Adán's blog

Guacamole: from Avocado, from Aguacate, from Aguacatlán

2011-12-08T22:48:01Z

In Texas gaucamole is omnipresent. There are as many recipes as there are bragging-prone machos. I myself not being one to brag,, Ahem.., my recipe is based on 3 simple rules.
1. Purchase them Green and Hard.
Rodolfo Fernandez is the top Avocado expert in our region. For many years he provided the best-tasting avocados to Mexican restaurants throughout San Antonio. I follow his advice. At the produce section, purchase Haas aguacates while they are still green and very firm. Store them in a bag, plastic or paper, and wait two days, maybe three, at which time they'll begin to ripen and soften. It is then that they are at their peak of flavor. There is no substitute for this direct, natural taste. You'll say, wow.
2. No Masks.
The fresh, full flavor of the avocado takes nicely to complementary seasonings and accompaniments but be judicious. At all costs do not mask the texture or flavor of the aguacate.
3. Use a Molcajete.
In the recipe below I explain how the foundational flavor is developed in a molcajete.

Avocado is aguacate in Spanish and aguacate is derived from the original Nahuatl name, "Ahucacahuitl."
The name appears in early writings, MesoAmerican hieroglyphs, documenting that the Avocado is native to Puebla, Mexico. Here is an original glyph of an avocado tree linked to the place where the tree originates, the town of "Ahuacatlán." (1) The earliest remains of avocado consumption, 8,000-7,000 BCE, have been found in a cave in what is currently Coxcatlán in the state of Puebla, Mexico. From there the little lush fruit travelled and developed. There are three botanical types of avocados, Mexican, Guatemalan and Antillean. This map (2) lists where the origins of each of the types may have developed. Notice that the Mexican avocado is within the current TexMex area.
So enjoy this recipe knowing, again, that for millenia our land has nurtured us with delicious fruits and wonderful cooks. Hmmmmm!

Recipe: serves 6 -- thanks to Chef Roberto Santibañez whom I met in San Antonio and on whose book this is based.

Ingredients:
2 Haas avocados
1/2 Tbsp Green Serrano chile, sliced
1/2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 tspn white onion, small dice
1 tspn salt
1/4 cup tomato, small dice
2 Tbsp white onion, small dice
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Method:
1. Using a molcajete, make a fine paste of the onion, chile, cilantro and salt.
Here is where I mentioned that you can develop the flavor direction that your guacamole will take. You may add other seasonings to the molcajete, but keep in mind that you are following many years of tradition. Make sure your variations are culturally relevant, enticing to the palette, and not just vacuously trendy.

2. Dice the avocado and add to the molcajete, scraping and folding to make sure the avocado is covered with the seasonings.
3. Add the remaining tomato, cilantro and onion.
4. Serve immediately with crispy corn tortilla chips.

Guacamole con Frutas (3) Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 Haas avocados
3/4 cup fresh mango, small cubes
10 red seedles grapes, halved
10 green seedless grapes, halved
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 Tbsp Green Serrano chile, sliced. Note: I like to add more chile than this because I love the sweet fruit taste with the serrano flavor. But start with this amount and then see if you want to increase the serrano flavor.
1/4 cup tomato, small dice
1 tspn salt

Method:
1. Make the molcajete paste as above, of course there is no cilantro.
2. After combining the avocados with the molcajete paste, fold in the fruits.
3. Adjust the salt. Garnish with additional pomegranate and serve with crispy corn tortilla chips.

Buen provecho, TexMex!

NOTES:
(1) HISTORIA DEL AGUACATE EN MÉXICO, Salvador Sánchez Colín, Pedro Mijares Oviedo, Luis López-López, Alejandro F. Barrientos-Priego.

(2) HISTORIA DEL AGUACATE EN MÉXICO, Salvador Sánchez Colín, Pedro Mijares Oviedo, Luis López-López, Alejandro F. Barrientos-Priego.

(3) Printed in Classic Cuisines of Mexico by Chef Iliana De La Vega, Culinary Institute of America, adapted from Roberto Santibañez and he from Diana Kennedy and María Dolores Torres-Izabal.

Pecan-smoked Pork Loin

2011-11-21T12:18:49Z

Here's a recipe that results in a succulent, melt-in-your-mouth pork loin, just in time for this cold weather and friends.
By keeping the temperature at 185º F and making sure the smoke does not turn densely white, the smoke flavor is subtle, sweet. I'm feeling giddy since I served it, so I'll paraphrase a line from the movie, Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe: "ever-new arising vistas of harmonizing flavors!"

ok, slap back to real.
Recipe
This is the formula for the brine that I use. It makes 3 gallons and is plenty for two 3-lb pork loins:
2 1/2 gallons room temperature water
1/2 gallon ice
2 lb salt
1 lb brown sugar
1 ounce TCM (tinted curing mixture) Note: Being aware of the pros and cons of nitrates and nitrites in TCM, I think a moderate use is prudent and good. You may omit the TCM and your smoked meat will turn out fine.

Method:
1. Add the sugar, salt and TCM to the water and stir until completely dissolved.
2. Add the ice to cool the brine.
3. Cut off excess fat and weigh the pork loins. Inject them with an amount of brine that equals 10% of their weight. Injected brine for a 3 lb pork loin would be thus: 3 lb loin X 16 ounces = 48 ounces.
Then 48 ounces X .10 = 4.8 ounces. So you'd inject 4.8 ounces of brine. (it's convenient that 1 fl. oz. of water weighs 1 oz.)
4. Place them in a stainless steel or plastic container and completely cover them with the brine. Top them with a heavy dish to keep them submerged.
5. After three days of brining, remove them, rinse with fresh water and pat them dry.
6. Air dry them to form a pellicle according to the method that we used for the Thanksgiving turkey.
7. Then smoke the pork in Pecan wood, also according to the method used for the Thanksgiving turkey.
8. Smoke for 4-6 hours or until the internal temperature is 155º F.

Knife Skills and Slicing:
When I served it at the buffet table, the slices were ultra thin, as you can see. This makes for a beautiful presentation but also adds to the melt-in-your-mouth texture. Ackowledgement is due the CIA for their strong chef training programs. When I was at the CIA our class of 18 culinary students was drilled for 3 weeks in "precision knife skills." It takes a lot of practice, and you use a very long slicing knife that is razor sharp.

Chef Kevin Babbitt, fellow CIA grad, helped me prepare the buffet feast and to him goes the credit for slicing the pork and arranging it as you see it laid out in the picture. He is a highly talented young fine dining chef who is making a great career. If you'd like to write to him and congratulate him, his email address is: one.k.babbitt@hotmail.com

Here I am encouraging Chef Kevin Babbitt to cut the pork wafer-thin and with precision! Bon Appétit.

Smoking a Thanksgiving Turkey

2011-11-16T23:05:21Z

Karla McLaughlin drove all the way to my home to deliver this 15 pound organic-fed, free-roaming turkey and two pork loins. She generously took the time because I was in a pinch, facing a party deadline. She is a one-of-a-kind farm owner. Knowledgeable, caring and meticulously strict about raising the turkeys and other animals that she and her husband, John, tend on their farm.

They call it "Olde World Farms" and it is located in Montgomery, Texas. No antibiotics, no animal products in their feed. The turkeys stay inside large barns until they are big enough so that the hawks won't swoop them up. Then they grouse around and eat freely on the farm. You can contact Karla or John at (936)-597-3999. Their email is owf@oldeworldfarms.com.

To prepare the turkey for smoking, this is what I used to make the
Brine:
3 gallons warm water
1 lb salt
12 ounces light brown sugar
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
Stir until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved then let the brine cool down completely.
Method:
1. I used a syringe to inject some of the brine into the meat. the total amount of brine should be 10% of the weight of the turkey. Here's the math for a 15 lb turkey.
15 X 16 ounces = 240 ounces
240 ounces X .10 = 24 ounces of brine. (FYI: One fluid ounce of water weights exactly 1 ounce)
2. Using a plastic or stainless steel container, submerge the turkey in the brine and refrigerate for 3 days. The container was too heavy and large for my refrigerator so I partially filled a large ice chest with ice and a little water and set the container in it. Closing the ice chest, the temperature is maintained at a safe 37-39 degrees F
3. After the third day, remove the turkey from the brine, rinse it thouroughly with fresh water, pat dry and place in the fridge, uncovered, for 16 hours until a pellicle forms on the skin. This tacky glaze will help absorb smoke and keep in the moisture. I hate to say this but in the interest of efficiency, omit this step if you don't have time to do this or if there's no room in the fridge.
4. Smoke the turkey in Pecan wood at 185 F for about 6-8 hours until the internal temperature reaches 165 F.
Ok, yes, you can enjoy a beer meanwhile, and ponder this:
A) The habit of cooking and eating turkey predates us by centuries and
B) The bird came from Mexico and is native to this land, Americas.
I've placed a dot on the location of Coba, Mexico, near Cancún.(1) This is where archeologists have found the earliest evidence of turkey remains. They are dated 100 BCE-100 CE. From there the turkey went north and populated North America, evidence of the vibrant trade and communication withiin the region pre-1400's. By the time the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, we had domesticated turkeys not just in Mexico but also in what is now the US New Mexico and Texas. Thereafter the turkey, wild and domesticated, populated the whole of the US and some of Canada. By your second beer, you will have pondered that we and the turkey go back a long way.

Let me know how it turns out if you decide to smoke for Thanksgiving. ¡Feliz Día de Dar Gracias!

(1) map used by permission of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.

Cranberry Conserve: tangerine, ginger and sultanas

2011-11-08T15:14:20Z

Yes, tangerine, ginger and sultanas. A contrast of flavor and color that I think is really amazing with the seasonal cranberries. I urge you to try it at your Thanksgiving meal. I've adapted this recipe from one I read many, many years ago in Gourmet magazine.

Remember that? Ruth Reichl's highly influential monthly register of food travels, chef's cultural insights, slow-cooking meditations, etc. Gourmet Magazine went under because it could not survive the shifting reader interest toward faster-paced and more bouncy food-making. That's my opinion. Happily, though, her elegant and "keep it real" influence continues and, as they say, that's a good thing.

Recipe: (makes 3 cups)
Ingredients:
3/4 lb fresh cranberries
1 tsp grated peeled ginger
1/2 cup sultanas (golden raisins)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice
4" X 1" Tangerine peel, pith removed.
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugars.
2. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes until the cranberries begin to pop open.
3. Remove from heat and let it cool.
You can serve the conserve immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. To me it tastes better after about 12 hours in the fridge.

Let me know how this turns out!

COMMENT ARCHIVE:
-- "Had no idea that golden raisins were called sultanas. I remember this recipe now. You shared it with me last Thanksgiving. I mentioned that I did not like the traditional cranberry sauce and you assured me this would be a great alternative....and it was! I'm so glad you reminded me...Sultanas, here I come--again Chris O." posted by Christine Ortega, Nov 14, 2011

Parmesan-Roasted Artichoke Salad, Apple-Tarragon Vinaigrette

2011-11-01T03:36:49Z

Parmesan and Artichokes are a natural pair, I'd say.

So I've roasted them here and combined them with leaf lettuce tossed in a Tarragon-apple vinaigrette. The tarragon aroma makes a rich-tasting contrast to the sharp artichoke. The apple juice-oil gives the salad a pleasing silk-like feel on the tongue. But that's me. If you make this dressing, add comments here or shoot me an email.

Recipe: (serves two)
Ingredients:
4 leaves red-tip lettuce, washed and dried
4 leaves Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
1 French baguette, frozen solid. You won't use the whole baguette, only enough for 6 slices
6 canned or frozen artichoke hearts
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbs Extra Virgin olive oil
fresh grinding of Black Pepper
1/4 cup Pine nuts (optional)
For Vinaigrette:
2 Tbs Canola oil
2 1/2 tsp Apple Cider vinegar
2 tsp Apple juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried Tarragon
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
Vinaigrette:
whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients and let stand for 30 minutes or a little longer so the flavors develop.
Artichoke hearts:
1. Drain the artichoke hearts and carefully insert the parmesan cheese between the leaves.
2. Place the stuffed artichoke hearts on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with fresh black pepper and roast in a 350º oven for 20 minutes. If after baking them you want more color, you can place them under a broiler for 2 minutes. Set them aside to cool.
Baguette toasts:
1. The baguette is frozen so that you can easily slice six very thin slices, bias cut. Use a mandolin or a very sharp bread knife. Place the slices on a sheet pan.
2. Carefully brush olive oil on the bias-cut baguette slices and bake them in a 350º oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool. NOTE: These baguette toasts are really elegant and they crunch almost ephemerally. But if you can't get that thin slice, all's well since cubed crunchy croutons will be great too. See them in the picture?

Tear or cut the lettuce into medium size pieces. Toss with the vinaigrette (taste and adjust salt if necessary). Arrange all the ingredients on a plate as shown. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the salad. Serve at once.

Bon Apéttite

Green Chiles, Yellow Tortillas, White Cheeses

2011-10-26T15:42:43Z

Direct, uncomplicated, profuse flavor. I think oftentimes we miss so much by complicating our everyday, wasting time with artifice. Just look at the beauty of what's around, get real and go with it!
We roast Anaheim chiles then eat them with hot yellow corn tortilla and salt. There's not a single gourmand who can resist crooning with joy upon biting into this

Recipe? What recipe? Roast the chiles, add salt and eat them with a yellow corn tortilla!
haha, just kidding.

Chile:
1. On a comal or cast iron griddle roast the chiles as shown above until most of the surface is charred. You can use a broiler or an open fire but I find that the extended time that it takes to char on the griddle is just right for cooking the inside of the chile. There's still texture but it's not firm at all. You don't want to bite into a raw, firm chile. Let's not get lost in the crudité 80's again!
2. Place them in a paper bag and close tightly so that the steam helps release the skin.
3. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and remove the seeds.
Tortilla:
1. In a shallow bowl filled with water, immerse the corn tortillas for about 30 seconds. I assume you have bought a package of yellow corn tortillas. (In a later post we'll be making corn tortillas from masa.)
2. Heat a clean comal or griddle on high until it is quite hot, to the point that if you sprinkle droplets of water they dance on the surface.
3. Place the re-hydrated tortillas on the griddle and cook for about 10-15 seconds. The tortillas should char just a little bit but you don't want them to burn. Turn over with a spatula.
4. Place strips, rajas, of the chiles on one half of the tortilla, sprinkle with salt, and fold in half. Heat for about 15 seconds, turn it over and heat the other half of the tortilla. This roasts the tortilla and also reheats the chile nicely.

Serve immediately, while they are aromatic and steamy.

Ok, so it is also delicious with cheese. I recommend two cheeses, good melting Asadero and more delicately flavored Panela. Both I think are readily available in most grocery stores of the US. I wouldn't use longhorn or cheddar. Too loud.

Add the cheese after sprinkling the salt on the rajas as indicated above, then fold the tortilla and proceed, also as above. Both cheeses will melt well, but differently.
Here is the Asadero cheese. It melts completely and is a bit more present in flavor than the panela but still very nice and gentle. Remember that we want to taste the shades of flavor of the chile itself.
And below is the Panela cheese. It's a very different taste and texture. Cut into small dice, it will melt slightly as you can see. Oh, my goodness.....toothsome. Do let me know how you like these.

Chicken Cutlets Meunière

2011-10-24T18:38:30Z

Of course, it's "Sole Meunière" that's the quintessential French luscious dish but chicken is great.

Here it's served with spinach and roasted potatoes.

I think the dish is rustic country and also elegant.

Recipe: serves two

Ingredients

Chicken

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

¼ cup flour (wheat)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbs unsalted butter

Salt to taste

a grinding of black pepper

Sauce

¼ stick unsalted butter

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 ½ Tbsp capers, drained

1/8 tsp salt

Vegetables:

4 small boiling potatoes

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

a grinding of black pepper

½ Lb Spinach, thoroughly washed and large stems removed

1 Tbsp butter

Salt to taste

Method

Potatoes:

1. Wash the potatoes, dry them and cut them in half.

2. In a bowl, toss the potatoes in the olive oil and add salt and pepper

3. Heat a cast iron or other heavy skillet on medium-low heat, add the potatoes and cook them, turning them occasionally, until they are cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Spinach:

1. In a deep skillet melt the butter on medium heat, add the spinach and cook it, stirring as needed, until it begins to wilt. This will take only about 4-7 minutes. Remove and hold warm.

Chicken Cutlets:

1. Trim fat from the chicken breasts and cut them into cutlets. Place each between waxed paper and flatten with a mallet to a ¼" thickness.

2. Dredge the cutlets in the flour to very lightly coat them. Shake off excess flour and hold them.

3. In a large skillet heat the olive oil and butter on high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the chicken and cook until golden, about 3-4 minutes on each side (lower the heat immediately if you see that the oil begins to smoke or burn).

4. Remove the cutlets, place them on paper towels, dabbing gently to remove excess oil and hold them warm.

5. Arrange the vegetables and the cutlets as shown on warm plates.

6. Now the Sauce. It's fun to see this butter transformation!! In a skillet heat the butter on medium heat. Add the salt. Watch very carefully and when you see the butter begin to brown, (there's only a few seconds between the butter being brown and being BURNED) immediately remove it from the fire. Add the lemon and capers and swirl the pan joyfully! It will bubble and foam lusciously. Pour it over the cutlets and serve immediately.

This is rich, rustic food that makes you break into a genuine smile. I'm getting hungry!

Food and Media are Deeply Connected

2011-10-23T09:11:53Z

Food is direct cultural memory;

it nourishes as it keeps us alive and connects us to the past -- our own, our families,' our communities.'

Our media is also direct cultural memory.

It has the fierce ability to nourish our consciousness just as powerfully and to keep us alive to imagine realities other than our own. -- -- Helen De Michiel

Well said!

This quote is from Helen De Michiel's article, "Toward A Slow Media Practice," in which she outlines the relationships between food and media. Her ideas are a good platform from which to explore the many ways in which our daily immersion in food and media can make sense as unifying experiences, one nurturing the other.

Both presenting the same choices about how we choose to address corporate control, local food and media independence, transnational yet grassroots collaborations, fair trade. And what I like best: both offering joy.

Michiel goes on to say that "Both Slow Food and Media Arts represent significant niches in our cultural landscape.They are quiet movements built on the ideals of self-determination, community empowerment, and preservation of legacy in a throwaway milieu. While neither valued nor well understood by the mainstream, they both are sustaining individuals and communities with imaginative practices that transform consciousness in a slow and steady flow.

While Slow Food defends endangered foods, we struggle to carve out and protect a public space where independent media arts practices can thrive."

Now I'm going to make a nice breakfast!

Mexican Cuisine

2011-10-23T08:37:32Z

Notes on Cooking
three-minute interviews with chefs, filmmakers and food activists

This week Chef Iliana De La Vega, acclaimed authority on Mexican Cuisine, explains the Spanish and Arab influences on Mexican Cuisine. Noting her philosophy of food, she advocates not covering up flavors with heavy lard or fats. Techniques of roasting, charring date back to pre-Columbian times. But the final test of fine Mexican cuisine is the taste, delicious, rich, harmonious.

NOTES ON MEXICAN CUISINE

Smoked Trout w/ Horsradish Butter Canapé

2011-10-21T21:17:34Z

For Fall socials, this elegant and earthy local canapé will please friends. The trout is aromatic and complex. The flavored butter gives a perfect velvety mouth feel companion to the oils and flavor of the fish.
After brining and drying the trout, place the fish in a smoker with plenty of space between the pieces so that the smoke can waft about evenly. Use Pecan wood at 200⁰F and smoke it for 3 to 4 hours. The fish must reach an internal temperature of 150⁰F. Remove the fish from the heat and cool it down completely, removing all bones and skin. It will keep refrigerated for several days. Or you can freeze it for weeks.

Slice the fish into small strips. Place atop horseradish-buttered rye toast rounds garnished with sliced green olives stuffed with pimiento. The brininess of the olives is great with this.

Horseradish Butter:
Ingredients
1 stick, 4 ounces, softened unsalted butter
1Tbsp prepared horseradish
3/4 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
Method
After squeezing out excess liquid from the horseradish, blend all the ingredients together well. The butter can be held, covered tightly, in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the canapés. Soften the butter a bit after taking it out of the fridge so it will spread easily.

I suggest enjoying it with a crisp dry Riesling.

Smoked Trout, the Karankawas and Cannibalism

2011-10-18T13:16:21Z

Fall, the time for pickling, brining, drying, freezing. All those tasks that take us back to a time when we were more in tune with the earth's changing seasons. Well, it was either be in tune or starve! haha..!

Here's a recipe I'm making this morning for smoked trout. The final result is flaky, aromatic and richly flavorful. It can be mixed and mingled with an array of creams butters and dips during cool autumnal evenings.

Brine
2 cups water
1 lb ice
1 1/2 ounce salt
3/4 ounce brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp pickling spice

1. Add the salt, sugar and spices to the water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar completely.
2. Cool the hot brine mixture by pouring it over the ice

Trout
2 8-ounce trout filets
If you possibly can, opt for pan dressing the trout, which means leaving the bones, skin and tail intact. As you can see in the picture, I used skin-on fillets because that's what was readily available from the fish monger this morning.

Pour the brine over the fish, making sure it is completely submerged.

Place in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. Then remove the fish from the brine and lay the fillets flat on a tray and dry them, uncovered, in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or until a dry, tacky glaze, "pellicle," forms on the lovely fillets. This pellicle formation is critical at the time of smoking because it maximizes the smoke flavor and keeps oils and moisture where they belong.

In the next blog I'll show the smoked trout and the various ways it can be served.

Just a few final thoughts about our tradition of drying fish. I'm reminded of a recent discussion regarding one of our ancestor Texas peoples, the Karankawas. They lived for thousands of years along the Texas coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi. They ate speckled trout, among other fish, and drying and smoking were of course known culinary practices.

The discussion leader reported that the Karankawas were horrible savages who pierced their skin for adornment and were cannibals. They were generally ugly, awful, I repeat, savages.

Then was not the proper moment to refute but here I want to report that the current body of academic research (see bibliography at the end of this post) finds the following:

1. Piercings: Karankawa men were aound 6 feet tall and they sometimes pierced their nipples and lower lips to wear cane adornments. Here in Houston I've seen a lot of men and women with piercings, wearing body jewelry. I'm not calling them savages for doing so.

2. Accusations do not make it so: The accusation of cannibalism is so often repeated, mainly by those with a vested interest in discrediting natives, that the repetition tends to make it so. But there is no direct oral nor written evidence. There is no direct eyewitness account of such behavior. There is no archaeological evidence at all of scraped or shattered bones to support the claim of cannibalism.

3. The record refutes the claim: When the Spanish colleagues of Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked onto Galveston Island, they began to eat the bodies of their shipmates to stave off starvation. When the Karankawas found them they were horrified at the Spanish cannibalism. Cabeza de Vaca writes: "The Indians were so shocked at this cannibalism that, if they had seen it sometime earlier, they surely would have killed every one of us who had survived." (La Vere, 2004, p. 60-62)

We receive culinary techniques from our ancestors, enjoy the same seasonal fish as they did, so I delight at the academic work that is giving us a clearer picture of who they really were.

In my next blog I'll be serving the smoked trout to some of my nose-pierced friends!

Here's Some Bibliographic info:

La Vere, D. (2004). The texas indians. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
Newcomb, W.W. Jr. (1961). The indians of texas. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Warnes, Andrew. (2008). Savage barbecue. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

A Serving of Justice

2011-10-15T16:07:59Z

It's a good thing that I'm feeling jumbled, riled, mixed up and chaotic. The protests against the corporate reality in which we live (corporations are persons now) are chaotic, which means powerful, energizing and substantive. Injustice is always served with food. So is justice.

The recipe that I'm posting today is one for chefs and foodies. We will continue to serve food when needed to support Occupy Wall Street rallies. We will blog about food and it's corporate control. Foodies will take up anew conversations about the food movemen and about: Native Americans denied the right to plant corn seeds in their gardens because Monsanto has patented the seed, Obesity resulting from corporatized food,,etc., etc., etc.

Personal actions in choosing what we do are the cornerstone. This essay by Kristin Wartman maps well the food movement opportunity.

Going out for brunch now!
Adán

I cry for us

2011-10-13T21:50:39Z

I cry for us.
people powerless in society,
the despised,
the de-humanized
what a contradiction.

The despiser.

I cry for us.
And sob,
sob,
that it is in our nature
to inflict pain,
bully, fellow human beings.

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DOCUMENTARY: "REMEMBERING STONEWALL" BY DAVID ISAY

Recently during a delicious and amiable meal, a 20-something friend of mine asked me for details of how Gays and Lesbians in the US got more freedoms, and about Stonewall.

Thereafter I shared with him this audio documentary, "Remembering Stonewall," by Peabody and MacArthur Awardee David Isay. Produced in 1989 and broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered. I had not heard it in years. Hearing it anew, especially eye-witness accounts of lesbians brutally beaten for fun by male cops, it makes me cry.

I'm glad for meals where generations ask questions of each other. They give me hope.

Roots and Vision of TexMex Cuisine

2011-10-07T12:57:38Z

Chef and Author Melissa Guerro identifies the Mariame Indians of Texas, the Comanches and others in the roots of today's TexMex cuisine. Melded with the Spanish influence, this delicious cuisine is growing in importance. Like all cultural cuisines, "It can fix the world!"

"TEXMEX CUISINE - NUEVO TEJANO"

New Food Series: "Notes on Cooking..."

2011-10-01T13:24:52Z

notes on cooking...

a series of video shorts
"critical thinking about food and its meanings"

3 minutes with a chef, filmmaker or food activist. The series covers trends in food pathways, food conglomerates, kitchens, farms, labor and entertainment. Issues about social justice and the cultivation of enjoyment and fun. And of course, inventive recipes--delicious taste is IN!

The series uploads one segment weekly on www.jmcommunications.com

--a High Definition version is on the Vimeo channel, "Notes on Cooking," http://vimeo.com/channels/245942

The series begins with critically acclaimed Chef Iliana De La Vega who speaks out on Mexican cuisine. Her call is for "no more burros!" Originally from Mexico City and Oaxaca, she currently serves on the Faculty of the Culinary Institute of America and the Center for Foods of the Americas. She is Owner/Chef of El Naranjo in Austin, Texas.
Other chefs included in the series are:

-Chef Johnny Hernandez, Chef/Owner of "La Gloria" in San Antonio, Texas is acclaimed for his inventive recreations of Mexican street food and regional cuisines. His stellar positions include the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara.

-Chef Hinnerk von Bargen, International Consultant on Restaurant and Culinary Trends, Faculty at the Culinary Institute of America, His chef positions have included hotels and restaurants in Germany, South Africa and China. He is currently authoring a book on Street Foods of the World.

-Chef Melissa Guerra, Host of "The Texas Provincial Kitchen" Television series, author of Tejano and TexMex cuisine cookbooks including "Dishes From The Wild Horse Desert."

-Chef Alain Dubernard, His positions have included chef-owner and general manager of La Balance Pâtisserie in Mexico City, Chef de partie at Hôtel Bristol in Paris, and commis pâtissier/chef de tour for Roux Restaurants Ltd. in London.

See a High Definition version on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/245942

Produced by Adán M. Medrano

The series is licensed under Creative Commons License: Attribution, Non-commercial, Share-alike