Something Easy, Something Easier

So this blog is a little late but better late than never. So a few weeks ago I set out on two challenges; the first was making homemade cheese, the second was having a a couple and their baby over for dinner but not spend all day cooking. Let's start with the cheese...

First off making fresh cheese (or Queso Fresco) is surprisingly easy and requires about 45 minutes of active cooking time and 2 to 3 hours of passive cooking time. What do you need? Well it's pretty simple a Gallon of Whole Milk, two cups of Buttermilk, some Citric Acid (which you can actually find at grocery stores, usually called Sour Salt) and a cheese cloth.

It really is easy to make and well worth trying it out. The more and more I am making fresh homemade food the more and more it makes me think about where our food comes from and how it gets there. As an American culture why don't we drive to local farms and learn how to milk a cow, or churn some butter, or make our own cheese? I think if we did these kinds of activities and really see where our food comes from and how it is made we would think of food not just as fuel but really as a little miracle on a plate.

Now on to the dinner party...

When discussing this project with other people one of the complaints I hear regularly is that they would love to have people over more often but cooking is so time consuming. The solution for many is not to have anyone over or buy a bunch of prepackaged pre-made food. While it is true you certainly can spend hours cooking a feast it doesn't have to be this way. In fact I made simple chipotle rubbed skirt steak and chicken tacos (with homemade corn tortillas), cowboy beans, and tomatilla salsa con queso fresco in about an hour and a half. The best part was when our guests came over I taught our friend Chelsea how to make the corn tortillas and she took over and made the whole batch.

This was so rewarding to me because it is part of what I want this blog to be about. Community through food. Here we had our guests and their baby and we all participated in making and eating this great but simple food. And it was all made from scratch!! We knew exactly what we were eating and it was so flavorful (if I do say so myself)!

I guess this project teaches me more and more that good food made from scratch (even cheese) doesn't have to be complicated.

Separating the Curds from the Whey

The final product

Tomatilla Salsa con Queso Fresco

The feast

Homemade Tortillas

Tacos

My Molcajete named Bonita (Thanks Chelsea for the name)

Chelsea and her little Sous Chef Owen

p.s.

For any of you adventurous types who want to make your own cheese here is a link to the recipe:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=214

and here is a great cookbook of fairly quick and delicious (and surprisingly healthy) mexican food.

http://www.rickbayless.com/cookbooks/mexicaneveryday.html

The Mole Poblano was made with care...

So this year we have started a new tradition, (I'm not sure if my wife knows this yet) but I am going to make Mole Poblano for Christmas Eve dinner.

Typically, to make a decent Mole sauce it takes around 4-6 hours and a typical recipe calls for an average of 26 ingredients. Needless to say this is not everyday food.

But if you have never cooked a complex meal that takes six hours, I recommend it. That's right, I recommend it. There is something very rewarding about putting 6 hours of work into a recipe, but at the same time there is also something very scary about the idea it may not taste good.

Sometimes I like to think of food as a gift. Six hours of hard work to present this gift of food to your friends or family. Secretly, this is one of the reasons I like to cook.

Speaking of friends and family, Emily and I had a different kind of Christmas this year with some great ups and some big downs. Family has been a big part of our married lives, and for the last six years we have alternated holidays between three families (her parents, my mom, and my dad). This has led to great adventures and experiences as well as some great bouts of exhaustion. So now that we have a baby we decided this year we would spend Christmas by ourselves. There really was something great about waking up on our own schedule (well Maia's schedule really) to a quiet house with just the three of us. Having a day that was directed by our own agenda and nobody else's and enjoying the company of just the three of us was really great. However, with that said we did miss our families...opening presents together, eating breakfast together, playing with our toys together, and all things that come with a big family holiday.

On a sad note Emily's grandmother Ruby passed away on Christmas day after a long battle with Alzheimer's. Certainly a blow to the Christmas festivities, however food helped us process it a little together (at least for Emily and I). I'm not talking about the kind of eating to bury your feelings processing, instead I'm talking about cooking together.

We made our Christmas meal together (Filet Mignon with Goat Cheese and Balsamic Glaze, Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Rolls, and Salad) and over cooking and dinner we talked about Ruby, death, Gordon, family, music, our life together and other great conversation. In a sense I think cooking gave us something to do. Some purpose when things don't quite make sense.

On a personal note. Ruby is the third person I know to pass away with this disease. My grandmother as well as my Step Mother's mother were inflicted with this awful disease. I have seen it turn rather sweet old women into sometimes confused, angry, and lost people. Ruby however always took her disease in stride. When she forgot stuff it didn't bother her. If she couldn't remember who you were you still got a hug and a smile. I remember last year at Christmas, Emily's family were all at Gordon and Ruby's house for a dinner celebration. Ruby stated to one of us. "I don't know who all these nice people are but it sure is fun having them here."

And that sums up Ruby...It sure was fun having us there.

Christmas this year made me realize one more thing...It is the holidays where America's food culture still lives. Almost all of us have some sort of Christmas/Christmas eve food tradition, wether it's Turkey, Kringle, Mole Poblano, or just ordering Chinese food, these Holidays invoke a sense of tradition built around food (and maybe presents).

Okay now it's time for food porn!

Enchiladas con Mole Poblano

Christmas Dinner

Emily's Bouche de Noel

Emily's Kringle (a recipe her Grandmother used to make)

Community Through Tamales

So when I started thinking about this project a few weeks ago it made sense to me that the first community meal should be Tamales. To me it seems this is the one Mexican meal that everybody takes part in. No matter the age or culinary ability, everybody has there hand in the food. I love the fact that with Tamales you can sit people down, create an assembly line and just go...

To me this feels like community. While everybody works we all talk about everything. Then once the Tamales are in the steamer you have an hour to sit and talk some more, and then we eat. Not only is this slow food but it's social food, food we all take part in. The best part is Tamales are so versatile with their fillings you can have traditional fillings, modern fillings, meat fillings, vegetarian fillings, and dessert fillings!

Our menu consisted of three types of Tamales:

1) A traditional Tamales de Pollo con Chile Verde
2)A less traditional Vegetarian Tamales with Winter Squash Puree, Goat Cheese and Black Beans
3) A dessert Tamale de Dolce con Mangos Confitados

Overall a delicious meal, with great company and food.

Spreading in the Masa Dough

Adding the Chicken Filling

Some of the finished product.

Lessons of Lard

So tomorrow we are having a Tamale party with a few of my colleagues at WSU and as some of you might know pork lard is an important part of the Tamale batter. The problem is you can't get good lard anywhere. Some groceries cary packaged lard and it is okay, but it contains a ton a chemicals so it can sit on the shelf. So what do you do? That's right, you make your own! It is actually surprisingly easy if you have the materials. What do you need?

Pork Fat and an oven. That's it. You melt the pork fat down to clear liquid skim off the cracklings (the brown bits that don't melt) and stick it in the fridge.

Which leads me to my story about food and community for the day. I called every grocery store in the area and nobody carried pork fat. Every butcher I spoke to said their pork came pretty trimmed up already, however one grocery butcher told me about a little butcher shop right outside the town of moscow called C&L Locker.

So I drove out of town and found it. It's a great local run butcher that sells the meat (and fat) of local farms and hunters. Two bucks bought me two pounds of pork fat. I spoke with one of the butchers helping me and remarked I had never known about this place. He commented that he hadn't either until he found out his best friend's parents owned it. The thought struck me that we get comfortable with the places we live but rarely do we go out and explore our cities or towns. Unless we need something we don't go and look for it, and look what I missed. A local butcher helping local farmers survive and thrive!

Later as I was making the fat I came to understand something else. It's exciting making things from scratch. Things you would never usually make like lard, butter, or cheese. These things can be homemade and we never do it. How come? It's true that it can be time consuming but it's time that can be spent as a family, proactively working together to create and share something. In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit my wife wanted nothing to do with the fat or the lard, and stated vehemently it made her want to throw up. But your family might love the novelty!

This comes to my last food thought for tonight. I have been told that homemade lard is WAY better than any store bought lard you can buy. This reminds me of an opinion that I have about Americas obesity epidemic. I think the causes of obesity are multifold however I think one thing that contributes to it is the flavor of our food. The foods that most of us have access to have been under-seasoned, travelled long distances frozen in a truck, etc. So instead of eating high flavored, delicious food which you only need small amounts to feel fulfilled, we eat huge portions of middle of the road seasoned food hoping for satisfaction. If you want to test out this idea of bland frozen food and fresh local food compare a tomato from the grocery store to a home grown one. Your local grocery chain tomato is mealy and flavorless where a home grown one is firm and full of flavor. Once again a little time on our part can provide a richer food experience.

Alright I will step off my soapbox and leave you with some fun facts about lard: It has less saturated fat, more unsaturated fat, and less cholesterol than butter. Also when you whip it looks like buttercream frosting. So spread it on your morning toast and maybe a cupcake!

Community Through Food

About Me:


So a little about me...I am a composer, college professor, husband, father of an 8 month old daughter, and home cook currently living in Eastern Washington.

About This Project:


Let me give you the back story about this blog and this project of mine. For the last several years I have enjoyed cooking at home, and a few months ago I focused my attention solely on authentic Mexican food. This is not the sizzling fajitas or tacos that you find at the "Bell". No this is food from the traditional Mexican culture. From everyday street food to the more celebratory Mole sauce.
Once I began to explore this food it became my ritual to cook a authentic Mexican meal on Saturdays. One Saturday, my wife and I were sitting down enjoying some Pork Verde and I made this comment:

"I would like to start a tradition where every Saturday I cook a big meal. We can invite people over for dinner, or when Maia gets older she can bring her friends over. The point being that people will always be welcome and there will always be food for everyone."

This idea of creating a community through food is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. It seems to me (and I am certainly not the first to say this) that America doesn't really have a food culture anymore. People don't cook together, or eat together. Instead we drive through, or heat up, or get our dinner out of the vending machine. I want to help create a food culture for my daughter. One where we share traditions, commune with friends, and share time together.

So my idea is this...Once or twice a month (at least to begin) our family will have some sort of food celebration. Sometimes large, sometimes small, sometimes grand, and sometimes simple. The food will be made from scratch, and will include either multiple hands involved in the cooking, or me cooking for everyone, or people bringing and sharing their food culture...and then I'll blog about it. Why? Because that's what any good modern trendy generation whatever I am would do. But seriously the idea is to have our community here and than share it with the community out there, and perhaps make you to want to have a food culture of your own. In addition to keep the sense of community going we will try to buy as much locally grown and raised food as possible. For a small town in the middle of nowhere we are blessed with a great farmers market 6 months out of the year as well a great food co-op.

Why Mexican?


My first trip to Mexico was in fifth grade. Believe it or not we took a class field trip and spent a week in the small town Erongaricuaro. I was entranced by the Mexican culture from that point on. I have been back to Mexico several times since and have always enjoyed the culture and the food.

To me Mexican food culture captures all the things that I am setting out to do. Generations of women prepare Mole together, men make stone soup for their wives. Everyone contributes and then shares the day together and eats together. That is what I want!

The simpler answer may also be that this is my favorite food. :) Full of flavor and complexity I always enjoy a real Mexican meal. As this project continues I am sure I will venture into other food. Perhaps food from my Jewish culture or Norwegian culture, but right now I am interested in the food of Mexico. So tune in next week as we start this project with Operation Tamale!