That was me and I think I heard about his method after I made my last batch of gumbo. I can’t use the method now because something is wrong with my over, either it doesn’t get hot enough or it gets way too hot. I can’t rely on it for any baking.
My friend from Louisiana who gave me her gumbo recipe used Tony Cachere’s instant roux but I haven’t been able to find any instant roux mix in years.
Another previous post reminded me that I am also terrible with biscuits. I can do quick breads just fine but my biscuits suck.
UGH NO!!! You NEVER thicken green chile with corn of any kind, and that includes thickening with masa harena or any other corn mixture. Green chile is only thickened with flour, either in a roux or flour/water at the end.
It is acceptable to thicken red chili with masa or corn chips. But PLEASE, in the name of all that is sacred and holy, do NOT thicken your green chile with corn!!!
I am from Colorado, and we take our green chile very seriously there and in New Mexico.
Please, just stop now before someone gets hurt. Pork green chile, NOT that red stuff. (on preview, what TripleTee said)
Bobo, start by cooking your pork (not some skinny little lean piece of pig – you need fatty pork for a good bowl of green) on low, until most of the fat is melted. Then sprinkle liberally with flour, stir, sprinkle some more, and stir until the flour is incorporated into the grease. Sprinkle a little bit more flour, and stir a little more. If it’s blending very easily, you’ll need more flour. If it’s the consistancy of play-doh & gravel, add a teeny bit of crisco at a time, stirring like hell after each addition, until it’s a just bit too stiff to be a classic white roux. Keep the heat low, you don’t want to scorch it.
My cheesesteaks never turn out quite right. I can’t find the proper rolls for them around here, and the consistency of the steak is always a little odd. They’re not bad, just not the way I want them.
I’m starting to believe that real green chile is not something easily found in the rest of the country. You’re missing out, but that leaves more for me.
My last batch was made after I learned the magic of roux, it was thick and tortilla-sticking good, but lacking in flavor. I cut way back on the cumin this time (in a good way) but I think I was a little light on onions and I know I didn’t have enough peppers. I’m fairly conservative with my salt, which is something I really need to get over.
Fatty pork, eh?
Two batches ago I used plenty of peppers (50% habaneros, my hands were bleeding… wear gloves, boys and girls!), but it was so tongue-searingly hot that no one had any idea what the taste might have been. I saved some of it for those jokers that always claim they’ve never had a green chile that was too hot for them. They never again made that claim around me.
Some day. Oh yes, some day I’ll make a good batch. Then you’ll all be sorry! MWA HA HA <cough> ha hah haaaa!
Top round or ribeye is the cut generally used in Philly, if that helps any. You just gotta slice it very thin. I just ask the butcher to put it through the slicer on the thinnest setting. That’s usually about right. If you want to get thinner, you’ll have to freeze or partially freeze the meat first.
But, yeah, the rolls…good luck in trying to find a suitable replacement for an Amoroso roll. If you ever do, let me know.
OK what you want for chiles is New Mexico chiles. Preferrably Hatch chiles. It’s like when someone gives you a recipe for lasagna that calls for Parmigiano-Reggiano and instead you use Kraft Parmesan cheese. Uh…no. The only substitute for Hatch chiles is certain chiles from other places in New Mexico, or Colorado. The soil is suited for growing chiles in those places. Anaheims are really not a substitute. The only time of the year you can get fresh chiles is August or September, or you can get frozen which are good, but you will need to go online and order from Hatch directly. You want chiles that are fire roasted.
In terms of heat, there are various levels, all the way from Big Jim to Sandia to Lumbre. Lumbre green chiles are as hot as anything you would ever want to eat. So there is no need to boost the heat with a habanero or other variety of pepper.
You can do a search online for Hatch chiles and find several places that sell them and will ship them frozen to you overnight. You can get them fire roasted, peeled, and chopped, or in lesser levels of preparation.
Maybe I should decrypt my location - Hatch’s sets up a stand every year not 5 miles from here and they were happy to sell me all those habaneros a few years ago, even roasted them.
The flavor of the things can’t be beat, but I’ve cut back to using 2 or 3 in a pot just for the flavor. And New Mexico really is the only place to get decent peppers - usually get a bushel or two and freeze them so I have some all year.
Green chile is like spaghetti, I think. If mama knew how to cook and you grew up with her spaghetti, you spend the rest of your life trying to copy it or marry someone who will. Mom’s chile wasn’t always very good, but her best combined with the stuff I’ve found in little hole-in-the-wall, “no habla Inglis places”… Damn, I’m getting hungry.
Next I need to learn to make tortillas like that Mexican grandma that lived across the street.
Chinese food. We’ve got an awesome Wok and I go to the local market and get fresh ingredients and sauces and spices and so on, but whenever I cook Chinese food, it’s… nothing like Chinese, not even the uninspired stuff you get from Shopping Mall Food Court Chinese places.
That’s not to say my almost-but-not-quite-entirely-unlike-Chinese food is inedible (it’s actually quite nice!), but it’s still about as far as it’s possible to get from Chinese cooking without crossing the line into “Beef & Oyster Sauce flavoured Stew”. :smack:
Oh, chicken tikka is fine and relatively simple to do - though best done in a stone oven, which I don’t have - but it’s chicken tikka masala that eludes me (i.e. the sauce). The day-glo pink stuff.
Hamburgers. I do not know what Fuddruckers does to their damn hamburger meat to make it taste so fucking divine, but mine always tastes like blah. I fail as an American. :[
Scones. I’m never very happy with the ones I make at home. Ones made from a mix usually turn out better than ones from scratch, but there’s just something not-quite-right about them. Maybe not enough salt, or too much liquid?
Pork crackling. For me, it always turns out floppy, chewy, and horrible. So I put it back in the oven for a bit longer, and it comes out floppy, chewy, horrible, and burnt.
Welcome to SDMB Toast Museum! This link is worth every penny of the $15 bucks to become a member. Follow the instruction in the first post and you will be a turkey cooking God (or Goddess as the case may be).
Thanks! I’ve tried both, sort of halfway freezing and slicing them myself, but they just don’t taste like what I get in Philly, or heck, even from the decent delivery place in town. They’re still good, just not as authentic as I would like. Better than Subway or Hot Pockets, but not quite the way I want them yet.
I’m at a loss as to the rolls; I’ve tried about 20 different kinds, and nothing is right. I wonder if I could find a recipe and make my own…
(on preview, what TripleTee said)
