Finding a good commercial enchilada sauce is really difficult. Even the Hatch brand is tepid at best. So, we decided to make our own green enchilada sauce, and it turned out to be really good, not only as a sauce, but also as a salsa. The consistency is chunky, unlike the commercial [...]
Growing up in Texas exposes one to various forms of chili from an early age. In central Texas, what you usually find is red chili. As you travel west into New Mexico, however, the chili turns green. When Scotia and I honeymooned in Taos, we never seemed to be able to get [...]
Stews are such wonderful, versatile concoctions! The traditional European stew combines meat with vegetables and legumes, and the meat is cooked along with the vegetables, after perhaps a bit of browning before – but in Mexican stews, the meat is not combined with the other ingredients until the final heating just before serving. Join [...]
Tamales are another example of the wonderful variety of what Elizabeth Lambert-Ortiz calls “the corn kitchen” – that part of Mexican (and Central American) cookery that is based on corn. Tamales are more complicated to make than tortillas. At our house, we would have “Tamale Days” when the interested participants would gather in the [...]
Corn flour and water – the simple ingredients of one of the most delicious foods I have eaten – the corn tortilla. The corn tortilla is truly the bread of Mexico, and often the eating utensil as well. I’m not talking about the stuff sold in plastic bags in grocery stores, I’m talking about [...]