Hi Glo:
This salsa will last in the refridgerator for about 7-10 days after opening it. Thanks for your support.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Alex:

No, unfortunately, after 37 years my mom retired (my father died when I was in my teens) and sold the Hickory House to a fellow who had neither the smarts nor the capital to keep it running. After less than a year, he closed the place.


Sincerely,
Rick

Charles:

The big tortilla presses are used a lot in southern Mexico, especially Oaxaca. I bought that one at the Central de Abastos market in Oaxaca. It's the market that's on the outskirts of town. But you can find large tortilla presses in many towns in central and southern Mexico.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Jim:

That caramel sauce I used from the bottle is called cajeta (pronounced ca-HAY-ta). It's made from goats milk (some versions use cows milk or a mixture of the two) cooked for a long time with sugar and cinnamon until the natural milk sugars turn a golden color. It's amazing stuff!


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Alexander:
That was the topic of the introduction to my last book, Mexican Everyday. But in a nutshell, (1) I avoid processed foods and beverages, (2) I eat small meals throughout the day, never eating too much at any one meal, but never allowing myself to get hungry, (3) I eat slowly, so I know when I've had enough, (4) I eat simple fresh foods for my everyday meals (like the recipes that are in Mexican Everyday), (5) I celebrate with food (meaning I feast) on the weekends or other special times--in contract to my simpler daily eating, and (6) I stay really active--I do yoga, I do weight training, I walk and bike everywhere.


Sincerely,
Rick

Thanks for the feedback. I only do one tour a year to Mexico, and it's designed pretty much for food professionals (though we let really dedicated "foodies" come along, too). It's the first week of March each year, and this year we'll be in Puebla and Tlaxcala. There will be a lot of cooking classes (by me and others), market visits, restaurant meals and, of course, a party or two. You can sign up by going to http://www.prochef.com/wof_travel/oaxaca.html


Sincerely,
Rick

HI Alex,
I am more than happy to sign books at the June 11th event. I won't be having a "formal" book signing, but find me (or ask for help) and I will be glad to sign any of my books.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear LAS DINAS:

Tongue takes time. You need to cook it for hours (a slow-cooker works well, though some people--not me--swear by their pressure cooker, which I think makes the tongue stringy). When you want to cook tongue, cover it about half-way with water, throw in a chopped onion, a little garlic, and some herbs and bake it in a 325-degree oven (or put it in a slow-cooker) for about 3 hours (longer for slow cooker). When it fork-tender, let it cool in the broth, then strip off the exterior layer, pull out the cartilage that's on the underside and slice the meat that remains. Sounds like a lot of work, I know, but I LOVE tongue.

Now, about that sauce. To make it I roast tomatillos and garlic, and I dry-toast chiles negros (aka pasilla chiles). After rehydrating the chiles for a half hour, I blend them with the tomatillos and garlic. I strain the mixture into a deep pot that's filmed with oil and heated over medium-high. I stir until the mixture is cooked down to a thick paste, then I add some broth (some of the cooking broth from the tongue would be good). Season the sauce with salt. Slide the tongue into the sauce and let it cook for another half hour or so. Then remove the tongue, slice it and serve it with the sauce, preferably sprinkled with cilantro and sliced white onion.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Amy:

The dish you enjoyed is the ancient Mayan dip called sikil pak ('sikil' for 'pumpkin seeds,' 'pak' for tomato). On the Fifth Season of Mexico-One Plate at a Time (airing in early 2007) I do make the following version:

Yucatecan Pumpkinseed Dip
Ha Si Kil Pac

1 cup of hulled pumpkinseeds
2 ripe plum tomatoes
medium red onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 habanero chile, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
The juice of 1 lime (or sour orange)
Salt

1. Toast and grind the pumpkinseeds. Measure the seeds into a small saucepan or skillet, set over medium heat and, when the first one pops, stir constantly until all have popped from flat to round, about 5 minutes. Dont let them darken past golden or the dip will taste bitter. Pour into a food processor, let cool, then grind to as smooth a paste as possible, dribbling in about cup water during the grinding process and scraping down the sides several times to ensure even grinding.
2. Roast the tomatoes. Roast the tomatoes, peel and chop into -inch pieces.
3. Finish the dip. In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkinseed paste, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and half of the chile. Stir in enough lime (or sour orange) juice to give the mixture a dip-like consistency. Taste and season with salt (usually about ____ teaspoon) and more habanero if you wish.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Paul:

Okay. Here's a suggestion for your day-after turkey sandwich. Take that cranberry sauce (it's probably flavored with some sugar, maybe some orange, hopefully some onion and garlic) and add some chopped canned chipotle chile to it. If there's no garlic in your sauce, add some--but roast it first (or at least pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to take the raw taste away). Then add some diced jicama to the sauce, if you can find it, and a little drizzle of lime. Into the mayonnaise for your sandwich, stir a litte of the smoky, tangy, tomatoey canning broth (the "adobo") from the chipotles. This is one of my favorite sandwiches.

RB


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear MommaLizzard:

Xoconostle--that's how most people spell it; it's pronounced ho-co-NO-stlay or sho-co-NO-stlay--is the sour prickly pear. In Mexico it's most commonly used as an addition to soups--in place of lime. It's simply peeled, chopped and added. It's also a good addition to fruit crisps or blended, strained and simmered with sugar to become a dessert sauce orfrozen into a fruit ice.


Sincerely,
Rick

Hi S&D:
I will be doing all demonstrations from my new book (Mexican Everyday)--including being on-air on the Milwaukee Public Television Station. I am looking forward to all the events that are planned. As far as the luncheon--my chef friends are taking care of that for me--cooking from the new book. So I will find out when you do!


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Nils:

Congratulations on the new baby! Being a dad is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. But trying to balance everything that's going on in my life is the most difficult part of my work. I have an amazing group of co-workers who help me keep everything growing ... plus I try not to be involved in everything all the time. Sometimes I'm focussing on TV, other times very intensely on my restaurants or books, other times just on my family or some personal persuit. (I wrote a lot about all this in the introduction to my latest book--Mexican Everyday--that's just hitting the bookstores now.) I still have to keep all the balls in the air, but one is usually getting more attention than the others for a short time.

As far as holding my own in a sports conversation with Skip ... can anyone hold his own in a sports conversation with Skip? Personally, I don't even try (and I'd suggest you not try either unless you have a masochistic streak). Maybe that's just the bullied younger brother in me talking.

Being able to release our shows on HD channels has really opened a lot of eyes. We're think it's pretty cool, too.

And about Iron Chef. We were pretty proud of what we did, even though the "judging" is a little WWE-like, if you get my drift. But the whole experience was really cool.

Good luck with that baby.




Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Janet:

I'm assuming that you're putting together a festive-but-nice dinner. For me that means an appetizer, a soup, a main course and a dessert. So here goes, with recipes from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: I'd start with the shrimp seviche with roasted cactus (page 88)--one of my all-time favorite appetizers; then I'd serve the chipotle-spiked roasted garlic soup (page 120) and follow with either the bacalao-stuffed chile (page 360) because bacalao is traditional for Christmas Eve, or the chile-seasoned pot-roasted pork (page 378) because roasted pork leg is traditional for Christmas Eve, too. The deluxe version of tres leches cake would be wonderful for dessert (page 394)


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Betty:

Wow! Recipes for two kinds of tamales and pozole would take up pages and pages of this blog. Besides, the recipes for tamales need photos or drawings to make them clear. To have really good success, what I think you need is a copy of Mexico--One Plate at a Time. You'll find fool-proof recipes for all of those dishes. If you're just looking for a tamal refresher, I'll pass along that my favorite (and classic) tamal batter is made from 10 ounces rich-tasting pork lard (1 1/4 cups), 1 1/2 teapsoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 pounds (about 4 cups) fresh coarse-ground corn masa for tamales, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chicken or pork broth. (I beat the lard, baking powder and salt until it's light and fluffy, then beat in the masa in three additions alternating with the broth. For the lightest tamales, a small drop of the batter should float in a cup of cold water and it should look like cake batter.) When I make the sweet tamales, I substitute butter for the lard (or at least part of it) and milk for the broth (or sometimes pureed pineapple goes in for the broth).

Pozole is another whole story. I'll just say that for really special occasions, I always cook the pozole corn from scratch rather than using canned (you can buy pozole corn to cook--meaning that it's already been briefly cooked with the mineral lime to remove the outer hull--from a tortilla factory if you ask for nixtamal; or buy dried pozole corn from loschileros.com. Cooking the corn with a pigs head will give you the most authentic (and full, delicious) flavor.


Sincerely,
Rick