Wed Aug 31, 2011 at 02:00:00 AM EDT
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( - promoted by Dreamer)
photo from Always Hungry
Apologies: I had a brain fart & screwed up the "publish" time. Without checking my calendar, I was thinking tomorrow was Sept. 1. So this wants to post as the Thursday Open, despite my efforts to change the publish date/time. Am posting a few hours early rather than a day late. Yes, you can laugh at me now...
A New Yorker after my own heart...
Ms. Fain, a seventh-generation Texan who grew up outside Houston and has lived in New York for 15 years, writes the Homesick Texan blog, which gets 15,000 page views daily.
snip
But homesick Texans still despair at the paucity of RoTel canned tomatoes and chiles. Ms. Fain once took a train to New Jersey and walked an hour to a store she thought might stock them, but didn't.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08...
BTW, I can attest to the quality of Ro*Tel. I bought a case at a discount grocery a few years ago & fell in love. Sometimes Sav-A-Lot has them, sometimes not: but when they do, I try to stock up, no matter what the expiration date is. Delicious! |
| Youffraita :: Wed. Open: Frito Pie |
[B]esides visiting Texas five or six times a year, she stays committed to New York. "Texas is wide and spread out and you have to drive a long time to get anywhere," she said. "I grew up watching 'Sesame Street' and found the whole New York way of life charming, living above shops. It was the polar opposite of what I knew. And the thing is, I really wanted to get out. I was tired of it. In 1995 I moved here with a big group of friends. After a few years some left, and when 9/11 happened, the rest said, 'I'm out of here.' " She lifted her chin. "I was even more resolved to stay," she said. "I felt very protective of New York."
On to the food!
Here's her chili recipe: no beans or tomatoes need apply!
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
New York Times article: One-Hour Texas Chili Recipe
Image from Homesick Texan
Homesick Texan: Frito Pie with One-Hour Texas Chili Recipe
NB: Our ground beef is too finely ground for Texas-style chili, so she rolls it into little marbles before browning it. I should think it would be easier to just buy a pound or so of boneless chuck & carefully process it yourself in a food processor or meat grinder, if you have one.
Image from Surly Girl Saloon's Restaurant Week 2009 Menu
And here's her Frito Pie:
Into an open bag of Fritos, or a bowl or plate containing Fritos, add chili, shredded Cheddar, and diced onions. The bag method is apparently a staple of football games in Texas: but it seems awfully messy (kids would love it).
Image from Me So Hungry
P.S.: I don't know why she had trouble finding masa harina in Chelsea. I could always find it in the groceries in Hell's Kitchen, which is immediately north of Chelsea. And I was there twelve years before she was -- and before the influx of Mexicans from Puebla made finding Mexican ingredients so much easier. But I am with her on this: I, too, have used masa harina to thicken too-thin chili, and love it: the masa adds to the chili a really nice corn flavor and it doesn't take much to thicken it: it doesn't tend to get lumpy, either, the way flour might if you just sprinkled it in. |
