Maxwell St Market Walkabout, Aug 14th @ 8 AM

This is a very local field trip, which everyone here is invited to join. From LTH side it will be DAvid Hammond, ReneG, Vital Information and myself. The notice below is to Culinary Historians and Roundtable folks who may be curious but reluctant to come by themselves. Certainly you can make the last minute decision, but if you know in advance then let me know.

Chicago Foodways Roundtable

Maxwell Street Market Walkabout

Sunday, August 14th, 2005
8 AM
(Why so early? Heat, crowds and parking are easier earlier!)
at
(Please note location)
In front of the
White Palace Diner
Roosevelt Road at Canal Street
Chicago, IL

Reservations: Please!

If you have always wanted to go to Maxwell Street Market but didn’t have
someone to partner up with, then this is your opportunity. This will not be
a history tour rather it will be a here-and-now walking tour through this
dynamic market. Rather than charge a fee for tasting, at your option, we
will take turns buying and tasting foods as we walk along. To prepare for
this tour, you will want to consult David Hammond’s “Maxwell Street Market
Guide” available to read on-line or download at
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1394

If you want a sense of Maxwell St. past, then through the Chicago Historical
Society gift shop you may obtain Shuli Eshel’s video documentary entitled
"Maxwell Street: A Living Memory, The Jewish Experience in Chicago." For a
contemporary experience, you may want in “Maxwell Street Mexican” at
http://michaelgebert.com/gorilla/ as well as efforts to preserve the
Maxwell Street Experience at http://cowdery.home.netcom.com/page24.html

We will be walking with few places to sit. Please wear comfortable clothing
and shoes. This event will be conducted rain or shine. If you are heat
adverse, then please stay home and keep cool.

* * *

This program is hosted by the Chicago Foodways Roundtable. To reserve,
please answer below or PM, then leave your name,
telephone number and the number of people in your party or e-mail to:
[email protected].

Thanks so much to the organizers and guides. It was great fun. Here are a couple of photos. First the Mexican vs American Coke taste-off



Then the Oaxacan tamales. Note the papalo on the table.


Oh, and the Oaxacan tamales I brought home reheated nicely in the microwave and were a big hit at the brunch.

so what was the opinion on the US v Mex coke? I know the Mex coke is made with different sugar and supposed to taste much better.

Mexican Coke is easy to find all over town, actually-- go to any Mexican restaurant and look in the case for a bottle with a paper label on it. The thread linked above talks more about it (and why the label may say "cane sugar and/or corn syrup," but trust it, that's a cane sugar Mexican Coke).

It's better if you like the sweeter taste of cane sugar better. If you like the less sweet corn syrup taste, then it isn't. I picked up a Mexican lemon drink the other day that had cane sugar and I found it cloying and overpowering compared to similar American drinks like Sprite, but I like Mexican Coke.

One very pleasant feature of the market today was the ubiquitous papalo. At the Oaxaca tamal place and throughout the market, there were Styrofoam cups of the stuff, which I had previously seen only at Tacos Bernardo. RST recommended that we nibble leaves randomly, as a kind of a cilantro-soapy, watercress-like palate-cleanser. Nice.

Hammond

The very pleasant event (besides meeting LTHers) was seeing Rico Huarache back. Perhaps it was the delay, but yesterday's hurache seemed better than ever. There is a level of effort in these things that makes them almost haute cuisine. They are folded around black beans, griddled, fried, topped with home made sauces. You get a range of textures and flavors. To paraphrase SethZ, it was crisp where it should be crisp, pliant where it should be pliant (and suitably spicy where it should be spicey).

The cooresponding dissapointment was the Aguascaliente birria people were missing. I did have a birria at a stand pretty far south on Canal. Swarming Jalisicans told me it must be good. It was. And I am almost positive the birria was either lamb or goat not the beef served at the Ocotolan stand nearer to Dominicks.

Thanks again to Cathy2 for organizing.

Rob

Also of note, the genial spice vendor under the viaduct (about whom RST, Amata and others are written) was kind enough to gift each party in our group with a large bag of thin red chilies (the kind they put on dishes at Lao Sze Chuan). These are more peppers than I usually use in a year, so I'm interested to know how others in the group intend to use them.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:...a large bag of thin red chilies (the kind they put on dishes at Lao Sze Chuan).

Are they chiles de arbol?

Amata, yes they are. My guess is that these are kind of all-purpose hot peppers, and that I can use them in Tex-Mex-type chili and to add Szechuan notes to stir fries.

I really don't know much about chilies.

Hammond

David,

Sounds like a good opportunity to make a big batch of Chili powder. In addition to its 1,001 household uses, when packaged nicely, it makes a great gift. I was inspired to make it once and give it as a gift to a friend when I heard that he used a lot of packaged taco seasoning.

I've used Alton Brown's recipe as a base for experimenting and modifying.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes ... 30,00.html

Best,
Michael

David Hammond wrote:Amata, yes they are. My guess is that these are kind of all-purpose hot peppers, and that I can use them in Tex-Mex-type chili and to add Szechuan notes to stir fries.

I really don't know much about chilies.

Hammond

David:

They also work very nicely in Southern Italian dishes that call for pepperoncino. You can crush them (if they are really fully dried) and use them that way or use them whole (often fried in the olive oil at the beginning of making something that is cooked 'wet'). Like my Zia Maria, I've also always been fond of throwing a bunch in whole for a bit of cooking alongside any simple pan-fried preparation of a medium thin or very thin piece of meat. We cut off a piece of chile to go with each bite of meat. If the chiles are properly piquant, such a dish cures virtually any illness.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Amata, yes they are. My guess is that these are kind of all-purpose hot peppers, and that I can use them in Tex-Mex-type chili and to add Szechuan notes to stir fries.

I really don't know much about chilies.

Hammond

David:

They also work very nicely in Southern Italian dishes that call for pepperoncino. You can crush them (if they are really fully dried) and use them that way or use them whole (often fried in the olive oil at the beginning of making something that is cooked 'wet'). Like my Zia Maria, I've also always been fond of throwing a bunch in whole for a bit of cooking alongside any simple pan-fried preparation of a medium thin or very thin piece of meat. We cut off a piece of chile to go with each bite of meat. If the chiles are properly piquant, such a dish cures virtually any illness.

Antonius

A, of course, frying in olive oil. I like the sound of that...I've also got a nice crop of basil, so I could mix some of that in for the meat prep, or pasta, I'd suppose. Because my daughters are somewhat heat-averse, I've not used hot chilis in cooking for some years...now, with kids leaving right and left, I guess I can resume the practice.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote: Because my daughters are somewhat heat-averse, I've not used hot chilis in cooking for some years...now, with kids leaving right and left, I guess I can resume the practice.

David:

One of the wonderful things about using whole, dried hot chiles is that under certain conditions, they do not add massive piquancy to a dish as a whole. For example, the lamb with cumin at Ed's is teeming with dried red chiles (as well as fresh green ones) but unless you eat some of the chile along with the meat and onion, they're not so spicy themselves (and most of the heat then is, I believe, attributable to the cut green chiles -- their effect is less than one would expect too, I assume, because they are added at the last instant before plating). Briefly fried in the pan as the meat finshes, as suggested above, leaves the meat fairly unaffected but provides the chile-addict with ample opportunity for satisfaction.

Of course, used early in a cooking process, especially if liquid is added, the piquancy spreads throughout.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:One of the wonderful things about using whole, dried hot chiles is that under certain conditions, they do not add massive piquancy to a dish as a whole.

Of course, used early in a cooking process, especially if liquid is added, the piquancy spreads throughout.

Antonius

Desperate for an early lunch, I reheated some of The Wife's potato soup, and was able to amp up the otherwise bland broth with some chiles, fried quickly in olive oil (those guys brown fast!) and crumbled into the soup after it was heated (to avoid spreading piquancy throughout). It really helped. Now, I'm getting ideas about using the chiles in eggs, potato salad, and other basically neutral foods. Very pleasant burn.

Hammond

HI,

My very belated thanks to everyone who came along for the walk last week. Instead of a bouquet, I offer a shot of Papalo:



This may be my first time encountering the almost mythic Papalo. When its available, its available everywhere. When you cannot find it, it is not to be found anywhere. My take on the flavor/odor of Papalo may seem odd but to my experience it is really close to smelling like burning tires or the odor from an ozone generator. I was thrilled to try it and certainly rolled it between my fingers to capture the scent and taste the essence.

We were fortunate that perhaps half of our group was visiting Maxwell Market for the very first time. The other experienced half did a lovely job of introducing the newbies to the uniqueness found here. My friend's teenage son (tasting the Coke's above) already was planning to bring his buddies back for a visit.

In response to an earlier query about the Mexican vs American Coke, my friends thought the American was sweeter. On their way home they participated in another LTHforum challenge: Jim's vs Maxwell St. Express. They preferred Maxwell St. Express hands down. I know I have launched more than a few people into doing the comparision, though I have yet to do it myself. Now that they are moving to their permanent headquaters, will Jim's fortunes change? Alas I will get to this one of these days.

Despite the threats of rain, we had wonderful weather for our walkabout. Thanks again for coming along.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:This may be my first time encountering the almost mythic Papalo. When its available, its available everywhere. When you cannot find it, it is not to be found anywhere. My take on the flavor/odor of Papalo may seem odd but to my experience it is really close to smelling like burning tires or the odor from an ozone generator. I was thrilled to try it and certainly rolled it between my fingers to capture the scent and taste the essence.

C2,

The august RST himself described the taste of papalo as "soapy," and he likes the stuff (as do I, and there is a certain soapiness to the flavor, but not in a bad way).

Hammond