Lunch 2022

[BonVivant]

Lunch on a full day excursion visiting a Zapotec archaeological site Monte Albán, black pottery village and 2 other villages.

Looks weird but it's chicken in mole negro, because hey, when you are in Oaxaca, the place to try real moles.

 

Two different meats on this plate. Plus potatoes and sweet chayote (squash).

 

Cactus "salad". Beetroots have pineapple chunks mixed in. Hadn't thought of that. I eat lots of beetroots, gonna steal this idea.

 

"Dry beef" (known as "tasajo" in Oaxaca, but something else in other Spanish speaking countries) and mini corn tortillas with cheese.

 

Heavily overcast day at Monte Albán. This is just one area of the site.

 

Traditional Zapotec weaving

 

 

Tortilla cooking rig, it's everywhere in Oaxaca.

 

[heidih]

Beautiful food and an iconic Pandemic image of ancint weaving and Pandemic mask!

[BeeZee]

Co-worker kindly picked up some sushi (tekka maki and Alaska roll) for me on a busy Friday at the office.

 

[Kerala]

Amazingly there seems to be no active Carbonara thread. I finally made linguine carbonara today using guanciale rather than bacon or pancetta. Unbelievable difference. I've always been a bit sniffy about people wailing on about authenticity, but I'm having a learning moment.

I used this recipe as a starting point. For what it's worth, the amended quantities for seven people were:

420g linguine
300g guanciale
80g pecorino/parmigiano
4 eggs plus 1 yolk

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by Kerala
Extra pics (log)

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

I finally made linguine carbonara today using guanciale rather than bacon or pancetta

 

Why people think they can use bacon in a dish calling for guanciale, without changing what the finished product is supposed to taste like, is beyond me. Pancetta will get you closer, but still not the same funk as good guanciale provides.

[rotuts]

well , they use bacon because that's what they have .

 

as to character of the dishes , they are quite different 

 

when prepared w pancetta or guanciale 

 

While I was visiting my father , Id get pancetta ' home made '

 

from https://www.dittmers.com  and delicious it was 

 

they may have had guanciale , but I did not know about it.

 

 

most people haven't had P or G  in this type of dish , or possibly any other way

 

but do know about different styles of bacon

 

supermarket , supermarket + , county

 

I do this myself almost all of the time

 

shen I do a pasta  + Pork dish.

 

just reading this thread reminds me

 

the New To Me  Tj's pork belly would

 

nicely in a contrasting way , work for this dish.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[chefmd]

Visiting my son and his family.  Tuna tartar over avocado, dollop of bowfin caviar on top.  Salmon (that I proudly sliced myself) was served over rice.

Fish was purchased at H Mart and was pristine.  I had to take a close photo of tuna, it was mighty fine.

 

[Kerala]

You are right, @weinoo but what do you call it when you throw together bacon, eggs, cheese and pepper with pasta for a quick meal? "Carbonara" in quotation marks, waggling index and middle fingers? Like my  "Paella" and "Bolognese?" Seems unwieldy. (Full disclosure I call one a paella but the other a ragu.)

But, yes, it's a different dish with guanciale.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Kerala
Supremacy of guanciale (log)

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

You are right, @weinoo but what do you call it when you throw together bacon, eggs, cheese and pepper with pasta for a quick meal? "Carbonara" in quotation marks, waggling index and middle fingers? Like my  "Paella" and "Bolognese?" Seems unwieldy. (Full disclosure I call one a paella but the other a ragu.)

But, yes, it's a different dish with guanciale.

 

I don't know what I'd call it; I've never made that.

[Kerala]

Definitely I have made this with carbonara technique, and had a plate of edible food. From now it will be forever "carbonara" but before now it was carbonara. Of course, no one in my life cares.

[Kerala]

I suspect my freezer and fridge will always have some guanciale from now on. So simple a change and so profound a difference,well worth buying online or traveling across town.

 

[weinoo]

I usually buy a nice sized piece of guanciale, then cut it into 60 or 120 gram portions, and freeze it. Defrosts very quickly for that quick carbonara, all'Amatriciana, or alla gricia. I do the same with pancetta, as I like having them both available.

[chefmd]

My DIL buys too much food.  Some of it goes straight to garbage , some of it she freezes prior to that final trip to garbage.  Every time I visit, she sends me home with “at risk” food.  Mind you, I bring gourmet food and nice wine when I visit…

this time I got frozen kimchi soup.  It was great!  Please notice expiration date 11/26/21 but I don’t mind.

[Kim Shook]

I confess that every piece of guanciale I've ever seen seems to be almost all fat.  Same with most restaurant pork belly.  Just doesn't appeal to me.  If it is just for flavoring, I'd try it.  But if I'm supposed to eat it?  No thanks.  

 

Today's "what I settled for" lunch:

What I wanted was a tomato and cheese on white bread sandwich.  We were out of white bread.  So I got out the recently purchased 12-grain loaf, best by date: today.  Which was green 😠.  So I was left with a hamburger bun.  It was fine.  Not quite right, though. 

 

[BonVivant]

Where I ate, inside a market that has mostly food "stalls". Everyone yells at you and shoves menus in your face. Competition is fierce. Do research before going to Oaxaca so you know what the dishes are when you see their names on menus. People eat at any time of day so don't think the empty benches mean this or that stall serves bad food. At busy meal times it's very crowded and in times like these it's better to come before or after.

 

 

One of Oaxacan classics. A giant (as in much bigger than a dinner plate) crispy corn tortilla that's brushed with lard, then a thin layer of bean paste, then cheese (my order is called "Tlayuda simpel", the most standard version). Extra toppings such as crispy grasshoppers, several types of grilled meat, greens, avocado etc are optional.

 

Quesadilla filled with Quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese) and courgette flowers are also super popular. An English-speaking muscular Mexican who sat next to me ate one and drank 2 beers. I thought he was a vegetarian and that was his meal. Then his tlayuda arrived. Whoa, the works. Had all the optional toppings on it, including all the different types of meat and grasshoppers..

 

You see a pile or 2 or this on most counters in this market. Giant crispy corn tortillas for Tlayudas.

 

Another meal on a different day. Local restaurant on a street just outside the market. Lots of gringos stop to look but don't dare come in. Owner and employees treat us as locals. Mexico is one of the few countries where people are kind and don't treat us as walking wallets. Announcement on chalk board outlines new prices and asks for patrons' understanding.

 

 

Condiments. Only Duvel's table cover is more psychedelic.

 

I ordered all 3 kinds

 

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

The 3 posoles look wonderful. I need to make a batch. I love the extensive use of squash blossoms,, You mentioned i another post that it is corn country. Really it is 3 Sisters emphatically. Corn/beans/squash.

[KennethT]

Indonesian-ish mee goreng (fried noodles) with shrimp

 

[weinoo]

16 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I confess that every piece of guanciale I've ever seen seems to be almost all fat.  Same with most restaurant pork belly.  Just doesn't appeal to me.  If it is just for flavoring, I'd try it.  But if I'm supposed to eat it?  No thanks.  

 

It's not.  That's like saying the same thing about bacon - which apparently you like!

[Annie_H]

On 2/19/2022 at 4:28 PM, Kerala said:

Definitely I have made this with carbonara technique, and had a plate of edible food. From now it will be forever "carbonara" but before now it was carbonara. Of course, no one in my life cares.

This is worth a watch....Alex French Guy Carbonara

 

On 2/19/2022 at 6:04 PM, weinoo said:

I usually buy a nice sized piece of guanciale, then cut it into 60 or 120 gram portions, and freeze it. Defrosts very quickly for that quick carbonara, all'Amatriciana, or alla gricia. I do the same with pancetta, as I like having them both available.

Same. An easily found container in the freezer---about 5x8 two inches high with various bundles ready to go... 

[Kim Shook]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

It's not.  That's like saying the same thing about bacon - which apparently you like!

This doesn't look like bacon to me.  😄

[weinoo]

Undoubtedly a little fattier, but I trim off a bit of the fat, or remove a tablespoon or two of the rendered fat, before I add any aromatics to sauté. Good guanciale adds an unmistakable flavor that cannot be had from bacon or pancetta. As we kinda know, a tablespoon of fat is right around 110 calories, no matter where it comes from.

[gfweb]

17 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Undoubtedly a little fattier, but I trim off a bit of the fat, or remove a tablespoon or two of the rendered fat, before I add any aromatics to sauté. Good guanciale adds an unmistakable flavor that cannot be had from bacon or pancetta. As we kinda know, a tablespoon of fat is right around 110 calories, no matter where it comes from.

 

That's the way to do it.Trim and render.

[KennethT]

After drooling over @shain's Thailand photos, I was so in the mood for Khao Soi that I finally succumbed and just made it... Recipe from a cooking class in Chiang Mai many years ago....

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by KennethT (log)

[Kim Shook]

22 hours ago, weinoo said:

Undoubtedly a little fattier, but I trim off a bit of the fat, or remove a tablespoon or two of the rendered fat, before I add any aromatics to sauté. Good guanciale adds an unmistakable flavor that cannot be had from bacon or pancetta. As we kinda know, a tablespoon of fat is right around 110 calories, no matter where it comes from.

Thank you!  And that makes perfect sense to me because it's exactly what I do with fatback that is used in green beans or greens.  I render it to get all the flavorful fat out and then boil the hell out of it to infuse the cooking water with the flavor before cooking the vegetables.  

 

I also like slices of fatback floured and deep fried (a very country thing that I grew up on during my summers at my grandparents farm) - wonder how that would work with guanciale? 😄

[weinoo]

5 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I also like slices of fatback floured and deep fried (a very country thing that I grew up on during my summers at my grandparents farm) - wonder how that would work with guanciale? 😄

 

Or, perhaps - lardo?