Let Us Talk About COMFORT FOOD!!

[PRgirl]

Originally posted by Babz
Ok PR I have some questions for you....

What are

Puerto Rican Pink Beans
and
Sofrito
and
cilantro
and
Achiote seeds

You say you have a good vegetarian version, I am wondering
how
you would manage to feed me as I am a fussy eater so I am told.

I don't like
Olive OIl
Red Peppers
Pumpkin
Olives of any colour !!
Peanut Oil
BEANS !!!!!
Brown Rice !!

Looking at that list maybe I am fussy....lololol

Ms. Babz....I told you I assumed you knew!! You don't like olives then leave them out! Lol. Sofrito is a type of sautee of things one does before you combine it with small pink beans that have already been cooked.

And a clarification for others who keep confusing Mexican food with Puerto Rican food....DON'T do it!!! Mexicans have a strong VERY STRONG and defined AZTEC, MAYAN indian cuisine tradition. They eat tortillas whether corn or flour in every meal, have hot chiles of hundreds of varieties with varying heat in capsium content....and usually eat the pinto variety of bean super plain...such as boiled with some salt and or refried with salt and a little lard. Puerto Ricans NEVER EAT tortillas, hate hot hot chiles and hardly ever use heat capsium in their cuisine, and always have atleast ten ingriedients in their beans. The Puerto Ricans have extremely strong AFRICAN and SPANISH tendencies in their food. The Mexicans don't. THEY ARE AMERINDIAN/MESOAMERICAN influenced a whole lot...so please do me a favor and keep them separate...the closest to Puerto Rican food in the USA style of cooking is called Creole or Cajun from Louisiana in the Southern USA...that is very similar to ours...lol. It has African/European with native Indian and tropical and sea roots....Mexican food is unique...and different. Don't confuse it with Cuban, Argentinean or Nicaraguan and certainly not Spanish or Puerto Rican.

Now that is out of the way....achiote otherwise known in English as ANNATTO (which many cheddar cheese manufacturers add to make the cheese yellowish or orangy in color without altering the flavor of the cheese) is a yellow little seed that grows in the tropical regions of the world. It is mostly flavorless and the original Carib and Taino Indians of the region of the Caribbean used it for body paint...it gives a lovely deep yellow-orange color and no flavor to foods....and it is a good poor man's substitute for the much more expensive SAFFRON from Spain. And for the CHOCOLATE lovers...you love MEXICAN FOOD. Chocolate is originally from Mexico and only royalty was allowed to quaff the royal elixir...bitter and in water only....also they would prepare bitter chocolate with exotic spices and nuts and seeds with turkey...it was the royal dish of Montezuma the last Aztec Emperor of Tenotchitlan (now known as Mexico City). It is called Mole....negro. So for you chocolate lovers out there...Chocolate is MEXICAN. For the comfort food lovers of Potatoes and Potatoe chips...or crisps...it is originally the POTATOE from SOUTH AMERICA. Mostly PERU....lol. So those who love the spuds and the chocolate...you are addicted to Latin American staples...lol.

Anyway....adobo is a dry rub mix for seasoning meat...it is composed of powdered garlic, onion, powdered oregano, white pepper and salt...also the marinade consists of bitter orange juice, white vinegar and olive oil...lol. You marinade meat in it..and then barbeque or pan fry or bake or etc.

Cilantro is really known in English as Chinese Parsley...the little coriander seeds that are ground up and used in Indian or Pakistani cuisine...is not used in Puerto Rican food...only the full leaf plant like Culantro and Cilantro is used, along with a non-heat little tasty caribbean pepper from the West Indies by the name of aji dulce...it lends a very nice taste to any stew....

Try sweet baked plantains stuffed with seasoned ground meat and a white cheese...it is very good....lol. Everyone's idea of comfort food is culturally specific in general...and whoever wrote guacamole....did it well...lol. We never mash the huge avocadoes in the island...they are perfect and huge and sweet...the little bumpy black hass avocadoes in the states from California...suck in comparison...

Puerto Ricans don't like meat that is red, pink or still uncooked...doesn't have some seasoning and or marinade of some sort, and is served with the staple rice and beans...the rice dishes are very good...they come in many varieties...the paella is not really paella but it might as well be with the amount of work that goes into it....the staples are tarot root, cassava, etc...and green plantains...Mexicans go for corn and etc. as a staple...again...don't confuse them..lol.

Also Mexicans don't have coffee tradition at all. PRs do...and are damn picky about the coffee...the bread is french bread in style on the island...in Mexico it is tortillas all the way...

USA people of Anglo backgrounds have told me this is the list of comfort food they identify with:

Macaroni and Cheese,
Red meat and potatoes,
chips...
ice cream
chocolate,
fried chicken
biscuits,
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,
pizza...

I don't know about the Scottish comfort foods I would like to know....haggis....I don't think so....I am sorry I would rather die than eat it...and met many Scottish folk who don't like it either...

I know in my family what the comfort food is:

Jibaritos envueltos,
tortitas de maiz, (sorullitos de maiz)
Pinon
Piononos
Arroz y habichuelas juntos (or what in Nicaragua they call gallo pinto)
Lechon asado
Carne guisada,
Flan de coco
Pina Colada
Coquito ice cream
bizcocho de guayaba (guava cake)

[Edited by PRgirl on 23rd August 2004 at 01:00]

[Aberdeenkid]

Rice pudding

Hot custard over a jammy roll

[blessed11]

The flakiest hot apple pie topped with old fashioned vanilla ice cream.

Baked macaroni and cheese

Brownies fresh out of the oven with a glass of ice cold milk.

Chewy chocolate chip cookies.

And the oldnest known recipe of homemade chicken noodle soup.

[Polwarth]

~PRGirl
Indian cooking uses the leaves of the coriander plant more than the seeds! I buy huge bunches of it at a time and use it to flavour a lot of dishes.... Ground coriander, ie the seeds are milled and become a fine powder, is used in a lot of curry bases.

I use coriander leaves to make a wonderful carrot and coriander soup in the winter time.

I have to be honest, I don't like Mexican food - it's probably the only cuisine I do not like.... Refried beans in different colours is not my idea of haute cuisine

[PRgirl]

Polwarth, you are not alone. Many people don't like Mexican food. And they say the same things you mention. Plain beans etc...that is not true Mexican food. What one gets in the USA is a *******ized version of Mexican food. One has to go visit all the different states of the Mexican Republic...study its history in depth and go and see what is going on. It is night and day difference between the reality in the country, and the bull they peddle and try to pass off as Mexican cuisine in the USA and in the UK.

100 million people with food traditions thousands of years old...with a history of French, Arabic, Spanish, Mennonite Germans in the North, many Indian tribes, incredible things....I was quite surprised...the variety is huge...the techniques are incredible...try Rick Bayless' Mexican cookbook...Julia Child (now deceased) gives it rave reviews...I never think monotony is true about real....cultural traditions...ofcourse you should try many recipes in the Rick Bayless book....if you do....and don't like it...you'll be in the minority opinion...

Lol. Polwarth with her tastes....I am starting to like you Ms. Polwarth.

PRgirl.

[Polwarth]

I feel I have given Mexican food all the 'tries' I'm willing to try! Sorry, we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't like beans very much, I'm not keen on tortillas either.... and as for adding chocolate to chili... well, that's definitely an acquired taste too far for me...!

I have to say that I've never been that keen on Julia Childs! The little I've seen of her books aren't in the same league as someone like Elizabeth David, for example!

I like Indian food, Chinese, Malay and Thai - I also like some Arabic food... not North African though, cos I don't like the sweetness they introduce into so many savoury dishes.

I am a good cook (no false modesty allowed!) and have taken many cookery courses, in the UK, Paris, Italy and Spain.



BTW - I'm getting worried.... PRG getting to 'like' me? Wonders will never cease

[PRgirl]

I like Thai, and etc food myself...too...and I still think whatever Mexican food recipes you tried, probably sucked! Lol.

I probably can give a list of atleast 40 dishes from Mexico you have never tried before and would love. But a closed mind is not one to open. I know how it feels to be closed. I am closed on UK and Scottish food...spotted dick, haggis, aspic and cucumber sandwiches, tea in the afternoon, heavy
Scottish breakfasts previously described in these Cuisine threads don't convince me at all...and I find UK and Scottish food tradition bad and inferior. I do. People are prejudiced about what they grow up with. Yes, I too have certificates and compete in cooking...so I know how you feel about cooking. I just know for a fact that England, Scotland and Ireland are NOT reknown for great cooking...they can't compete with the Italians or the French and as such...are not in a position to put down other foods from other lands! Lol.

Is it a food fight? Lol. Polwarth is stalwart in putting down Mexican food? Am I upset? No...lol. I am enjoying her personality....which is one that reminds me of another whom I love very much....lol. I won't tell her who she reminds me of....not yet. Lol.