Nixtamalization means fresh tortillas at South Philly Barbacoa (video)

When you bite into a taco, you are tasting the results of an ancient chemical process called nixtamalization. It’s a technique that hasn’t changed much since 1500 BCE, and along the way it helped the Aztecs rise to power and made tortillas softer, tastier, and much more nutritious. Today, Benjamin Miller and Christina Martinez are the only chefs in Philadelphia making their tortillas from scratch, which means they practice the ancient art of nixtamalization.

Mas…Nixtamalization means fresh tortillas at South Philly Barbacoa (video)

POCHO HISTORY 101: ‘Americanizing’ Mexicans by changing their diet

Is what you eat political?

Do you accept the claim that your food choices determine your social order in this world?

And do you accept that conforming to white American norms in eating is important in transforming people of color into better citizens? Will assimilating one’s food choices make people of color less prone to crime and revolutionary tendencies?

Believe it or not, this is something that has been explored and well discussed in our communities for over a century.

In the 1920s in Southern California there were social reformers who were sent on transform the eating choices made by the public, especially among the immigrant working-class.

One of the most notable reformers to arise in this era was a lady by the name of Pearl Idelia Ellis, of the Department of Americanization and Homemaking, of Covina City Elementary Schools.

She was the author the guide Americanization though Homemaking which was published in 1929, detailing her work.

Mas…POCHO HISTORY 101: ‘Americanizing’ Mexicans by changing their diet

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: I Teash You How to Make the Three Kings Bread

Hello! Is Tia Lencha here! Today I teash you to make the Three Kings Bread, ju know, the one with the Baby Jesus in it? Jes, tha one.

I haf many things to celebrate, m’ijo get good grades, he has good healthy, he still helps me put my recipes on the google, and oso, Tia Lencha has a novio. Jes, a new one. Don’t jodge. His name is Axl Rosen. He is a Jewish. He didn’t know what the Three Kings Bread is, so I make for him.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: I Teash You How to Make the Three Kings Bread

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted Red Chanukah Christmas Kwanzaa Salsa

jarosalsaHola. Is Tia Lencha here.

Ju want to give presens to eberyone on your Chrismas list or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or Reyes Magos or Chinese Year but ju are short on dinero? No worry! Tia Lencha is going to give ju recipe for to make the oven roast red salsa!

Is nice! Is a good gift for the peoples! And is easy! No like making mole for Turkey Day.

I make this salsa to give to my comadres and the lob it. They have little hearts in their eyes when they see my salsa. They eat with almost eberything. They say they fight their childrens and viejos to eat the last drops of it in the jar. Is that good. Oso, it don’t matter if the peoples are no Mexican. The peoples at my job are no Mexican and they ask me for the salsa.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted Red Chanukah Christmas Kwanzaa Salsa

When life hands you a blob of masa, make tamales!

tamaleexpert

When I arrived at Northgate Gonzalez market and was immediately handed a free apron that read I ❤️ Tamales and several blobs of uncooked masa, I knew immediately I had made the right decision for a Friday night.

Even my mother, who invited herself along after her favorite novela was cancelled due to soccer, looked grudgingly impressed. She’d spent the entire ride complaining  she did not need tamales-cooking classes because she was a world-class tamales expert.

Let me be clear: In all the years I’ve been alive, my mother has never produced a single tamal.

Instead, she criticizes everyone else’s tamales.

Mas…When life hands you a blob of masa, make tamales!

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted Red Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa Salsa

jarosalsaHola. Is Tia Lencha here.

Ju want to give presens to eberyone on your Chrismas list or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Reyes Magos or Chinese Year but ju are short on dinero? No worry! Tia Lencha is going to give ju recipe for to make the oven roast red salsa!

Is nice! Is a good gift for the peoples! And is easy! No like making mole for Turkey Day.

I make this salsa to give to my comadres and the lob it. They have little hearts in their eyes when they see my salsa. They eat with almost eberything. They say they fight their childrens and viejos to eat the last drops of it in the jar. Is that good. Oso, it don’t matter if the peoples are no Mexican. The peoples at my job are no Mexican and they ask me for the salsa.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted Red Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa Salsa

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: How ju make Mijo’s favorite Mole Poblano turkey

turkeymole640Hola. Is Tia Lencha here. Sorry I no give ju recetas (recipes for ju pochos) for a gwhile. Mijo’s daddy no send the cheques for the mijo support. I mad.

Then he go to my house crying because the eskelton eskank he marry left him for another viejo (old man for ju pochos). The viejo had more dinero and drive a troka (thas truck for ju pochos) with plastic bolitas hanging from the bumper. Oh gwell.

In Mexico we say mijo’s daddy got put horns. Mijo’s daddy cry and cry but he no give me my mijo support cheque. I tell him my house is no LenchaCare. He need to pay. He say need money for divorce the eskank. I have to go to the offices to get him to pay.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: How ju make Mijo’s favorite Mole Poblano turkey

Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)

bugsLong before the European invasion, the original inhabitants of Mexico were making amazingly complex food and taking complete of advantage of every creature that flew, swam, wriggled or crawled. That’s right. We’re talking edible insects. Correspondent Aissa García reports from Mexico, DF for Conexión Global on Caracas, Venezuela network teleSUR:

Mas…Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted red Chanukah Christmas Kwanzaa salsa

jarosalsaHola. Is Tia Lencha here.

Ju want to give presens to eberyone on your Chrismas list or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or Reyes Magos or Chinese Year but ju are short on dinero? No worry! Tia Lencha is going to give ju recipe for to make the oven roast red salsa!

Is nice! Is a good gift for the peoples! And is easy! No like making mole for Turkey Day.

I make this salsa to give to my comadres and the lob it. They have little hearts in their eyes when they see my salsa. They eat with almost eberything. They say they fight their childrens and viejos to eat the last drops of it in the jar. Is that good. Oso, it don’t matter if the peoples are no Mexican. The peoples at my job are no Mexican and they ask me for the salsa.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: Roasted red Chanukah Christmas Kwanzaa salsa

Tia Lencha’s Cocina: How I make turkey in Mole Poblano for mijo

turkeymole640Hola. Is Tia Lencha here. Sorry I no give ju recetas (recipes for ju pochos) for a gwhile. I was closed like the gobernment. Mijo’s daddy no send the cheques for the mijo support. I mad.

Then he go to my house crying because the eskelton eskank he marry left him for another viejo (old man for ju pochos). The viejo had more dinero and drive a troka (thas truck for ju pochos) with plastic bolitas hanging from the bumper. Oh gwell.

In Mexico we say mijo’s daddy got put horns. Mijo’s daddy cry and cry but he no give me my mijo support cheque. I tell him my house is no LenchaCare. He need to pay. He say need money for divorce the eskank. I have to go to the offices to get him to pay.

Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina: How I make turkey in Mole Poblano for mijo

Henry’s Kitchen: How to make very sad anytime chili for one (video)


Henry Phillips, who grew up in New Jersey and got once beaned by a rock his brother threw, prepares Henry’s Anytime Chili for One, but first he needs to convert from metric, and then down-size the family-sized recipe because he’s only making dinner for himself. That involves dividing by seven, which is easier said than done. [NSFW language.]

Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito: Have you ever been to Earth?

burrito

This is an epic rant by @LuckyShirt, who says he is not really THAT angry:

Have you ever been to Earth? On Earth, we use the word “burrito” to describe a tortilla filled with things you eat.

Pretty simple stuff, and I’m surprised you at least got that part right. My burrito was, in fact, filled with food. In this, you and I agree and are friends.

Mas…Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito: Have you ever been to Earth?

How does your state rate in the Mexican restaurant wars?

burritonation

It’s no secret that Americans love Mexican food — Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano’s book Taco USA celebrated that aspect of the Reconquista last year.

But not all of the United Estates is created equal, and in some areas of the country there is a shocking Mexican restaurant shortage!

ABC/Univision reports:

There are more Mexican restaurants than Italian bistros, Chinese kitchens, chicken rotisseries, or seafood shacks in the US. We’re talking about no less than 38,000 Mexican restaurants dispersed all across the American landscape (as of 2011).

Mas…How does your state rate in the Mexican restaurant wars?

Woman is told ‘Cup O Noodles is not fideo,’ then gets dumped

noodles(PNS reporting from EAST LOS) Paola Lopez’ dreams were shattered and her heart was broken Friday after she prepared sopa de fideo for her boyfriend, Sunny Vargas.

“I just thought it would be nice to make him a quick snack before we went out,” the 28-year-old woman tearfully recounted to PNS. “Then all of a sudden he got all mad and left me. He broke up with me in a text that night.”

The tragedy began Tuesday when Vargas, a  sales representative for a Pico Rivera power tools importer and distributor, told Lopez that one of his favorite dishes (and thus a requirement to be considered “wife material”) was sopa de fideo, like his mom Victoria makes.

The shocking conclusion came Friday evening.

Mas…Woman is told ‘Cup O Noodles is not fideo,’ then gets dumped

Tía Chita: ‘It’s final! I’ve absolutely, positively made my last tamal!’

(PNS reporting from LAREDO) Tia Chita will not be hosting the annual holiday season tamalada at her house this year, she revealed to her family last night. As a matter of fact, she told stunned participants at her niece’s baby shower, she never wants to make another tamal in her life.

“First of all, I’m sick of all the gossip!” she shouted, pacing around the room quicker and quicker the more excited she became.

“I know the tamaladas are where all the comadres are supposed to catch up on ‘family news’ and everything, but did you ever think that I really don’t care who’s sleeping with whom and who’s going to have a baby? Ya estoy vieja, I’ve been a million weddings already!”

Chita is sick of everyone coming over to eat her food and then leaving dirty napkins everywhere, staining her nice couches with tamal grease, she said. Sometimes the bathroom gets stopped up, and she has to have the neighbor come over with the plumber’s snake. “He’s not a smell-good plumber,” she grimaced.

Mas…Tía Chita: ‘It’s final! I’ve absolutely, positively made my last tamal!’

Letter to the Editor: Thank you, organic cocks/hens as appropriate

This Letter to the Editor came in via our SUBMIT link. We’d like to hear from you, too!

Dear organic chicken or chickens (or cocks and/or hens) who were the source of the two thighs I ate last night:

Thank you for your lives.

I guess it is presumptuous to write to you since we never met when you were alive and now you’re dead and I ate you. Actually, I don’t know really know WHO to thank since it’s unclear if these were a matched set of thighs (left and right) from a single chicken or whether they were two thighs from two chickens and now that I think about it I didn’t even check to see if they were left or right and how would I know?

Mas…Letter to the Editor: Thank you, organic cocks/hens as appropriate