Food Photo Round-Up #2 - Part 2

We've been on a bit of a Korean food kick lately. Case in point above, Samgyeopsal - slices of grilled pork belly, painted with Korean chili paste and eaten wrapped in a lettuce leaf with some sliced garlic.

And below, our take on Daeji Bulgogi - Korean spicy bbq pork:



We haven't been neglecting Mexican food, though. We recently did up a big batch of tamales:



When we make tamales, we do a variety of fillings. Sherry wraps them in different shapes so that we can tell which is which.

Keeping with the masa theme, here is our first go at making gorditas:



The key to a gordita is that the masa is thicker than a tortilla. When you fry it, it gets crispy on the outside, but still has a soft texture in the middle. These ones were filled with chorizo and cheese.

Rounding out the Mexican fare is a breakfast of Huevos Cubanos - eggs in saucy black beans with fried plantains and bacon:



We had this dish when we were in Veracruz, and finally got around to making it ourselves.

Not a picture of food, but the dining room at Misión 19 in Tijuana:



We went down for dinner with a group of like-minded folks and had a really great meal.

Turning to inspiration from across the pond, we recently made fondant potatoes for the first time:



A popular side dish in the UK that you rarely see on menus here, fondant potatoes get browned in olive oil and then get finished in the oven with the addition of stock and butter. The result is golden on the outside and tender on the inside.

Sherry was craving crêpes the other day, so she got out Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and found this Gâteau de Crêpes à la Florentine:



Rich and decadent. I love the way it feels to take a bite as your fork cuts through the many layers of crêpes.

And finally over to Spain for some gazpacho:



We had a record tomato harvest this year, and gazpacho is a great way to use them when they are ripe. We used to make gazpacho in the blender, but we've migrated to a more rustic, chunky version that we like a lot better.

2nd Annual Somerton Tamale Festival

This past Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves in downtown Somerton, Arizona - a few miles outside of Yuma. So, why were we in Somerton? For the their 2nd Annual Tamale Festival, of course.

We got the heads-up about the festival from Ed over at mmm-yoso. As a happy coincidence, we were already planning on driving back from visiting Sherry's folks in the Tucson area on the day of the event, and our route goes right through Yuma.

When we got there in the early afternoon, the festival was in full swing.



They closed off the main drag through town and both sides of the street were lined with dozens of vendors selling tamales at $1.50 a pop. We found a stand that was doing a good business (multiple people ahead of us were buying their tamales a dozen at a time) and ordered a beef tamal.



It came hot out of the steamer, and was just begging to be opened:



Inside, the brilliant yellow-orange masa was filled with shreds of tender beef in a red sauce, along with some strips of green chile. The masa had great texture and flavor.



Next up, ordering a pork tamal.



The pork was finely minced, and had nice rich taste. As a bonus, there were a few slices of potato inside as well.



The next tamal we tried was our favorite of the day - a corn and green chile tamal. The masa had an amazing fresh corn taste (I assume they must puree fresh corn and add it to the mix), and the green chiles had a great spicy kick to them. Fantastic tamal.



Our only disappointment of the day was our final tamal - cheese and green chile. Ironically, this one came from the vendor voted "most authentic" at last year's fest. In addition to being pretty skimpy in size, the masa did not have very good texture or flavor. Oh well, you can't win them all.



As we were leaving, we noticed one of the vendors preparing a fresh batch of tamales. Probably getting ready for the dinner rush (the festival ran until 10pm).



Overall, we really enjoyed the festival. It made a perfect lunch stop on our trip home.

Update: Ed from mmm-yoso just posted part one of his pictures from this year's festival. Check it out here.

Tamales Ancira

Tamales Ancira, a store that has been operating in Chula Vista since 1989, opened up a location on Garnet Avenue here in Pacific Beach about a year or so ago. While they aren't going to make us forget about the tamales we had in Oaxaca, they do a very good job and we are really lucky to have such a great place just a few blocks away from our house.



They are primarily a take-out business, but they do have a few small tables if you want to eat there. You can order your tamales a la carte, or as a combo plate with rice and beans.

Here is the 3-tamal combo plate:



If you order tamales a la carte, they wrap them up nicely for you.



They also give you salsas, cheese and crema. Today they were out of their red salsa, but we got their green salsas. One is a traditional tomatillo-based salsa verde, and the other is a mixture of green and red chiles. Both are relatively mild, but very tasty.



First up, the chicken tamal. They do it in a flavorful red sauce. I love the way the redness stains the masa.



Chicharrón isn't my favorite thing in the world, but they do a good version - cooked until fully soft and not chewy like it sometimes can be.



The picadillo is generally very good, but this time around the meat was a bit dry. Like all the others however, the masa was flavorful, soft and well seasoned.



Here is the pork tamal - moist shreds of meat in a green sauce.



And finally, the beef tamal. Like the chicken, it is in a red sauce. This one has been our favorite of all we've tried so far - earthy, savory and very satisfying.



If you are near PB and are craving tamales, definitely check them out.

Tamales Ancira
1404 Garnet Ave.
(858) 270-1810
Open Mon-Sat, 9:00-9:00PM and Sun 10:00-5:00PM

Oaxaca - Tamales at the Etla Market

Our first tasting on our cooking school visit to the Etla market was a series of four tamales that were easily the best we've ever had. The first was a Tamal de Frijol - filled with a refried black bean mixture. The green bits you can see are Hierba Santa.

The next tamal was Flor de Calabaza (squash blossom). The entire tamal had a great green color, speckled with orange from the flowers. Some chunks of pork added a savory contrast.



Up next was a chicken tamal with a tomato base. Simple, but very flavorful. Interestingly, this tamal and the previous one used masa that wasn't a consistent fine grind. Instead, there were coarsely ground bits of maiz providing a texture we hadn't previously encountered - really nice.



The final tamal we tasted was a Tamal de Mole Coloradito. This one was a typical "Oaxacaño" tamal, wrapped in banana leaf with looser masa and a more saucy filling than the others. It had an incredibly rich intense taste.



The vendor had two or three more varieties, but since this was only the beginning of our market tour we had to save room for later.

Mexico City - Slow Food Tamalada and Mescal Tasting

While in Mexico City, we were fortunate enough to be able to attend a Slow Food event organized by Ruth Alegria, who leads the local Condesa/Roma Convivium. The event showcased seven different types of tamales from different parts of Mexico. The variety of different textures and flavors was fantastic.

In addition to more standard versions of red and green salsas, there was a really interesting red salsa that had chorizo added to it. It was fairly spicy, and had great flavor.



Probably our favorite tamal was one of the corn husk versions, called a "tamal verde". The masa was very soft, having almost the consistency of mashed potatoes.



In addition to the tamales, there were a number of mescals on hand for tasting, all of which had quite individual flavors. My favorite mescal of the evening was one from Oaxaca called Tobala.