Saucyman: No Time to Write; Must Cook

Friday, April 9, 2010

No Time to Write; Must Cook

And clean. People are coming over for dinner tomorrow. Chicken Mole, rice, beans – I’ll have Carl take time out from the poeming to hand roll some tortillas. To get started - Beer and Empandas of corn, cilantro, shallot, lime and fresh cheese; ice cream with tamarind caramel and coffee macaroons to finish.

Mole isn’t really one particular thing – it is a Nahuatl word meaning mixture or concoction – Guac-a-mole is the most prevalent type of mole, but generally when people refer to a Mole, they are talking about Mole Poblano – rich, chili based sauce that contains over 2 dozen ingredients. Because one ingredient is chocolate (and the sauce is a beautiful chocolate brown), the dish is sometimes described in a shorthanded way as - a spicy chocolate sauce, which really isn’t all that accurate. And I should really do a better job of explaining it. Besides if you were in Oaxaca feasting on the real, true, honest sauce, you would be getting cacao seeds instead of chocolate ground into your Mole.

There are many fantastical stories surrounding the birth of Mole Poblano…One known as Meal Comes for the Archbishop credits the origin of the dish to Sor Andrea, sister superior of the Santa Rosa Convent, wishing to give thanks and praise to the clergy who funded her New World order invented this dish to honor the Archbishop. In another narrative, it is a Viceroy (or more probably, the Viceroy’s cook) who serves the dish to either Spanish nobles or high church officials. People love these food genesis stories…As I have mentioned before all the same elements are present – a big wig, a notable occasion and a middling scribe who records what a big whop this is.

It’s as if centuries from now historians promulgate the idea the Philly Cheese Steak was invented because Sarah Palin visited a Philadelphia establishment. Reporters, a Presidential Campaign, a visiting governor from the frontier – so the owner of the restaurant threw together a dish that would both reflect their local community and honor the common-folk nature of the dignitary. Stories like these are always nonsense. Cooks make food with the ingredients available to them. Again not to get all Howard Zinn about this [stuff], it is entirely possible for a dish to have existed before it crossed the lips of the Archduke of Inbredness. Just sayin.

Besides for tomorrow’s meal, there aren’t any nobles and unless Carl writes something as well, only I will be there to record the occasion. Plus, I am not inventing anything, I am using Rick Bayless’ recipe, although Diane Kennedy’s is both good and similar, the Bayless book is a tradition. Now I have to get to the kitchen, 26 ingredients don’t combine themselves.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Basketball

Since the lockout ended, I have been largely silent about the great sport of basketball. Despite Brandon Roy retiring, despite my beloved Blazer’s sprint out of the blocks to a really good start, despite my home team playing a style of basketball than can no longer be described as Van Gundying (Jeff) up the sport’s fluidity.

I don’t know, some interesting developments transpired: During the lockout, analysts and beat writers, the very people who possibly think about professional basketball more than I do, had a light bulb go on over their collective heads and across the league they discovered what everyone else pretty much already knew, NBA Commissioner David Stern is a dick. Over the last decade Stern forced bankrupt municipalities to build new stadiums for billionaires’ new play thing, this heavy handed behavior garnered nothing but praise. The writers sighed and thought eh, “we live in the suburbs, we write for suburban middle managers, our values are if anything anti-urban” - with all the weight that word carries. But needlessly locking out players jeopardizing their tenuous employment in publishing, well that is something that we might complain about except they hate the players more - Oh the conflict.

But mostly I can’t get excited about any team helmed by Nate McMillan. We’ll make the playoffs with a pretty good but not best record, maybe get home court advantage in the first round and then fail to advance. This is true until McMillan proves otherwise, 11 years a coach out of the first round once - this record while coaching some pretty good but not great teams. Along the way Nate will overplay star forwards LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace so there is nothing in the tank come playoff time and risk their health. And yo-yo Nicholas Batum’s minutes so the young player becomes a head case instead of developing into a consistent contributor.

So a predictable finish is part of the my own jejune response to the return of the sport of kings (not really, that's horse racing) maybe it's the sweet science (damnit google says that's boxing). My attitude goes deeper than a finish more predictable than one of McMillan's earth toned, triple pleated suits, if the lockout exposed a fault line in NBA coverage it's that broadcasters and writers are now PR agents for the teams - so who is left to advocate for the fan - thank goodness for blogs and the posting cyborg that is named Henry Abbott.

2nd round or bust