Mexican Small Bite-AKA Taco

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Taco at Los Comales de Durham

Turkey came and went, leaving weeks full of turkey sandwich, turkey pot pie, turkey curry, and turkey noodles to name a few. Hanukkah, Christmas, kwanza and New Year holidays were filled with endless ways to gorge. My body feels tight and in search for a way to feel normal again. In addition to doing more exercise, the Thai in me lay out some food ground rules:
1. Keep the meal small. Too much of anything is never good for you.
2. Eat more often. Don't wait until the extreme hungriness blind you and instigates you to eat your whole house in the process.
3. Eat more garlic, ginger, crunchy green, chili, herbs and citrus to improve your metabolism and blood circulation. I feel rejuvenated after a few doses of the combination. (Next blog, I will tell you of how to eat these items raw and deliciously.)

The first type of food that fits these categories, I think, is Mexican food, or tacos to be exact. Corn tortilla, slow cooked or grilled meat, onion, cilantro, lime and a good salsa, the combination is comfortingly fresh in small bites.

According to the most recent census, North Carolina ranked #10 nationally in Hispanic population. Wake county (Mainly Raleigh, Wake Forest, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Knightdale and Garner) ranks second to Mecklenburg county (Charlotte) in the state, surprisingly. I would have thought that Durham county would be on top when it comes to Hispanic population with the number of taco joints and Hispanic markets popping up on every corner. 

Mexican Market with Fresh Made Tortilla

North Carolina may not be California, Texas or Mexico, but the taco joints in the Triangle area can easily compete with those of a larger metropolitan area. As far as fresh tortillas, a little Mexican grocery store on Durham Road has the DC area beaten by a whole lot.

Basic rules of thumb when it comes to eating tacos.
1. Corn tortilla filled with assorted meat of one choice, topped with onion, cilantro, lime and salsa.
2. The popular fillings come from different parts of a cow and pig. Several joints offer goat and lamb. Often times the meats are slowly simmered or pit roasted until tender, in addition to grilled. For those with adventurous craving, you will also find innards like tripe and stomach on the menu.

Cow Cheek, Head, Goat and Lamb Taco

Los Cameles de Durham. I can't stop thinking about going back to this place, especially on a cold rainy day. Most of the meats here are slow cooked until shred. They offer all sorts of cow parts here--cheek, tongue, head, brain, stomach, and tripe in addition to the usual al pastor or carne adsada. The specialty, I really enjoyed were the goat (Birria de Chivo) and the lamb (Baracoa Borrego). Both dishes were slow cooked, but drastically different in taste. The goat stew was cooked with a different type of chili, as indicated by the reddish color. The lamb, traditionally BBQ/steamed in a pit, was less zesty, but still very tender and tasty. 

Menudo and Beef Tongue Taco

Los Cuates, Old Wake Forest Rd, Raleigh. This place has all the typical taco joint offerings, but I think the best tasting dish is the Menudo-cow tripe and foot spicy soup. Though, ask for a small serving when you order. Made with different types of chili, garlic, onion, oregano, this soup is very rich. I topped the soup with lime, oregano and onion and it was tangy, spicy, warm...tripe delicious.

Fish Taco

Pork Pibil Taco

Gonzo Taco and Tequila in North Raleigh is a more upscale joint. Unlike most clients at the 2 previous restaurants who were mostly Hispanic, this place, you will find Hispanic being a minority in attendance. My favorite tacos here are pork Pibil and the beef tongue (mysterious challenge of the day, according to the menu). Pork Pibil is a Yucatan slow-cooked pork that was marinated with citrus and annatto seed (for reddish color). The beef tongue was slow-cooked as well. Typically, it is boiled with Bay leaves, onion, garlic and peppercorn until tender. After the outer skin layer of the tongue is removed, what's left is pot roast tender.

 

Chain restaurant such as Chubby Taco also has decent, typical selections of taco, but they are not for me.  If a restaurant is not your thing, drive to taco trucks. There are several of them along route 98, between Durham and Raleigh. Knowing how to speak Spanish helps, but you can always point. 

Be adventurous and try. Who says that eating less (and affordable) is not more?
Cheers,
Teera

Cooking it Whole on Christmas Eve:

Grouper

It’s 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside, Christmas Eve morning and you have no idea what to cook for the evening.  I suggest you take a trip to a local market and grab yourself a whole fish, a couple aromatic herbs, saffron and start cooking.  I found myself a Grouper—typically found in the South Atlantic and the Gulf.

Cooking a fish whole does not always extend itself literally.  You can cook it whole in a pot and extract the meat for a fish curry, fry it or steam it whole.  Fish can also be broken apart and cooked in a method appropriate to each part.  I kept the fish fillets and the collarbone to be cooked at the last few minutes of the soup.  I used the bones, which have a lot of meat stuck to them, and the head to develop the base… the oh so deliciously comforting broth.

Taking the Fish Apart

Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

1 whole grouper (3-4 lbs), cleaned and taken apart

2 fennel bulbs, using only the bulb, julienned

1 leek, chopped only the white part

1 onion chopped

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of whole peppercorn

1 can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of sweet paprika, dried ginger, dried Ancho chili

1/2 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons of honey

2 pinches of saffron

Sauté fresh herbs until caramelized. Then add the fish bones and head with 2 teaspoon of salt.  Add all dried ingredients then deglaze the pan with ¼ cup of anise flavor liquor.  In this case, I have Becherovka (herbal flavor bitter) from Czech Republic in my cupboard, so I used that.  Add 1 gallon of water and bring it to boil.  Add honey, tomato paste, cayenne and saffron and simmer until reduced by half.

Cut the fish fillets to 1-inch strips.  Add them to the reduced broth (which has been strained) for 5 minutes.  Serve with French bread.

Keep warm and wholesome.

Cheers!

Teera

Leaning Toward Mateo…My Southern Tapas

Chicharones-Crispy Chicken Skin

 

 

I miss going to Jose Andres' restaurants in the DC area, especially Jaleo, a tapas/pintxo restaurant that showcases food from the Basque and Catalan regions of Northern Spain. Having traveled and tasted food through San Sebastian, Bilbao and Barcelona, Jaleo was the closest to satisfying my craving of Northern Spanish food.

Here, in Durham, I stumbled upon Mateo. The restaurant opened its doors in August 2012. The chef, Matthew Kelly, originally from upstate New York, transplanted to NC over 20 years ago, working at a local French restaurant. Through his traveling of Spain, he fell for the food and decided to recreate the flavor here, in the Triangle area, with a southern influence.
 

Carpaccio de Pulpo

I started off with Carpaccio de Pulpo-thinly sliced octopus. This dish reminds me of the traditional boiled octopus, served with potato, olive oil and pimento on a wooden board, except it is better at Mateo’s. Chef Kelly topped his octopus with diced pepper, olive oil and pickled onion. It was so simple, yet subtly sweet and crunchy.

Mollejas--Sweetbreads

The second dish was the sweet bread. I suppose with his French cooking background, this is where the sweet bread shines. Served with a bed of Migas (bread crumb mixture) and caper. The bread was sweet!

Special of the day-Rabbit Rillettes

The Rabbit rillettes was another French twist of Chef Kelly. Served similar to a crab cake (instead of in a terrine and covered in pork fat), the flavor is much more tantalizing than the rabbit rillettes at Poole's Diner, I can tell you.

The first time I ate stewed tripe in Spain was in a local bar in San Sebastian. One has to walk to the deep end of the counter to find this dish. At Mateo’s, the special was stewed beef heart and tripe with beans, a different take from the traditional, but nice and tender.

Beef Tripe and Heart Stew

The highlight of the night was the chicken skin-deep fried in a batter (maybe tempura) and served with pickled piquillo pepper. It was an original southern tapas at its best. My mouth is watering, thinking about the crunchy texture of the chicken skin and the contrast of spicy, sweet and sour of the pepper. All I needed was a cold beer to top it off.
 

Morcilla

One disappointment I had was the Morcilla or blood sausage. Served with applesauce and slaw, which helps to compensate for the dryness of the sausage, but it was still dried to my taste. A couple of other items that I was looking for but did not find on the menu were Bacalao (salted cod) and squid ink, so I was unable to satisfy my craving for saltiness.

I did hear that the chef cooks pigtails on special occasions. Maybe pigskin will be next. I can't wait for that. But for now, I am pushing Jose Andres aside and learning to like Mateo’s...my southern tapas destination.

Cheers,
Teera

All Spiced up for the Night of Hallow

Jamaican All Spice

One of the largest storms of the century has come ashore on the East Coast. Full moon and howling wind rustles through dried fallen leaves. It is a perfect condition for Halloween and witches brews. With cold tropical rain, my body craves for the flavor of warm, savory spices...Allspice to be exact. No other cuisine uses and grows allspice like Jamaicans do. This peppercorn looks like spice but has a flavor combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and pepper all in one. In addition to allspice, Jamaican cuisine has a combination of tropical ingredients and world influences from Africa, Spain, India, England and China.
Jamaican goat curry and jerk chicken are some of the uniquely Jamaican dishes that I crave for.

There are about a dozen or so restaurants in the Triangle area that serve Caribbean food. For authentic Jamaican, I narrowed my choices down to 2 restaurants-Lee's Kitchen and Jamaican Grille.

Jamaican Grille

Jerk Chicken, Goat Curry and Oxtail at Jamaican Grille

Jamaican Grille is located in a non-descript office park. There are 10 tables with a counter to order the food. I had jerk chicken, goat curry, oxtail stew and meat patties there. The best thing there was the jerk chicken. The goat curry lacked the spice and the oxtail stew was a bit barnyard tasting. Weekend service is pretty quiet.

Lee's Kitchen

Goat Curry and Jerk Chicken at Lee's Kitchen

Lee's Kitchen Curry Shrimp

Lee's Kitchen was a very different experience. The only seating the restaurant has to offer was the seating to sit and wait for the food. The line is constant here during mid-week lunch hours. This place is Jamaican with a southern accent. They serve Mac & cheese, fried chicken and collard greens in addition to Jamaican food. The made to order popular items are curry shrimp and fried chicken. I had goat curry, jerk chicken, shrimp curry, rice and peas and plantains here and finally understood the flavor. Rice and peas (red bean and rice...similar to dirty rice in texture) has a subtle sweetness that compliments the spicy curry. The goat curry was tender with the level of heat that warms you right up. It has a much lighter consistency in comparison to Indian goat curry. The jerk chicken though was on the disappointing side. It had been sitting on the warming bar for too long. The shrimp curry was juicy and nicely spiced. You can't beat the freshly made food. Wash it all down with ginger beer. I was simply happy...humming reggae with a mouthful.

If Jamaican food is not your thing, try allspice in your pumpkin pie or sprinkle it on warm apple cider. It will comfort you and get you through the storm. Happy Halloween.

Cheers!
Teera