As a lifelong Midwesterner with strong Eastern European leanings the idea of spending a lot of time in the South is exciting. But….
Yeah, there are “but’s” to everything….
And I’m wondering what does a guy who’s eaten stroganoff and goulash and pierogi and pigs in a blanket all his life do when he’s surrounded by corn tortillas, beans, menudo and cabrito? I’ve been pondering this for some time now.
Historically we don’t eat a lot of rice. We do eat rice, but we eat a lot more pasta than rice. We do eat beans, but more commonly it’s baked beans, or white bean soup, not refried beans, or pintos or black beans.
I love bread, but when I say that it means I love leavened bread. When I say bread I’m never thinking of tortillas. Just saying.
I use a lot of cayenne and peppers; I don’t use jalapeños or serranos. I like them well enough, and I like heat in my food — but my recipe repertoire simply never included them.
I’ve been wondering what I should start cooking to “prepare” my new recipe book for retirement in the S.W. It’s a quandry. We have a significant Hispanic population in Milwaukee, and several very nice Hispanic grocery outlets — but when I walk the aisles I’m a bit at a loss about what to try. I love the wider variety of produce and access to some of the offal that is harder to find in mainstream Midwestern groceries. But walking the aisles I draw a blank when I think about what I should buy for the next week’s menu.
I’ll figure this out. I’m sure I will. We should probably visit a lot more Mexican restaurants ( snicker – sounds like a good excuse to eat out a lot, doesn’t it? ). That way we’ll expand our repertoire of tastes and maybe even learn some recipes. Kathryn (our daughter) has found a place here in town that she really likes, Guanajuato. She thinks it’s authentic and tasty. We have yet to make it to the place to find out.
Related articles
- Today’s Recipe: Black Bean Tacos with Avocado Salsa (williams-sonoma.com)
- How To Hack Chipotle (thoughtcatalog.com)
- Delicious Refried Beans (mexicanjewish.com)
- Homemade Corn Tortillas (spoonful.com)
- Grandma Urbanski’s Potato Pierogi (spoonful.com)
