Good food day

[LizStreithorst]

My Victoriox chef knife was delivered to day. I can't believe how sharp it is. I imagine that the other two will be delivered tomorrow.

I left work early and drove into Hattiesburg. I delivered 20 fish to the pet store. The culinary store for rich folks is right next door to them. Imagine that. I got inexpensive stuff...a spider, an Oxo hand egg beater, and a thermometer for deep frying. Alas, they did not have a mandolin. They had various slicers but they were not what I wanted.

Then I drove thorough congested traffic in my old truck (for a country bumpkin whose old truck doesn't have AC) to FedEX and picked up the box that had my cast iron tortilla griddle, a pressure cooker cook book, and a mortar and pestle made from volcanic rock that will take a world of work to season.

Then I drove to plump nearly to the slaughter house where I was able to buy 2 beef tongues and 2 beef kidneys. I know what I'll be having for dinner on my days off. I can't wait!

I wanted to stop for sushi at a wonderful place but I ran out of patience. Oh well...

 

[cinisajoy]

Congratulations on your new items.

I am assuming you will be making corn tortillas with your press. Plastic wrap works better than wax paper. Do not forget it as scraping a tortilla off the press is not fun.

You said you bought corn to make tortillas. Are you going to try to make the corn flour yourself?
Note: you need masa harina not corn meal.

 

[LizStreithorst]

I bought the right kind of whole corn. I have the cast iron press. I've read that a plastic bag cut in half works best. Most say that you need a hand grinder but someone, perhaps it was Alton Brown, said that a food processor works just fine. I'm going to try the food processor first since I have one.

I won't be doing it this weekend. I'll be making kidney stew and tongue. Perhaps next weekend.

 

[cinisajoy]

I wish you all the luck in the world. You are braver than I am.
You will need to grind the corn super fine.
You do have a cast iron griddle for cooking the tortillas.
I find plastic wrap works better because you can leave the tortillas on one sheet while cooking the rest. Plastic bags would get expensive in a hurry.
One other tip, get the griddle hot before putting the tortillas on it. Set a timer because that 45 seconds to a minute cook time goes fast.
I discovered it is easier to make all the balls, press one, put it on the griddle, press another, flip tortilla, repeat. Oh heat the griddle before you start the balls.
Hope this helps.

 

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks much. I need expert advice since this will be my first time. The whole process is intimidating to me. I can't believe that when I lived in Mexico I just walked to the tortillaria and picked up half a pound of them for a few pennies. They were perfection itself. I had no clue how hard making them myself would be. But you know how it is when you get a craving for flavors past that are not available for love nor money.

I know that I'll have fun trying. I hope that I am somewhat successful on my first try. A bit of success and a bit of progress is all it takes to make me keep trying for perfection. Luckily I enjoy a challenge as well as spending a long time working in the kitchen.

 

[skilletlicker]

I'm a little jealous

Your new molcajete is The original American food processor. I'm looking forward to hearing about your masa experiences. I remember seeing Alton Brown's Good Eats episode using the food processor but didn't try it myself. Would also be interested in hearing more about your trip to the slaughter house. Have fun.

 

[LizStreithorst]

I had fun at the slaughter house but it doesn't take much for me to have fun. I didn't walk back to were the gentlemen were cutting meat. I thought that it would have been not proper to walk into their working space. I just got close and watched from the customer area. He had already cut the tongues from the heads of the steers before I got there. I have no idea what they do with the rest of the head.

The sides of beef were on hooks and the butcher pulled a lever and they came out from the meat cooler. He sliced out the kidneys from 2 different sides of beef for me. Another guy took the side of beef and used a band saw to cut it into a workable length and put it on a table and proceeded to cut rib steaks by hand. Everyone had a steel hanging from his belt.

I asked the lady what brand of knives they use. I was impressed by how easily they cut through the meat. She tried to find out by looking in the files but she didn't find the answer and I didn't want to have her bother the working guys to ask them. She said that they buy "leftovers" from some place but she didn't know the name of place or if there was just one specific brand of knife they use. All I saw during the short time I was there were filet knives but I just saw 2 guys working. That's all I know.

 

[cinisajoy]

Making corn tortillas is an art form. Please do let us know how they turn out.
Oh on my block, it is over 50% Mexicans. Guess how many Mexicans on the block make tortillas.
They all buy them.

 

[cinisajoy]

I had fun at the slaughter house but it doesn't take much for me to have fun. I didn't walk back to were the gentlemen were cutting meat. I thought that it would have been not proper to walk into their working space. I just got close and watched from the customer area. He had already cut the tongues from the heads of the steers before I got there. I have no idea what they do with the rest of the head.

The sides of beef were on hooks and the butcher pulled a lever and they came out from the meat cooler. He sliced out the kidneys from 2 different sides of beef for me. Another guy took the side of beef and used a band saw to cut it into a workable length and put it on a table and proceeded to cut rib steaks by hand. Everyone had a steel hanging from his belt.

I asked the lady what brand of knives they use. I was impressed by how easily they cut through the meat. She tried to find out by looking in the files but she didn't find the answer and I didn't want to have her bother the working guys to ask them. She said that they buy "leftovers" from some place but she didn't know the name of place or if there was just one specific brand of knife they use. All I saw during the short time I was there were filet knives but I just saw 2 guys working. That's all I know.

If it is anything like most restaurants, the meat cutters usually bring/buy their own knives. Or if the company provides the knives each cutter will more than likely have "his" knives that are sharpened to "his" liking.

 

[skilletlicker]

I live in a small city about 300 miles north of you. We have neither a commercial slaughter house nor even a butcher shop that has "hanging beef." Now I'm really jealous.

 

[LizStreithorst]

Where to people in the rural areas by Memphis take their cattle for slaughter? Surely they don't drive them to Hattiesburg. There has to be a place close to you that you don't know of because you're a city boy.

Down here we're all cow/calf and chicken houses. My own county used to be all dairy but that was way back when a man could support a family and send his kids to college milking 40 cows. That time is long past, alas.

 

[skilletlicker]

I tried to research it a few years ago. There are such places catering to butchering single animals, game and domestic, but none that I could go to and buy stuff from. At least that I could find at the time. Some of the good Mexican grocers have good meat counters, carnicerias. Middle eastern stores have whole carcass goat and lamb. That's the best I've been able to find.

 

[LizStreithorst]

This place slaughters animals for individuals. I can buy a tongue or a kidney because most folk who take animals in for slaughter don't care about the "nasty bits". I can't go in there and buy a steak or a standing rib roast.

I envy you having a place where you can buy lamb. I can get lamb chops at my supermarket but the price would make you faint. If I want lamb I have to buy the entire slaughtered lamb from my veterinarian's brother who keeps sheep to train his Border Collies for the herding competitions. Then I'd have to take the whole thing to the place where I bought the tongues and kidneys and have them cut it up for me. then I'd have to try to find room for it in my little bitty deep freeze.

See, You're the lucky one, city boy

 

[skilletlicker]

If you want to find out the closest place to you for good lamb, call the nearest mosque or Islamic center.

 

[giggler]

what will you do with the tongues?

I love Lengue, and get them from my father's whole grass fed beef operation, as he finds them hard to sell.

Muy Bien! Eric, Austin Tx.

 

[Addie]

Isn't it great fun when you get new toys to play with in the kitchen?

When I lived in Everett, there is a meat market that was just two doors away from me. Three times a week the huge trailers would pull in from Chicago and unload the whole carcasses of cattle and pigs. Then in front of the Deli counter, there is a huge window and you can see the men in the back room cutting up the carcasses while hanging on a hook. It makes your head spin at how fast they can cut up the whole animal. One time I bought a four rib roast for the holiday. I wanted a strip of beef suet. I watched as they cut it right from the animal, wrapped it and brought it out to me. No charge for it either. I did have to wait a few minutes though while they cut the roast off for me. And bless their hearts, they left the fat cap in place. That roast came out perfect. That was more than ten years ago and my daughter still talks about it. Can't get service like that in a supermarket.

When I lived in South Texas, my neighbor across the street was Mexican. She made her tortillas by hand, slapping them back and forth as if she was clapping. I am still of awe of her skills. When I worked at the little Mexican bar the owner made her tortillas the same way. Her name was Mama Lupe. The nicest person you could ever know. She took me and my baby under her wing. I think of her quite often with great fondness.

 

[LizStreithorst]

Sorry for responding so late. I'm not very chatty until I get home from work.

Skilletlicker, to my astonishment there is an Islamic community in Hattiesburg. There is a Mosque and there are 2 restaurants and a grocery. Unfortunately, the grocery doesn't sell meat. I sure do want to visit the restaurant. Perhaps Saturday. I close my shop at noon Saturdays. I can't wait!

giggler, I'll pickle the tongues for 12 to 14 days and then braise it low and slow in the oven. It's good hot but even better cold in sandwiches with spicy mustard on good rye bread.

If I get the nerve up to make the home made tortillas I'll have tacos de lengua. I need to find a recipe for authentic salsa verde...one with a burn to it that is not available in a can.

 

[siciliana]

Mexican food in the UK will never compare to that of the real thing... Just reading about it here makes me wanna go back there right now