With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, my brain is buzzing with thoughts of Mexican food -- burritos, tamales, chorizo. But at some point, thoughts switch to faux Mexican dishes, the US concoctions that are more fusion than ethnic. This then leads me to my first forays into recipe creation. I've been cooking and baking since I was a little kid, but it wasn't until I hit puberty and got sick of those too-simple Old El Paso taco mixes that I discovered that recipes are nice, but not necessary.
My mother handed the kitchen over to me, and told me to make my own tacos, since I wasn't happy with the dry, plain mix. In a flurry, I was pulling out old spices that were covered with dust, sniffing, shrugging, and throwing them in. I scoured the fridge for anything that might work and added that. In a blink, I had a meal that was better than any powder or simple sauce. It was just as easy, there was no extra mess, and the result was so very worth it.
Check out the "recipe" after the jump, and let me know what your first unique creation was.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Cinco de Mayo is not Spanish for 'another excuse to get totally faced.' What Cinco de Mayo has come to signify in this country, however, is exactly that. Just like we knock back Guinness on St. Patrick's Day and gorge ourselves on beer and brats during Oktoberfest, Cinco de Mayo has become our way of showing appreciation for our Mexican neighbors in the best way we know how; by getting slobber-faced.
This upcoming May 5, we'll be raising glasses of tequila. So let's take a minute and find out exactly what is in that glass and clear up some misconceptions.
Have you heard about this? I think this is one of the funniest stories I've heard all day. Absolut Vodka pulled an advertisement it was running in Mexico because it offended some people in the US.
According to Reuters, the ad shows a map of the US and Mexico from before 1848, when Mexico lost a war and lots of territory to the United States, with the text "An Absolut World." It seems that some Mexicans are still a little sore about this, so the advertising makes sense in that country. Still, if you know the history, I suppose I can see why Americans would be offended.
I think it's pretty funny. I don't really know the history very well, and to me what's done is done. I am having trouble seeing what all the fuss is about, but I'm pretty entertained by Absolut's advertising woes.
While Mexico has got to be in my top five best countries for street food - tacos al pastor with pineapple and loads of cilantro at the market in Mexico City, huitlacoche (corn fungus) and squash blossom quesadillas in the park in downtown Cancun, steaming chicken tamales wrapped in wet green banana leaves sold out of an empty oil drum in Villahermosa - one of my very, very favorites has to be elote. I first tasted elote - corn on the cob slathered in mayonnaise and sprinkled with cotija cheese (like Parmesan) and chile powder, topped off with a squeeze of lime - in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas. Sold by an old lady who sat on the steps of the church with a vat of corn cobs floating in hot water and an economy-sized jar of mayo, it was sweet, sour, cheesy and spicy all at once. I was in love.
Here in Santa Fe, there's an elote cart that shows up from time to time in the parking lot of the defunct Pepe's Tacos, serving de-cobbed elote. The vendor layers corn kernels, mayonnaise, butter, cotija, lime and chile in a Styrofoam cup, served with a plastic spoon. Stir it all together and it creates a super-addictive spicy cream of corn soup. I find myself cruising the street outside Pepe's, like a scorned girlfriend staking out her ex's car (will it be there? Oh, I hope it's there!), three dollars already folded in my pocket just in case.
What are your favorite street foods? And where do you find them?
This gem comes from the press release announcing Cold Stone Creamery's expansion into Mexico and Southeast Asia. I'll admit it's a better turn of phrase than "taking the international sweet tooth by cavity." Full disclosure, I've never eaten the Creamery's ice cream, I suppose I should since there's one in a mall near my house.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based purveyor of fresh-made ice-cream that's blended to order with mix-ins on, you guessed it, a cold stone, started scooping up international markets back in 2005, when it opened its first overseas store in Tokyo. Since then Coldstone has opened 22 more stores throughout Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.
Its first Mexican store will open in September. There's been no word yet as to whether the Creamery stores South of the Border will forgo the signature stone slab in favor of a gigantic molcajete y tejolote to mix the ingredients with the ice cream. The company's next international markets will be Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. I don't think it's gonna happen, but I'd love to see the Creamery's Southeast Asian stores use young coconut, jackfruit and some of the brightly colored gelatinous squiggles that are a staple of the region's frozen confections.
Before you get turned off by this edition of Midnight Snack allow me to explain the headline. Years ago I used to eat these wonderful tacos at a Mexican deli in Hell's Kitchen. After working my way through all the humdrum varieties (carnitas, bifteck, al pastor, cecina, etc.), I spied pancita de chivo written on the blackboard.
I asked what kind of meat it was before trying a taco. When the lady told me they were goat belly, I gladly ordered one up, after all I'd never met chivo that was anything less than cravable. When I saw that the tortilla contained blood pudding and god knows whatever other bits of goat innards I wasn't entirely turned off. In fact, my interest was piqued since I enjoy a good black pudding every now and then. When I tasted it, everything changed, for this was no mere blood pudding. It was subltly spiced with cinnamon and hot peppers and utterly delicious.
Fast forward to yesterday when I saw pansa negro de chivo on the specials menu at one of my favorite Mexican spots. When I ordered it, I wasn't entirely sure whether it would be the same meat I'd had in tacos. As it turned out it was. About five tacos worth of goat gutty goodness were sided with some of the best Mexican rice I've ever had. Usually this lackluster rice has a technicolor orange hue and remains uneaten, but not this version. It had just enough achiote to color it and was studded through with bits of fresh carrots and peas, and kept company by some great stewed beans. The whole affair was topped with four or five pickled jalapeños that had been sliced lengthwise.
As you might have guessed from the topic of this post the whole platter proved to be too much for me. Of course when you get it packed up, dump in a bowl and then nuke it, the result looks nowhere near as good as it did in the restaurant. But I can assure you, it hits the spot at midnight with an ice cold Tecate. Let's just hope I don't have any nightmares about chupacabras.
A team of Mexican bakers made a massive, sweet gesture toward madres and abuelitas across that country last Thursday. But the only thing sweet about the 2.2 metric ton celebration of Mother's Day is the fact that it was a cake. The gigantic dessert was made entirely with zero-calorie sweetener rather than sugar.
The heart-shaped cake was 16-feet wide and fed about 150 mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. And just how much artificial sweetener does it take to make an enormous blue-and-yellow cake? A tad over 200 pounds. Of course you'll also need 23 bakers, 881 pounds of eggs, 639 pounds of whipping cream and a really big oven, among other things. The folks behind the supersized sugar-free cake want to promote artificial sweeteners in Mexico, where obesity is increasingly widespread and some 7 million people suffer from diabetes.
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked.
Though there are drinks under the name Horchata in other cultures, the Mexican version is made from blended rice. It looks (and even tastes) like a milky drink, but there is absolutely no dairy in the recipe. It is rumored that this drink helps to cure hangovers, so you may want to whip up a batch if you plan on indulging at all this weekend.
If you want to try the drink but don't want to go to all the effort of making it yourself, Rice Dream apparently makes a version that is already prepared, though I've never tasted that myself. You can find the full recipe after the jump.
If you are looking for a Mexican dish to serve for your Cinco de Mayo celebrations this weekend, my recommendation is to check out Homesick Texan, who will not only give you a bit of history about the holiday, but provides an amazing recipe for Tinga de Puerco.
This dish is a Pueblan stew consisting of pork, chorizo, tomatoes and chipotles. As she states, the stew is traditionally served on crisp tostadas, but may also be eaten with tortilla chips, wrapped in soft tortillas, or eaten like a typical stew simply with a spoon. I'm getting the ingredients for this myself tonight - serve with a few cerveza and Cinco de Mayo has begun!
Over the next few days, we will be getting ready for Cinco de Mayo here at Slashfood, and I decided there is no better way to start the day than with coffee. Actually, make that Café de Olla, a Mexican-style sweetened black coffee. I first had this drink about ten years ago, and still make it periodically throughout the year. The flavor is bold and sweet, laced with the subtle flavors of cinnamon and anise.
Though I have come across many different ways to prepare this beverage, the following is a simplified version I've adapted over time. If any of you have any tips on making it better, please feel free to add your comments below. The full recipe can be found after the jump.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Cinco de Mayo is not Spanish for 'another excuse to get totally faced.' What Cinco de Mayo has come to signify in this country, however, is exactly that. Just like we knock back Guinness on St. Patrick's Day and gorge ourselves on beer and brats during Oktoberfest, Cinco de Mayo has become our way of showing appreciation for our Mexican neighbors in the best way we know how; by getting slobber-faced.
Have you heard about this? I think this is one of the funniest stories I've heard all day. Absolut Vodka pulled an advertisement it was running in Mexico because it 
While Mexico has got to be in my top five best countries for street food - 
A team of Mexican bakers made a massive, sweet gesture toward madres and abuelitas across that country last Thursday. But the only thing sweet about the 2.2 metric ton celebration of Mother's Day is the fact that it was a cake. The gigantic dessert was made entirely with zero-calorie sweetener rather than sugar.
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked. 
Over the next few days, we will be getting ready for Cinco de Mayo here at Slashfood, and I decided there is no better way to start the day than with coffee. Actually, make that Café de Olla, a Mexican-style sweetened black coffee. I first had this drink about ten years ago, and still make it periodically throughout the year. The flavor is bold and sweet, laced with the subtle flavors of cinnamon and anise. 
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
