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Haha, lard works. We had a chili cookoff at work a few years ago, my friend who won the contest said to me later. You know the secret is - "lard". Just done tell anybody.
When the kids were born we hired a Mexican woman to help for a couple of weeks each time. She was an absolute treasure. The second time we felt bold enough to ask whether she would prepare us a Mexican dinner. She graciously assented.
I asked her for a list of things to pick up at the store. She complied, but said she would bring her own lard. The meal was outstanding.
Returning from a motorcycle trip from Austin to Mexico City, my friend Wille McK. and I stopped for the night at Matehuala, a dusty old mining town just off the Central Highway. As we entered town, we passed an excavation in the street, a ditch eight or ten feet deep, with raw dirt piled along it. Three or four teenage boys were standing on the sidewalk. They picked up clods of dirt and threw them at us, the gringo bikers. Turning the corner a few blocks later, I checked my mirror, but Willie was nowhere to be seen.
Retracing my path, I came upon Willie. His bike was on the kickstand. He seemed to be kicking dirt down into the excavation. Coming closer I saw that somehow the teenage boys had fallen into the excavation. It was too deep for them to climb out. Willie was kicking dirt into their upturned faces, while counseling them to improve their manners. I asked Willie to rejoin the search for lodging.
After finding a cheap hotel, we got back on the bikes and scouted for dinner. We ended up at the bus station restaurant. The roasted kid with mole was delicious. The flour tortillas had so much lard in them they were translucent in spots. The lard had a distinctly gamey tang. The waiter told us it was a local product, rendered from mature boars.
Appended to the bus station and restaurant was a funeral home. We could see a coffin on sawhorses and a wake going on. We tarried, eating flour tortillas and drinking beer, discreetly observing the gathering. Eventually bestriding the bikes, we set out, pretty well lubricated with beer and lard. For a nightcap, we happened upon a clean, well lit bar.
There were groups of men at tables, dressed in clean clothes in good condition, but no suits or neckties. There was a polished mahogany bar at least 20 feet long, with a row of comfortably padded stools. The back bar was lined with bottles of tequila. Many brands were exotic even to Willie and me. The bartender asked for our order. Willie indicated the leftmost bottle. The bartender reached behind him without looking, brought the bottle in a sweeping stiff armed arc over his shoulder, and poured into the shot glasses so the meniscus stood above the rim, without spilling a drop.
We downed our shots, and licked the lime and salt. The bartender asked if we would like another. Willie turned to me, and indicating the next bottle in the row, asked, "Have you ever had that brand?"
I said,"No."
Willie ordered.The virtuoso bartender did his stunt again. I should mention that Willie is 6' 5" (196 cm) and weighed at least 260 pounds (118 kg), all bone and muscle. We progressed bottle by bottle along the back bar until my memory began to cloud.
Eventually we stumbled out the door, and got on the bikes. It took us nearly an hour to find our hotel again. The next morning revealed that the bar was only three blocks away.
Had we not laid down a good base of lard before coming across the bar, we might never have found the hotel again.
Maybe I am getting square. Or maybe I like cooking too much but the only thing I envy about that story is
Freerange Lard !!!!
From my kindred the wild bores.
D.
Mind you I do love Confi De Canard as served in Andorra. But the bike I had needed to be peddled over the Col de Envilara so I could get some. Nothing makes saturated fat more delicious than burning 5000 calories at 39 degrees C carrying 20k for over 150km and taking in three Haute Category Cols.
The flour tortillas had so much lard in them they were translucent in spots.
Having spent much time in Central America and Mexico, I would have to say that, lard or no lard, flour tortillas are the blandest, most tasteless, of tortillas. In my opinion, the only tortillas worth eating, and they are very good indeed, are corn tortillas. They are a magnitude above flour tortillas in taste.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
The flour tortillas had so much lard in them they were translucent in spots.
Having spent much time in Central America and Mexico, I would have to say that, lard or no lard, flour tortillas are the blandest, most tasteless, of tortillas. In my opinion, the only tortillas worth eating, and they are very good indeed, are corn tortillas. They are a magnitude above flour tortillas in taste.
Cheers,
Bill
As keen as I clearly am about lard I would never suggest it be the centre of a meal. Like good white bread or a flour tortilla it should only ever be used to enhance the pungent protein rich centrepiece of a dish.
But if ever I choose to have lard as the centrepiece Bill, it will be on a Corn Tortilla.
That's a good one Richard. I have to say, this had all the makings of a creepy voodoo story.[i/] You had these delicious tortillas, dripping with a tasty yet mysterious lard. There's a funeral home nearby. You see a coffin. Man, these tortillas are good! There is a...somewhat strange, yet somehow familiar taste to them. Anyways, cantinero, another shot of--whatever that is. Odd burning sensation as the liquor goes down. More tortillas. Nature calls, you stagger to los servicios--that is, to a muddy alley. Next door, you hear men working. You go to look for some reason. You can see through a hole in the flimsy walls. What you see horrifies you!
Are you feeling it? I've just spent the last 3 hours listening to this band while I worked.
In how far would animal fat supposed to be healthier than vegetable oil? ( Is that serious claim or joking?)
BTW fries: It´s a long while that I fry potatos with kin. I leave it in even for smashed. Then somone In Hanover started offering fries with skin and it boomed. Folks would wait in long lines to get theirs. Could be still running, I don´t know.
In how far would animal fat supposed to be healthier than vegetable oil? ( Is that serious claim or joking?)
Paul is being provocative, I am sure he is well aware that this is a statement requiring a chorus of caveats.
Lard is unhealthy (in the same way as all fats which are solid at room temperature) because once absorbed into the bloodstream it will coat arterial walls.
Modern polyunsatured (runny) oils have only been available very recently to humans as (unlike rodents) we normally let seeds and nut kernals pass through our intestines almost combletely undigested(this is the plants strategy, they are using us). We have relatively little genetic development to deal with the ramifications of the sudden increase of these alien oils in our diet . So complications can arise.
Olive oil is better and delicious (especially in Andalucia) as people have been eating it for a long time and our bodies have gotten used to it.
Also there is the problem of suicide. Can you imagine having to eat a vegetarian Chorizo ?
It´s a long while that I fry potatos with kin. I leave it in even for smashed. Then somone In Hanover started offering fries with skin and it boomed. Folks would wait in long lines to get theirs. Could be still running, I don´t know.
As keen as I clearly am about lard I would never suggest it be the centre of a meal. Like good white bread or a flour tortilla it should only ever be used to enhance the pungent protein rich centrepiece of a dish. But if ever I choose to have lard as the centrepiece Bill, it will be on a Corn Tortilla.
Forget the lard, Guitarbuddha, and just go for the corn tortillas. I grew up on Mexican food, as my mother lived in Northern Mexico until she was 16 years old, when she came to the U.S. with my grandparents (who were gringos working in Mexico at the time). She fixed Mexican food often when I was a kid, and it was due to her (and my later travels in Mexico and Central America) that I developed the taste for corn tortillas over flour tortillas (as well as many other aspects of Mexican cooking). They enhance any dish, be it tacos, tostadas, tortillas and beans, etc.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Really intteresting thoughts on veggie oil and unknown effects in the long term.
What olive oil is concerned I don´t know what happened to it ( well, actually do; after set in of raptor captalism). Once it used to be a very ordinary thing, if not even looked down to. In Albania everything was fixed with it until I couldn´t stand it anymore and avoided "that cheap ***" for a couple of years after return to Germany. ( I think to recall that many Germans used to avoid it for its "strange taste", if having tried at all.)
Then the stuff started rising in price and rising and rising and now you can hardly afford it, let alone quality stuff. ( Over here at the exploding market I havn´t bought any since 1,5 years or so, and what came in used to be always watered down, sometimes with weird chemicals or even synthetic motor oil. Last time I did it was at around 15 bucks for 500 ml, don´t ask me where it is now after several hundred % of further rise.)
This is also the case in Spain where they have had several mass intoxications through olive oil that was adulterated ( if that´s right term / taken from diictionary ) with engine oil.
Guess anywhere in the world now you got to be rich to enjoy this wonderfully tatsing elixier. -
I agree with Bill on corn tortillas. Ate them in Costa Rica, delicious!
Weird how different it can come out, however. In Albania they had corn bread. It came in shape of maybe 2 cm thick disks. And the wierd thing was that it didn´t just look lovely blond, but smelled killer too. So good actually that I would always try again, only to find that it tastet disgusting and would leave your mouth powder dry like any dusty old shoe in a desert barn.
Guess the trick would have been if they had kept the pittas much more thin to allow them to fully baking through. Which again would had made it kind of ...
tortillas, I suppose!
Man, I could use a filled one right now. Or two, or three!
Ruphus
PS:
Have you tried fries with their skin still on, yet?
Besides, made a mistake above: The succesfull commercial attempt was not in Hanover, but in Berlin.
PS2:
GB, people here with less than little of education do actually believe that animal fat was the healthiest. No to mention the certain fat taken from a certain sheeps race tail ( those sheeps have extremely large tails shaped like broad rags.
They all rave about that fat and tell stories who not only delicious it be, buit what a bunch of deseases it would heal.
I just tried telling someone here a while ago that veggie oil / unsaturated fat being healthy, and I am not sure whether he really believed it. For apparently it is not heard of much.
Have you tried fries with their skin still on, yet?
I always leave as much skin as possible on my veg. I love texture. The problem with a lot of junk food is that you don't need to chew so never feel satisfied and keep eating and eating. For chips I cut the potato and then parboil it in the microwave (GASP) this brings the starch to the surface and shortens the cooking time. So when they go into the hot lard the starch quickly caramelises on the cut edges and gets crisp but the time in pan is reduced so less fat is absorbed. Another tip when deepfrying at home is to cook small batches which keeps the hear at around 400 degrees. Put too much in and they boil instead of frying.
Can't stand supermarket white bread and even seeded bread in supermarkets has the texture of pillows with all the water and preservatives. The flour tortillas are pretty bland too over here unless they are really fresh and without preservatives which pretty much means restaurant only and I am skint. Usually I substitute wholemeal chapatis which have a nice nutty taste.
I do prefer a corn torilla to be honest especially when it has just been curved on a griddle and got some crunch. I bet it would even be good as an ice cream wafer. But the only readyil available corn tortillas are nachos/doritos.
And although I approve of the deep frying they use vegetable oil (tastes like rapeseed) when they should be using
In how far would animal fat supposed to be healthier than vegetable oil? ( Is that serious claim or joking?)
Serious.
quote:
Paul is being provocative.
No.
What the government tells you to eat is what Big Agriculture tells it to tell you.
And what doctors get taught about nutrition (which is almost nothing) in medical school* depends on the grants the school gets from — guess what institutions?
If you want an eye-opening book on the subject, explaining both the science and all the double-dealing that big business uses to fudge it, read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (The Diet Delusion in the UK). It has all the references you’ll need. It’s one of the best science-popularisation books I’ve ever read.
The Amazon reviews would be a good starting point.
Here are some more:
Trick and Treat by Barry Groves Fat by Jennifer McLagan The Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick
I’ll give some on-line references too, if anyone wants them.
*I know, among other reasons, because my father-in-law is one.
I am familiar with the arguments. The funniest thing I heard was a PR man from Coca Cola launching a ten year study on nutrition in order to work out how to make their products more healthy. As if that was hard. From identical research a lot could be learned about manipulating consumer demand to suit the cheapest and most addictive ingredients.
The flour tortillas had so much lard in them they were translucent in spots.
Having spent much time in Central America and Mexico, I would have to say that, lard or no lard, flour tortillas are the blandest, most tasteless, of tortillas. In my opinion, the only tortillas worth eating, and they are very good indeed, are corn tortillas. They are a magnitude above flour tortillas in taste.
Cheers,
Bill
I generally agree. I still remember when the public market in San Antonio was just west of the Plaza Militar. When i was four years old we would go there, and I would ask for some hand made corn tortillas, hot off the comal.
But in the Matehuala bus station, flour was what you got. And the gamey lard made them interesting.
When we lived on Tennessee street in San Antonio (it no longer exists, having become an extension of Southcross) at my buddies' house just down the street, their mom would whip up a batch of flour tortillas for us. Hot off the stove with butter and a tiny bit of salt they were great.
Oh, yeah, come to think of it...on vacation from Kwajalein I was looking for a place to get film from my underwater camera developed. Olmos Park, a village enclave in San Antonio was a place to go. Nearby, at the corner of Hildebrand and McCullough was (probably still is) a great taco joint. If you sat at the counter, the waitress took the flour tortillas off the griddle behind her and put them on your plate. Excellent.
But hand made corn tortillas are a whole different thing, and generally the way to go. Machine made, which is all you get in the grocery store.....meh.
Of course in Mexico you can soak your own corn in lye water, take it to the corner molino de nixtamal to be ground, take the resultant masa home, put it in a clay pot covered with cloth to ferment a tiny bit overnight, and make tortillas the next day.
Indeed. My mother cooked with Crisco all her life. It is hydrogenated cottonseed oil--quite tasty, but not the best for you. She did use liquid corn oil for cornbread, for the taste.
She suffered a serious heart attack at age 91. She recovered fully, but then only made it to 97.
There is a line of thought that the saturated-fat theory of heart disease and clogged arteries is incorrect. One of the proposed replacements is the "inflammation theory", that artery damage is due to chronic inflammation caused by diet and other lifestyle factors. As cholesterol's function is to repair this damage, it should not be blamed for heart problems.
There is also the "paleo-diet" school of thought, that grains are actually a major factor in unhealthy (rich) societies. Cavemen did not eat grains, human beings did not evolve to eat grains. We are meat eaters and saturated fat is part of that. I have read a bit of this, and some of the proponents seem quite sure that the science backs them up.
Mainstream folks, of course, look at eggs and bacon and think "heart attack on a plate". I guess the Paleo folks look at a rice and tofu stir fry and think the same. I would not presume to endorse one of these views with any authority. After all, I grew up in the "better living through chemistry" age of Parkay and other shelf-stable fats that were supposed to be healthful and now are supposed to be deadly pseudo-foods. I wouldn't be surprised if further study reveals a truth significantly different than the one your average MD considers canonical.
In a segment last week Dr Oz claimed that research indicated the fat and cholesterol in beef may not be responsible for heart attacks. L-cartnitine generated from beef in an acidic environment in the stomach is now thought to be associated with heart attacks and this is most likely true only for those who have a vulnerability to it.
Does anyone know the rate at which human knowledge doubles? Is it every day yet? It should be interesting what scientists ultimately discover regarding nutrition and longevity, but our future understanding of food-related disease processes will be quite different than it is now.
In case anyone missed it. Last week a study about Alzheimer’s disease was widely disseminated in the media. An Oxford study showed that a regimen of B vitamins slowed the progression of mild cognitive impairment associated with AD by 90 percent.
Maybe I am getting square. Or maybe I like cooking too much but the only thing I envy about that story is
Freerange Lard !!!!
From my kindred the wild bores.
D.
Indeed. I look back on many of my youthful escapades with amusement, faintly tinged with embarrassment.
The chief danger of the long motorcycle trip is the acquired illusion of immortality. Or perhaps it just takes greater and greater risks to maintain the adrenaline high. I quit motorcycles in my early 30s, after about 120,000 miles, convinced that if I didn't kill myself, someone else would do it for me.
In my late teens and early twenties i participated in scuba diving exploration of caves in northeastern Mexico, without any training because there were no training agencies of any kind, and before any reasonable set of safety procedures had been developed. We used safety lines and watched our air consumption, but it is one of two youthful activities that provoke concern when I dream about them. At the time it was great fun.
Since my mid-sixties I don't even like a slight coral overhang between me and the surface.
If we succeed in lengthening our healthy lifespans, I wonder how the 200-year old will regard his 20-year old self?
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