On Food & Culture
Restaurants in Amsterdam were ordered closed by the Dutch government on March 16. It was a painful step, an effort to halt the spread of Coronavirus, and the financial devastation threatens to close some businesses for good. “Tortillería Taiyari” is the only Mexican tortilla maker […]
Chile Con Carne means chile with meat, and the name is often reversed in homes and Texas Mexican menus where it’s listed as Carne Con Chile, meat with chile. It’s one of the oldest and most common Mexican dishes, although recently the word chile has […]
Huachinango a la Veracruzana (Red Snapper, Veracuz Style) is a celebratory and visually beautiful dish, an example of the Moroccan, Arab influence on Mexican cuisine. There is no cilantro in this recipe but rather flat leaf parsley, reminiscent of the Morrocan “Tagine” this dish resembles. […]
Albóndigas de Camarón are a culinary tradition meant to be penitential in the sense that foregoing the pleasure of meat presents an opportunity to connect with soulfulness in our daily life. Catholics commit a sin if they eat meat on Fridays during the Lenten season, […]
Chilaquiles verdes are the proof that making something fast doesn’t mean it must be crass or gross, tasteless or dumb. It’s actually exquisite. Poor people’s food always lays the culinary groundwork for great dishes in a cuisine. The secret to superb chilaquiles is twofold: texture […]
Fideo Loco and Fideo are both delicious Texas Mexican American traditions, and I’d like your help with research I’m doing about this culinary heritage. I grew up with fideo and also ate it at cousins’, neighbors’ homes. I’m looking for other stories and experiences. Did […]
Chayote is a single seed squash that is native to Mexico and Central America. Its use in Mexican cooking precedes the arrival of Europeans and is documented by writings of Francisco Hernandez, who lived in Mexico from 1550 to 1560. It’s called mirliton in New […]
Everybody loves marranitos, those piggy-shaped cookies that almost taste like ginger but no ginger here, it’s the piloncillo that you’re tasting. They are a Mexican bakery icon. They are also a sweet memory, childhood and adult, in Mexican American families of Texas. This cookie recipe […]
This tofu salad dressing is tart, complex and a great dressing for this cup made of winter root vegetables and the yuzu persimmon that’s harvested in the fall. Don’t confuse this delicious and nutritious cup with the Waldorf salad which some told me it resembles. […]
Turcos are a vintage, delicious treat, part of the Texas Mexican culinary tradition but almost becoming extinct. Rooted in Texas Pecan and also Arab flavors, it’s still found in San Antonio all the way south to the Rio Grande Valley and del otro lado (on […]
