Thread: Chorizo Sausage
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Default Chorizo Sausage


"Wayne Lundberg" > wrote in message
...

"Why is cumin not mentioned in any of Kennedy's books? I have them and have
searched. Also just using my experience in Mexico that is over 60 years. We
never used cumin."



I can't speak for Diana Kennedy. You will have to ask her why, Wayne but
I'm confident that you know the absence of fact is not proof of fact.

As for using her to give authority to your argument? As well respected as
she is, I do not see that her intent has ever been to validate her books
as "authentic" just because they do or do not list cumin. Knowledge
changes all the time as new information/understanding is discovered. There
can be many reasons she may not have listed cumin. Yet, to counter your
argument, here are recipes attributed to her that do list cumin, one is a
mole: http://www.ramekins.com/mole/yellowchickmole.html , the other, the
Maya pork dish, Cochinita Pibil from her web site:
http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/pork/pibil.htm. As both dishes are touted
to be from SOT, that quite weaken your argument.

Nor does being an honorary member of the Old Gringo Chapter of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Society of MesoAmerican Juggernauts for over 60 years
give status as an authority. Truth be told, that just says ya old. Stating
that "We never used cumin" is a bit impotent. Ya gotta support your thesis
with facts, facts that can hold up to scrutiny. Otherwise, they are just
tall tales like the stories of Texas Chili, Chile en Nogada and Mole
Poblano. Just because one repeats these tales often (and/or loudly) will
not make them credible. You know there are many Mexican and Latin American
recipes with cumin (cumino) and from such noted chefs and authors such as
Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz, Zerela Martinez, her mother; Aida Gabilondo,
Patricia Quintana, Jim Peyton, Susan Trilling, Rick Bayless, Reed Hearon,
and Cheryl and Bill Jamison which are just as often touted as authentic with
the requisite little bits of "researched" folklore mixed in their books.
Why would we not assume cumin in Southern Mexico was as prevalent as we find
in other Latin American areas to the North, South and East along with trade?
You also see anise, coriander (cilantro), cloves, fennel, marjoram,
peppercorns, thyme as well as oranges, raisins, sesame, and almonds to
name a few other exotic in Mexican cooking, but the addition or omission of
these old world ingredients it is never touted as making it authentic or not
used. With all the other spices they use, it certainly is not to distance
them from Moorish or Spanish influence. Perhaps it is a disparaging slight
to Norteno cooking?

With all these contradictions, I would still like to know specifically why
you insist there is no cumin in authentic dishes SOT and why you said cumin
is a recent addition in Chorizo fresco? Butchering a hog to get a pound of
sausage didn't make much sense to me either.