditas with something called mamanxa, Pulque bread etc.,

To date I have chopped away at my blocks of Piloncillo or Panela, or shaved them with a sharp knife or even grated them. Such work. Today in a recipe for Chikki (Indian Brittle), I found a tip for using Jaggery...the Indian equivalent. Put the block into the microwave for 15 - 20 seconds and then press down and see if it crumbles. Use the microwave in increments of a few seconds until you can press down on the block and it will crumble. Be careful not to melt the sugar. So I tried it with both a block of palm sugar and panela and it works! My question is: would it harm the sugar in any way to be treated this way? I am NOT a fan of microwaves and don't use mine any more than necessary. Foolish, perhaps, but then....

So I've seen that a lot of the soups shown here on the Mexico forum have corn on the cob in them. How do you eat that? Do you pick it up out the soup with your hands? Isn't it exceptionally hot?

It's kind of late to be posting this, but an email just came in from the Boston Globe announcing Pollo Campero is celebrating National Taco Day with free tacos "As food buffs know, Oct. 4 looms large on the culinary calendar --- it’s National Taco Day --- and to celebrate, the Pollo Campero chain said it is giving away free tacos at its East Boston and Chelsea restaurants." I've never had a Pollo Campero taco, so I don't know if this is worth hurrying to or not.

Since we have some brave souls passionately cooking Mexican dishes, sometimes without having ever seen a particular dish, and I keep running across interesting stuff that might be valuable... I thought why not put links to Cooking & Travelogue videos for the comrades? First up Yessica Perez aka La Receta de la Abuelita (Grandmother's Recipe)... she is a prolific contributor on You Tube. (How Make Stuffed Calabacitas aka Mexican Zucchini aka Courgettes):

Over at Serious Eats, Kenji Lopez-Alt really outdid himself this time: "The Food Lab, Drinks Edition: Is Mexican Coke Better?" I suspect anyone reading this is at least superficially aware that Mexican Coke is made with sugar and that American Coke is made with HFCS: Kenji set up a daunting battery of tests to determine which tasters preferred. SPOILER ALERT: Anyone care to dispute his methods or results?

One of my favorite mexican food is beef nachos. Is there any tip aside from the typical recipe that I see from other sites that you can give me to put some mexican taste or a different kind of twist to the beef and dip when I make nachos? Any good recipes on how to make the best cheese dip for the nachos? I appreciate all the tips in advance. Thanks!

One of the staple meals in my family when I was growing up was ground beef tacos, made from the Ortega "taco kit" (it came with shells, seasoning for the beef, and hot sauce: you supplied the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese). Well, I've sworn off the kit... but not the tacos. Surely I'm not alone here: who else makes this quintessential Tex-Mex favorite from scratch? What do you put in yours?

Diana Kennedy's books and those of other famous authors are of course fabulous but also superficial by nature. The marketing need to cover recognizable place names and take a broad regional approach, as well as how they find recipes & dishes , ultimately leads to a very superficial coverage of any particular region. Even in her recent, award winning Oaxaca book, there is very little depth into the various micro regions of the state. In contrast, I really enjoy the ambitious government backed ethno-culinary projects of the CONACULTA ministry. They have several series that seek to document the culinary traditions of every municipality in Mexico (approximately 2,500)... one such series is the Cocina Popular e Indigena (focusing on ethnic minorities & remote regions), there is also La Cocina Familiar (focusing on mainstream/urban Mexican populations) etc., What makes these so valuable is that they are usually written by a local, sometimes it is a trained culinary anthropologist with great depth... sometimes it is a first year college student... the quality is uneven but they present a familar comprehensive (including all the seasonality & festivals) unfiltered (if they eat squirrels or armadillo no need to censor that) look at their regions dishes... and full of gems that that cookbook authors unsurprisingly miss. This my humble attempt at covering the culinary traditions of Union de San Antonio municipality located within the region of the Jalisco Highlands. My dad was born in the village of San Jose de los Reynoso (pop. a few hundred), my mom on a ranch just outside of Tlacuitpa town (pop. 1,500) both within Union de San Antonio about 6 miles apart, I have spent entire summers in the region and collected recipes, stories, myths & lores from a variety of relatives and their friends... this mini essay is a faithful summarization of my notes & memories. The municipio lies 6,000 ft above sea level and is characterized by perpetual blue skies with puffy white clouds, it really only rains during the summer, the soil is sandy, poor & thin, fairly arid but with lakes, streams and small dramatic craggy mountains. The vegetation is mostly mesquite, oak trees, cactus etc. Almost all families have dairy cows, raise pigs & chickens, grow corn, beans, squash, barley, oats, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, mex oregano, thyme, cilantro, mint, watermelon, cantaloupe, white zapote, guava, cactus pears; they also do a little hunting & forage for cactus pears, herbs, mushrooms & a few other things. People typically start the day with Vanilla, Cinnamon or Chocolate flavored Atole at dawn. After working hard you sit down for a hearty breakfast around 9AM. Most days this means a small bowl of whole beans in their broth, a wedge of homemade fresco cheese (or other dairy products), a couple of raw jalapenos, a stack of handmade corn tortillas, and glass of steaming of Mex hot chocolate. Incidentally, the local heirloom bean varieties are called Cacahuate (a brownish Pinto style bean), Morado de Agua (a purpleish bean) and Blanquito (a small white bean) Other common breakfasts are: Papas Rancheras (partly boiled potatoes that are pan fried with onions, chiles, tomatoes).. serve them with a couple of fried eggs... if there are leftover beans from the prior day you might have them refried. Torta de Huevo (basically a fritata with onions, cactus strips or green beans)... with some fried potatoes. The local butcher makes fresh Chorizo & Longaniza on Saturdays so most people eat Chorizo scrambled with Eggs or Cactus or Potatoes on Sundays. Another popular weekend breakfast is Pork Chops served with Green Salsa, fried potatoes & Fresh Squeezed orange juice (a relative luxury in that part of Mexico). Yet another weekend tradition are the Gordas de Natas... basically Corn Bread made with scalded milk fat in an iron cast dutch oven served with tropical fruit (papaya, pineapple, mangos and/or bananas which are also a luxury) these might be topped with homemade sweetened Jocoque (very similar to Lebanese / Greek Yogurt) or Cultured Cream. Bananas are the most frequently eaten fruit with breakfast... sometimes you have them with a little honey, condensed milk or sweetened cultured cream. The main meal of the day is served around 2PM, and usually involves something cooked a la "Ranchera" Chicken is the most commonly consumed meat (most people raise & butcher their own) and Pollo Ranchero is probably the most common dish eaten. A whole chicken cut into pieces, browned alongside potatoes then braised in a tomato, onion, jalapeno sauce, served with lightly boiled vegetables (usually Mexican zucchini, chayote and or green beans) and a stack of tortillas. A single Chicken typically feeds 6 to 8 people - the meal is all about a small piece of chicken with a lot of sauce & potatoes; and after you are done you eat refried beans with tortillas until satiated. Carne Ranchera... is basically the same dish but made with flank steak instead of chicken.. and for some reason no vegetables (other than potatoes). Costillas a la Ranchera is another variation on the theme but with Pork Ribs, and for the vegtables it is sliced Mex zucchini & greens (Purslane or Wild Quelites). In the non-Ranchera vein you have Caldos & Cocidos. A Caldo is a clear soup with big chunks of beef (stew meat, oxtails etc.,) or a whole Chicken cut in pieces.. the soup has green beans, mex zucchini, corn on the cob... you garnish it with raw onions, cilantro, raw chiles or salsa & a squeeze of lime. The soups are always served with Arroz Mexicano (stir fried rice cooked with tomato sauce, broth, peas & carrots) on the side. Cocidos are akin to the Irish Corned Beef & Cabbage... after boiling beef for a long time, you remove it, cook vegetables in the broth... remove those... serve the broth in a bowl with onions, herbs, chiles & limes... the meat & vegetables are served on a separate plate with a fresh made salsa & stack of tortillas. Many meals are meatless... you might eat something as a simple as Refried Beans with a wedge of fresco cheese and tortillas etc., more elaborate dishes include Chile Rellenos & Capeados. Everybody knows basic Chile Rellenos; in Union de San Antonio they come in three primary styles: Stuffed with Melting Cheese, egg battered, fried & simmered in a tomato herbal sauce with a little side of refried beans. Stuffed with Refried Beans & fatty pork bits, not egg battered or fried just roasted, served with tortillas, sliced avocados & tomatoes. Stuffed with smashed potatoes & melting cheese, then sprinkled with Cotija (aged cheese similar to Parmesan), not egg battered or fried.. but baked until the cheese melts. Capeados are vegetables cooked like Chile Rellenos. For example, round Mex zucchinis are baked for a few minutes, the insides are scooped out & mixed with cheese, then battered & pan fried and finally simmered in a tomato sauce. Similar technique used with Cauliflower, Chard & Broccoli. A dish commonly eaten on Fridays (which is a year round religious "meatless" day) - Shrimp fritters (kind of like Crab Cakes) served with sautéed cactus strips in a dried Pasilla chile sauce. On the weekends, you are typically eating Birria, Asados, Caldo Michi or Carnitas / Fritanga. Birria is a slow cooked goat marinated in spicy blend of chiles, onions, garlic, vinegar, herbs & spices then either slowly cooked in a pit or stewed it is a lot like an Indian goat curry. Asados are any number of animals grilled over Mesquite primarily Beef Skirt Steaks, Ribeyes, split Chickens, Cornish Game hens, baby goats, suckling pigs, catfish steaks, whole bass, rabbits etc., You also grill special types of Chorizo, Nopal pads, spring onions, chiles and the complete spread includes Guacamole, Tortillas, Salsa, Cactus Salad, Pickled Vegetables (Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Beans). Caldo Michi is a spicy soup of carp head, catfish steaks, bass fillets, crawfish, corn on the cob, chayotes, green beans, mex zucchini. Carnitas of course need very little explanation... Fritanga is basically the same thing but with different animals. In Union de San Antonio this means little Quails that are marinaded in orange juice, garlic, herbs & spices then "naked" fried (not battered cooked kind of like "Fried" turkeys in the South) to a crispy exterior. Other Fritanga cuts of meat include beef organs (sweetbreads, kidneys etc.), whole fish (usually sun fish, bass & catfish), pork intestines, and rabbit. Desserts are usually fresh cut fruit (guava, zapote, cactus pears), fruits cooked in syrup, sweet meats (fruits cooked in sugar and shaped into rolls), or Jamoncillos (milk fudge bars) that you have with Café de Olla (a weakfish coffee boiled with cinnamon sticks & brown sugar). On special occasions you might have Jericalla (kind of like a Crème Brulee), Bunuelos (wheat tortillas fried in lard then finished with homemade cinnamon syrup), or Torrejas de Pan (basically a French toast that is simmered in homemade cinnamon syrup the end result is kind of like sticky bun). Dinners are usually very light. You make tacos with leftover stews & beans, you make simple tacos like sliced avocado or sliced tomatoes & salt. If you live close to town you might go to the bakery for freshly baked Pan Dulce with Hot Chocolate or Cinnamon Tea brewed from sticks of real cinnamon. Restaurant Food... restaurants generally only open 1 or 2 days a week, and make just one thing. There is a lady that makes the local style of Enchiladas on Fridays only (this is a tortilla that is quickly fried then sauced with a very spicy dark red salsa, folded into triangles & topped with a light dusting of aged cheese & raw onions served with a Chicken quarter, Carrot & potatoes that were all simmered until tender then browned in the enchilada oil). On Saturday afteroons, a single stand makes Gorditas stuffed with Beans and/or Chicharron Two stands sell Carne Asada and Carnitas tacos almost every night at Tlacuitapa's central plaza. One restaurant sells Pozole (Pork & Hominy Soup garnished with raw cabbage, oregano & chile powder) on Fridays & Saturdays. Another restaurant sells Turkey in the local reddish-brown mole on Sundays. The meat markets sell Pickled Pork Skin & Pig Feet on the weekends, people buy them for botanas (tapas). You make tostadas or salads with them to have with a beer watching a soccer game or boxing match. The only regular place to get a meal on any given day are the two cantinas in town they simply cook a lot of the same foods I already described but here is the interesting part... You pay for either drinks or food.. not both. If you drink beer or bottled spirits then you pay for the drinks... have 3 or more drinks and you get all the free food you could want. Or you can order food from the menu, pay for the food and it comes with a complimentary house made Tequila (the Arandas tequila NOM is about twenty miles away, so many people have the knowledge to grow Agave & distill their own small batch artisinal drink.) All the foods mentioned thus far are the typical foods eaten by most people on a regular basis, it should give you a good understanding of how dishes fit in with the lifestyle & nutritional balance developed over the centures. The following is a compendium of dishes that I have eaten personally, cooked either in Union de San Antonio or by members of its diaspora throughout Mexico and the United States (relatives, friends etc.,) Albondigas (Pork meatballs seasoned with mint & oregano), served over a tomato broth with seasonal vegetables mentioned elsewhere. Albondigas en Blanco (Pork meatballs served in a roux based, herbal white sauce this is pared with Penne pasta that is cooked with a simple non-Italian tomato sauce) Chicharron Verdo o Rojo... they sure love making Chicharrones in this region and the fine, thin, relatively sheets of lighter colored fried pork skins are typically simmered with either a Jalapeno-Tomatillo brothy sauce or an Ancho brothy sauce to a spaetzle like, spongey texture. Enchiladas Rojas (Stale tortillas are pan fried, then bathe in a Guajillo sauce, stuffed with smashed potatoes, rolled & topped with aged cheese, pulled chicken & sauced with cultured crema) Escabeches.... the classic pickle of Mexico the locals primarily pickle Pig Feet & Skin, Jalapenos, Cauliflower, Carrots & Cabbage Fideos en Caldillo (browned vermicelli simmered with Salsa Ranchera & broth) served with aged & fresco cheese, Jocqoque, Ricotta and/or Crema Fideos en Caldo de Frijol (browned vermicelli cooked with bean pot liquour & served with lots of dried cheese) Fideos con Platano (one of the stranger dishes in the region... its the vermicelli simmered in a simple tomato sauce & topped with sliced fresh or sauteed bananas) Guisado de Verduras (Squash Blossoms, Calabacitas, Wild Greens & boiled Corn are braised in a sauce of chopped tomatoes, onions, herbs & jalapeno) Huevos Ahogados (Poached eggs served in a tomato caldillo) Lechon Asado (tender suckling pig roasted over a mezquite fire is a treat people dream about all year long) Lengua or Cabeza en Tomate (tender braised beef tongue or cheeks in tomato broth) Lengua or Cabeza en Guajillo (tender braised beef tongue or cheeks in a guajillo based adobo) Lentejas con Chorizo (the locally grown lentils are similar to the French brown lentils.. they are simmered with browned chorizo, sauteed onion & garlic and cilantro leaves) Macarrones (Macarrones is the local catch all phrase for hollow pasta such as Penne which is typically served in a very Mexican tomato sauce and/or picadillo, cotija cheese & lots of cultured crema) Milanesa con Pure (Thin beef steak Milanese served with smashed potatoes.. I should mention there is a local, very creamy potato that is collected in the wild that is preferred over the more common papa cambray) Mole Amarillo (Roux, Guajillo puree, Broth from boiling Pork Spine.. the Pork spine and cooked yellow Habas aka Lima beans served with Sopes de Manteca... a sope that is scored and bathed with hot lard) - this dish is also referred to as Mole a lo Pobre (Poorman's Mole). My dad always joked that the women of this town didn't know how to make a proper mole and the best this was the best they could come up with. Mole Dulce / Mole Tlacuitapa (This is the local reddish brown Mole made with Peanuts, animal crackers, almonds, pine nut, pumpkin seed, ancho chile, Mex table chocolate, cinammon, tomato & brown sugar served over Chicken or Pork) Nopales Fritos (Diced boiled tomatoes, pan fried with plenty of good lard) Paleta de Novillo en Barbacoa (A big hunk of Veal shoulder is marinaded a sauce of Cascabel & Chipotle chiles with Coriander seed) it is then slowly steam roasted & served with simply steamed green garbanzo beans. Not in Mexico, "steaming vegetables" is the term for salting the slightly moist vegetable & cooking, covered in a clay pot over low heat until just tender enough to eat. Picadillo de Liebre (In many parts of Mexico today they call any saucy ground meat dish - think Sloppy Joe - a picadillo... however the word picadillo means mince.. and in my parent's region they still do it the old way... gamey or leftover meats are simmered until very tender.. once they are cool they are shredded and minced then finally they are pan fried with a strong flavored chile paste. In the Union, this treatment is normally used on Hare, the occassional deer, or an old Ox.... in this region the paste is usually made with Ancho, Guajillo & Arbol chiles with vinegar, garlic, herbs & spices (similar to what is prepared for Birria) Pollo en Caldillo Blanco (Chicken pieces are browned, the resulting fat is used to make a Roux to which you add thyme, mint, chopped tomato & broth simmer until the chicken is cooked & tender) Pollo en Caldillo Rojo (Chicken pieces are browned then the resulting fat is used to make a Roux to which you add pureed, blanched tomatoes and simmer until the chicken is cooked & tender) Sardinas en Coctel (Packaged sardines are chopped up & mixed with spring onions, marinaded in lime juice then served with a cocktail sauce of ketchup, water, a few tablespoons of Escabeche vinager & salt... they are much better than they sound) Sopa de Verduras (Tomato Puree & Knorr broth with Carrots, Peas, Green Beans & Lima Beans) Tortitas de Papa (Plain & simple Potato pancakes served with Nopales that are diced & braised in a guajillo chile sauce) Tortitas de Frijol (The local white bean is boiled then drained & pureed, mixed with breadcrumbs & pan fried) Tostadas are serious business here.. as the nearby, touristy city San Juan de los Lagos might be Mexico's capital of tostadas & fried tacos. The secret are the tortillas rapadas, stale tortillas are soaked in a lime (cal) & salt solution until the release a thin layer of "skin" which is peeled off by hand, they are then drained & sun dried until crisp & flat before frying in lard.. the result are impossibly thin, almost flaky tostadas that pack a big wallop of the excellent local pork lard flavor. These tostadas are often served on meatless fridays with a very thin lining of refried beans, chopped Orejona lettuce (a type of romaine) & the local table salsa par excellence (roasted tomatillos, roasted garlic, ancho, guajillo & arbol chiles with a little minced spring onion & cilantro). Chongos Zamoranes (This is the milk colostrum that is cultured until it becomes a soft, sweetish cheese that is served with a thin piloncillo syrup) Fideos con Leche (Similar to Arroz con Leche but made with Vermicelli that is browned in butter then simmered with rich cream, sugar & sweet spices) Pan de Acero (a Challah like bread made with plenty of Natas (scalded milk), Eggs & Cream in a Cast Iron contraption similar to a Dutch oven) Platanos con Cajeta (Sliced Bananas drizzled with Dulce de Leche) Tacos de Cajeta (Larded wheat tortillas make an occassional apperance in the region, leftover tortillas are likely to be stuffed with Cajeta & local salt for a very rustic dessert) Tamales Colados (This is the name for the local sweet tamales in my dad's town they are flavored with cinammon, piloncillo & cow milk while in my mom's town they are flavored with orange rind, nutmeg, ginger, natas, aged cheese & condensed milk)

Am about to put in an Mexican ingredient order for seeds with Richter's, an excellent herb and vegetable greenhouse located in Ontario. Ed is going to rototill a patch of the old gourd patch for me and Ms Black Thumb will see what she can get. My order: Epazote, Anaheim, Poblano, De Arbol, Pasilla, Serrano, and Tomatillo. Have I forgotten anything? (If I can make it there, I'll buy plug paks for the Tomatillo, the only plugs offered of the above list.) They have no beans which are meant to be cooked from dry, only wax beans and such. Can you get beans across the Canadian border with no problems? Can I plant pinto beans which I can buy at the bulk food store? I seem to recall doing just that a couple of decades ago. Thanks.

At the carneceria yesterday they had these bean pods, but the guy at the counter could not tell me what they were. He called them guajilla or similar and said you put them in salsa? They are a long green pod with flat beans inside that you pop out. What are they and how do you cook them? Thanks.

Because we cannot get a lot of fresh Hispanic type ingredients in Canada, we can end up buying a number of ingredients which are as noted: boxed, bottled, canned, plastic-containered and packaged. Oh, and dried and frozen... And my generous friend from NJ brought me a fair selection of said from NJ last summer. Right now I am looking at a bottle of Goya Sofrito, and Rogelio Bueno both Adobo and Pipian, both in glasses. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Do Mexican cooks use a lot of pre-packaged stuff the way North Americans increasingly do? Obviously Mexican cooks in North America must. Are there any good products? Brands to look for if you must buy pre-packaged? Brands to avoid?

Kensington Market in Toronto is where I have to shop. (I bought nothing I can find in Peterpatch) There are some fresh vegetables, fruits and dairy products and most of the rest is canned, boxed, packaged. I shopped last week and spent over $100.00 in about 10 minutes, but my mind went blank when I tried to think of what I should be buying. The small store was packed to the rafters and I could scarcely concentrate. I was too tired to find the tortilleria shop and I don't know if any meats are available in this area. What I bought: tomatillos, queso panela, queso fresco, Oaxaca cheese, real chorizo, banana leaves, corn husks, crema, chicharones, cajeta from Argentina, white hominy, Mexican oregano, ground canella, Pisco sour and assorted stuff. In Peterborough I can buy: poblanos, jalapenos, dried and ground chiles (most), Mexican vanilla, annatto seeds, corn and flour tortillas (not fresh). A few canned things: chipotles in adobo. I have already / or don’t care about: Mexican chocolate, piloncillo, Champurrado and Horchata mixes, Should have bought some Mexican limes and jicama and chayote. We see these occasionally in Peterpatch. Next time...2 weeks...please help me with my shopping list. Thanks.

I just got this book yesterday for my birthday and was wondering if anyone has done much cooking from it. I've read a good bit of the narrative and instruction and looked over lots of recipes. My first impression is that the recipes look a little less involved than the recipes in his other book I have. What have you cooked from this book and what were your impressions of the recipes?

This morning I started writing the WikiGullet article on Chorizo, so naturally turned to Diana Kennedy's books for information about Mexican chorizo. To my surprise, it's not at all what I expected! I have eaten and made many Mexican chorizos, all of which followed the same basic formula of being flavored primarily by chiles: so when I came across Chorizo Verde I was a little shocked! It all makes me wonder: what other sorts of "Chorizo" exist in Mexican cuisine that I have never heard of? Presumably there are a zillion regional variants?

Found this interesting article, The Mexican Kitchen's Islamic Connection , although I can't figure out quite how I got there... Wasn't sure where to post it. It certainly made me sit up and think. No wonder I love both Mexican and Indian food.

So a friend told me she had found a Mexican cooking show on the Food Network (Canada) and I thought. Oh boy! Just what I need. So I watched it. Marcela Valladolid. And boy was it awful. Meatloaf a la Mexican. This dish and that dish with a dash of "Mexican" spices or ingredients. But then the subtitle was: "A spin on American Classics". I didn't look at that part of the title obviously. Are there any useful Mexican/Hispanic/Latino type cooking shows on television either in the USA (which no doubt we Canucks cannot get) or in Canada? Right. Thanks.

There are instructions and videos on how to char, blister,roast the chiles; how to peel the skin off...but nothing explains how to get all those blankety-blank seeds off that top knobby thing through a simple slit without ripping the entire chile open. The only demonstration which I could find on actually getting out the seeds ripped the chile to shreds almost and the lady chef ended up by saying...and now you can stuff the chile with anything you like. I looked at the remnants of what was a beautiful green Poblano and wondered how on earth you could 'stuff' it with anything. How do YOU get the seeds out of the slit open chile?

My friend from NJ brought me, the novice Mexican cook, a care package last summer, full of things I had never heard of. I know some of them now...but others are a bit of a mystery. We do have a thread, "Making Mexican at home", but it might be useful to have a topic devoted to just the spices and herbs that are used. For instance, today I opened a jar of Corrado's Adobo con Pimienta. Found some information on Google, but need some first hand ideas. I used it on Rajas con Crema that I 'threw' together at the last second for lunch today. It was good. List of ingredients: salt, garlic, oregano, MSG, mustard. (Yeah, so much for my MSG problem. ) Thoughts?

I think I feel another Mexican cooking spell coming on here... I got this book for Christmas, and haven't made anything from it yet. Do you guys have any favorites?

My wonderful and generous NJ friend who brought me a care package of Hispanic type ingredients last August included a few bottles of Goya Sofrito, a tomato cooking base, and also several frozen packs of her own Sofrito which she uses in her Mexican dishes. Her Sofrito is green, not red. I found two mentions of 'sofrito' in the Mexican Cooking posts. Does anyone use it? How do you use it? Do you make it? It can be both green and red? How does it stand in the hierarchy of Mexican cooking? Is it like 'Velveeta' instead of Cheddar cheese in North American cooking? (sorry, I hate Velveeta) Any information is welcomed. Thanks. ps. I might also mention that she smuggled about a gallon of Sangria across the border also. Got to be crazy! I'm not sure she even realized that you simply CAN'T do those sorts of things.

Wasn't quite sure whether to put this request in the internet section or in the Mexican cooking section. Tell me your favorite Mexican and Hispanic cooking blogs, please.

There are so many recipes for Picadillo, I was wondering who had a favorite combination. For years, I made it combining two recipes from Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 'Picadillo' and 'Picadillo de la Costa'. Mine was called 'Picadillo de la Cabana' (We live in Cavan and that was the best I could do. Yes, I know, very silly.) Yesterday's version was without fruit except for the raisins and apples.

I was flipping through my copy of Mexico: One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless to discover a recipe for Mexican chorizo sausage. This is something that I never have in my kosher kitchen, so it inspired my muse. The recipe calls for 1.5 lbs of lean pork shoulder and 8oz of pork fat, plus a variety of spices, chiles and other ingredients. I was thinking about eventually trying this with chicken or turkey breast and schmaltz. Will this work? Any reason not to try other than "It's not authentic?" Thanks! Dan

I searched the entire Mexican cooking and baking forums and could find nothing to cover the dessert aspect of Mexican cooking. So here goes... Currently I am fascinated by the desserts aspect of Mexican cooking. On a whim I purchased Fany Gerson. My Sweet Mexico and although I don't think I'm going to do a "Chris Hennes" through the book, I do intend to try a lot of the desserts this year. To date I have made Empanadas de jitomate. I was so taken by the idea of tomato jam. And this was the third time in 50 years that I had made pastry, two of the times being in the last month. They were delicious. Next I have made the familiar Bizcochitos from a recipe given to me by a friend. They turned out very well. Not a difficult or complicated recipe. My next dessert will go back to the Gerson book: Pemoles/Coffee-Flavored Corn Cookies. They sound like nothing I have ever eaten: cookies made with Masa and flavored with brewed coffee. And I still am intending to make a Capirotada but will wait until the Lenten season and make a traditional Lenten variety. Anyone else making any Mexican desserts of any kind?