What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

Rhonda wrote:
> What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
> traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

One is Mexican Hot Chocolate. Look he
http://rollybrook.com/champurrado.htm

Rhonda wrote:
> What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
> traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

Enchiladas and chiles rellenos and Mexican rice and refried beans and
tortillas?

Omigawd, Rhonda, you're all screwed up in your notions of what a
Mexican Christmas dinner might consist of, if it was served to a
Mexican family who weren't peasants on welfare.

Tamales are classed as "antojitos", which is Spanish for "little whim",
or "trifle". You can take a tamale, peel off the corn husk, and eat it
out of hand. You don't need to serve *anything* with a tamale, you just
eat it casually, without ceremony. They stick together better when they
are cold.

If you make too many tamales, you can sell them for $0.75 each in front
of Wal*Mart, if the other Mexican women don't get there first, with
*their* tamales.

When I was a kid, we never had to make our own tamales, the Mexicans
next door always gave us their extra tamales and we ate them out of
hand.

Tacos of all descriptions, enchiladas, empanadas, taquitos, etc., are
also antojitos.

Antojitos are fiesta food, snacks, or appetizers to be served while the
real main course is
cooking.

Antojitos are something to be given to the children to quiet their
demands for food while a steer or a pig is roasting.

Antojitos are something the guy with the push cart sells to people
watching the religious statues being paraded from the church on a
saint's day.

But Americans have been fooled into thinking that tamales, tacos,
enchiladas, taquitos and other antojitos are an *entree*, something
that a Mexican meal is built around.

So they go into a taqueria that calls itself a "Mexican restaurant" and
they read the menu on the wall, they order a #10 combination plate, and
they have *no idea* that a "combination plate" is a gut busting,
intestinal gas producing assortment of what are basically hors
d'oeuvres!

A prosperous Mexican would never fill up on antojitos, any more than
you would make a meal of the crudites and hors d'oeurves served before
a dinner party!

A real Mexican Christmas dinner served in a prosperous home would start
with a salad, which would be followed by a wet sopa (soup), a dry sopa
(pasta), one hearty main dish of fish, fowl, or meat (tamales are NOT a
main dish!) or two smaller main courses, with various vegetables on the
side, a postre (dessert), then the gentlemen would retire to coffee,
brandy, and cigars in another room.

A sopa made with rice can be a dry sopa or a wet sopa, the rice sopa
gets wetter the further south you travel in Mexico.

And the refried beans are brown in the north of Mexico, while they are
made with black beans in the south.

I told my Mexican friend (a huero, who works as a makeup artist in
Hollywood) that I like refried black beans, and he called them "caca de
coyote"...

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I knew there had to be more than
just tamales. I guess I was "screwed" up on that one. I loved your
response. Your answers are always so detailed and I learn allot from
you. Now I know what to do with those wonderful tamales I have learned
to make. Oh, I don't sell my leftovers at Walmart, they freeze well and
make great snacks for me and the children far beyond Christmas. I just
put them in a zip lock bag and pull them out and reheat them as needed.
The corn husks wrapped around the tamales seems to prevent them from
freezer burn, since they last for many months.

Thanks Rolly. I plan on trying this Mexican Hot Chocolate this year
with the tamales.

Rhonda wrote:
> Now I know what to do with those wonderful tamales I have learned
> to make. Oh, I don't sell my leftovers at Walmart, they freeze well and
> make great snacks for me and the children far beyond Christmas. I just
> put them in a zip lock bag and pull them out and reheat them as needed.
> The corn husks wrapped around the tamales seems to prevent them from
> freezer burn, since they last for many months.

Yes, tamales can be eaten cold, or heated and eaten in any season. If
you want to eat them out of hand like a candy bar, that's perfectly OK,
the traditional homemade steamed tamale is inherently portable.

Or you can eat it off a plate with other antojitos and you can drizzle
your favorite mole over the tamale to give it a lot more zest.

Americans, having grown accustomed to taquerias masquerading as
ristorantes have come to expect brown mole on their tamales.

The majority of Americans, if they know what a "mole" is, tend to think
that there are chicken moles and pork moles, but that's a total
misconcept.

A mole is a thick chile sauce with chiles and garlic and cilantro and
sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds or whatever "secret" ingredients grandma
used to add to make an "heirloom" recipe mole.

The secret ingredients generally add *texture* to the mole.

There are at least eight different traditional moles made in the
Mexican state of Oaxaca, and they are defined by their *color*, not by
the meat or fowl that is covered by the mole.

One of the better known moles is Mole Poblano, which is the traditional
brown mole of Pueblo. It has chocolate and sesame seeds in it for
crunchiness.

Americans who have vaguely heard of Mole Poblano tend to think that it
is only made with turkey and eaten only at Christmas, but you can eat
it anytime you want, and you can apply the mole to whatever meat or
fowl you desire.

The color of the mole is determined by whatever vegetable is added to
the chiles. Tomatos make a red mole, tomatillos make a brown mole.
Green vegetables make a green mole, yellow vegetables make a yellow
mole.

I suppose you could make an orange mole out of carrots if you wanted.

When you get some store bought moles (like Dona Maria) in a jar,
they're concentrated and a little goes a long way. You have to add
water.

Other commercial moles (like Knorr's) aren't concentrated, and you can
just pour them over your meat or fowl after it's cooked.

Or you can stew your meat or fowl in the mole.

Or you can seal the juices in by searing the meat or fowl and then
*finish* the crispy morsels in the packaged mole.

Pan fried chicken pieces with Knorr's chipotle mole poured over them
are satisfyingly juicy and crunchy.

Thank you so much for this information. You have really sparked my
interest now. I will try some of the purchased moles and even try
cooking some of my own. The pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds sound like
great additions to moles. The use of moles with meats has me intrigued
as well. The fried chicken with the Knorr chipoltle mole is a good
thing for me to try to get me started in that direction.

"The Galloping Gourmand" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Rhonda wrote:
>> Now I know what to do with those wonderful tamales I have learned
>> to make. Oh, I don't sell my leftovers at Walmart, they freeze well and
>> make great snacks for me and the children far beyond Christmas. I just
>> put them in a zip lock bag and pull them out and reheat them as needed.
>> The corn husks wrapped around the tamales seems to prevent them from
>> freezer burn, since they last for many months.
>
> Yes, tamales can be eaten cold, or heated and eaten in any season. If
> you want to eat them out of hand like a candy bar, that's perfectly OK,
> the traditional homemade steamed tamale is inherently portable.
>
> Or you can eat it off a plate with other antojitos and you can drizzle
> your favorite mole over the tamale to give it a lot more zest.
>
> Americans, having grown accustomed to taquerias masquerading as
> ristorantes have come to expect brown mole on their tamales.
>
> The majority of Americans, if they know what a "mole" is, tend to think
> that there are chicken moles and pork moles, but that's a total
> misconcept.
>
> A mole is a thick chile sauce with chiles and garlic and cilantro and
> sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds or whatever "secret" ingredients grandma
> used to add to make an "heirloom" recipe mole.
>
> The secret ingredients generally add *texture* to the mole.
>
> There are at least eight different traditional moles made in the
> Mexican state of Oaxaca, and they are defined by their *color*, not by
> the meat or fowl that is covered by the mole.
>
> One of the better known moles is Mole Poblano, which is the traditional
> brown mole of Pueblo. It has chocolate and sesame seeds in it for
> crunchiness.
>
> Americans who have vaguely heard of Mole Poblano tend to think that it
> is only made with turkey and eaten only at Christmas, but you can eat
> it anytime you want, and you can apply the mole to whatever meat or
> fowl you desire.
>
> The color of the mole is determined by whatever vegetable is added to
> the chiles. Tomatos make a red mole, tomatillos make a brown mole.
> Green vegetables make a green mole, yellow vegetables make a yellow
> mole.
>
> I suppose you could make an orange mole out of carrots if you wanted.
>
> When you get some store bought moles (like Dona Maria) in a jar,
> they're concentrated and a little goes a long way. You have to add
> water.
>
> Other commercial moles (like Knorr's) aren't concentrated, and you can
> just pour them over your meat or fowl after it's cooked.
>
> Or you can stew your meat or fowl in the mole.
>
> Or you can seal the juices in by searing the meat or fowl and then
> *finish* the crispy morsels in the packaged mole.
>
> Pan fried chicken pieces with Knorr's chipotle mole poured over them
> are satisfyingly juicy and crunchy.



Rachel Laudan has an interesting perspective on this:
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu...connection.htm

and as I understand there are Mole that do not use nuts as a textural
component.

now a question, In the vernacular, wouldn't the dish we know as Chili, a
spiced meat dish, be a mole or in SouthWest Asia, a curry?

"Gunner" <gunner@ spam.com> wrote in message
..

cut for brevity...

> and as I understand there are Mole that do not use nuts as a textural
> component.
>
> now a question, In the vernacular, wouldn't the dish we know as Chili, a
> spiced meat dish, be a mole or in SouthWest Asia, a curry?
>
One of our favorite subjects for discussion is the difference between
Tex-Mex, Mexican, and other world recipes using chile. We know San Antonio
is where Texas chili was born, with the chile-girls selling their tasty
morsels in the central plaza back when the West was the West. And we know
that Birria in Guadalajara resembles Texas chili with the main difference
being goat instead of beef, and few of us equate mole with anything but mole
because it is unique in the world. Mole in it's purest uses the oldest
turkey in the flock to stew in the sauce for at least two days. The sauce
itself is made of a dozen different dried chile pods, peanuts, chocolate,
sesame seed, pumpkin seeds and a list as long as your aunt's foreleg for the
rest of the spices and condiments such as tomato, onion, and the rest. But
not cumin!!! No cumin in south of the border Mexican food please.

Wayne Lundberg wrote:

> Mole in it's purest uses the oldest turkey in the flock to stew in the sauce for at
> least two days.

Mexican cooking evolved without the benefit of refrigeration, and
whatever meats were used weren't hung to allow them to tenderize.

Whatever animal went into the stew was usually cooked the same day as
it was slaughtered to avoid spoilage.

Mexican meats and fowl tend to be of lower quality and not as tender as
what Americans would expect to find on saran-wrapped styrofoam trays in
their local supermarket.

Mexicans tend to cook their meat and poultry longer than Americans
would. Chile sauces and moles cover up any gamy flavors.

> The sauce itself is made of a dozen different dried chile pods, peanuts, chocolate,
> sesame seed, pumpkin seeds and a list as long as your aunt's foreleg for the
> rest of the spices and condiments such as tomato, onion, and the rest.
I made a mole with ancho or pasilla chiles, garlic, onion, cilantro,
peanut butter, and
an ounce of instant chicken bullion that contained monosodium
glutamate.

It was awesomely delicious, and I haven't tried making the same mole
without the MSG to see if it's as delightful.

Stweing chicken in chicken broth is an excellent trick to preserve and
enhance the flavor of the bird.

> But not cumin!!! No cumin in south of the border Mexican food please.

I'm north of the border, and I grew up enjoying pinto beans and ham
hocks with fresh flour tortillas made by my Mexican neighbors. Cumin
gives the pinto beans that special flavor of my childhood, so I use
cumin when I cook beans.

Thank you Gunner. That was very interesting.

Gunner wrote:

> Rachel Laudan has an interesting perspective on this:
> http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu...connection.htm

That was a worthwhile read which just begins to explain some of the
mysterious foods that are beginning to appear in American supermarkets
as the Mexican population of California increases.

> now a question, In the vernacular, wouldn't the dish we know as Chili, a
> spiced meat dish, be a mole or in SouthWest Asia, a curry?

I think Rachel Laudan's article would tend to support your thesis. The
spicy sauces of those three
dishes would be made from ground peppers.

"Wayne Lundberg" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Gunner" <gunner@ spam.com> wrote in message
> ..
>
> cut for brevity...
>
>> and as I understand there are Mole that do not use nuts as a textural
>> component.
>>
>> now a question, In the vernacular, wouldn't the dish we know as Chili, a
>> spiced meat dish, be a mole or in SouthWest Asia, a curry?
>>
> One of our favorite subjects for discussion is the difference between
> Tex-Mex, Mexican, and other world recipes using chile. We know San Antonio
> is where Texas chili was born, with the chile-girls selling their tasty
> morsels in the central plaza back when the West was the West. And we know
> that Birria in Guadalajara resembles Texas chili with the main difference
> being goat instead of beef, and few of us equate mole with anything but
> mole
> because it is unique in the world. Mole in it's purest uses the oldest
> turkey in the flock to stew in the sauce for at least two days. The sauce
> itself is made of a dozen different dried chile pods, peanuts, chocolate,
> sesame seed, pumpkin seeds and a list as long as your aunt's foreleg for
> the
> rest of the spices and condiments such as tomato, onion, and the rest. But
> not cumin!!! No cumin in south of the border Mexican food please.

Why no cumin?

I see it in cook books authored in Mexico by Mexicans all the time. It's
safe to say that many Sopas contain camino seed, as well as other meat and
vegetable dishes.

Maybe there was no cumin in recipes before the Spanish conquest, but that
would make them native foods, not Mexican. Consider that Pasta was not a
part of italian cooking until fairly recent, as well as tomatos. That does
not mean Pasta and Tomatos are not in Italian food.

The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
> Rhonda wrote:
>> What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
>> traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

>
> Omigawd, Rhonda, you're all screwed up in your notions of what a
> Mexican Christmas dinner might consist of, if it was served to a
> Mexican family who weren't peasants on welfare.
>
> Tamales are classed as "antojitos", which is Spanish for "little whim",
> or "trifle".


Well, when I was in Guatemala, I was told that at Christmas
tamales were an essential and important part of the big
meal, not an appetizer or joke. Just like, for example,
black-eyed peas in Texas. Our fancy Christmas dinner had
several different kinds.

Doug McDonald

Doug McDonald wrote:
> The Galloping Gourmand wrote:

> > Tamales are classed as "antojitos", which is Spanish for "little whim",
> > or "trifle".
>
> Well, when I was in Guatemala, I was told that at Christmas
> tamales were an essential and important part of the big
> meal, not an appetizer or joke.

Did you ever see that "Married With Children" episode, where the kids
were ecstatic about being served vienna sausages, because it reminded
them of when they were broke and living in their car with their mother?

When you're "running on empty", anything you can get to eat tastes
wonderful.

Family traditions and memories of the times when families were together
are wrapped around food, and sometimes that food was poverty food. If
tamales and frijoles are all a family can afford for Christmas dinner
during hard times, they are going to have tamales every Christmas to
remind them of what kept them together.

As I explained elsewhere, tamales and tacos and burritos are
*antojitos*, and an antojito is a whim, it's a dish that is cheap and
easy to prepare (unless you have delusions of authenticity, and want to
grow and harvest and grind and nixtamalize your own corn).

It takes me an hour to make all the tamales I can stand to eat, once a
year. But, I have a modern kitchen and use commercial masa to make a
huge tamale casserole in the microwave.

I'm not trying to *sell* my tamales on the street corner to make extra
Christmas money,
so a tamale casserole works just fine. Fifteen minutes on high in the
microwave, then let it steam itself for 45 minutes and it's ready to
eat. You can't tell any difference from a corn husk-wrapped individual
tamale.

This site has an extensive listing of all the antojitos imaginable:

http://www.lomexicano.com/mexicanfoodrecipeglossary.htm

The reason that I dwell on the antojito topic, is that this group is
stuck in The Great Taco Swamp. It's mired so deeply down in antojitos,
nobody ever offers any recipes or discussion of anything that isn't an
antojito.

If they talk about a Mexican "restaurant", it's usually a glorified
taco stand.

And, with the large numbers of impoverished immigrants from Mexico and
Central America bringing their own poverty cooking with them, Americans
are tending more and more to believe that Mexico cooking is all about
tacos.

When I was on Cozumel island, our group was looking around for a decent
Mexican resturant that served authentic regional specialties. The other
tourists were thinking that any Mexican restaurant was going to be just
another taco joint, and I was trying to tell them that there was more
to Mexican cooking than just tacos.

So the other tourists asked the pimply-faced young Mexican tour guide
what the heck Mexicans ate. And the guide said, "Oh, we eat a lot of
tacos."

Naturally, he ate a lot of tacos. He was an impoverished Mexican,
struggling to make a living off the generosity of the tourists. He was
all, "Si, si, señor."

And his hand was always ready for the tip, so he told tourists what
they wanted to hear.

"Oh, si, señores y señoras. This way to the tacos, por favor...."

The restaurant we finally settled on did have regional specialties. I
enjoyed my cochinita pibil, while the rest of the tourists chewed on
sad-looking tacos...

The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
>
> The restaurant we finally settled on did have regional specialties. I
> enjoyed my cochinita pibil, while the rest of the tourists chewed on
> sad-looking tacos..

So, what do you eat for breakfast in Mexico? I know my favorites...
just interested in other's regional breakfast treats. Hopefully, it's
not Huevos Rancheros! Somehow, I doubt it... not trying to insult you.

Jack

Jack Tyler wrote:

> So, what do you eat for breakfast in Mexico? I know my favorites...
> just interested in other's regional breakfast treats. Hopefully, it's
> not Huevos Rancheros! Somehow, I doubt it... not trying to insult you.

Well, I've certainly eaten Huevos Rancheros many times. That offering
is ubiquitous on Mexican breakfast menus for gringos. The tortilla base
is not my favorite part of the dish.

But I eat it anyway.

I eat Huevos Mexicanos in local restaurants, and often make Huevos
Revueltos con Chili at home.

I did a websearch for "tipicos desayunos mexicanos" -rancheros and
found out that ordinary Mexicans eat tamales and atole for breakfast,
or have chilaquiles or molletes, or maybe have hot chocolate with a
churro to get going in the morning.

And, I'm not knocking the Mexicans for eating something quick and
inexpensive for breakfast, that's the nature of the meal.

One has to consider the upscale restaurateur's decision whether or not
to cater to the breakfast trade.

The customer who has spent $50 on his meal the night before may be
stingy about parting with $5.00 for his breakfast, and he may not feel
as adventurous about trying something unfamiliar that might add to his
gastrointestinal burden.

Short order cooks and waiters and busboys hate the breakfast crowd,
they have to bust their ass to get the job done, and the guy who was
throwing money around last night is stingy about tipping in the
morning.

Upscale restaurants don't even *try* to cater to the breakfast trade,
they are closed until
just before the lunch crowd shows up for antojitos and cerveza.

I usually eat breakfast at whatever tourist hotel I'm staying at, where
the menu offers the American Bing Crosby breakfast of bacon-and-eggs or
ham-and-eggs accompanied with *Florida* orange juice ( AKA "western
breakfast") or I eat on the cruise ship, where the breakfast menu does
tend to be a little better than the average tourist hotel.

I can have kippered herring or prosciutto with melon and an assortment
of fresh tropical fruit on board the ship, so why go poking around
little Mexican joints early in the AM and settling for "que hay?"

When I stayed in Merida and Cancun, I remember eating Huevos Motulenos
and I had something called Huevos Albaniles in Acapulco.

When I ate in tourist hotels in Cancun, I remember cursing at the
inability of the Mexicans to make a crispy slice of toast. Their
version of "toast" is something called "pan dorado" which is still
moist inside, and doesn't dunk in egg yolk very well.

The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
> When I stayed in Merida and Cancun, I remember eating Huevos Motulenos
> and I had something called Huevos Albaniles in Acapulco.
>
> When I ate in tourist hotels in Cancun, I remember cursing at the
> inability of the Mexicans to make a crispy slice of toast. Their
> version of "toast" is something called "pan dorado" which is still
> moist inside, and doesn't dunk in egg yolk very well.

Week before last, I was at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun. Breakfast
buffet with a bottle of water to take back to the room is $45.00 (most
good hotels don't supply free bottled water anymore, as their water is
filtered. I still drink bottled water, though.). You can imagine what
dinner costs there.

Huevos Motulenos is (are) my favorite breakfast dish in Mexico. The
dish has become popular across the country, instead of just the area
around Motul.

Jack

Per prior partially-stated post below, might the original poster be willing
to share the name of the restaurant found in Cancun serving 'cochinita
pibil?' Or maybe that's standard fare? My first visit to Cancun is next
month, would appreciate any direction. Thanks!

The Galloping Gourmand" > wrote in message
oups.com...

When I was on Cozumel island, our group was looking around for a decent
Mexican resturant that served authentic regional specialties. The other
tourists were thinking that any Mexican restaurant was going to be just
another taco joint, and I was trying to tell them that there was more
to Mexican cooking than just tacos.

So the other tourists asked the pimply-faced young Mexican tour guide
what the heck Mexicans ate. And the guide said, "Oh, we eat a lot of
tacos."

Naturally, he ate a lot of tacos. He was an impoverished Mexican,
struggling to make a living off the generosity of the tourists. He was
all, "Si, si, señor."

And his hand was always ready for the tip, so he told tourists what
they wanted to hear.

"Oh, si, señores y señoras. This way to the tacos, por favor...."

The restaurant we finally settled on did have regional specialties. I
enjoyed my cochinita pibil, while the rest of the tourists chewed on
sad-looking tacos...

"Jack Tyler" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
>> When I stayed in Merida and Cancun, I remember eating Huevos Motulenos
>> and I had something called Huevos Albaniles in Acapulco.
>>
>> When I ate in tourist hotels in Cancun, I remember cursing at the
>> inability of the Mexicans to make a crispy slice of toast. Their
>> version of "toast" is something called "pan dorado" which is still
>> moist inside, and doesn't dunk in egg yolk very well.
>
> Week before last, I was at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun. Breakfast
> buffet with a bottle of water to take back to the room is $45.00 (most
> good hotels don't supply free bottled water anymore, as their water is
> filtered. I still drink bottled water, though.). You can imagine what
> dinner costs there.
>
> Huevos Motulenos is (are) my favorite breakfast dish in Mexico. The
> dish has become popular across the country, instead of just the area
> around Motul.
>
> Jack

Other than England and the US I have not found many countries where
Breakfast is a big meal or a big deal.

45$ for a R/C breakfast in Mexico, wow!, recent headlines had the median
entree hit $40 here in the US. Sure put a perspective on the saying
"Putting on the Ritz"

Jack, I am curious are you comp'd in this travel business of yours?

Gunner wrote:
> Jack, I am curious are you comp'd in this travel business of yours?

Much of the time. I publish a travel magazine.

www.MexicoTravelAndLife.com

I also pay for a lot of my travel... but there are always "fam" trips
paid for by Mexican states, cities, resorts and airlines. I fact,
there are more than I have time to go on.

Jack

DaveTwo wrote:
> Maybe there was no cumin in recipes before the Spanish conquest, but that
> would make them native foods, not Mexican. Consider that Pasta was not a
> part of italian cooking until fairly recent, as well as tomatos. That does
> not mean Pasta and Tomatos are not in Italian food.

I would beg to differ with the statement that food of the native (Maya,
Toltec, Aztec) is not Mexican food. If anything, that food left behind
by conquering visitors is Spanish, or French. The food that was cooked
and eaten by the Indian natives of Mexico is true Mexican food.

As far as cumin is concerned, the equivalent of it in native Mexican
cooking would probably be achiote. In Mayan villages I've been in,
every home has an achiote bush in the yard and it is used in a lot of
dishes.

Jack

wrote:
> Per prior partially-stated post below, might the original poster be willing
> to share the name of the restaurant found in Cancun serving 'cochinita
> pibil?' Or maybe that's standard fare? My first visit to Cancun is next
> month, would appreciate any direction. Thanks!

I'm sorry, but I don't remember the name of the small restaurant in San
Miguel de
Cozumel. It was nothing fancy, but the Cochinita Pibil was a delight.
You can probably get Cochinita Pibil anywhere in Yucatan or Quintana
Roo. Just ask the management of your hotel.

San Miguel de Cozumel isn't that big a town and the restaurant wasn't
very far from the
car ferry dock, maybe one street inland.

http://especiales.yucatan.com.mx/esp...chiltomate.asp has
a nice picture of Cochinita Pibil on a bed of the leaves it was cooked
in.

And, if you're going to really get into Mexican food, you should learn
to translate Spanish
language recipes. If nothing else, it takes away some of the excess
mystique of traditional Mexican cooking.

The recipe for Cochinita Pibil has been posted in
alt.food.mexican-cooking several times.
Just google for "bitter orange".

"Jack Tyler" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Gunner wrote:
>> Jack, I am curious are you comp'd in this travel business of yours?
>
> Much of the time. I publish a travel magazine.
>
> www.MexicoTravelAndLife.com
>
> I also pay for a lot of my travel... but there are always "fam" trips
> paid for by Mexican states, cities, resorts and airlines. I fact,
> there are more than I have time to go on.
>
> Jack


Yes, Jack, I know you publish a travel mag. You have mentioned that
previous and that is why I asked.

As a photog I am just looking into the business model again and seeing the
boon and bane of the Internet over the last 11 years.

de

Gunner wrote:
> As a photog I am just looking into the business model again and seeing the
> boon and bane of the Internet over the last 11 years.
>
> de

Although we will be printing 100,000 copies of a paper magazine, we
have a website, also. I travel on every trip (fam trip) to Mexico with
at least one or two writer/photographers who have no hard copy
magazine... just a website. I am amazed that they are sent on trips
with writers from the NY Times, Travel and Leisure, etc.... but it
works.

An example is www.travellady.com

I traveled with her in Merida and Campeche and she will be going to
Villahermosa with me later this month to the cacao plantation and
chocolate factory.

It's pretty easy to do a website or blog. It's not easy to sell ads
and make a living at it, but one can do a lot of traveling.

Jack

"Jack Tyler" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> DaveTwo wrote:
> > Maybe there was no cumin in recipes before the Spanish conquest, but
that
..
snip for brevity....

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achiote

Wayne

Wayne Lundberg wrote:
> "Jack Tyler" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> >
> > DaveTwo wrote:
> > > Maybe there was no cumin in recipes before the Spanish conquest, but
> that
> .
> snip for brevity....
>
> Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achiote
>
> Wayne

Thanks for the info, Wayne. I had known that achiote was a common
taste in Mayan and Mexican cuisine, but hadn't bothered to look up its
origin.

Interesting,

Jack

Jack Tyler wrote:

> Thanks for the info, Wayne. I had known that achiote was a common
> taste in Mayan and Mexican cuisine, but hadn't bothered to look up its
> origin.

Achiotl is in recado rojo for the red *color*, not the taste.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recado_rojo

Recado rojo or achiote paste is a popular blend of spices from Mexico.
Originally a Mayan blend, it is now strongly associated with the
Mexican cuisine of Yucatan.
The spice mixture usually includes annatto, Mexican oregano, cumin,
clove, cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, garlic, and salt. The annatto
seeds dye the mixture red, and this gives the meat or vegetables it
seasons a distinctive red hue.

Rhonda wrote:
> What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
> traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

Rhonda,

I think of Christmas tamales and pozole as a perfect match. That's the
answer to your questiojn, now for the OT part.

I grew up in San Antonio, and now live here again, and I can't think of
the holiday season without tamales. Mainly because of getting together
with family and friends to make them, a party called a 'tamalada.'

When I was about ten-years-old or so, my dad had a friend who was a
hunter and who gave us some venison and javelina meat. We made tamales
with that meat, and I remember those tamales as the best I ever had,
and I've been wishing I could get some javelina meat ever since. But,
also, I've been making them ever since, no matter where I've lived.
Once, in Seattle, a friend said, "You're inviting me over to make
what?"

There is a play, "La tamalada," that is produced in our region during
the holidays. It has to do with younger women getting together to make
tamales while their ghostly ancestors are hanging over their shoulders
telling them how they used to do it. (I wish I were more bi-lingual,
because there are some obviously funny lines that I don't understand.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Christmas tamales, no matter what you
have with them. I'll do the same!

David

dtwright37 wrote:

> I grew up in San Antonio, and now live here again, and I can't think of
> the holiday season without tamales. Mainly because of getting together
> with family and friends to make them, a party called a 'tamalada.'

Yes, and an informal party where nothing but tamales and tacos and
other antojitos are served would be called a "taquiza".

But it's still not a multicourse formal *comida*, which would have a
salad, wet soup, dry soup or pasta, one large main dish (or two smaller
ones), pastry and coffee, followed by brandy and cigars and talk of
revolution.

Thanks you David. Great to hear from you.

The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
> dtwright37 wrote:
>
> > I grew up in San Antonio, and now live here again, and I can't think of
> > the holiday season without tamales. Mainly because of getting together
> > with family and friends to make them, a party called a 'tamalada.'
>
> Yes, and an informal party where nothing but tamales and tacos and
> other antojitos are served would be called a "taquiza".
>
> But it's still not a multicourse formal *comida*, which would have a
> salad, wet soup, dry soup or pasta, one large main dish (or two smaller
> ones), pastry and coffee, followed by brandy and cigars and talk of
> revolution.

Thanks for that, but that's not what I was writing about, is it?

David

Rhonda wrote:
> Thanks you David. Great to hear from you.

Thanks to you, too, Rhonda. I think you, and I, and Wayne, and Jack,
will know what we're talking about.

David

dtwright37 wrote:
> The Galloping Gourmand wrote:

> > Yes, and an informal party where nothing but tamales and tacos and
> > other antojitos are served would be called a "taquiza".
> >
> > But it's still not a multicourse formal *comida*, which would have a
> > salad, wet soup, dry soup or pasta, one large main dish (or two smaller
> > ones), pastry and coffee, followed by brandy and cigars and talk of
> > revolution.
>
> Thanks for that, but that's not what I was writing about, is it?

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day, then? Do you cook up your
Mulligan Stew in
a tin can over an open fire, underneath a railroad trestle, just to be
"traditional"?

The Galloping Gourmand wrote:
> How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day, then? Do you cook up your
> Mulligan Stew in
> a tin can over an open fire, underneath a railroad trestle, just to be
> "traditional"?

Snide comment noted.

Rhonda wrote:
> What else do you all serve with your Christmas tamales. Are there other
> traditional sides dishes that are served with them.

Hey Rhonda,
We serve them with Pinto Beans, rice, some nice hot salsa. We make
pork, cheese and jalapeno and some sweet ones.

My daughter and I are making lots in a couple of weeks. If anyone is
going to make them I have a tip for spreading the Masa on the corn
husk. (up until a couple of years ago, I still made them like my
grandmother/mother did. They used a spoon to spread the masa)
Go to a hardware store and get a wallpaper spreader. Plastic piece
about 4 inches long or so... put the husk on the table, using the
spreader take a scoop of masa and spread. using even pressure starting
at the top and work down. You'll be surprised how fast it makes the
process. It only took a couple of tries to get the hang of it. Made
our tamale making alot easier.
Chilichick

Thanks Chilichick. That is a great tip about using the wall paper
spreader. I will pick one up and give it a try this year. My
grandchildren will be helping me with the tamale making. I may get
adventurous this year and make some of the cheese and jalopeno as well
as the sweet tamales too. So far we have only made pork and beef
tamales.

chilichick wrote:

> My daughter and I are making lots in a couple of weeks. If anyone is
> going to make them I have a tip for spreading the Masa on the corn
> husk. (up until a couple of years ago, I still made them like my
> grandmother/mother did. They used a spoon to spread the masa)
> Go to a hardware store and get a wallpaper spreader. Plastic piece
> about 4 inches long or so... put the husk on the table, using the
> spreader take a scoop of masa and spread. using even pressure starting
> at the top and work down. You'll be surprised how fast it makes the
> process. It only took a couple of tries to get the hang of it. Made
> our tamale making alot easier.
> Chilichick

Chilichick, I like that idea. We haven't made our tamales this year,
but I have thought of putting those fake credit cards to use that come
in the mail so often. My wife likes to use them as palette knives, so I
wanted to think of a way to use them in cooking. Making tamales was the
first thing that came to mind.

Have fun with your tamalada!

David

dtwright37 wrote:
.. put the husk on the table, using the
> > spreader take a scoop of masa and spread.

> David

In Tabasco this week, I had the best tamales I have ever had. The only
difference was that they used banana leaves instead of corn husks to
wrap them. The banana leaves allowed the steam to get in, but held the
moisture inside and made the most moist tamales ever. Those living
north of here might have a problem getting the banana leaves, but in
Houston, they are readily available. It's worth a try for a change of
pace.

Jack

Jack Tyler wrote:

> In Tabasco this week, I had the best tamales I have ever had. The only
> difference was that they used banana leaves instead of corn husks to
> wrap them. The banana leaves allowed the steam to get in, but held the
> moisture inside and made the most moist tamales ever.

Actually, the moisture inside the corn husk wrapped tamale probably
escapes through the permeable leaf.

If you wrap your tamales with something impermeable, and you get the
moisture content (and the time of cooking) just right, they will steam
themselves from the inside out and the masa will turn orange from the
chile sauce.