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maiz
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)
WATCH: Fish tacos two ways at the Empire State Building in NYC
On the ground floor of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, Tacombi Tacos Chef Oscar Hernandez serves fish tacos two ways. Looks legit!
In Fresno, Liz Sanchez shares family recipes at Casa de Tamales (video)
Her mom’s and abuela’s recipes are the secret sauce at Liz Sanchez’ Casa de Ta males in Fresno. She uses fresh corn for the tortillas and tamales and serves micheladas tambien! What could be bad? [Fresno booster Jason Farris made the video.] It’s interesting that Sanchez switches back and forth between saying “tamal” and “tamale.” Que pocha!
Mas…In Fresno, Liz Sanchez shares family recipes at Casa de Tamales (video)
This image of a ‘Tamalada’ is in the Smithsonian collection (toon)
Tamalada, a lithograph by Chicana artist Carmen Lomas Garza, is in the collection of the Smithsonian. Looks sorta like your family, right, primo?
Mas…This image of a ‘Tamalada’ is in the Smithsonian collection (toon)
Grinding corn for tortillas in Mexington and the American Dream (video)
In the growing Latino community of Lexington, Kentucky (aka Mexington), immigrant Laura Patricia Ramirez and her family suspected the new “Spanish” influx into town might mean they could earn a living providing comida Mexicana to the neighbors. First they imported fresh tortillas from Chicago, and then started making their own. Now they own a tortilla/taqueria even the gabachos love — they come for the asada and stay for the lengua. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Ramirez has the first Southern drawl-spiced Mexican accent we’ve ever encountered. God Bless THIS America, land that we love.]
Thanks to our amigo Profe Steven Alvarez for the link.
A two-year old’s Chicano Christmas
You’re not going to believe this,
but I was born sitting at the kitchen
table with a tamale already in hand.
Of course, some say, that I was born
on a pool table, but that’s another
story.
I still remember the hogs head
simmering in a pot as my uncle
Louie and his buddies sat listening
respectfully as my grandfather
spoke about times gone by.
Tacos de guisado? Don’t mind if I stew! (video)
These tacos de guisado — in a restaurant? at home? — sure look delicious. We’ve asked video creator Miriam Rdz for more information. Tengo hambre!
Texas taco trailer lets you order corn tortillas, so no poop (video)
In Bridgeport, Texas, near Dallas, the La Campechanita Taqueria trailer (now up on blocks) serves terrific tacos on corn tortillas so you won’t get all bloated and have to poop. Because Texas.
It All Makes Sense Now! Taxonomy of Mexican Food (toon)
¡Orale! With the help of this colorful infographic we now understand the taxonomy of Comida Mexicana. The tortilla is connected to the maiz bone, the chalupa is connected to the tortilla bone…
[Thanks to PICTOLINE on Facebook for the infographic.]
Latino USA: If You Give a Toddler a Tortilla (NPR audio)
She just wants to prepare some home made flour tortillas with her baby girl just like she did with her own mom. What’s the big deal?
April Salazar longs to make her Grandma Alice’s tortillas with her daughter. It is the same tortilla recipe her grandmother’s mother made in Baja California and later in Tucson, Arizona, after she fled the Mexican Revolution. There’s just one problem: she needs the stars to align… and the cooperation of her two-year-old daughter.
Mas…Latino USA: If You Give a Toddler a Tortilla (NPR audio)
Chef Maria explains: A good taco starts with a good tortilla (video)
A good taco starts with a good tortilla. Chef Maria Mazon of Tucson’s Boca Tacos y Tequila explains.
WATCH: From maiz to masa, from masa to your table (mesa)
From Milpa to Mesa highlights the process of transforming heirloom corn from tiny farms across Mexico into tortillas.
Helpful glossary from video creators The Perennial Plate:
Mas…WATCH: From maiz to masa, from masa to your table (mesa)
Fat foodaholic gabacho drinks Corona and makes corn tortillas (video)
Chris Donovan of FatFoodaolics shows us How to Make Corn Tortillas the Wrong Way. Huh? He explains:
Tortillas! One of my favorite foods on the planet. Nothing better then a Taco or Burrito smothered with cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, etc. One thing, I can never replicate what I get in a good Mexican restaurant with store bought corn tortillas. So I figured I give making them a try.
Pocho Ocho Top Ways to Decolonize Your Diet
Decolonizing your diet is more than a trendy Chicanx meme, it’s a book, and a chingon idea.
If you want to just say “No!” to the comida of the Conquistadors and eat what Tlaloc intended — the authentic food of your ancestors — here are the Pocho Ocho Top Ways to Decolonize Your Diet:
8. Take the milk out of chocolate and put the chile back in
7. Honor the Aztecs and eat more of Moctezuma’s gold
6. Chihuahua on a stick
All about the ‘Maiz’ (video)
Corn — Maiz — is central in the Mexican food culture and was first cultivated over 100 centuries ago. Here is a short tribute to maiz, the golden gift of Mother Nature. [Video by Marysol.]
LatinoUSA: The mysterious origins of Navajo fry bread tacos (audio)
What is the deal on these so-called Navajo tacos, anyhow?
NPR’s Anne Hoffman and Maria Hinojosa of LatinoUSA are looking for answers:
Mas…LatinoUSA: The mysterious origins of Navajo fry bread tacos (audio)
Finally a legit recipe video for ‘Mexican Street Corn’ aka elotes
No pinche RONCO appliance this time, just a grill, corn on the cob, and all the fixings. Yay! As always, street not included, and bring your own Tajin.
PREVIOUSLY ON ELOTES:
Mas…Finally a legit recipe video for ‘Mexican Street Corn’ aka elotes
Elotes for clueless gabachos … from RONCO (video)
RONCO, the company that sells weird-ass single-use food prep gizmos via infomercials, wants you to buy their weird-ass single-use gizmo that makes elotes, which they call “Mexican Street Corn.” Actual street not included.
PREVIOUSLY ON ELOTES:
Chef with beard invents a grilled-cheese ‘taco’ that isn’t a quesadilla
As our esteemed Associate Naranjero Gustavo ¡Ask a Mexican! Arellano has pointed out over and over, the taco is American as apple pie.
That’s why we weren’t surprised when we read reports of a marvelous new American “taco” creation, the grilled-cheese taco.
Although we think the so-called Elite Daily’s headline asserting that “You’ll Never Need a Tortilla Again” betrays the bleak gustatory horizons of an editor who has never eaten a proper tortilla (see videos below), we are thankful she included a link to the original recipe.
Originator FoodInMyBeard blog (original recipes and mashups by Dan Whalen) lays out the rationale:
Mas…Chef with beard invents a grilled-cheese ‘taco’ that isn’t a quesadilla
Saddest song ever! Lalo Guerrero sings “There’s No Tortillas” (video)
The great Lalo Guerrero can hardly sing for all the weeping as he performs There’s No Tortillas. And who can blame him?
Here’s our favorite (non parody) Lalo Guerrero song — he calls it a “boogie woogie jitterbug”:
Mas…Saddest song ever! Lalo Guerrero sings “There’s No Tortillas” (video)
Can maiz, Mexico’s gift to the world, survive modernity? (video)
As a Mexican court considers overturning a ban on GMO corn, farmers continue the uphill struggle to preserve traditional seed varieties.
PREVIOUSLY ON MAIZ DE MEXICO:
Mas…Can maiz, Mexico’s gift to the world, survive modernity? (video)
This is how my abuela makes those legendary tortillas (video)
My grandma’s tortillas are legendary in my family; she’s been making them since she was a little girl and has been feeding her family with them ever since. I thought I’d shoot a little video of her making them as she passes the tradition down to her great grandkids. — Video creator Rich Lee.