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Tamales
The Galloping Gourmand wrote: > Actually, the moisture inside the corn husk wrapped tamale probably > escapes through the permeable leaf. > I agree that the steam escapes... however, it definitely holds it better than corn husks. I have eaten them both ways and I have now made them both ways. When you take the banana leaf off of a tamale, the leaf is dripping on the inside surface and the tamale is moist. There is no doubt that it holds moisture better than a corn husk. I realize that it isn't water-tight... but, better. Jack |
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Tamales
Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote: Are you > perhaps elucidating the dining habits of well off Mexicans? > > Orlando Orlando, As most of my time is spent in Mexico and I eat dishes that are enjoyed across the economic board when there, I am somewhat surprised at your question. It sounds a little like the attitude that I see among gringos who feel that if it isn't what the po folk eat, it isn't authentic, or un plato tipico de Mexico. You may not be saying that, but it sounds a little like it. Middle and upper class Mexicans are still Mexicans and the foods they eat can still be of interest. Due to my business, I tend to meet and dine with a lot of better-heeled Mexicans and I'm sure that when we eat together, we do it differently than those in a Mayan village in the jungle (as I have done that, too).... as a travel writer/publisher, I see both sides of the fence. Maybe what you are saying is merely that the poster should indicate what economic level family might eat in that manner. If so, that's probably true and we would learn more from the posts. Regards, Jack |
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Tamales
Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote: > wrote: > >Yes, and an informal party where nothing but tamales and tacos and > >other antojitos are served would be called a "taquiza". > >But it's still not a multicourse formal *comida*, which would have a > >salad, wet soup, dry soup or pasta, one large main dish (or two smaller > >ones), pastry and coffee, followed by brandy and cigars and talk of > >revolution. > > I'm Hispanic, though not Mexican, but I can't imagine that poor > Mexicans, whether urban or peasant, enjoy such lavish meals. Are you > perhaps elucidating the dining habits of well off Mexicans? Of course well-off Mexicans are going to eat better than the impoverished peons of northern Mexico who often have little to eat but tortillas and beans. Well-off Mexicans might have seafood, meat and fowl on the same menu for their Christmas comida. Peasants are lucky to get lard and beans as a protein substitute. Sometimes they don't even have the beans, they buy a quarter kilo of tortillas and eat them with chiles and a little salt. Some of my relatives and ancestors came from Spain, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, but they merged with other cultures in the American melting pot. I don't know if my grandmother spoke a single word of Spanish, but nobody seems to know how pronounce her rare surname correctly, so it's probable that she didn't. She was born in South Dakota, the year it became a state, and she probably never ate a tamale until she got to California forty years later. She died the year I was born, so I didn't ask. Of course there is a world of Mexican cuisine beyond tamales and tacos and burritos, but how did Americans get stuck in the misconception about what is a regional specialty and what is just a snack? Most of the food items that Americans are familiar with (and identify as typically "Mexican") are botanas and antojitos which were often served to Mexican laborers in San Antonio a century ago. The first immigrants from any country are men, who leave their families behind and work to save up enough money to bring them over the border. Then the next group will start the ethnic trades of various sorts, especially ethnic cooking. There would be tiny restaurants and tamale stands and pushcart vendors who would sell tacos and tamales and any other items that were easily prepared. Each tamale cart vendor would have his own song that he sang as he pushed his cart through the neighborhood. Lovely senoritas would set up tables in the town squares of Texas cities and sell their exotic tamales to people walking by. But there was a crackdown on sanitation during the 1930's, and the tamale and taco stands were shut down by American health departments. By this time, Americans were hooked on the addictive taste of toasted corn and pork lard with chile sauce. And, Texas cowboys were often partly paid with beef instead of money during the Great Depression, so the quickly-prepared fajita, fried with peppers and onions, was invented. An entire border cuisine emerged. It was called Tex-Mex and people from the northwestern parts of Mexico and Texas were eating it. There was no such thing as a mole that took days or weeks to prepare. Chile powder was added to brown gravy and poured over tamales. Then, in the late 1940's, two Texans in southern California (One was named Bell) decided to recapture the taste of Tex-Mex and commercialize it. And that's how Del Taco and Taco Bell were born. My mother, who was half German and half Danish, loved the taste of toasted corn meal and pork lard. She would take the family to an old adobe house which had been converted into a restaurant by a Mexican immigrant. Diners were served tamales and beans and Mexican rice in the living room and the bedrooms in 1950. And that was as good as it got. Mexican restaurants were all serving the same "combination plates" of what were essentially Mexican snacks. And the Mexican theme restaurant industry was taking off in the southwest. The theme restaurant chains were serving the the same basic combination plates, which were effectively samplers of various snacks, and they were charging $15 or $20 per diner to eat what border peasants could eat for fifty cents. Of course, nowadays the Mexican theme restaurants have picked up on the fattening aspects of pork lard, and we have a trend towards low fat Cal-Mex offerings, which is still nothing more than salads and snacks. That's when I started looking at Mexican cookbooks to learn how to make my own tamales and enchiladas, etc. It was getting too damned expensive to eat peasant food while sitting in a faux-Mexican fiesta scene. It was the taste I was after, not the ambiance. And I picked up a cookbook that explained the business about how antojitos like tacos and tamales and enchiladas were nothing but snacks, and how ignorant Americans were being fooled into thinking that such snacks were regional "specialties". Now the antojito is so entrenched in the fast food culture that ignorant Americans think that tamales and tacos and enchiladas typify ALL Mexican food, and this NG is filled with tiresome debates about the origin of the burrito and whether chili should have beans in it, instead of exploring the less-commercialized regional specialties of central and southern Mexico. |
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Tamales
"Orlando Enrique Fiol" > wrote in message ... > wrote: > >Yes, and an informal party where nothing but tamales and tacos and > >other antojitos are served would be called a "taquiza". > >But it's still not a multicourse formal *comida*, which would have a > >salad, wet soup, dry soup or pasta, one large main dish (or two smaller > >ones), pastry and coffee, followed by brandy and cigars and talk of > >revolution. > > I'm Hispanic, though not Mexican, but I can't imagine that poor > Mexicans, whether urban or peasant, enjoy such lavish meals. Are you > perhaps elucidating the dining habits of well off Mexicans? > > Orlando Maybe the cigars and brandy would be more likely in an upper class home. Beer and flavored waters for the less wealthy. But the meals are pretty much what's described, universally. |
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Tamales
Wayne Lundberg wrote: > Maybe the cigars and brandy would be more likely in an upper class home. > Beer and flavored waters for the less wealthy. But the meals are pretty much > what's described, universally. They would drink Courvoisier and smoke Cubans in an upper class home... but cigars and Presidente brandy are still available to the po folk. Jack |
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Tamales
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Tamales
Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote: > wrote: > >She was born in South Dakota, the year it became a state, and she > >probably never ate a tamale until she got to California forty years > >later. She died the year I was born, so I didn't ask. > > I'm sorry, but for someone who claims to know so much about Mexican > regional specialties, it might be helpful for you to learn that the > singular of tamales is tamal, not tamale. That's true, if the discussion is taking place in Spanish, but it isn't, this is an English language newsgroup. > There is no such word as tamale. Look in any English dictionary. The entry is "tamale", NOT "tamal". And, since the Spanish word "tamal" comes from the Nahuatl word "tamalli", the English "tamale" is closer to what the humble steamed corn roll was originally called. > I haven't read any posts alleging that antojitos are all there is to > Mexican food. but, if people want to explore that subset of Mexican and > Chicano food, why maintain this crusade against them? Fine, let them "explore" antonjitos until they belch and fart and experience great intestinal distress. But some of these tacoheads are putting on airs as if stuffing tacos with brains and heart and liver and other offal makes them some kind of "expert" on "authenticity". The tacoheads are beyond the point of mystifying the antojito as the soul of all Mexican cooking, and we just can't seem to pull out of this Great Taco Swamp to talk about things like the wonderful seafood of the gulf coasts, and can't get any interest at all going in chilango food. Chances are, border food may overwhelm and replace authentic Mexican cooking even in the heart of Mexico. Educated tourists already have to search for something beyond antojitos when they visit tourist destinations. And, the original poster started off this thread with the innocent question, "What do you serve with your Christmas tamales," as if tamales were the centerpiece of a Christmas dinner, instead of a pre-dinner snack to fend off the munchies while the real main dish is being prepared. Finally, as an American, I celebrate abundance at Christmastime, I don't celebrate poverty. I have no memories of growing up in a village in the Sierra Madre where tamles were a great treat, I have memories of eating roast beef and turkey and chicken at Christmas, and, if I'm going to have a formal meal with a Mexican flair, it will have similar entrees, better quality meat and fowl, cooked with Mexican moles, etc. But, for those who really want to experience a Mexican Christmas in all its poverty, I suggest they join the peace Corps and go live in a remote village. |
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Tamales
"Jack Tyler" > wrote in message ps.com... > > Wayne Lundberg wrote: > > Maybe the cigars and brandy would be more likely in an upper class home. > > Beer and flavored waters for the less wealthy. But the meals are pretty much > > what's described, universally. > > They would drink Courvoisier and smoke Cubans in an upper class home... > but cigars and Presidente brandy are still available to the po folk. > > Jack True... besides, Presidente is not that bad. Darned good value for the money. > |
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Tamales
Wayne Lundberg wrote: > True... besides, Presidente is not that bad. Darned good value for the > money. > > > I bring a bottle back from every trip. Jack |
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