Northern Mexican Dinner

[badthings]

If you are going to make flour tortillas there is an excellent article on the subject in the second Steingarten book.

[Varmint]

If you are going to make flour tortillas there is an excellent article on the subject in the second Steingarten book.

I think we're getting some fresh, homemade corn tortillas that someone sells out of their home. I love gray market goods!!!! We don't need no stinkin' business permit!!

Thus, I doubt we'll be doing flour tortillas.

[Varmint]

In another thread, someone suggested that I could use my newly purchased tamarind paste to make Aqua Fresca de Tamarindo. OK, is this a Mexican drink????

[theabroma]

Re: the tortillas. Flour ones are the standard in the north, especially those gorgeous ones from Sonora that are huge and tissue paper thin. However ... if you've got some real corn tortillas, the hell with the flour ones.

Re: agua de tamarindo. yes fruit-ades are a very Mexican thing, and ubiquitous at the table, especially if one is not imbibing. The quantity to use is really a personal decision. I love tamarind, so for 1 liter of water, I would use a ball of it about 2" in diameter.

Now, I am assuming that what you have is pure pulp? If it is still in the pod, you will need to peel off the pod and the strings, and then put it to soak in a little warm water. After about 10 minutes, begin to pulp it with your fingers. Strain it (or press it through) a medium strainer - you want to get rid of the seeds, and pieces of pod, and any tough fibers. So a liquidy 1/2 cup is probably equivalent to a 2" ball.

Toss the tamarind pulp into a pitcher. Add a half liter of water, stir to dissolve, adjust with additional liquid if it is too strongly flavored. Don't forget that you will want to either add ice, or serve it over ice, so allow for dilution from melt. Sweeten to taste - I think barely sweet, mostly tart is best, but hey! that's just me.

In Mexico, aguas de _______ fill in the blank with the (non-starchy) fruit of choice: melon, melon seeds and almonds (horchata de melon), oranges, sour oranges, lemons, limes, guava, watermelon, etc. are ubiquitous - especially on the street. A vendor's cart will have several large glass barrels, or garrafones, containing the day's selections. Typically they float a large piece of block ice in the garrafon to cool the agua down.

Now, if you really want to do that tamarind pulp proud:

using your preferred proportions for one blender jar full of frozen margaritas, utilize the following products

Herradura Silver tequila

fresh Mexican or Key limes, freshly juiced

a touch of Cointreau

a titch of simple syrup

ice cubes to fill the jar

a fat, golf-ball sized piece of pure tamarind pulp; more if it is too liquid to form a ball.

Close lid securely, cover w/folded bar/kitchen towel, whirl

Adjust sweetness to taste.

Serve.

These are absolutely lethal - crisp, tart, refreshing. Why on a warm afternoon you only need salt the rim of the blender jar. And that is why they are so lethal - you can suck 'em down so fast you forget the punch they pack.

Theabroma

PS: You might want to consider red rice, frijoles a la charra, and pico de gallo (salsa fresca).

T.

Edited November 17, 2003 by theabroma (log)

[Varmint]

That's awesome. We'll definitely use the tamarind in some drinks. I have a one pound block of tamarind paste. Is that pure pulp? Regardless, I've read that even with pure pulp, you want to extract the flavor out with warm water.

As far as the northern Mexican theme, we've decided to deviate from that. We're hitting a couple of different regions and their dishes -- focusing on the best possible ingredients.

Damn, this'll be good!!!!

[theabroma]

I have a one pound block of tamarind paste.  Is that pure pulp?  Regardless, I've read that even with pure pulp, you want to extract the flavor out with warm water.

Paste or pulp - I think they should be about the same. It should be without seeds and fibers. If it does harbor seeds and fibers, then you need to removed them and the easiest way is to dissolve the the quantity you're going to use in a little water, and then sieve the crud out.

If it is free of seeds and pulp, then tear off a golf-ball sized piece. Since you're throwing it in the blender, it really doesn't need to be dissolved. If, however, you were using it in a sauce, then yes, you would want to dissolve it prior to adding it because it will just sit on the bottom of the pan and not move - unless, of course, you are blending the sauce with a stick blender.

This sounds like quite a meal!

Theabroma

Edited November 17, 2003 by theabroma (log)

[guajolote]

I'm going to make that drink on saturday. thanks.

does anyone know the history of ceviche in mexico?

[Jaymes]

PS:  You might want to consider red rice, frijoles a la charra, and pico de gallo (salsa fresca).

I wholeheartedly endorse this suggestion. Do serve 'frijoles del charro,' or 'charro beans.' A nice pico to go with would be splendid.

And muy tipico.

Why don't you see if you can find a good recipe for each?

Edited November 17, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[Varmint]

PS:  You might want to consider red rice, frijoles a la charra, and pico de gallo (salsa fresca).

I wholeheartedly endorse this suggestion. Do serve 'frijoles del charro,' or 'charro beans.' A nice pico to go with would be splendid.

And muy tipico.

Why don't you see if you can find a good recipe for each?

Don't worry, charro beans are definitely on the menu!!!!

Here's an update, from the other thread:

Tacos -- in (pork, chicken, fish?)

Ceviche -- in

Tamal -- in (let's do a mushroom filling, too)

Mole -- in (I'm thinking this is used as a sauce as much as a featured dish -- goes well with the tamal, too)

Charro beans -- in

Mojo de ajo -- in (perhaps for the tacos, etc. -- can do on request -- I'll make the mojo in advance)

Salad -- in (let's do jicama and cucumber -- there's a recipe in Bayless 2)

Cajeta-based dessert -- in

Guacomole -- in

Rice -- is it needed???

Salsas -- in

Libations -- in -- using some tamarind in a margarita. Hot damn!

We can cut this back even more, but the purpose is to eat over the course of several hours. It'll be one long grazing session.

[Jaymes]

does anyone know the history of ceviche in mexico?

I don't. But I have visited Spain on several occasions, and it's very popular there. And it's practically the national dish of Panama, where I lived for four years.

I just always assumed that the Spaniards brought it along with them when they arrived into the New World.

And that would still be my guess.

[guajolote]

does anyone know the history of ceviche in mexico?

I don't. But I have visited Spain on several occasions, and it's very popular there. And it's practically the national dish of Panama, where I lived for four years.

I just always assumed that the Spaniards brought it along with them when they arrived into the New World.

And that would still be my guess.

I found this, from austin!

Ceviche's origin is somewhat disputed -- either the invention of the pre-Columbians who, food historians tell us, ate their raw fish laced with dried chiles, salt, and foraged herbs; or perhaps more precisely, ceviche as we know it was the creation of Moorish cooks, who were brought to South America as Spanish slaves, and who, it is believed, were responsible for the addition of citrus juice to the earlier cooks' traditional salt/spice/herb mix.

Chronicle food writer Mary Margaret Pack, an avid student of Pacific cuisine, tells me that ceviche has a long history on tables in the South Pacific as well, with Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii, and the Philippines each possessing its own uniquely named version of the dish. Fiji's take on ceviche sounds particularly delectable to me, with its coconut milk, onion, tomato, and hot chile base.

[badthings]

The origin of ceviche is practically like the origin of fish -- it must be prehistoric, dating to the first time someone caught a fish in a region with a citrus tree. But I know some Peruvians who can talk about it infinitely, like Texans about chili. One of them forwards this site:

Ask Peruvians what their national dish is and the odds are they will proudly tell you ceviche. Like the country and the people themselves, this preparation of spicy marinated fish has a long and varied history. There is a theory that pre-Hispanic peoples 'cooked' fish with a fruit called 'tumbo'. The Inca ate salted fish and a chicha-marinated fish dish. The Spanish contributed the Mediterranean custom of using lemons and onions. The word itself has been attributed to both Quechua (sivichi) and Moorish (seivech) influences and even today you'll find it spelled in many different ways.

many interesting recipes here.

I seem to recall Sophie Coe talking about a distinctive lowland cuisine based on fish, but I lent my copy to this very same Peruvian. The Oxford Companion to Food entry (thanks to Amazon search inside the book) does not reveal much except for a disputed connection with escabeche -- it cites BARBARA SANTICH, "On Escabeche (and Ceviche)," PPC 20 (1985), if anyone has access to that.

[theabroma]

Cajeta-based dessert -- in

Tamales - in

In Bayless' second book, check out his recipe for Tres Leches. It uses Rose Levy Beranbaum's genoise, with the addition of ground almonds. The milks are changed to include cajeta. This is one seriously glorious cake when done.

Also, it is traditional to serve tamales with mole, and traditionally what is served are 'blind' tamales - that is, it is the masa, fat, salt, and usually chicken broth made into the typical mix, put in a corn husk and steamed. They are used to dunk into the sauce. Sometimes a little of an herb or flavor used in the mole or complementary to it is folded into the masa prior to steaming.

You could try that and make empanadas out of the mushrooms.

Just a thought.

[Mayhaw Man]

Senor Varmint,

Did you ever cook this South of the Border Feast?

[guajolote]

Senor Varmint,

Did you ever cook this South of the Border Feast?

pictures here

there's some good recipes in there too, and a lot of pictures of al_dente kissing miss nc.

[Mayhaw Man]

I have no idea how I missed that fascinating report. I certainly hope that he was able to find a physician to remove that glass from his nose. That can be very painful

Great looking butt

[Varmint]

Great looking butt

Thanks. That's something Mrs. Varmint has never told me.

She doesn't eat pork.

[Mayhaw Man]

Great looking butt

Thanks. That's something Mrs. Varmint has never told me.

She doesn't eat pork.

Even with a digital thermometer attached? Ouch!