RE: [ranchos] Re: Tamales and mole

[Irma GomezLucero <igomezlucero@...>]

You're right Alberto.  I recall when I lived in San Diego, a Mexican-Amer
co-worker telling me that another made tamales funny.  I responded with how
does she make them?  He answered that she folded them instead of tying the
ends with a small strip of hoja.  I smiled because we fold them, and I kept
wondering why they tied the ends in all of the Mexican restaurants in San
Diego.  This is when I discovered that this was how they made them in Baja
California where my first co-worker's mom was from, and many of the
restaurant cooks in the area.  By the way, I vote San Diego for the best
Mexican restaurants.  In San Diego, my husband & I never got that stuffed
feeling we often get from Northern Calif. Mexican restaurants, unlike my
mom's.  
	I remember while traveling to Mexico as a kid to visit my abuelitos,
we used to have some of the best steaks in the Northern states from Ciudad
Juarez through Durango, Zacatecas, etc., to our final destination: San Juan
de los Lagos.  My dad would give us a little lesson about what certain areas
were known for.  Northern states with all that grazing land: Steaks!!,
Tepatitlan: carnitas!!  Yep, we'd eat our way through Mexico.  The other
route through Nogales, Guaymas would send us along the Gulf Coast, and my
dad would push the sea food.  Unfortunately this child didn't like seafood
at the time.  I recall my older sister ordering camarones naturales.
Expecting the bay shrimp from a can, she was horrified when they served her
raw shrimp, heads, tails & shells, as if they had just been pulled out of
the sea.  Naturalmente  :)
Irma   

-----Original Message-----
From: Alberto Duarte [mailto:albertodua@...] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 3:49 PM
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [ranchos] Re: Tamales and mole

It's all regional:
Funny, if you ask the people from Zacatecas if their food tastes better, 99%
will tell you that there is food is much better.  And if ask the people of
Jalisco if their food tastes better, 99% will tell you that their food is
better.  To me, the Mexican food here in California is the best (But I won't
tell that to my wife).

Alberto.

--- Alicia Carrillo <alliecar@...> wrote:

> Irma,
>  
> Jalostitlan and Tlachichila Zacatecas are only about
> 2 hours from each other so I''m sure that many foods are very similar, 
> this must be one of those foods.
>  
> Alicia
> 
> Irma GomezLucero <igomezlucero@...> wrote:
> Alicia,
>     You're making me hungry.  My parents used to make the agua fresca 
> w/ lettuce & fruits.
> Unfortunately we didn't appreciate it because of the lettuce.  My 
> folks are from Jalostotitlan, Jalisco.
> Irma
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------
> From: Alicia Carrillo [mailto:alliecar@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:48 PM
> To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [ranchos] Re: Tamales and mole
> 
> 
> 
> Esperanza,
>  
> These tamales were a recent addition to our family that is within the 
> last 25 years or so. We learned that from the families in Ensenada.
>  
> My mom is and has always been an excellent cook but she didn't make 
> tamales with all these ingredients.
> I believe that in addition to economics, family culture also is very 
> telling in how a family cooks and eats.
>  
> In my mom's family, everyone prides themselves in their culinary 
> skills. My mother is renowned for her mole, pozole, tortas de camaron 
> con nopales, capirotada, all types of atoles. Atole de piña, de 
> maizcena, atole blanco etc. My mom has this great dish that she makes 
> called patas de puerco en salsa cruda. It's labor intensive but oh 
> sooo good. She makes this agua fresca with romaine lettuce, fresh 
> orange slices, lemon slices, sugar and yerba buena and other fruits if 
> desired and is served only in the summer when it's very hot. She lets 
> the ingredients sit in the very cold water for a couple of hours and 
> is served in a tall glass with a spoon so you can spoon out the 
> oranges, romaine and other fruits. I prefer it without the other 
> fruits and only with citrus.
>  
>  Mom's mole is a two day job as she uses about 4 different types of 
> dried chiles. She seeds and cleans them, toasts the chiles then she 
> boils them till tender and then puts them in the blender and purees 
> them, strains them to remove skin that didn't completely puree. Next 
> she toasts all the other spices such as sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, 
> cumin, oregano, avocado leaves the  bread and tortillas also get 
> toasted and are used as the thickening agent. The following day she 
> boils the turkey or chicken and proceeds to gradually fry all the 
> toasted and ground ingredients. This is when she adds the peanut 
> butter and chocolate mexicano along with the broth from the turkey or 
> chicken and all the other seasonings such as garlic, salt, pepper etc. 
> I have learned how to make it but only make it for very special 
> occasions because it's so laborious
>  
> With many of these dishes it's how you serve them and what you serve 
> them with that makes a difference. I guess I'm lucky to have a mom 
> that has spoiled us with great food from Zacatecas.
>  
> Alicia
>  
>  
> 
> 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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> 
> 



		
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