Quickly scan this ingredient list: Bleached wheat flour, interesterified soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, water, sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, monocalcium phosphate, sugar, sodium acid pyrophosphate, calcium propionate, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, monoglycerides, enzymes, sodium stearoyl lactylate, wheat starch, sodium metabisulfate. When combined, these ingredients will make: A) cement B) barbiturates laced with bleached flour C)…
Mexican Cooking 101
This category includes lots of great tips and techniques for cooking authentic Mexican cuisine at home.
Salsa Verde Emergency Rescue Technique
It’s getting late. You’re still hungry. A really good idea pops in your head: bean and cheese taquitos dipped in salsa verde. You had a light dinner. You’ll probably be up for a couple more hours anyways. I deserve this. Recently you’ve gotten good at whipping up a homemade salsa verde using fresh tomatillos, so you open the…
4 Mexican Hot Sauces You Should Know
You’re lounging in a plush sea side cabana after an afternoon snorkel in transparent ocean water. ‘Quieres un poco de salsa picante?’ Errrr, what? Your Significant Other has ordered some lunch while you were finishing your swim and a waiter has arrived with a plate of fish tacos. The waiter repeats himself, ‘Quieres un poco de salsa picante?’…
Did You Say Homemade Lard?!
Rendering your own lard is super easy and you’ll get a significant bump in quality compared to store-bought lard. If you’re new to this technique please consider giving it a go! Refried beans, flour tortillas, tamales…they all have a secret ingredient in common that makes them taste Mexican. What is it? Yup, it’s lard….
Homemade Stock Is the Secret
May 2020 update: I recently experimented with adding nutritional yeast to this veggie stock and was quite happy with results. You can see details on that experiment in Better Vegetable Stock. What if the chefs from your ten favorite restaurants came over to your kitchen one day and said: Look, we’re willing to tell you…
Chile Pepper 101
chile / chilᐧe / ’Chilē / noun: a small hot-tasting pod of a variety of Capsicum the crown jewel of Mexican cuisine your new best friend There are hundreds of varieties of fresh chile peppers. Then add in that dried chile peppers have a different name than their fresh counterparts and it can get confusing…
3 Keys to Perfect Homemade Salsa
When I walk past the salsa aisle in the grocery store I give it the Hand. Like a fed-up mother who doesn’t want to hear it. Or a traffic cop halting a lane of approaching cars. Or a dude who knows that store-bought salsa just doesn’t come close to the real thing. Spend five minutes…