376830 Fri Mar 02 18:52:36 -0800 2007 12 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 2264012 Hey Balam... I am glad you are on the site. I have a pestering question that dates back to 2003.... and no answer yet. If I go to the mercados in the Yucatan, I see all kinds of vegetables & fruits. However, at the tourist restaurants... you rarely see the zucchini, cabbage, & chayotes etc., in use. And when ever I come across Yucatecan recipes.... nothing... just mentions of the classic dishes like Cochinita Pibil etc., Given that in Central Mexico... there is a huge difference between restaurant & home cooking.... could you please iluminate us, on what people in the Yucatan actually eat during their everyday meals? Tue Feb 06 06:10:27 -0800 2007 42572 Eat_Nopal 1 2269207 An obvious answer to your first inquest about the fruits and veggies is because you’ve been to the TOURIST restaurants. Tourist restaurants tend to accommodate to the Anglo taste because like I said before, people or tourist just might not be willing to try the more exotic foods or blends of spices. Those who are willing to try go to smaller restaurants in towns not cities. If you go to the mini restaurant on the corner, where it might not look that pleasing you’ll find all sorts of fruits and veggies there and maybe even someone willing to send out to get what you want. Or try eating in el Mercado it might not look pleasing but they’ll have everything there at their disposition. Inquest # 2: recipes… hummm tough…. Wonder why that is… chaya con huevo uses a veggie. Puchero uses all kinds of veggies including banana. Chayote empanizado, nopales con huevos…. Hummm … good question. My only theory would be because Cochinita and such aren’t “common” or easy to make and they suppose that the above mentioned are easy to make and everybody “knows” how to cook the obvious & the above isn’t as exotic as Cochinita and such. Maybe that’s it. Well some of what I mentioned above is what we eat in Yucatan. And we eat black beans as if they were the food of the gods. We cook them with meat or with out (frijol kabash) colados with scrambled eggs(or just anything that we want to eat them with), Bistec Ensebollado (S.O.T.D. @ El Rey Pakal Yesterday by the way) escabech is very popular because its relatively easy to prepare and most people can only afford to buy chicken or they grow chikens in their yards. Entomatado de Puerco is another one. SOUP is a major thing for us. Chicken Noudle soup uses any type of veggie you want to add and rice. Chicken soup only has veggies no noodle or rice. Chocolomo uses radishes for the garnish. Mondongo . Sopa boracha (drunken soup) used beans and tortillas with its garnishes. Ensalada de novios, its potato with carots peas, chicken and mayo. (BTW I herd these are some of the specials for up coming weekends @ el rey pakal. ) Most of what is on the menu at El Rey Pakal we eat al least once a month. Fruit is eaten everyday all day because most people have some sort of fruit tree in their backyards and they sell fruit on the streets, matter of fact my grandma sells and eats her oranges all day and then she goes to my other grandmas house and makes orange salad with lemon, salt and habanero powder. With all this food talk … Im going to Lunch!!!! Wed Feb 07 12:14:35 -0800 2007 2264012 68913 BalamQuitze 2 2269400 >she goes to my other grandmas house and makes orange salad with lemon, salt and habanero powder.< What an idea for a salad! Did you mean fresh lemon (juice?) or a powder that includes lemon, salt and habanero? Wed Feb 07 12:52:41 -0800 2007 2269207 10724 Mick Ruthven 3 2269428 That does sound delicious -- and similar to the fresh fruit with lime juice, salt and chile you get from fruit carts in Oakland. I'll have to look out for habanero powder, as the fruitiness of habaneros would be extra delicious with fruit! Wed Feb 07 12:56:39 -0800 2007 2269400 10159 Ruth Lafler 4 2269801 If habenero powder is the same as ground habeneros, then La Borinquena in Oakland sells it. This did sound good so I trotted outside and picked a lemon and an orange and made this. It was nice. However, dried habenero loses most of the fruitiness leaving behind the heat. Could be the spice lost some nuances sitting around a little while in my cabinet. Microwaving a fresh habenero will dry it. You could always grind that up ... don't breathe too deeply. I can't imagine that post on NAF ... my lungs are on fire ...anyone have an antidote to inhaling habenero powder? Wed Feb 07 14:06:21 -0800 2007 2269428 10264 rworange 5 2269878 Orange supremes, Papaya, Avocado, Yucatan style marinated onions, julienned Habaneros & Chaya.... had that in one of the nice Haciendas outside of Merida. Pretty damn good. Wed Feb 07 14:25:31 -0800 2007 2269801 42572 Eat_Nopal 3 2421809 fresh! Mon Mar 26 10:52:45 -0700 2007 2269400 68913 BalamQuitze 2 2269776 Thanks.... same thing happens in Central Mexico.... vegetables are eaten at home not at restaurants... with the exception of Fondas which basically serve home cooking for people that work for from home. What is a typical meal at home like? Wed Feb 07 14:00:02 -0800 2007 2269207 42572 Eat_Nopal 3 2421902 EN, here in Cali, Colombia, the supermarkets (and not the public markets) now have a great selection of tropical and temperate fruits and vegetables. And I can't understand it: Colombians at home or dining out don't eat a lot of the stocked items. People have asked me what I do with some of the vegetables (e.g., Chinese cabbage, kales, ginger, artichokes, diakon, sprouts...) when I've put them in may cart. I can't figure out how the stores can afford to stock some of the stuff. On the other hand, other threads have included links to Colombian (processed) foods. All available here, obviouosly, but I don't buy any of those. Mon Mar 26 11:14:42 -0700 2007 2269776 36661 Sam Fujisaka 4 2422286 Time will tell if the supermarket produce managers know what they are doing. An interesting phenomenon in Mexico... as some regions have begun to grow produce alsmost specifically for foreign markets.... Artichokes, Eggplant & others... its interesting to see how the grassroots cooks adapt them, and create regional specialties. Last time I was in Mazatlan and ventured towards the Big Ag regions.... I had Berenjena A La Diabla (Eggplant grilled then braised in a simple reddish mole of Peanuts, Chile Piquin & Onions).... my friend just got back from Valle del Tepoztlan... where he had Brocolini "Tempura" in Green Pipian Sauce at one of the little "trail side" eateries outside the National Park with the snowy peak. Mon Mar 26 12:45:49 -0700 2007 2421902 42572 Eat_Nopal 5 2422806 Yes, Mexico has been producing crops for winter sales in the US for 35 years, and more recently higher value crops. A bit of what we do is work with small farmers on high value crops. In one meeting we met with the produce buyer for "my" grocery store (La 14). He seemed to know what he was doing. While Mexican food is in my top five, Colombian food is just not very interesting. Take beans, people here almost exclusively eat large reds; yet small blacks and large whites are available--for people like me? Mon Mar 26 14:47:30 -0700 2007 2422286 36661 Sam Fujisaka 6 2423180 You are probably the only person that might not think I am foolish... but at Quinta Eulalia in Cuzco... they had a Nopal Cactus growing in a planter box... trying to find out whether it was ever eaten there, I asked them about it... the restaurant owner looked at me like I was trying to poison him when I explained how to cook it. I also noticed plenty of Maguey growing around the Sacred Valley.... no one even bothered to use them as a cooking instrument (i.e., wrap around an animal to slow roast) much less to make any spirits... I was fairly dissappointed at the lack of experimentation. Mon Mar 26 16:28:05 -0700 2007 2422806 42572 Eat_Nopal 7 2423243 Hilarious! Love it. Few months back, those green tiraditas de nopal en los tacos fueron supremamente deliciosas! I remember the maguey all around the sacred valley. They didn't look they were ever used for anything. Mon Mar 26 16:49:43 -0700 2007 2423180 36661 Sam Fujisaka