[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger]
Never had a taco?!?! Next thing, you’re going to tell me you’ve never had any green chile!
A taco is a corn tortilla, cooked into a hard “U” shape, filled with spiced meat, and usually lettuce, tomato, salsa, cheese, and/or sour cream.
Tasty goodness. Although, all Mexican food is the same, really, just beans, meat, cheese, and tortilla.
[/QUOTE]
What ??? no onions??? FOS on you.
I’d just like to point out that I’m not claiming that I’m in any way correct in my chili/chile interpretations, could well be something I just made up one time and have stuck with it.
On my way to have some Lebanese food right now at a place that’s renowned for its lack of tacos or green chilie
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger]
Never had a taco?!?! Next thing, you’re going to tell me you’ve never had any green chile!
A taco is a corn tortilla, cooked into a hard “U” shape, filled with spiced meat, and usually lettuce, tomato, salsa, cheese, and/or sour cream.
Tasty goodness. Although, all Mexican food is the same, really, just beans, meat, cheese, and tortilla.
[/QUOTE]
(I’m assuming this is tongue-in-cheek, right?)
Anyhow, around these parts tacos are generally made with soft corn tortillas and the standard topping is onions and cilantro. Cheese, tomato, and lettuce, are sort-of considered gringo toppings.
A taco may be filled with pretty much anything. Common fillings around here are beef, goat, chicken, pork, shrimp, tripe, brain, tongue, eyeballs, etc. Meat may be grilled, steamed, cut off a spit (as in al pastor), or fried. Deep-fried potato tacos are also available at certain places, as are San Diego-style fish tacos (battered, deep-fried, topped with mayo and cabbage), although those are very difficult to find around here.
Mexican food is a vibrant and very regional cuisine. From the Yucatan, with their bitter orange, habanero, and banana leafs, to Oaxaca’s famous seven moles, Mexican cuisine is very diverse. Chicago happens to be a great place to live if you like Mexican food because you can get the different regional speciliaties here. You can go to a place that specializes in the cochinita pibil of the Yucatan, or a Pueblan mole, or the seafood preparations of Veracruz, or Oaxacan tamales wrapped in banana leaves, etc… There’s just so much to explore and so much delicious food south of the border.
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
Southern Colorado & northern New Mexico knows how things are to be done. No Tex-Mex, no fish - just pork or beef (special allowances might be made for good chicken), cheese, salsa, lettuce, & tomato (if the salsa isn’t fresh) in a corn tortilla.
Mmmmm…
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Not for me. Can’t stand lettuce (or cheese) on a taco. Only onions and cilantro and perhaps a salsa of some sort.
Fish tacos are absolutely authentic. That’s how they’re done in the baja. My favorite tacos are probably tacos al pastor (heavily marinaded pork, cut off a gyros-type spit, usually topped with a sliver of pineapple, accompanied by radishes, key limes, and roasted cebollita (knob onions)) and Baja fish tacos.
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger]
Chile is roasted and pealed, while chili is dried and ground. I’ve never had any raw pork? Well… I have, but never as part of a dish. While sober.
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OK, let’s get the language part of this out of the way. A “chili” is either a stew created with peppers and spices or a hot pepper. A “chile” just refers to the hot pepper. When referring to peppers, depending on where you are and what your stylebook says, “chili” or “chile” can be used interchangeably. For instance, “Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
Now, where it gets confusing is when one starts talking about “chili powder.” “Chili powder” is normally a spice mixture used to season the stew known as chili. It is a mixture of dried, powdered, hot peppers, cumin, and other spices.
Sometimes you will see a recipe (usually a non-American one) call for “chile powder.” That is usually asking not for chili powder, but for powdered chiles (chilis), which are just the dried and ground hot peppers without any sort of additional ingredients. To avoid confusion, I use the terms “chili powder” and “powdered chiles” to distinguish between the two.
Confusing enough?
Chili = stew or hot peppers
Chile = hot peppers or South American country
Chili powder = spice mixture of dried, ground hot peppers, cumin, other stuff.
Chile powder/powdered chiles = dried, ground hot peppers
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
<snip>I’d eat a box of rubber bands if they had a good green chili on them.
[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t we all? 
And I know what you’re trying to say. It’s funny that you mention the spelling, as I remember having a test in middle school New Mexico history, where that was one of the questions.
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
I’m curious as to what this was. It sounds like it might have been xuxu (also known as chayote, which does become pretty soft and squashlike when boiled, although not (in my experience) what I’d call “gooey.” My other thought was that it might have contained quiabo (okra), but if my wife’s preparation is any indication, they usually have the good sense to (literally) boil the snot out of it before serving…
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The gooey part literally looked like the slime coming of of the eggs in Alien, or the goo that Neo was in in the Matrix. It was served as a side dish at a restaurant at the bottom of the elevator in Salvador. I was in Brazil for three weeks, and that was the only place I ate where I was disappointed, so that may be some indication of their good sense? I could see the okra seeds, though, I think it was meant to scoop onto the main dish, kind of like salsa or sour cream would be used.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
<snip>
Chili = stew or hot peppers
Chile = hot peppers or South American country
Chili powder = spice mixture of dried, ground hot peppers, cumin, other stuff.
Chile powder/powdered chiles = dried, ground hot peppers
[/QUOTE]
The only thing I’d add is that Tex-Mex style made from ground hot peppers with beans and hamburger meat would be considered chili.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
(I’m assuming this is tongue-in-cheek, right?)
[/QUOTE]
Which part?
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine]
What ??? no onions??? FOS on you.
[/QUOTE]
There’s no need for onions when you have green chile.
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger]
(snip)
Tasty goodness. Although, all Mexican food is the same, really, just beans, meat, cheese, and tortilla.
[/QUOTE]
Now, that’s a blatantly scummy statement if I ever have read one.
Ever heard about mole con pollo?
So, obviously: vote Pygmy Rugger
My God, I hate you all. looks forlornly at empty wallet and class schedule–until 9 p.m. tonight
(Recipe for fajitas con carne, please? big eyes)
[QUOTE=DiggitCamara]
Now, that’s a blatantly scummy statement if I ever have read one.
Ever heard about mole con pollo?
So, obviously: vote Pygmy Rugger
[/QUOTE]
That’s the part I was assuming was tongue in cheek. Well, and the hard shell taco part, too. I thought Pygmy Rugger was riffing on American’s idea of Mexican food watching Taco Bell commercials.
Of course, any country’s cuisine can be reduced to a statement like that:
All Italian food is the same, really, just pasta, sauce, and cheese.
All Indian food is the same, really, just meat or veggies, a curried sauce, and rice.
All German food is the same, really, just sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes.
All British food is the same really, just crap. d&r
(Actually, I quite enjoy British food that’s well-prepared and London is perhaps the best city in the world for eating. Any where did I first discover the joy that is Indian/Pakistani food? No other place than Wolverhampton.)
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
That’s the part I was assuming was tongue in cheek. Of course, any country’s cuisine can be reduced to a statement like that:
All Italian food is the same, really, just pasta, sauce, and cheese.
All Indian food is the same, really, just meat or veggies, a curried sauce, and rice.
All German food is the same, really, just sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes.
All British food is the same really, just crap. d&r
(Actually, I quite enjoy British food that’s well-prepared and London is perhaps the best city in the world for eating.)
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My statement was tongue in cheek as well. That’s why I added the “voting” part. But I couldn’t resist presenting some alternative food available to us mexicans.
[QUOTE=DiggitCamara]
My statement was tongue in cheek as well. That’s why I added the “voting” part. But I couldn’t resist presenting some alternative food available to us mexicans.
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I can’t handle all the layers of tongue-in-cheek-ness here!