Friday Mailbag & Food Forum
Jesse Walker | March 28, 2008, 10:45am
Sam Steri writes to
reason:
Do not be fooled...the "Zesty Taco/Chipotle Ranch" collision of today (2008), the prior "Taco" flavor of 1990-2007, the bogus "Taco Bell" flavor of 1980-1990, are all NOT the same as the Original Taco Doritos made from 1967-1979. These "original" taco Doritos chips were the best chips ever made on the planet. Just a pure, genius, combination of pure spices and taco seasoning with no preservatives. This is unlike the awful sour cream, cheese, milk ingredients, artificial color and chemical preservatives of today's "Taco" chips that make them disgusting and even tasting the same as nacho cheese flavor... A TACO CHIP SHOULD HAVE A TACO TASTE. I agree whole heartedly with James Merritt.....I also have contacted Frito Lay roughly 50 times to express my disgust with their current product.....They will NOT listen, and they have not produced the original taco flavor in close to 30YEARS NOW!!!!
I have nothing to add to that, so instead I'll pose a question to our readers. I have a vivid but dubious childhood memory of reading the back of a bag of Doritos and encountering the PR-gone-haywire sentence, "Doritos are simply a more enjoyable way of eating corn." Does anyone else out there remember seeing this, or did I dream the whole thing?
Bonus link: The
history of the tortilla chip.
Episiarch | March 28, 2008, 1:35pm | #
I guess real men can swap recipes as long as the recipe contains large amounts of hot peppers or alcohol.
Or if they are master chefs such as myself.
Bonus recipe for highnumber:
Green chicken chili:
1 large onion, chopped
several garlic cloves, chopped
12-15 tomatillos, pureed in food processor
1 large bunch cilantro, chopped
10 (or more, more is better) mild green chiles, roasted, peeled, and chopped
1 or more jalapenos, chopped
2.5 to 3 lbs chicken breast (or pork) cut into small cubes
2 of the large cans (28 oz?) of any white bean (cannelini, butter, etc), including liquid
32oz chicken broth
handful of small red hot chili pods
salt
white pepper
Sautee the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in some olive oil. Then add everything else. Cook off water for at least 2 hours or more (until the it is about 2/3 or even 1/2 of the original volume). Salt and pepper to taste. Don't eat the chili pods. Fucking delicious. Intense flavor from the reduction. You can add cheese or sour cream but it takes away from the flavor. Colors are green, white, and the red chili pods floating.
highnumber | March 28, 2008, 3:24pm | #
All right, not a recipe, but a quick rundown of the guidelines for my chili:
Dredge 1 to 1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat through flour seasoned with salt, cumin, and ground chipotle. Brown on all sides in hot oil. Remove from pot and set to the side. Brown similarly seasoned 1 to 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (that's right - ground TURKEY - I find that it has a better texture for chili than ground beef) with half a chopped large onion, optionally a clove or two chopped garlic. Add back the stew meat along with one or two cans of stewed chopped tomatoes, three cans of beans with liquid (chili beans, kidney beans, black beans, whatever you like) one chopped red and one chopped green bell pepper, about half a can of beer (or however much you need to have enough liquid). Season with cumin, Mexican oregano, epazote, granulated garlic (if you didn't add garlic to the turkey), ground ancho, ground chipotle, Penzey's adobo blend, cinnamon, one or two squares of unsweetened dark chocolate. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for about an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. A lot of the beans and peppers will have cooked down. Taste it, adjust seasoning, add one more each chopped red and green bell peppers, another half a chopped onion and two more cans of beans (here it's best to use one black and one kidney) return to boiling, reduce heat and simmer covered for another 45 minutes or so. Taste and adjust seasoning. I like to serve it with crema or sour cream, shredded sharp cheddar, and saltines. I used to add habañeros, but I have toned it down in recent years due to popular demand and now keep habañero sauce on the side to punch it up.
I may have missed a thing here or there, and I can't give you any exact amounts, but that's about how it goes. The cinnamon and chocolate, while not unheard of in chili, help to distinguish it from most others. Don't go overboard with the cinnamon or you'll end up with what I think is something like a modified Cincinnati chili, which is fine if you like that, but it's not what I make.
