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Comfort Food Reinterpreted


edemuth

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:wacko:

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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I note in this connection that the latest issue of Saveur contains a recipe for Frito pie: Basically, you slit a bag of Fritos lengthwise and pour on chili and onions.

John Schwartz has a piece in today's NY Times About Frito Pie. (Glad I checked the search engine.)

The description gave me a frisson that was almost erotic. I wish I had never heard of this dish. I want it sooooo bad!

His recipe:

"1) Take bag of Fritos. Slice lengthwise.

2)Pour in a cup of hot chili---he says Wolf Brand canned chili is esssential

3)Add cheese. Velveeta is fine. Add onions and jalapenos if you like

4)Eat it before it congeals"

I cannot, in good conscience, ever prepare this. Not from the obvious health concerns. From the "maintain girlish figure" concerns.

Maybe the amuse at my deathbed meal. :sad:

Having just read the NY Times piece about the aforementioned Frito Pie, I must concur: a gastro-porn description if there ever was one!! And finding myself in a menacingly dangerous hormonal dither today, I'm *this* close to dashing into town for a can of chili (I have the other ingredients already, including both plain and the Flamin' Hot varieties of Fritos). YIKES!!!!!

Lord, give me the strength to resist . . .

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Look. Look. Look.

It says

Velveeta is fine.

Are you mad? :blink:

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Look. Look. Look.

It says

Velveeta is fine.

Are you mad? :blink:

As a hatter, clearly, dear Jinmyo.

But I have a wedge of six year old Baldersons that would have to do. In fact, I have never knowingly eaten Velveeta. Hey....could it possibly be good?

And come to think of it, I've never had canned chili either. The gastronomic visions that beckon.......

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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[quote name=maggiethecat' date='Feb 21 2003, 02:15 PM

I cannot, in good conscience, ever prepare this. Not from the obvious health concerns. From the "maintain girlish figure" concerns.

Maybe the amuse at my deathbed meal. :sad:

Having just read the NY Times piece about the aforementioned Frito Pie, I must concur: a gastro-porn description if there ever was one!! And finding myself in a menacingly dangerous hormonal dither today, I'm *this* close to dashing into town for a can of chili (I have the other ingredients already, including both plain and the Flamin' Hot varieties of Fritos). YIKES!!!!!

Lord, give me the strength to resist . . .

Xanthippe: (love your alias!) Do not resist! Do it for an eGullet sister! Let me wallow vicariously!

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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In fact, I have never knowingly eaten Velveeta.  Hey....could it possibly be good?

And come to think of it, I've never had canned chili either.  The gastronomic visions that beckon.......

I'd think you need to get theyself, oh one with the girlish figure, to a superette. Get a little bag of fritos (the kind to put in school lunches), a single serving container of Hormel chili, and a very small package of velveeta (good cheese is wasted on this delight). This can be done on a small scale.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Bizarre...

And in Forbes Magazine...

http://www.forbes.com/2003/01/09/cx_gh_010...9dow_print.html

"Forbes Fact

One of Santa Fe's more obscure claims to fame is the Frito Pie: a bean, cheese and chile concoction stuffed into a bag of Fritos and eaten with one's hands. Connoisseurs credit employees of a small drugstore on the southwest corner of the Plaza with inventing the recipe some 40 years ago. The drugstore still stands and continues to serve Frito Pies."

I must admit, the first time I came across Frito Pie was at the Plaza in Santa Fe. As a native NYer, long ago transplanted to the Rockies, I have no vested interest in the question of where frito pies came from, but I'd like to hear the comments and theories.

afn

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Last July 4th, I brought the fixin's to a party of mostly United Nations folks (furriners, ya know). Except of course that in addition to Fritos it was homemade chili and decent-if-somewhat-mass-produced cheese (Cabot), also sour cream and homemade guacamole. Alas, no matter how many times I demonstrated how to construct it, and of course how to eat it, most people opted for more furrin ways to eat the components. Sheesh. :unsure::unsure::laugh::laugh:

Junk food at its best!

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Having just read the NY Times piece about the aforementioned Frito Pie, I must concur:  a gastro-porn description if there ever was one!!  And finding myself in a menacingly dangerous hormonal dither today, I'm *this* close to dashing into town for a can of chili (I have the other ingredients already, including both plain and the Flamin' Hot varieties of Fritos).  YIKES!!!!!

Lord, give me the strength to resist . . .

Xanthippe: (love your alias!) Do not resist! Do it for an eGullet sister! Let me wallow vicariously!

Maggie, you must *not* encourage me in the pursuit of this Evil Thing!! Sisterhood is indeed powerful, but so is saturated fat!

And of course, my dear husband is none other than Socrates . . .

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Something that's been haunting me: If! I ever make Frito pie, what is the size of the Frito bag? A snack-sized bag or a buncha-folks-coming-over-bag?

(Parenthetical note: Those huge "Frito Dippers"...(Dorito Dippers?) Maybe my favorite go-up-a-size junk food!

Slim fillet of sole tonight. :sad:

Snowangel...sorry! I think you covered this.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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Something that's been haunting me:  If!  I ever make Frito pie, what is the size of the Frito bag?  A snack-sized bag or a buncha-folks-coming-over-bag? 

at least in hooks, tx where we lived the first year of marriage the locals used a bag slightly larger than the mini-lunch size ones snowangel suggests in order to maintain your girlish figure.

also remember that in that part of texas there were a)no beans, b) no tomatoes and c) no ground beef in chili. finely diced flank steak and dried chilies only to make a bowl of red. the thin fritoes and topped with onion and monterey jack cheese.

made this last summer for husband's 20th anniversary party at work

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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After reading everyone's posts, I sorta feel deprived. My parents were wierd--comfort food to me is:

Campbell's Consomme with rice and twist of lemon (fed to me when sick)

Brown rice (parents were macrobiots in the 80s)

Leg of Lamb with new potatoes with butter and parsley (Mummy from the north and spent time in England)

But my 80s childhood in the South did allow for the gross stuff: pork rinds and Moonpies. But that's not really comfort food to me; rather memory food of driving through the small town South.

Does anyone else have memory food? Is having 3 subcategories/branches of comfort food (childhood food) too much?

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Something that's been haunting me:  If!  I ever make Frito pie, what is the size of the Frito bag?  A snack-sized bag or a buncha-folks-coming-over-bag? 

at least in hooks, tx where we lived the first year of marriage the locals used a bag slightly larger than the mini-lunch size ones snowangel suggests in order to maintain your girlish figure.

also remember that in that part of texas there were a)no beans, b) no tomatoes and c) no ground beef in chili. finely diced flank steak and dried chilies only to make a bowl of red. the thin fritoes and topped with onion and monterey jack cheese.

made this last summer for husband's 20th anniversary party at work

Moan. Twice.

Nerissa: Don't feel deprived . That lamb. That's some comfort food.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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The hotdog mentioned some way back in this thread reminds me of Portuguese hotdogs:

- roll, sausage, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise and matchstick potatoes. And at the fancier stands, a choice of sweetcorn, grated carrot, shredded lettuce, grated cheese etc.

Not sure where the idea came from, maybe Brazil?

Chloe

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Round these parts--S. Missouri--Frito Pie is a standard at fairs. Costs about $1.50-2.00 for a 1 ounce bag of Fritos, topped with chili (ground beef and beans and tomatoes), sour cream and shredded american cheese optional. Like a taco salad minus the lettuce.

Comfort food for me is chicken noodle soup (homemade noodles just like my grandma taught me to make) and a grating of nutmeg over the top.

sparrowgrass
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I'm going by a different definition of comfort food. To me, comfort food is the food my Mother prepared to tempt the appetite of a sick kid--me. Baked custard is comfort food personified.

Actually, chocolate pudding is also comfort food, but one didn't need to be sick to get that one.

Chicken soup with matzo balls is comfort food, and it's not bad with egg noodles either.

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