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RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to NormanKliman)
quote:
Apparently, the authentic recipe doesn't include garlic, onion, chicken or seafood
doesn't the "authentic" recipe specify rabbit?
i was gonna write something about rabbit, does anyone cook rabbit here?
I first realised the spanish word for rabbit when i saw "conejo" on a menu and guessed it was the same root as the old country word for rabbit "coney", so ordered it to see.
I had a really great rabbit paella last time I was in spain a couple of months ago, and I trap, skin, gut, butcher and cook rabbit regularly at home.
i have a good recipe for conejo salmorejo somewhere if anyone's interested (this salmorejo is different from the Cordoban thick gazpacho).
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Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
most people say thats what Spain means ..... the Carthaginians changed its name to Ispania ( Land of the rabbits) in 300 BC) before that it was called Hesperia (Land of the setting sun) as from a greek point of view as it was so far west ....
But this is a big discussion point and there will be many opinions on this , so dont shoot me down all at once , I had a few late night disscuions with "hisorians ' about this ....
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
quote:
doesn't the "authentic" recipe specify rabbit?
I was told that that was a Valenciano thing. I've never made paella with rabbit but I had some when I was over there. Rabbit is not as good as chicken....... My parents used to keep rabbits for eating when I was a kid. Our neighbors had chickens, I was jealous.
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
quote:
doesn't the "authentic" recipe specify rabbit?
Yeah: rabbit, chicken (I was wrong about it not having chicken), rice, flat green beans, lima beans, tomato, water, olive oil, salt, sprig of rosemary and saffron.
You brown the meat in the center of the pan and move it toward the edges when it's done, leaving the center empty. Grate or finely chop the tomato and put it in the center of the pan along with the beans. Add water, salt and saffron and cook for 18-20 minutes. Check for salt, add the rice, spread it around the pan with a wooden spoon and cook for 6-8 minutes over a high flame. Lower the flame and cook for another 10-13 minutes. Add the rosemary in the last five minutes, turn off the flame and let it stand for 5-8 minutes.
Rabbit is not as good as chicken....... My parents used to keep rabbits for eating when I was a kid. Our neighbors had chickens, I was jealous.
I don't know about kept rabbits, they may well be inferior to chicken, but I only ever eat wild rabbit from the woods and fields nearby, and it's easily the equal of chicken, even organic/free range chicken.
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
I've had both and I think kept rabbits are a little tastier as you can dictate what they eat. Maybe I'm just not a rabbit fan. I'm not really a chicken fan either come to think of it. Love me some pigs, cows, and lamb. Those are some tasty critters.
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
Caracoles!
I had these Caracoles from a place in Ronda right next to the bus station called, appropriately enough, "Los Caracoles". They were amazing! They were the land kind of snail and appeared to be in a beef type broth with a lot of rosemary. Does anyone know how to prepare these?? We have snails here that look identical, can I catch them, keep them a while and feed them something to clear there system out? Any info would be much appreciated!
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Caracóis!!! Man... I eat a lot of those... that's one of my favourite dishes. It's a very appreciated dish here in Portugal.
It's not a difficult dish to prepare, but if you want to cook some really good ones you will need a lot of mastery (which I don't have, by the way... but my grandmother does ). They are usualy cooked in water and various ingredients and spices are added while the snails are cooking. The ones in your picture were prepared this way. There are many variations and recipes on this dish, but the difference is mainly on the ingredients and spices added and the resulting broth. The broth and how you make it is the key to this dish. The big snails (called caracoletas in Portugal) can also be grilled and the sauce is prepared separately.
This is a good dish, but it takes an awful lot of work... Despite being really slow, the bastards are a pain in the ass to catch. In Portugal we usually eat the smaller snails and because of that we need to catch hundreds of them. A hundred little snails for one person is nothing. In Spain they only eat the big snails and those are easier to catch since you won't eat as many. After you caught all the snails, you need to keep them alive for some days so they can relase most of the sh*t they have in their system. Then you got to wash them many times in water until most of their dribble is gone. Now when it comes to the cooking you got to be very careful. If the snails are big, this is not very important because it is easy to take them out of their shells. But if they are small you need to put on your evil face because you're about to do a very inhumane thing . You start cooking them in low heat and wait until they begin putting their antenas out. When all the bastards are out of their shells, you put your stove on full throttle and they will die almost instantly. If you don't do this right they will stay inside their shells and when it's time to eat them you will have to start breaking and eating shells and that's not good.
You just need to be careful with the snakes you eat. They are just like seafood, all the toxines and sh*t they eat can be dangerous. If you catch the snails by yourself, just make sure that you don't catch them from places or crops where pesticides or herbicides were used. Perhaps you could buy them. If there are any Portuguese, Spanish or French restaurants in your area you could ask where they buy the snails. If they don't make this dish you could go to one of those natural products stores and ask if they know, since nowadays snail dribble is very used to make skin creams for the ladies.
This is how we usualy eat them in Portugal. The small ones are caracóis (the ones we eat the most) and the big one are called caracoletas (the ones prefered by the Spanish). In Spain the big and small ones are all called caracoles.
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RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
Awesome thanks Fred! So it sounds like I basically make an unsalted broth, then cook the snails in it and salt to taste. How long do the big ones cook for? Is there some way to tell if they're ready?
I think I'm gunna go the pre-prepped snail route, I have some ideas of where I can get 'em. I don't wanna prep them wrong and end up with crap or even worse, sick.
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
Is any kind of tapa flamenco?
I make some tapas based on things I've eaten at Cafe Iberico in Chicago.
My favorite is camarones al ajillo which is shrimp cooked in sherry, olive oil, and lemon juice with a healthy amount of crushed garlic and minced parsely and then several dashes of paprika for color.
Also I make patatas aoli (garlic potato salad), but i use jarred mayonnaise.
Not sure if those dishes are Andalusian though..maybe someone with actual experience in Spain and not just urban American tapas bars would know
My grandmother used to make some Galician stuff like tuna empanadas and cod croquettes, but her parents were from A Coruna and that looks as different from Andalucia as New England does from New Orleans
Awesome thanks Fred! So it sounds like I basically make an unsalted broth, then cook the snails in it and salt to taste. How long do the big ones cook for? Is there some way to tell if they're ready?
Yup, that's basically it. My grandmother usualy justs put them cooking on water with low heat and does that trick so they die when they are half out of their shells. When they are dead, then she starts making the broth. But you can start by making the broth first and then add the snails, I've seen other people doing it like that. The base of the broth is olive oil, garlic and onions, along with bay leaves, oregano, rosemary, etc... You can salt them at this point or later, I've also seen it done both ways. How long it takes to cook them I don't know, it can take from one to three hours, it depends on how high the heat is. My grandmother usualy cooks them in low heat in order to "refine" better the broth, so it takes a little more time. But in a restaurant they are cooked against the clock and they also come out good. It also depends on the snails size, obviously the big ones will take a bit longer. When you think they are already cooked, take one out and with a toothpick take it out of its shell. If it comes out easy then it should be alredy cooked, I guess. But taste it either way to check if it is still raw and if it is good on salt. After you turn off the heat don't take them out of the pot just yet, let them be there for a few minutes so they can gain their final taste.
Also, while they are cooking, remember to check them from time to time and take that foam they produce out. Oh, and don't cook them on too much water. Cook them in a large pot with the level of water a couple of fingers above the snails.
I think that's it. Remember that the broth and how you make it is what gives the snails their taste. You can make it in many diferent ways and with different ingredients and spices, I guess it depends on your personal taste. You got to experiment with them until you find that taste you experienced in Ronda. But since you're a cook already, you won't have problems with that.
By the way, this is how we usualy cook them in Portugal. I don't know exactly how they do in Andaluzia but it's more or less the same thing, I can tell you that. The main difference lies on the size of the snails as I said before, they prefer the big ones.
On the topic of food, i will be dropping of the Shelton Double Body I have at German Vasquez Rubio's shop for refinish in Los Angeles on Saturday. I am thinking one of these for lunch ....
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
quote:
On the topic of food, i will be dropping of the Shelton Double Body I have at German Vasquez Rubio's shop for refinish in Los Angeles on Saturday. I am thinking one of these for lunch ....
I live right next to Titos Tacos, most over rated place on the planet, I don't understand the fascination. I eat at the place next door "Cinco de Mayo" they make really good lengua. The pupusas are pretty damn good too but then again I've never had a bad pupusa.
Johnny's Pastrami is also in this same little block, really good stuff but they charge a hair more then they probably should, it's fun to chill outside on a nice day with a pitcher and good pastrami though, especially when you can just walk home and nap afterwards
Roscoes, good ol' Roscoes, it is what it is. The food is somewhat mediocre but you almost just go 'cus it's Roscoes........
If you're going to be by Vasquez's shop I recommend "El Nido", it's a Nicaraguan restaurant. Great stuff. My favorite thing there is the Fritangas plato. It's like a sampler of different Nacaraguan meats, sausage, pork, beef and chicken. Ask for it with Gallo Pinto (Beans and rice mixed in a sautee pan) and I prefer Tostones to Maduro but that's just me, I don't like sweet bananas. If you're there on a Saturday or Sunday they have Bajo which is the bomb too, it's like a roast beef thing. 2112 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90016
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
Did anyone mention paella?
I took some left over arroz con pollo the other day and added some chorizo and shrimp and half a corona, warmed it up on the stove top until the liquid abosrbed and the shrimp cooked...instant Illinois style paella
One flamenco food I warn against is flan, that stuff is disgusting and so is manzanilla
RE: Flamenco Food Thread (in reply to mark indigo)
Something I made yesterday was mixed alubia (canellini) beans with garbanzos and sliced chorizo in a tomato sauce that had goya sazon seasoning, garlic, and a bay leaf. It would be most authentic with some kind of crusty bread, but I had it with texas toast
Maybe it was the way my grandmother and mother made flan...I'll have to check if Cuban flan is different from what's in La Madre Patria. Or maybe they just sucked at flan.
When making arroz con pollo, paella or arroz con leche, the right type of rice makes a world of difference. Avoid using typical long-grain rice if at all possible. The texture is all wrong. Italian style arborio rice works pretty well and is relatively easy to find but the best rice for these dishes is the short grain Valencian bomba rice or calasparra rice which grows in the Murcia region. These are the real deal with a wonderful taste and texture. They require a higher ratio of liquid to rice, usually about 3:1, when cooking than other rices and absorb the flavors of the cooking liquid beautifully. They also require a longer cooking time than long grain or arborio. There are numerous varieties of paella and similar rice-based dishes depending on the region, the whims of the cook and what happens to be fresh at the market that day. Nothing is written in stone. Some contain seafood, others do not. One that stands out for me is one that my son and I enjoyed in a little restaurant in Colmenar Viejo, a town located just a bit north of Madrid. It was made with quail, wild mushrooms and a bit of fino sherry. Magnifico! There are also vegetarian paellas.
I have to agree with Morante about flan and manzanilla. Both can be heavenly.