Cince de Mayo
Hola everybody! Happy Cinco de Mayo to all! A couple ladies from my work put on a Mexican feast in honor of the day. The donations are being put towards the Avon Breast Cancer 2 Day Walk. So it's very cool, although confession: the food wasn't the grea-*test*-('"). But that's ok - it's still for a worthy cause! :mex.wave:

I admit I've just discovered what Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for 5th of May) means to Mexican and Chicano communities. Live and learn... For those who don't know, it marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla, and although the Mexican army was eventually defeated, the "Batalla de Puebla" came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. So Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone!

When I lived in California, it was a very big deal. Olvera Street would have a festival. Our high school had a booths with food and fundraisers every year. Quite fun and probably better food than you had Gnat. Of course now, I have a brother-in-law born in Mexico, so I get the legitimate stuff, including Pozole and tamales. I'll try to post the Pozole recipe to my free-webs page and make a link. http://www.freewebs.com/gaffersgirl/pozole.htm

I love Mexican food!!! I actually live in a very heavily Hispanic populated community myself. There are literally more than a dozen Mexican joints in just a 1/4 mile stretch of road by my house. It's insane. And I haven't been to any of them. I should have stopped in one of them for some carryout at least last night. Instead I ended up at Taco Bell. :roll: Not authentic Mexican food, but it was yummy all the same! :wink: :happy Anyway, Frances you are correct in your summation of Cinco de Mayo. I'm fairly cerain it's celebrated here in the States more than in Europe simply because we have a HUGE Mexican population. Chicago is no different. Many people think it's Mexican Independence Day, but that's not until September. So much I know and yet, I'm not Mexican. I'm Guatemalan. :wink: Anyway - Gaff can't wait to check out the recipe. I'm not a big fan of the tamale I must admit. Most tamales are made with pork and I don't like/eat pork. :???:

Ok Gaff - I just read the recipe. Yeah, pork. I see you can substitute the pork with chicken which is a plus. But what's hominy??? And I have a feeling I know this and don't like. Anyway, it all looks too complicated for me! :wink:

Hominy is kind of corn grits that you can buy canned. Pozole is a bit complicated, but worth it and you can adjust the fresh ingredients to the way you like. Tamales take even more time, so they usually do it as a family thing around Christmas with many hands making light work. Most of our tamales use chicken, beef or vegetarian with beans and cheese. They even make dessert tamales with apples and cinnamon. Quite tasty. Hate to admit it, but I have to get a Taco Bell fix every now and then. I think it's like Quarter Pounders with cheese. They must put in some ingredient that makes them addicting.

All this talk is making me starve. Hominy is an old Southern dish,too. It's a good old stand-by sidedish on many a table around here. I've always enjoyed it myself. Your recipes sound yummy!

:lol: It is making me starve, too. Anyway, I know what I'll buy next time I get to the US... a cookbook so that I can cook Southern dishes when I'm back home...

I never ate much hominy before the Pozole, but hush puppies are one of those Southern dishes that I crave ever now and then, but are quite hard to find in my neck of the woods.

Matie - I can see why hominy would be very Southern. I'm not a grits person myself, never have been. But I know the South just loves their grits! :wink: I don't know what part of the south you're from Matie, but my aunt lived in Houston, TX for 10 years and fell in love with TexMex. Y'all love your pork too. But nobody does fried chicken better than a Southerner. Gaff - ain't nothing wrong with a little Taco Bell every now and then. But I agree, there's something in those tacos and chalupas that's just so dang addicting! Mine too lately has been the crispy chicken sandwich from Arby's. That's another one that I can't get out of my taste buds! Now if someone were to make me a chicken or beef tamale, I'd eat it. Sounds delish!

This all sounds delicious and loads of fun, but what's a corn grit? :roll:

I'll leave that to the experts to explain Stevie. Cuz I'm not so sure myself. :wink: I'm assuming it's grits made from corn???

Yeah, but what's a'grit' in your terms? To me it means bravery.....

Grits are coarsely ground up corn including the germ and hull and then cooked usually with water on the stove until soft enough to eat. A lot of people eat it instead of rice or potatoes. Hominy is corn that has been soaked in lye water or similar solution to remove the hulls. These can also be made into grits. Hominy grits. But to make it confusing some people refer to all grits and Hominy grits. We also used to eat a lot of fried cornmeal mush slices (similar to Polenta without flavoring or fat) and then put butter and maple syrup on top. Great breakfast! Basically the same ground corn is used to make johnny cakes, hush puppies and tortillas. Some recipies call for coarser corn or processed differently than others.