Yes, Joseph, the mole you speak of that I serve with chicken (or turkey) has ground peanuts (or peanut butter) and chocolate. I think it is from Puebla, so it is called mole poblano. For enchiladas and tamales my mother used to make her own sauce from dried red chiles. I just use a can of any brand mild enchilada sauce. One of my cousins married a girl who fixed tacos just like you describe. I don't know where in Mexico her mother was from. I didn't like them that way. They were too greasy and the meat was not thoroughly cooked. I cook the meat with onions and salt and pepper first then fill corn tortillas that have been fried slightly in very little Canola oil and folded and drained on paper towels. My husband likes them served with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and sliced avocados and Pico Pica bottled sauce. My cousins in New Mexico add garlic and ground comino to their meat before they cook it. My father was from Jerez and his grandparents from Tepetongo, and he said they had fields of nopales, and my mother used to cook them in California. I liked them. They tasted like green beans. My mother always served lots of green veggies. I think when we move to other areas, like somone said, the last thing to let go of having to do wit our ethnicity is FOOD (and music--my husband says one way to find out who in a group is a Mexican is to play "La Negra", ha, ha). Joseph, I think you and I miss the food the most, no? Emilie ----- Original Message ----- From: Joseph Puentes Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 4:42 AM To: ranchos@yahoogroupscom Subject: [ranchos] FOOD:Mole/Pipian/Genealogy Mole. . .that is the food that has a deep red chile sauce with whole pieces of chicken in it. I always get that mixed up because growing up we had it rarely compared to other Mexican dishes my mother would make. Is that the one you make with a little bit of peanut butter as the chile sauce base? Isn't there a dish called pipian or something like that? How do you guys make tacos. Tell me if anyone that grew up in our homeland ever heard of making them like this: you warm up the corn tortilla until it is flexible and won't break. You then prepare your hamburger meat with spices and onions if you want and take a chunk of raw hamburger and fashion it over 1/2 of each tortilla. you then fold the tortilla into 1/2 moon shape and then deep fry it until crispy and the meat is cooked. drain well and put lettuce, salsa [tomatoes, chile, onions, oregano, salt, water], and top with cheese.
Now I would like for us to continue talking about food and am not trying to styfle the conversation but if possible can we try to tie it in to our genealogy in some way, fashion, or form? Here is my effort.
The foods my mom cooked came from Jalisco via my paternal grandmother and great grandmother. I know that because my maternal grandmother left the family before my mother was old enough to remember her. Also I know that because my paternal grandmother was a traditional Mexican Mother who vastly favored her boys over her two daughters. Her sons were kings and thus treated her daughter-in-laws in similar fashion. She overviewed details of how her daughter in laws should take care of her sons in great detail. After my dad died I remember seeing my mom eat some nopales and she was crying. I asked her why she was crying and she said that she was crying because she was eating nopales in the style that she liked. She said that she had for all the years she was married to my dad (40) she had made them in a red chile sauce the way he liked and now she was eating them plain with onions. I said all that to say that I know that my great grandmother, Antonia Santa Maria [who was born in a El Salitral outside of Tepetongo in 1862] probably had the greatest influence on my grandmother even though her paternal grandmother [Andrea Torres born in El Yngles, Santa Maria de Los Angeles, Jalisco, Mexico in 1833] was even a stronger and tougher discipinarian mother and mother in law that could have also easily influenced cooking styles in the home of her son, Francisco Diaz [born in Rancho de Animas, Santa Maria de Los Angeles, Jalisco, Mexico in 1862].
One way or the other I'm very certain that the food I grew up eating [and now wish I had paid attention to in its preperation] came from either Northern Jalisco or Southern [or would Tepetongo be mid] Zacatecas.
So if you can take a sentence or two and tie in a conversation to our roots in our target area, great. Otherwise, hey talking about food is good. So talk on!
For those that are not interested in this continued topic how about we put a big "FOOD" in the subject line like mine has so that way they can just delete the message without reading it. okay???
joseph (tengo hambre)
ps: maybe we can start a new "files" folder called Comidas.
we can break it down to Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes
it doesn't have to be absolute proof but if you think you have a recipe that comes from Jalisco tell me and I'll put it in its appropriate folder. Not only is our oral history dieing with each geneation that passes but great great recipes. I remember the one and only time my mom tried to cook chinese food. . .it tasted just like Mexican food. You know what they say "You can take the Cook out of Mexico but you can't take the Mexican out of the Cook."
latina1955@... wrote:
Wow Alicia, those tamales sound fascinating. Where are your people from that they had available such resources? Do you think this is rather a recent phenomena? I surely do appreciate the article Joe sent us all regarding tamales and the relative recent acceptance of tamales and other delectable's as decent, and even desirable food! To change the conversation a bit, how does your family make mole? I know the recipes vary according to region and even what you put in it, or how you wish to serve it. While I love my mother-in-law deeply, I can't stand her "mole", especially when she uses it in tamales. But as mentioned previously, her skills and resources were limited.....and so while I don't blame her for lack of her cooking abilities, I still don't like her "mole". Being raised by folks rom Jalisco, I can tell you that there were at a minimum two variations that were used frequently which were called mole rojo and mole poblano. The ingredients had a similar base, but the mole oscurro was contingent on additional resources and time. I love mole, wherever the regions...... Esperanza
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