http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x75361Oh my.
You know, though, I'm getting mildly disturbed by the continued absence of Mrs. Alfred Packer, the "hippywife" primitive, from the cooking and baking forum; it just doesn't seem the same place without her.
The late Tangerine LaBamba once described a spat with Mrs. Alfred Packer, after which Mrs. Alfred Packer disappeared from this forum for a while; one wonders if Mrs. Alfred Packer, who's now posting in the Lounge, had another spat with another primitive, and we missed it.
Anyway.
grasswire (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-27-10 10:53 PM
THE FARMERETTE FROM WISCONSIN
Original message
What dishes do you think of as "Latin" food?
A family member has just been hired as executive chef for a restaurant startup. The owner wants "Latin" food and there will be many hours spent developing the menu. According to wikipedia, that's anything found from the Rio Grande south to the tip of South America.
But what think ye?
If you went to a "Latin" restaurant, what would you expect or want to find?
I dunno. What was it Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Caligula used to dine on?
EFerrari (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-27-10 11:59 PM
DOUG'S EX-WIFE, #03 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
1. That's an interesting question.
I usually think of ingredients rather than dishes and most of those turn out to be indigenous, not "Latin" -- corn, rice, beans, chiles, squash, peanuts, chocolate -- that type of thing. If you mean Latin Mexican, you'd probably mean pork or goat. Latin Brazilian is more likely beef.
I'd say your friend has a very wide field of choice.
grasswire (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 03:13 AM
THE FARMERETTE FROM WISCONSIN
Response to Reply #1
7. definitely
I've spent a fascinating day reading about all the varied cuisines and culling out some ideas. Looks like some of the ingredients on the list will be goat, llama, turtle, shrimp, quinoa of course, quail, beef. Apparently one of the problems in finding a supplier of llama meat is that North Americans consider them pets even if they are farmed. Turtle meat will probably have to come from Louisiana.
EFerrari (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 03:39 AM
DOUG'S EX-WIFE, #03 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #7
8. Maybe it would be more useful to think of these dishes as smokey or taken in the direction of citrus or savory because it'a a big palette. But most of these dishes fall into one of those three categories unless I'm forgetting something (which is more likely than not. I'm up waiting on bread tonight.)
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 12:22 AM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
2. The Rio Grande goes north-south for much of its length
something the Wiki authors obviously missed, and Latin food exists on both sides of it here in NM. NM cuisine is largely developed from the native cuisine and involves corn, beans, chiles, and squash, with whatever meat they could get. These days, it's mostly pork because it's cheap and plentiful, but it can be just about anything and it's been supplemented by all the various things we have available now in the way of other v*****s and spices.
However, since the owner has lumped Latin together as though it's one cuisine instead of the fantastic fusion cuisines one finds all over this hemisphere, I'd hazard a guess that he's looking for hotel food but with lime and chile.
Your friend needs to pin him down a little more, in other words.
grasswire (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 03:06 AM
THE FARMERETTE FROM WISCONSIN
Response to Reply #2
6. I don't see that he has lumped anything together as one
The owner has lived and traveled all over Central and South America, so when he says "Latin" it appears he's just using it as one might say "European" or "African". He wants to have a menu reminiscent of the small eateries he encountered here and there.
elleng (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 04:09 AM
Response to Reply #2
9. LIME jumped right into my mind!
htuttle (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 12:24 AM
Response to Original message
3. I was going to say, "make Spanish food with indigenous American ingredients"
...But they already do that in Spain -- so you could probably do well by just making Spanish food and calling it 'Latin'.
Mind_your_head (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-28-10 01:35 AM
Response to Original message
4. ceviche .
I ran into a recipe (that I've since used many times) where you can use this technique on chicken. Ceviche is not just for seafood anymore....
Marinate/cook in lime juice first, then 'finish' on a bbq grill. Served with a black bean sauce. It's quite awesome, imo.
I dunno. I consulted the
Annals of Imperial Rome, and couldn't find mention of the chow popular in that time and place.
