On Food & Culture
In Chicago I presented a slide show about how cooking is memory, relationship and ethics. I also conducted a cooking workshop to demonstrate how to make gorditas, working with dried chiles, cactus, corn masa, and pinto beans. No lard, thank you. It was a 4-hour […]
Chile Con Queso is often misunderstood, confused with the so-called tex-mex dip that’s made by combining canned tomatoes, canned chiles, and Velveeta brand cheese. Even the much quoted Diana Southwood Kennedy admits that she thought Chile Con Queso was not Mexican but from Texas. In […]
In this wonderfully creamy dish, Papas Con Rajas (Poblano Chile Potatoes), the traditions of Peru and Mexico are brought together, potatoes being native to Peru and the poblano chile native to Mexico. Early archaeological evidence of the potato is found in excavations near the town […]
Mole Poblano and variations are commonplace in Texas and just south of the Rio Grande for special events like weddings and holiday family celebrations. You eat the mole as the principle dish, and in Texas we serve it mainly with chicken, cut up. But you […]
One of the recipes that I especially like in my book, “Truly Texas Mexican,” is Chile Con Queso. But you will be surprised to learn that my recipe (page 67 in the book) is not the “Queso” dish that is served in many restaurants that […]
This is a hearty, delicious chile con queso, chile-cheese spread. Yes, it is another of the “chile con queso” variations. It’s common all across the southern US, known as Pimento Cheese, and it is so beloved that folk get into nasty fights and feuds about […]
In Texas, guacamole is omnipresent. There are as many recipes as there are bragging-prone hermanas and hermanos. 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 […]
Chile Serrano is my favorite chile. I eat it raw at lunch or dinner, biting into the green chile, herbaceous and refreshing. A large variety of salsas feature Serrano and here, it’s fried, so the taste is rustic. The tomatoes are also cooked.Chile derives from […]
Enchiladas are delicious and delicate. This red enchilada is perfect for romance and to say I love you. I’ve blogged before that to understand an enchilada is to understand our history and community. The tortilla is not a wrap for filling. It is the thing itself: […]
Chili, the Tex-Mex version, is different from the original “Carne Con Chile.” What’s Carne Con Chile you say? It means “Meat With Chile” and it’s one of the oldest and most common Texas Mexican dishes whose technique is shared with all the other regions of […]