Hot Sauce lovers in the group?

[iampoor1]

Ohh and the 'Mexican' food you have in the US is not Mexican at all, it is TexMex, I do like it thou... When I lived in Ohio around 5 years ago, I did find a couple of real mexican restaurants, one of them was specially good, and its really funny how happy the owners get when they find you are mexican, they sit with you to eat, they chat, they ask questions, they treat you like an old family relative even if you are complete strangers etc.. etc.. I love that about the US, its a very diverse country, everyone feels American but they still feel so proud of their origins.

With the exception if California. Sooooooo many auth3ntic Mexican food places here. I think texmex is a dirty word in California  ;D

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have visited central Mexico on business and got to enjoy some authentic Mexican special holiday dishes... not at all like what passes for Mexican food, even in TX or SOCAL.

For another TMI anecdote... I recall bringing in an engineering candidate to interview for a position in my mixer engineering group. When I heard that the personnel bimbo (sorry) took him to the local taco bell for lunch I gave her hell... #1 he was from SOCAL so knows about decent Mexican food, and #2 we actually have a handful of local Mexican restaurants in town that don't suck. Taking him to a Taco Bell was a very bad choice.

FWIW he took the gig anyhow, and moved to MS, but I was angry with personnel for making MS look even worse than it is.   

JR 

 

[user 37518]

I have visited central Mexico on business and got to enjoy some authentic Mexican special holiday dishes... not at all like what passes for Mexican food, even in TX or SOCAL.

For another TMI anecdote... I recall bringing in an engineering candidate to interview for a position in my mixer engineering group. When I heard that the personnel bimbo (sorry) took him to the local taco bell for lunch I gave her hell... #1 he was from SOCAL so knows about decent Mexican food, and #2 we actually have a handful of local Mexican restaurants in town that don't suck. Taking him to a Taco Bell was a very bad choice.

FWIW he took the gig anyhow, and moved to MS, but I was angry with personnel for making MS look even worse than it is.   

JR

Many invited me to try Taco Bell when I was in the States to give my opinion, I couldn't gather enough courage to do it. In Mexico there is almost every major US food chain available (not all of them) with some notable exceptions: Chipotle and Taco Bell, didn't try Taco Bell but I tried Chipotle, and I know why its not available here  ;D Nah to be honest it wasn't bad but it wouldn't make a dent to the local market here.

The thing I don't understand is the 'hard taco' that Taco Bell sells, its like a hard tortilla in the shape of a taco, like a hybrid between tostada and taco, that thing is as Mexican as the Statue of Liberty.

 

[matriachamplification]

The Taco Bell hot sauce packets are the only thing I enjoy

 

[Brian Roth]

The thing I don't understand is the 'hard taco' that Taco Bell sells, its like a hard tortilla in the shape of a taco, like a hybrid between tostada and taco, that thing is as Mexican as the Statue of Liberty.

I'm now curious where the "hard taco" came from! 

Growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960's/70's,  Mexican/Asian/Italian food was exotic.

Anyway......great tamales (found at one or two places here in Salina) are a favorite of mine as well as Chili Rellenos.

Bri

 

[iampoor1]

I have visited central Mexico on business and got to enjoy some authentic Mexican special holiday dishes... not at all like what passes for Mexican food, even in TX or SOCAL.

The central valley (for those who don't know, where all the migrant farm workers work) is where it's at for authentic Mexican food in California. I've had wayyy better tacos in Podunk farm towns compared to even super well regarded places in LA 

 

[matriachamplification]

I'm now curious where the "hard taco" came from! 

Growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960's/70's,  Mexican/Asian/Italian food was exotic.

Anyway......great tamales (found at one or two places here in Salina) are a favorite of mine as well as Chili Rellenos.

Bri

I spent some time in Jamaica. I recall Jamaican Patties not being a thing while visiting.

 

[user 37518]

I'm now curious where the "hard taco" came from! 

Don't know, but I completely sure that 95% of mexicans down here haven't seen one in their entire life.

 

[matriachamplification]

Don't know, but I completely sure that 95% of mexicans down here haven't seen one in their entire life.

I have always wanted to try a real deal Pombazo. I attempt to make them at home every few months.

 

[iampoor1]

Don't know, but I completely sure that 95% of mexicans down here haven't seen one in their entire life.

I think the hard taco is sort of the equivalent of Americans turning bratwurst into hot dogs.  ;D

 

[user 37518]

I have always wanted to try a real deal Pombazo. I attempt to make them at home every few months.

I can't help you, I am completely useless at cooking anything but scrambled eggs, and thats because everytime I try to cook fried eggs the egg yolk breaks, so I just end up making them scrambled  ;D ;D ;D

I'll tell you something thou, I really, really love real American cuisine, and I am not talking about The Waffle House which is great BTW, I am talking about real chili, real hamburgers, etc...

I remember this one time in Cincinatti we went to this place, they made the best burgers ever, the funny thing was that they gave you a bowl of peanuts just after you got seated and everyone in the restaurant tossed the peanut shells on the floor, which was the normal thing to do there, the floor was covered with them, I just found it extremely strange, I felt guilty when doing it  ;D

 

[abbey road d enfer]

I tried Chipotle, and I know why its not available here  ;D Nah to be honest it wasn't bad but it wouldn't make a dent to the local market here.

Don't be so sure. Look at the Starbuck story. It started as being an americanized ersatz of a French/Italian café.
Now, there are Starbucks all over France and Italy!
So we can buy a fake Italian coffee for the price of three real ones!

 

[iampoor1]

[

I remember this one time in Cincinatti we went to this place, they made the best burgers ever, the funny thing was that they gave you a bowl of peanuts just after you got seated and everyone in the restaurant tossed the peanut shells on the floor, which was the normal thing to do there, the floor was covered with them, I just found it extremely strange, I felt guilty when doing it  ;D

That sounds like Five Guys.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

I remember this one time in Cincinatti we went to this place, they made the best burgers ever, the funny thing was that they gave you a bowl of peanuts just after you got seated and everyone in the restaurant tossed the peanut shells on the floor, which was the normal thing to do there, the floor was covered with them, I just found it extremely strange, I felt guilty when doing it  ;D

Same at Peter Luger's in Brooklyn, and at the (now defunct) Rodeo Club in Manhattan.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I'm now curious where the "hard taco" came from! 

Just guessing, somebody probably dropped a soft taco into a deep fryer, liked the result so expanded upon that.

JR

Growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960's/70's,  Mexican/Asian/Italian food was exotic.

Anyway......great tamales (found at one or two places here in Salina) are a favorite of mine as well as Chili Rellenos.

Bri

 

[cyrano]

I've been using chillies in all their forms like forever. But I don't understand the race for ever hotter. A friend who is always on the lookout for the hottest anything, has ruined his palet completely.

That doesn't mean I don't like a Thai prick, but with moderation. The last decade or so, it has gone out of bounds. Capsaicin has been amplified around 20.000 times. Nuts.

What's funny is that nobody seems to have found the way to select for the hottest pepper species. The peppers that end up winning the race usually come from amateur growers and these weren't even trying to get the hottest pepper ever.

My latest find is humamara, made from Aleppo peppers, and pomegranate molasse walnuts and spices. Aleppo pepper is kind of bell pepper that's only slightly hot. Yummy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRPJBcKc_f8

Sumac might be hard to find in Europe, as it's not allowed for food.

 

[user 37518]

I've been using chillies in all their forms like forever. But I don't understand the race for ever hotter. A friend who is always on the lookout for the hottest anything, has ruined his palet completely.

That is retarded, I've always used chilli as a condiment, not as a contest. Plus, if I eat something with an extremely hot chilli I will definitely regret it the next day. I am not that worried about my palet I am much more worried about my asshole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqMY8UAGgg

 

[JohnRoberts]

Agreed, I don't understand the pursuit of highest Scoville units number. I see a similar trend with young people when they first begin beer brewing to make higher alcohol beers, but that just ruins the flavor profile.

I still have some dried habaneras in my cupboard that can bring the extra heat to a recipe if needed. Where I live in nowhere MS we don't see fresh habanera in local supermarkets like out in CA.

I have grown habanera from seeds a couple years and they don't bring much heat but good flavor.

JR

 

[cyrano]

I am not that worried about my palet I am much more worried about my asshole...

Well, let's just keep it at "I am/have a better asshole", shall we?

Seriously, I never get intestinal problems from spices. Or fat, or...

But we do quite a bit of tasting, in group, where some of the participants are chefs. And we've concluded a long time ago that it's better not to eat very spicy the day before a tasting.

 

[matriachamplification]

Texas Gunpowder we have made drying Jalapeños and mixing it with other hotter peppers, mostly Habs.

When I first started growing super hots of course I tasted the peppers, but only once