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Bubba

Dec 27, 2005, 11:03 AM

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La Ruta del Sabor

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I've mentioned this show before but for those of you who missed the post, I mention it again because this show is not only entertaining but is an eye-opener regarding rural Mexican cooking. The show comes on every week at least a couple of times on Mexico's educational station Canal Once. If you get local cable where-ever you are you can probably get this channel.

This somewhat clownish but amusing fellow goes from one rural region to another interviewing local chefs who then prepare local specialties over the air. Some of these chefs, such as a locally famous chef in Veracruz recently interviewed, come up with really memorable dishes - his was a killer Huachinango Veracruzano . Sometimes you can watch as a local chef completely destroys something as delicate as fresh trout, smothering it in chiles, tomatoes and other vegetables inappropriate to this delicacy. as I saw recently when the show visited Valle de Bravo.

Yesterday, this guy was in Guaymas and came up with this recipe for Machaca (dried beef) soup:

Fry a large, smashed garlic clove in lard
Add to the pan:
Sliced mild cliles. They used "Chiles Caribes" and another chile I can't remember but I suggest Chawa Chiles and "Guera" or yellow chiles - that sort of thing. Mild and flavorful - not particularly hot.
Diced tomatoes that have been roasted and peeled
Sliced onions
Machaca
Cook all this and add:
Caldo de res already prepared according to your own recipe or storebought stuff.

All of this stuff is kind of, well, thrown together so proportion your ingredients according to your taste.

In addition to the Machaca Soup, the chefs prepared Albondigas de Camarones with oregano in a tomato based broth that looked pretty good and a pastry which escapes me but also looked tempting.

The important thing is that this show demonstrates some of the techniques used by rural chefs in Mexico to prepare local specialties. You can never tell if the final dish good or not because local custom forbids the interviewer from not liking the prepared food presented him but, the point is, the show is both fun and educational.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Dec 27, 2005, 11:15 AM)