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For the Record
Appears in
Published 2001
- Fresh herbs are not dried herbs. Even when their flavor may happen to be acceptable, dried herbs will never contribute body to a puree-based sauce, as herbs are meant to in many of these recipes.
- Homemade chicken stock or pork stock is not water, and it isn’t a bouillon cube or powdered base. (Mexican cooks do use these — but as a flavoring ingredient, not to replace stock. In a pinch, canned low-sodium chicken broth will do — but do not take this as a blanket endorsement.)
- Fish stock (made at home or purchased from your fishmonger) is not bottled clam juice.
- Fresh fish, poultry, or meat is not equivalent to the same thing frozen and thawed. (Unfortunately, none of us has any choice with some kinds of seafood, like shrimp and conch — virtually everything in the stores here has been frozen.)
- Limes are not lemons, and freshly squeezed lime juice is not bottled lime juice.
- Plain white rice is not instant rice, converted rice, or a preseasoned “pilaf” mix.
- Butter is not margarine, and lard is not vegetable shortening. Olive oil is not some nameless vegetable oil or treated “light” olive oil.
- True cinnamon (canela) is not the stuff labeled cinnamon in our stores, which is really a relative named cassia with a totally un-Mexican flavor.
- It is equally true that one cooking method is not another. You will never achieve the right results with tomatoes, chiles, garlic, and onions unless you realize that griddle-roasting is not oven-baking or broiler-roasting. The only method that brings out the natural sugars of these ingredients is dry-roasting the vegetable on a griddle or heavy-bottomed skillet.
- It is usually a bad idea to radically change the amount given for any ingredient in a recipe. (This often happens when well-meaning people are trying to cut down on fat.) Using more or less of one ingredient can throw off the whole “orchestration.”
- By the same token, leaving out any one stage of a recipe — for example, chopping fresh ingredients as directed, frying something in fat before cooking it in liquid, or working a processed mixture through a mesh sieve — guarantees that you will never get the desired result.
- Spices are best bought very fresh, in small quantities. When a recipe calls for ground spices, it is infinitely better to grind them yourself. First toast them for a minute or two in a small skillet over medium or medium-high heat, then grind them using an electric coffee or spice mill or a sturdy mortar and pestle.
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