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I grew up in NM and lived there most of my life until the last two years in Texas (yeah, yeah, I know!) We grew up on flat stacked enchiladas with an egg on top and I have yet to see them that way here in Texas. Also, we are used to chile rellenos made with the long Hatch green chiles, but here they are made with poblano peppers which are kind of like a bell pepper (yuk!). I'm surprised by the variation of mexican food between Texas and NM. When we are in Mexico, (deep Mexico like Oaxaca) we see black beans rather than pintos.
I grew up in NM and lived there most of my life until the last two years in Texas (yeah, yeah, I know!) We grew up on flat stacked enchiladas with an egg on top and I have yet to see them that way here in Texas. Also, we are used to chile rellenos made with the long Hatch green chiles, but here they are made with poblano peppers which are kind of like a bell pepper (yuk!). I'm surprised by the variation of mexican food between Texas and NM. When we are in Mexico, (deep Mexico like Oaxaca) we see black beans rather than pintos.
I was raised in S Texas and my Dad always had my mom make him flat enchiladas with a fried egg on top and until this post started I never realized it was a NM thing, which is where he was raised. I like flat enchiladas but no egg on top, yechhhh
I grew up in NM and lived there most of my life until the last two years in Texas (yeah, yeah, I know!) We grew up on flat stacked enchiladas with an egg on top and I have yet to see them that way here in Texas. Also, we are used to chile rellenos made with the long Hatch green chiles, but here they are made with poblano peppers which are kind of like a bell pepper (yuk!). I'm surprised by the variation of mexican food between Texas and NM. When we are in Mexico, (deep Mexico like Oaxaca) we see black beans rather than pintos.
I grew up in West Texas--and we had rellenos (battered or not) made with Anaheim or New Mexican green. My favorite restaurant would serve them unbattered over a delicious filling, topped with melting cheese on a thick, ceramic plate so hot that they had to use hotpads to bring them to the table.
Poblanos are also used in some restaurants in Texas--and Mexico also (I've lived in the interior central part).
I didn't have flat enchiladas until passing through Santa Fe on our way back to Texas several years ago. They're an easier, lazier way to make enchiladas, and I find myself making them more and more.
As for NM food here in Alamogordo, it is just so damn bland--and I for one am just sick of it. Tried a local restaurant the other day for breakfast.
Huevos rancheros--and they bring me a plastic plate, 2 corn tortillas with eggs over easy, topped with red chile sauce that was supposed to be hotter than the green....the food was cold. The @#$% cheese on top wasn't even beginning to melt.
I sent it back to the kitchen--warming it up improved it somewhat, but it was still so bland. The beans and hash browns on the side had NO flavor whatsoever.
I give up. I'll just cook good food at home--and forget about eating out here. Went out with the bunch the other night to another restaurant (not so called New Mexican/Mexican/whatever the hell)...and it was the usual cool, tasteless bland food.
I've had it. Period. Give me good Mexican/Tex-Mex any day, and I'm not going to find it here. Have to go over to Tularosa (Casa de Suenos, which serves a blend of Mexican-New Mexican) or El Paso if I want something good to eat.
Margo's (Mexican) isn't too bad. At least it has more heat and flavor than most of the other tasteless offerings here. I just don't see how a town so close to the border can have such lousy, tasteless food almost all the way across the board.
I grew up in NM and lived there most of my life until the last two years in Texas (yeah, yeah, I know!) We grew up on flat stacked enchiladas with an egg on top and I have yet to see them that way here in Texas. Also, we are used to chile rellenos made with the long Hatch green chiles, but here they are made with poblano peppers which are kind of like a bell pepper (yuk!). I'm surprised by the variation of mexican food between Texas and NM. When we are in Mexico, (deep Mexico like Oaxaca) we see black beans rather than pintos.
hey, I agree about the chili Rellenos but in all fairness, they are easier to make using poblano peppers.
Isn't our New Mexico cuisine a blending of Mexican, Spanish and Native American cuisines with the defining factor being the ubiquitous New Mexico chile, rojo or verde? For example, perhaps the etiology of the sopapilla is found in the very similar Navajo frybread.
I do know from traveling all over Mexico that there are as many local Mexican cuisines as there are regions of Mexico, very similar to traveling in Portugal and finding 20 different regional ways to cook bacalhau fresco. So there is not one Mexican cuisine.
In New Mexico I have had chile rellenos all over the state, and never the exact same way twice. Each restaurant & even each chef develops a unique style. LOL but nothing beats those little hole-in-the-wall places in the south valley! I'm thawing out corn tortillas right now just thinking about it, getting hungry!!
Isn't our New Mexico cuisine a blending of Mexican, Spanish and Native American cuisines with the defining factor being the ubiquitous New Mexico chile, rojo or verde? For example, perhaps the etiology of the sopapilla is found in the very similar Navajo frybread.
Yes, it is a blending, and also many times what is available and how the chef wanted or tried to cook it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bongo
I do know from traveling all over Mexico that there are as many local Mexican cuisines as there are regions of Mexico, very similar to traveling in Portugal and finding 20 different regional ways to cook bacalhau fresco. So there is not one Mexican cuisine.
Yes, well stated. I have driven from El Paso to Panama with a group, and lived in Europe for four years, a year in the Caribbean and two years in the Orient. I still have a lot to learn, and a lot to see. Too many places to eat and not enough time. I tend to prefer Mexican/New Mexican/Tex-Mex in spite of my travels, that is one reason I live here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by bongo
In New Mexico I have had chile rellenos all over the state, and never the exact same way twice. Each restaurant & even each chef develops a unique style. LOL but nothing beats those little hole-in-the-wall places in the south valley! I'm thawing out corn tortillas right now just thinking about it, getting hungry!!
About the only food I find the same would be some of the fast food, like McDonalds (Which is pretty much the same the same in The US, Germany, Japan etc)
Just finished a batch of my home made "Salsa Verde". Roasted tomatillos, chilis, garlic, onions. Cilantro, salt, lime.
hey, I agree about the chili Rellenos but in all fairness, they are easier to make using poblano peppers.
Nita
You must not like HOT chiles? Poblanos are as mild as bells. I guess maybe people like the poblanos because they are "meatier" than the Anaheim or Hatch chiles. But the flavor and spice of the long greens are what make them popular for the rest of us.
Incidentally, I much prefer my rellenos stuffed with asadero cheese - no meat - and deep fried in egg batter. Also known as queso Oaxaca or quesillo Oaxaca. A rare treat is to find them stuffed with Queso Añejo (goat milk cheese).
Rich said:
Quote:
Just finished a batch of my home made "Salsa Verde".
Oh man! It's supper time and I'm drooling into the keyboard. About the only thing I attempt myself is making chile con queso using the "Autumn Roast" variety of frozen Bueno Brand chopped chiles.
Northern New Mexico cuisine is sort of like Lous Armstrong's quotation about jazz music, "If you have to ask what it is, you'll never know." Visit some of the small towns in New Mexico--not the resorts like Santa Fe or Taos--and order up some northern New Mexico dishes at one of the authentic "hole in the wall" restaurants. Then you'll know the difference.
And, yes, there is nothing better than stacked enchiladas with a fried egg on top.
Oh man! It's supper time and I'm drooling into the keyboard. About the only thing I attempt myself is making chile con queso using the "Autumn Roast" variety of frozen Bueno Brand chopped chiles.
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That is probably the last batch chili's I roast in the oven. It works well, just too much work. Plus all I could get fresh were jalapeño's, Serrano and Poblanno's. Goining to start trying frozen chili's.
Would canned work as well as frozen? I know for dishes that use whole chiles such as rellenos the canned ones hold up a little better than the frozen that get kind of mushy. However for salsas maybe that doesn't matter so much?
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