Have you noticed how many people that have spent thousands to redo their kitchens with Viking ranges, full sets of All-Clad cookware and state of the art refrigerators never cook? I’d love a great professional range but clearly it’ s not a guarantee of being a good cook or even developing an interest in cooking.
I think this P’urhépecha cook helps bring it all back into perspective. Her metate is state of the art for the task of preparing masa, in this case from blue corn, but her "range" is homemade and I’d guess the clay comal is made by hand as well. The white paste is lime, or CaL, and it’s used to make the masa (soaking the corn in lime water loosens the skins of the corn) and to keep the tortillas from sticking to the comal. Note that she’s got some tomatoes and chiles heating up on the side, probably for a salsa.
I took this photo in Uruapan, in Michoacan.
Oh, man…this part of Vermont is the land of the $100,000 kitchen for people who don’t cook. I’ve done catering jobs in a few of them; most are hilariously devoid of tools & equipment. In one of them the Viking range had never had its oven calibrated, which I discovered in the middle of trying to roast a rack of veal.
I’m having a love affair with poblanos, too…I put 12 plants in the garden this year! My current favorite thing is to make rajas with onions and mexican oregano and lime juice (no crema) and serve them fajita-style with grilled flank steak and flour tortillas.
I know what you mean about the gourmet kitchens for people who never cook. Also, I have seen suburbanites that spend a fortune on their dream home, move in, unpack their 1980’s pans from their “single” days, then fill the sub-zero with processed food, and then don’t even have a decent glass to drink from or a knife to slice a tomato with. They give me a tour and expect me to be impressed. I have a cheap kitchen but a few decent pans and some good wine and food. To most of America, it’s all about the “show”.
Hi GG. How do you roast your chiles? I used to do an open flame but now I roll them around a comal and then finish them with a blow torch, an idea from our mutual friend, memesuze. Is your season in VT long enough for chiles? Sorry, I’m ignorant.
Michelle, that made me laugh! I can just feel the flimsy K-mart “never needs sharpening!” knife in my hand now! And the warped non-stick T-Fal frypan with half the coating gone. What we could teach them!