h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sanchos and burritoes are both served around here. Generally the distinction is that burritoes do not include veggies--at least in KS.

It's an interesting food venue. We used to frequent a Tex-Mex cafe that served "chalupas". We have had them in places run by Mexicans under the name of Monterey. Son-in-law, who is half Mexican, has taken us to some really good places for more authentic Mexican cuisine. He makes a good enchilada and has taught me to make a great hot sauce. He won't make tamales though. Drat!

The farther from the border, the more Americanized the Mexican food.

Yeah, I really like homemade tamales. Makes those Hormel ones taste like... well, like what they look like! We have a lot of Hispanics in the area, so there's always somebody selling tamales around November.

Hubby tells me he went to a Mexican restaurant in Wisconsin and ordered flautas... They were flat! I wonder if they were confused.

Maybe they thought he said "flatas".

I can get homemade tamales at a Mexican market in Wichita. They aren't bad, but SIL's aunties' are lots better.

We have several different ethnic markets in the area and most of the supermarkets carry basic things, like poblanos, masa, jalapenos, chili anchos, tortillas, etc., I'm sure you have access to more of the Hispanic foods than we do.

There's lots of fresh Mexican products in this area, but it's definitely border cuisine. As you go further west, the interior Mexican food takes over. I think I like Baja Mexican the best - probably because I like seafood!

I love seafood, but have never had any Mexican seafood. Any recipes?

Naw, I don't get much of a chance to experiment with Mexican seafood - any fish I get up here is frozen. But you might experiment with making ceviche. The fish is cooked with tequila and lime juice, and cilantro and other spices are added. Usually it's got scallops, shrimp, bits of fish, anything that is available. Yum!

I've had ceviche, but I've never made it at home. That's the classic Mexican way to "cook" fresh, very fresh seafood--by allowing it to almost poach in fresh lime juice. No other cooking is required. Good, fresh seafood is so delicate it will cook in the acid of the citrus fruit.

And it's funny you guys mention "interior" Mexican. I'm away from home this week (attending a business conference 250 miles to the east). We went to a little local Mexican restaurant for dinner tonight, called "El Rancho Alegro"--not sure what that means. The...something...ranch? Anyway, the salsa they served with their chips had shredded cabbage in it. That was different.

That's a little odd... But then again, the best cole slaw I've ever had was basically red shredded cabbage with a vinaigrette. No mayo whatsoever...

Oh, and I should have said it was in a Mexican restaurant.

My Grandmother made cole slaw with a vinaigrette dressing--she was Scots Irish. I make it that way myself from time to time, but I add a few veggies to it--like green pepper, onion, radishes, and a bit of jalapeno.

Yum! That sounds good, actually...

I'm generally not a big fan of regular cole slaw because I hate that sweet mayonnaise dressing. But there are a lot of great alternatives out there for us cabbage lovers turned off by the slaw.

I'm the same way. Until I had that vinaigrette coleslaw, I hated it with a passion. Mostly because the cabbage gets all watery and runny, and that dressing is sickly sweet... bleah!

If you like a creamy dressing on your cole slaw, but don't like the sweet taste, leave out the sugar, add garlic powder and dijon mustard to the mayo. You can also add dill pickle juice if you like, to thin it a bit. Salt and pepper to taste. (It isn't good left over, though, and the one with vinaigrette dressing is.)

From Asteroid Lil's Kitchen...

Ingredients:

Baking potatoes
Celery
Ham
fresh parsley
I medium onion
3 to 6 cloves of garlic, to taste
Sour Cream
milk (any percent of fat, it doesn’t matter)
grated cheese for topping

Quantities? We don’t need no steenkin’ quantities! Excess baked potatoes can be used for home fries. And so forth. You adjust the amounts to the size of your soup pan. I’d get in at least a pint of the sour cream, though.

For my most recent pot of soup I used 4 large idaho spuds, a bunch of celery, 2 medium onions, 4 large cloves of garlic, and 2 heaping cups of ham. And about 20 ozs of sour cream, and I might add more since I have some left in the container.

Process:
1. Bake the potatoes, leave to cool, then peel and dice.

2. Chop the celery and boil in a separate pan for about 5 minutes, with a dash of salt. If you put the raw celery in the soup directly, it will be tough. The celery and the water you boiled it in can go directly into the soup.

3. Pull the ham to bits.

4. IMPORTANT: the onion and garlic should be chopped as fine as you can chop them. No cuisinart – that only separates the fiber from the liquids. Fine chop is what makes really good soups and curries.

5. If your soup pan has a thin bottom, you might want to use a separate pan for this first stage.

Melt a quarter stick of butter (or as much/little as it takes to handle the amount of onions/garlic) over low heat and add the onions and garlic together, with a good dash of salt and a pinch of white pepper. Cook on low to low-medium heat so that they turn transparent without browning. This will take 15 to 20 minutes. If you get this stage right, the onions and garlic will virtually melt into the liquid and infuse it with their flavor.

6. Add some milk. If you did the frying in a separate pan, the milk will help you slosh the onions and garlic into the larger pan.

7. Throw in the potatoes, ham and celery, and add enough milk to just cover. Scissor in the parsley leaves. Add black pepper to taste.

8. Leave it all to simmer for a while. Top up with milk and stir occasionally.

9. Add sour cream to taste, and try not to let the soup boil, cos that makes the sour cream curdle. Doesn’t hurt the flavor, but it doesn’t look quite as nice.

Serve with grated cheese topping – sharp cheddar hand-grated is best – and maybe a little cayenne pepper.

Thank you for doing all the footwork to include my recipe, lentilla.

I never mentioned that this recipe was originally written out for a group of men for whom I made this soup, contractors in fact, which is why some of the steps may seem obvious to more skilled kitchen goddesses...

De nada, chica! I'd forgotten about the cookbook I think that it's worth explaining the finer points - often an inexperienced cook won't realize that you have to grease the pan, or cut off all the rotten bits. If cookbooks were written for people who know what they're doing, then it would just say "Cook food, serve."

The last time I made this soup, I boiled the celery in water before adding it, but I think next time I'll just fry the celery, onion and garlic in butter, and then add the milk. Also, removing the skins from the potatoes will help with the texture, so this is an important step. After they're baked, it's pretty easy. Bacon also makes a great addition to this soup.

Whups! Didn't finish my post - I meant to say that I'd forgotten about the cookbook until Ben posted a link to it in the Cookbook Planning thread...