Thursday, December 15, 2011

I Can't Tell Ya, Who to Sock It To



Once in a while I'll just crave my mom's enchilada sauce so bad that I have to get in that kitchen and make it right that second. This wasn't the enchilada sauce that she served up at my parent's restaurant. That sauce was amazing too actually. My sister knows how to make that one and I aim to figure it out too real soon. But the sauce my mom made for us at home was different. The enchiladas were also different. At the restaurant they were corn tortillas dipped in oil and the sauce then filled with onion and cheese, then heated in a toaster oven with more cheese and sauce on top. That wonderful hot plate was dressed with lettuce tomato and refried beans and rice.

At home, the corn torts were also quickly softened by dipping them for seconds in hot oil and then dipped in the house sauce, but after that they were filled with cold shredded mild cheddar cheese and freshly diced onions. That sauce was so good that you didn't need meat, you didn't need gooey melted cheese and its the only secret recipe that I might hold sacred. She doesn't even remember it now unfortunately with the dementia. I told her one time recently how she made it and she said to me 'Oh that sounds great, I've never heard of anyone doing that'. And I said 'You did it mom, you were the one who thought of that!'.

The way that she served them fresh like this with the cold elements of the lettuce, onion, cheese and tomatoes was a testament to her love of dishes that were crisp and light, not so heavy and fatty. My mom served up so many hot combination plates and vats of beans and rice and hot salsas for her customers but put her in a kitchen to prepare herself a meal and you'd most likely find simply a tomato, jalapeno, onion, and avocado being scooped up with a soft corn tortilla.

But this day I had chunks of salty pork that I pan fried until they were crispy and added that to the middle. I mistakenly bought these super thick corn torts so I steamed them instead of oil dipping them. I served myself up a healthy dose of a very pleasant past memory.

I don't have any children and no one will probably sit and around and think of what I liked to eat given choice. If I had to say I had a 'thing' it might be that I love meat but I like it small and crispy, almost charred bites or even bits. Crumbled bacon, tiny cubes of chorizo, crisped pepperoni slices, sausage broken up into marble sized balls and cooked thoroughly. Sprinkle any of those over a starchy food, along with cold tomato and onion and maybe a salsa of some kind and I would be pretty content.

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