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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2011 5:09:46 GMT
*burp*
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 10, 2011 0:28:08 GMT
Not all at the same meal, nor even the same day. ;D Today I snacked on some tacos ahogados. Three for $18 pesos. It was in a tiny joint on a side street off Morelia's commercial artery, Av. Lázaro Cárdenas. The sign advertised tortas ahogadas, ("drowned tortas—sort of Mexican po' boys au jus.) but none were available. Why? Because they found little demand for them on Fridays. So logically, only tacos ahogados were available. Of course! An order of tacos consists of three crisp shelled, folded tortillas, with finely chopped cooked pork (often described as carnitas, but it seems not so to me.) with the meat atop, not in the shells, laid in a shallow bowl, then a thin tomato and chile based hot broth ("caldillo") ladled over. The optional extras are shredded cabbage and finely sliced onions. The caldillo is available in mild, medium and full blast. The picante agent is chile de árbol. I had medium,and my brain exploded. I had only my cell phone camera with me, so I have some pics, but due to the fact that I don't have my cell phone USB cable here, I can't share them at this time. I may go back next week and eat an actual torta ahogada, and get a photo.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 10, 2011 1:18:48 GMT
I scrounged up this older photo of a torta ahogada, made at home. I have to say it has considerably more character than most of the commercial ones we've tried. This homemade version is undoubtedly inauthentic, but IMO better, as it is basically a pulled pork sandwich on a home baked bolillo, drowned in a spicy broth and dressed with creamy coleslaw.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2011 5:05:20 GMT
As far as I know, the torta ahogada is a specialty of Guadalajara. I had one there years ago & it maintains a fond spot in my memory. I've made it at home, too, albeit sans cole slaw, & it is a yummy viand, yes.
Come on, DonC -- deli torta ahogada?! What next -- pickled herring tacos? ;D (Hmmmmmm. Wait. With sour cream? It could work!)
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 12, 2011 9:34:43 GMT
¿Deli torta ahogada? A rye bolillo with pastrami, corned beef and chopped liver, drowned in chicken soup? Excuse me; I was just leaving.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 12, 2011 16:38:57 GMT
Oy vey! (did I pronounce that right?)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2011 19:29:06 GMT
I am seeing things that I could easily fabricate with Tunisian brik pastry or Vietnamese egg roll rice paper or Malaysian frozen flatbread sheets.
I can see some fusion food coming soon.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 15, 2011 2:27:37 GMT
Oh -- and Kerouac, what you said is a brilliant idea! Really, what you're suggesting would be great in & of itself, and certainly much better than making do with inferior tortillas.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 15, 2011 9:17:38 GMT
Ah, so those are quesadillas? They look good!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 16, 2011 1:07:43 GMT
I had a couple of shallow fried quesadillas for a mid morning snack today in Morelia. One was queso con rajas (strips of roasted mild chile) the other tinga de pollo. (Lightly seasoned shredded chicken. Overall, not bad, but no big deal. The interesting part for me was the masa, an off white dough that could be rolled betwen two palms to make a slinky cylinder. The cylinder was pressed then placed on an oiled comal (griddle plate) and filled, then folded.
Some minimal grease was encountered, but I blotted it up with a napkin. I drank an Orange Crush with this light meal. Cost was $35 pesos.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 16, 2011 3:26:00 GMT
Actually, I shouldn't have called them quesadillas. The ladies who sell them call them empanadas. I think what distinguishes a quesadilla from an empanada is that the quesadilla has cheese in it. The empanada name is confusing, because a baked, filled flour turnover is an empanada. However, it also seems to be the generic name for "folded over tortilla with stuff cooked inside that is not cheese".
Anyway, you can see they're practically the same thing and also in the taco family. I don't know about other places, but in Oaxaca the quesadillas are always, as far as I know, cooked on the comal with no grease.*
The cheese is almost always quesillo -- Oaxaca string cheese. The classic quesillo here is with flor de calabaza. That's a giant tortilla with string cheese, squash flowers, & epazote, served with salsa on the side.
Here's the only video I could find that clearly shows a flor de calabaza quesadilla being made. You can see how big the tortillas are & how generous they are with the cheese. For some reason, the more finely the cheese has been separated into strings -- threads, really -- the yummier it is.
The chat in this video is annoying -- I had to lower the sound to stand it.
*DonC -- those empanadas might look greasy, but they weren't.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2011 5:50:26 GMT
I like the concept of the big pan for heating and keeping warm.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 16, 2011 9:54:56 GMT
I thought it was a giant plate at first.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 16, 2011 17:03:12 GMT
Both of you are right. There are comals made out of metal and of clay, of all different sizes. A comal is a flat or slightly dished griddle. The one in the video in #104 is made from red clay. These are extremely common -- they're even sold in the little corner store in my neighborhood. They come in all sizes from large dinner plate up to wagon wheel. The reason the one in the video is white is because it's smeared with cal -- calcium hydroxide. This is the same stuff used to nixtamilize* the corn before it's ground to make the dough for making tortillas. The cal, which looks like chunks of chalk, is mixed with water to make a paste that's smeared on the comal. This keeps the tortillas from sticking to it. In this video the women are patting out tlayudas -- large, sturdy tortillas from Oaxaca. At :29 you get a good look at the comales on the braziers. Ladies who make tortillas for a living use much larger ones. Frequently that kind is built into a rustic clay stove. *... Mexicans nixtamalize their corn; soaking it in an alkaline solution that removed the outer coating and frees the niacin to where it can be utilized. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization. Combined with beans, nixtamalized corn products form a complete and nutritious protein.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 16, 2011 18:36:43 GMT
Just scarfed down 3 juicy tacos de barbacoa and a cup of consomé at tacos y Tortas Lore in Morelia. The place is packed every day with med students and others.
Based on a limited sampling, I give it 3*** out of possible 5.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 17, 2011 0:25:51 GMT
Photo from yesterday: a simple quesadilla de tinga de pollo, at Quesadillas Doña Salu, Morelia.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 20, 2011 18:42:16 GMT
*gives beady-eyed looks to the Morelian quesadilla* What kind of cheese is it, Don Cuevas? It's much meltier than anything I know from around here. And, speaking of around here, I went to the activities in celebration of Nuestra Señora de Soledad on Sunday. Talk about an intensely packed area of food stands! Although at the time I write this the Soledad pictures have not yet been posted onto my Navidad thread, they will be. So here's the link. It was insanely crowded. I used my foolproof method when choosing a place from amongst a group all serving the same menu. That is, simply pick the stand run by the person with the pleasantest face. I was first transfixed by this lady's flying hands, but it was her lovely smile that convinced me to eat there. I'll be sitting where the empty plate & bowl are, as soon as that person gets through paying. This one's mine! On go the squash flowers ~ and the cheese ~ A quick flip & crimp & a brief heating, then I get to feast. Meanwhile, my chocolate atole is served ~ Back in the depths of the stand a hot brazier is ready to grill tasajo -- thin, accordion-sliced, lightly salted beef. Raw tasajo in the foreground, another satisfied customer on the right ~
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 20, 2011 18:56:25 GMT
There's a big pot of mole amarillo in front of where I'm sitting, since the dining table is also the food preparation area ~ Oh good ~~ someone has ordered a quesadilla de amarillo. First the mole ~ then the chicken ~ then the cilantro ~ a flip, then some deft crimping to seal it ~ Another customer wants tortilla with tasajo. This smells so wonderful! As I get up to leave, the tireless cook is putting the finishing touches on a tlayuda ~
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 9, 2012 13:23:24 GMT
Return with us now, to those thrilling days of Tacolandia. Yesterday, while visiting in Morelia and near starving due to meager breakfasts of pathetic quesadillas in Araró, Michoacán; and then, our first choice for an ample comida not yet open, we retreated to Taquería El Infierno. It's a small chain that started in Apatzingán, Michoacán, and now has a few locations, distributed as two in Morelia, one in Guadalajara, one in Uruapan, and the original in Apatzingán. It's a very modern storefront, rather sterile in style, and with a short menu of select items: Doña Cuevas had two tacos of bistec and one of filete (Nearly indistinguishable, except the filete is supposed to be more tender). There wasn't much flavor to either, She also had an order of cebollitas (grilled knob onions) and they were good. I ordered a Filete Apatzingán, basically tender beef filet cut into pieces and covered with a thick blanket of melted cheese. I was reminded that although I like cheese, it's best to leave it out of certain dishes, notably seafood, but now I realize that it tends to smother the flavor of the other principal components of the dish; in this instance, filet of beef. Still it wasn't bad, especially enhanced with some of the nicely made salsas provided. I liked the spicy guacamole best. The tortillas and dry, baked tostadas were unequal to the salsas. They were made from some sort of wheat flour-corn blend, and were totally insipid. Tostadas El Infierno We requested, and received a generous sample of the Frijoles Charros (Cowboy beans). They were nicely cooked, but hadn't thickened, but they were too picante for our tastes. Various beverages are available, but alas! no cerveza. We drank Coke™ and agua mineral. Overall, not a bad place to eat, if you are in the neighborhood, but lacking charm and deficient in sabor in some of its offerings.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 9, 2012 15:17:28 GMT
Oh Don, just the name of that 'Fiery' place would have me dithering outside wondering "Shall I, or shan't I, Shall I or shan't I............"!! I definitely would have had to peel all that cheese off my steak - I want to see if they cocked it up then covered it up! The potatoes must have been a nice flavour with that bit of charring - I like mine just like that All the dishes look very appetising even though you said not all were.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 9, 2012 16:50:06 GMT
Tod2, it's not a bad place (heh heh) for tacos, but we have had much better elsewhere. There were no potatoes available, just grilled onions, which were among the highlights.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 9, 2012 17:08:12 GMT
My dithering would have been about the name "El Infierno"!! the foood looks perfectly acceptable - I quite like the look of the 'cowboy ' bean dish! What! Those were onions! Even better - I hope they were still sweet and crunchy inside
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Post by Don Cuevas on Apr 25, 2012 10:24:52 GMT
Last weekend, we spent four days in Mexico City. There were very few taco meals, but the outstanding one was a second breakfast at "Ricos Tacos Toluca". I'd first read about this small stand, in the Distrito Pollería (chicken district) of el Centro, on Chowhound. Thanks to "StreetGourmetLA" for posting it. The specialty tacos are made from the chorizos, longanizas and more, freshly made daily in Toluca, about 35 miles away. We had just earten a ho-hum bacon and eggs breakfast at a coffeehouse, so I had room only for a couple of substantial tacos. One of chorizo and one of "bistec". I should have tried the longaniza verde, seen hanging in the photo below. But I had recently had some local longaniza verde from Pátzcuaro. All of us passed on the funkier looking specialties, notably the phatly phallic looking "obispo" of blood sausage and the queso de puerco "en canasta". That's head cheese set up in a small, woven basket. (Sorry, no pictures of those.)
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Post by imec on Apr 25, 2012 11:41:20 GMT
Never seen that dc. Is the green from herbs? Cilantro?
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Post by Don Cuevas on Apr 26, 2012 1:49:59 GMT
imec, the better longaniza or chorizo verde is green from herbs. There's also a version containing almonds. Or maybe all the green ones do, I'm not sure. For more details, read the original post by StreetGourmetLA. You can also see photos there of the head cheese in a basket and the plump obispo sausage. tinyurl.com/RicosTacosTLCThe well filled tacos cost 13 pesos apiece. That's about $1.00 USD
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2012 8:17:52 GMT
Friday I lunched in el Llano park, in the tacolandia that gave the title to this thread. I was just about to park myself at a stand with goaty treats when the marimba players set up right in front of it. Well, they did me a favor by chasing me away, as I wound up at another goat place and had a sublime, a platonic consome con masita. This is the stand -- the picture is from the beginning of this thread ~~ Consome is the soup made along with the roasting goat. It's usually yummy but greasy & with shredded meat in it. I asked for it with masita. I love masita, although it's rather stodgy on its own. Masita is cracked corn that's cooked in the juices that drip down from the roasting, seasoned goat. This consome achieved greatness by including potato and garbanzo, along with some delicious bits of organ meat & was perfectly seasoned. It did have an awful lot of grease, though, which I dipped out & put in that little plastic bowl. Sorry about the crumpled napkin. The bowl was so full when the lady set it down that some sloshed out. The pink stuff on top of the soup & in the beige bowl on the left in the picture above is a relish of radish, habanero chile, onion, & lime juice. I MUST reproduce this at home. It was all I could do to keep from upending the little dish of the stuff directly into my mouth.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 10, 2012 21:54:02 GMT
I wonder what "sangrita" refers to in that context. Owing to my ceaseless, intensive Internet research, I have learned of a barbacoa joint in Colonia Roma Sur, Mexico City, called "El Hidalguense. It's open only Friday, Saturaday and Sunday. The meats are processed and cooked near Tulancingo, Hidalgo state, and brought in, under cover of darkness to the location at Calle Campeche # 155. It has attained considerable local fame. We hope to do brunch there next Friday morning. They also serve tacos de escamoles and of chincuiles. Image below from Wikipedia Commons; not of said restaurant. Escamoles above, chincuiles below. AKA gusanos de maguey. There's a review in, of all places, El Economista: tinyurl.com/barbacoa-hidalguense
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2012 14:43:17 GMT
McDonald's pulled out of Bolivia in 2002.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 9, 2012 4:04:48 GMT
DonC, I think sangrita is the blood or bloody juices that coagulate during cooking.
I couldn't eat escamoles to save my life. They're put in the tacos live. *shudder*
Kerouac, when I saw your comment about Bolivia, I thought, "what does this have to do with Mexico?" Then I watched the video & realized "everything!". It's not just about tradition and culture being lost, though. When I moved here 15 years ago, obesity was rare. Not any more. And here & on the US border where so many people are of Mexican descent, obesity, diabetes, & heart attacks are rampant.
Bolivian food looks so different & so yummy!
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Post by imec on Aug 9, 2012 13:06:45 GMT
Oh! Is that what Sangrita (the tequila accompaniment) is named after?
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