[bluesman]

No doubt Indian cooking is all about the spices. I suppose the the difference between good and bad is not so much about what one uses but more importantly..."how one uses" in Indian cooking....

Great display of Indian food Capp.

[smurfe]

Spring time is Tamale time too, here are some naca tamal, (Nicaraguan style tamales.















If anyone wants the instructons for any of this stuff, let me know and I will post Them.



Also wrapped in banana leaves. Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil.












Do you know how to cook?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA

I have made Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil as well, I just make sure I don't make it too good though! 

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Capp,

I think you've posted about making Robert Rogriguez's recipe before (possibly on the NB forum) and, if I recall, you were somewhat unimpressed with the lack of flavor (correct me if I'm misremembering).  My question is: have you tweaked the recipe so that it's more to your liking?  If so, could you share your tweaks?

[capozzoli]

There were (for me) some flavor problems and those pics are from that post. I just wanted to pt some of the recipes from there on to here.

I have made that dish a few times and a little differently each time. My favorite version has the addition of lots of fresh chopped garlic and shallots, I also omitted the tequila in my opinion it leaves behind a less than desirable flavor.

If you search around there are lots of recipes for this dish to use in formulating one to your tastes.

I want to try roasting it wrapped in the banana leaves on the BBQ.

All and all a good dish, just didnt agree with some flavors and the meat had an overcooked stringy consistency when cooked for the time that Robert recommends.

But, Patriot, you have to try the breakfast tacos and homemade flour tortillias...AWESOME. 

[nicneufeld]

Yeah, I betcha the tequila is not a particularly authentic ingredient...those folks in the Yucatan probably reserve that for their glasses, excepting the more wealthy, perhaps.

A habanero relish, however, would put that puerco over the top!

[capozzoli]

Potato pancakes, Polish style.



Just coarse grate two or three large potatoes, (dont use baking potatoes), coarse grate a medium sized onion, Fine grate a few cloves of garlic.

 Mix with two eggs and two table spoons of flour, teaspoon of baking powder, salt, pepper, celery seed, and a teaspoon of corn starch.

 Then get a pan with about a half inch of oil hot over medium low heat. Using a large enough spoon ladle the potato mixture into the pan. Flatten it out by spreading it out with the back of the spoon. They shout be about 1/4-1/2" thick. Turn them over and brown them well till crispy.

 I like them well done.

Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

[boulderbrewer]

Thanks Cappo,

These should get me out of the Dog House! Great Idea!

[bluesman]

Reminds me of when I was a kid staying the night at my Baci's house. She would make these for us for breakfast. Mmmmm....they are delicious.
I make them every now and then and they are always a winner.

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Hey Capp,

I think I'm going to attempt a smoked version of the puerco pibil tomorrow. Any suggestions? I think I'm going to set the banana-leaf-wrapped pork shoulder in a roasting pan in the smoker.

[capozzoli]

I would say try to get more of a hot roasting action from the coals rather than say just a smoke stream.

 Wood fire roast it like a real wood fired Mexican oven.

Cant wait to hear how it comes out.

[nicneufeld]

Found a recently opened Caribbean grocery place just a few miles away, and decided to welcome the hesitant arrival of spring with some island food.

The ribs are a sort of jerk rib, with a guava BBQ sauce.  Two racks of pork spare ribs were trimmed down, making st louis cut ribs.  This really at least halved them in weight...the rib tip section was huge.  For the rib tips and the flap section I used a traditional BBQ rub.  For the ribs proper, I used a blended marinade of scotch bonnet pepper, orange zest and fruit (leaving out the pith) lime zest and juice, Angostura soy sauce, a fig balsamic vinegar, some allspice/clove/cinnamon, garlic, and a large number of scallions.  These all marinated overnight.  Then, I put the ribs (and the trimmings) on the smoker...gave them a good four hours smoke (mostly apple wood), and it got a bit spitty weatherwise so they finished in foil in the oven.  They were basted at end of cooking with a guava paste (Goya brand) based BBQ sauce, hat tip to Steve Raichlen (again).  Strangely not as spicy as expected and a bit too citrusy (overzealous with the microplane I guess).
 
The rice and beans are basmati rice (what I had on hand, a great long grain rice) and kidney beans, with coconut milk, a green scotch bonnet pepper (halved, then removed after cooking), green onions (bruised whole, removed after cooking), a sauteed onion, several cloves garlic, the diced up smoked flap from the spare ribs, several spices (the usuals, allspice etc), a hint of soy, and salt and pepper.  Surpisingly mild, but nice mellow flavor.
 
Then some bulla cake that I did not make myself (nice sweet spicey flavor), some fresh pineapple, and a Dark and Stormy with Goya ginger beer and Bermudan "Black Seal" rum.

[capozzoli]

Pretty damn delicious lookin there nic. Drink sounds good too, I love ginger beer, its usually kinda spicy hot. Been thinking about making it homemade, ever try that?

The Caribbean store should have that cake of creamed coconut that comes in a box. Real good stuff for making all kinds of things. Works great in Indian cooking and Thai cooking. There is also this Puerto Rican coconut ice cream that I want to learn how to make, I get it at this little bodega near my work. No diary is involved, its more like a coconut milk water ice. It is awesome.

[tygo]

Made up some potato cakes inspired by Capps post above to go with some beef tenderloins tonight.  Skipped the garlic and added some chopped scallions.  Also squeezed as much of the water out of the potatoes as I could and then added the starch back in.  Laid the steaks on the cakes and topped it all with a Bearnaise sauce.  Outstanding.

[nicneufeld]

Drink sounds good too, I love ginger beer, its usually kinda spicy hot. Been thinking about making it homemade, ever try that?

Yep, but its always the bona fide fermented beer, not a non-alcoholic pseudo-soda as most ginger beer is.  A ginger porter I did back in my extract days was great.  Very tasty, and spicy.  It's just too much work to manage a false fermentation to make a naturally carbonated non-alcoholic ginger beer.

The Goya ginger beer, I looked at the ingredients...after several kinds of ginger extract it lists "capsicum".  Holy crap that's why it was so spicy!  They kicked it up with cayenne!!!  Good stuff though.

[gail]

Every try using a Ginger Beer plant?  Makes great ginger beer (non-alcoholic or very low alcohol) very easily.  Carbonates naturally, needs very little to no sanitation and the recipes are really easy to modify to your tastes.  Raj Apte did a presentation at the AHA conference in 2006, if you search his name and ginger beer plant, you'll find a lot of info. Mike Dixon, whom I believe has posted a number of times on this Forum also has a number of really good recipes that can be found on the web. 
Time to make another batch...the sunlight coming in my windows is getting nice and warm, perfect for a good ginger beer ferment.
Gail