Buen Provecho, Cocinero Gringo

Thank you very much for the so GREAT recipe.
Salsa de Molcajete, I think it is very tasty.
This sounds delicious! I want to try the Salsa de Molcajete recipe...

I never seem have been seen the
Molcajete con la piedra, and Comal -

is it vegetables? Or what?

Best regards,
Natalia.

My 1000 Healthy Recipes with photos.
http://recipe.atspace.com/

Natalia,

A molcajete is a stone mortar generally made from volcanic rock. The
piedra (mano) is also made from the same rock and is used to grind the
foods placed in the molcajete. This is a very ancient device used by the
indigenous cultures of Mexico to grind foods. The comal is a disk shaped
device placed over an open fire or burner and used to roast vegetables,
nuts, spices, etc.
Cast iron, aluminum, and thin steel comals have replaced the "comal de
barro" (clay comal)to a degree. For very traditional Mexican cooking, both
of these devices are indispensable.

Cocinero Gringo

pskov_recipe wrote:

> I never seem have been seen the
> Molcajete con la piedra, and Comal -
>
> is it vegetables? Or what?

Mexican cooking has a certain mystique, like French cooking. Once you
know the names of things, they are not so mysterious after all, so why
should the food be expensive?

Mexican cooking is usually rather simple country food that is made with
inexpensive ingredients and cheaper cuts of meat that are cooked for a
long time to make them tender.

Mexican restaurants around here are too expensive for the ingredients
in their recipes, they are charging more for the ambiance of the
restaurant. I was paying too much for the decorations of the
restaurant. That's why I wanted to learn to cook Mexican food at home.

So, what about this strange "Molcajete con la piedra, and Comal" the
previous poster referred to?

A recipe may have different names in different places, but the *kitchen
utensils* used to prepare a dish are usally not named in the list of
ingredients, they should be named in the later part of the recipe, the
preparation or procedure part of the recipe.

When "roasting" the chiles and the tomatoes on the comal, the process
could also be described as "dry frying". You could use any skillet or
sauce pan to do this.

Perhaps a glossary of Mexican cooking terms will help you:

http://www.lomexicano.com/mexicanfoodrecipeglossary.htm

Comal -- A griddle made originally from clay, but now more usually from
iron, steel, tin or aluminum.

(Local Indians made their 4-legged comals from soapstone, a wonderful
soft rock that was easy to carve and could be heatedover a fire until
it glowed without breaking.)

Plancha -- Griddle

Molcajete -- Stone mortar used principally to prepare sauces

Metate -- The large three-legged, flat, stone implement used for
grinding corn, chiles and spices.

Mano -- the stone the woman uses to grind the corn against the metate.

Piedra -- another name for the stone. In English, it would be a pestle.