I should have known from the title…
This dish was not good, at least it wasn't good on the first day. Today, the third day, it is tolerable. The recipe should have had us refrigerate the concoction for 24 hours before eating. It helps the mush set up a bit and resemble pie, slightly.
What was absolutely great about this meal -- and what actually made it a meal -- was my very successful attempt at refried beans. The cookbook gives a recipe for pinto beans y refritos, but neither seemed very interesting. Instead, I tried to make pinto beans as close as possible to my mommy's and then mashed them up in a skillet with much butter, vigor, and zest. I bought and used salt pork for the first time, which was exciting…probably only to me. I also put four cloves of garlic in there, some onion (just the spare parts from the Tamale pie onion), a little cumin, and a lot of pepper. Amazing.
I'm not sure it's even worth the time to provide our readers -- who am I kidding? reader -- with the recipe, but I will do so for the opportunity to annotate it with ingredients I added to make this mush into flavorful mush. Also, this is a good opportunity to point out how badly written this recipe was, as many of them are. Gives the book character, I guess.
"Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)
1 c cornmeal
4 c water, 1 t salt
1 medium onion
1 green bell or chile pepper [I used a green-orange bell pepper and four or five green chilies]
3 t cooking oil [reserved meat grease]
2.5 c cooked tomatoes [Mexican festival Rotel]
1 t salt
dash cayenne or chile powder [A dash equals a tablespoon or two. Like mother like daughter. ]
[garlic? yes, lots.]
[cumin? sure!]
Cook corn meal, water and salt in top of double boiler for 45 mins. Chop onion and pepper and fry in hot oil. Add tomatoes, meat, salt and cayenne or chile and cook until thickened. Line greased baking dish with half the mush [RED FLAG: this meal will not be good. It will instead be mush.] pour in meat mixture, cover with remaining mush and bake in hot oven [oh, a hot oven. Good idea!] (375 degrees). 30 min. or until top is slightly browned [adding some cheese to the top is not a bad idea either]. Serves 6 to 8. Use 3 cups of cooked rice instead of first 3 ingredients, if desired [yuck]."
I don't have an opinion on what we cook next, just mo' beans please!
This dish was not good, at least it wasn't good on the first day. Today, the third day, it is tolerable. The recipe should have had us refrigerate the concoction for 24 hours before eating. It helps the mush set up a bit and resemble pie, slightly.
What was absolutely great about this meal -- and what actually made it a meal -- was my very successful attempt at refried beans. The cookbook gives a recipe for pinto beans y refritos, but neither seemed very interesting. Instead, I tried to make pinto beans as close as possible to my mommy's and then mashed them up in a skillet with much butter, vigor, and zest. I bought and used salt pork for the first time, which was exciting…probably only to me. I also put four cloves of garlic in there, some onion (just the spare parts from the Tamale pie onion), a little cumin, and a lot of pepper. Amazing.
I'm not sure it's even worth the time to provide our readers -- who am I kidding? reader -- with the recipe, but I will do so for the opportunity to annotate it with ingredients I added to make this mush into flavorful mush. Also, this is a good opportunity to point out how badly written this recipe was, as many of them are. Gives the book character, I guess.
"Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)
1 c cornmeal
4 c water, 1 t salt
1 medium onion
1 green bell or chile pepper [I used a green-orange bell pepper and four or five green chilies]
3 t cooking oil [reserved meat grease]
2.5 c cooked tomatoes [Mexican festival Rotel]
1 t salt
dash cayenne or chile powder [A dash equals a tablespoon or two. Like mother like daughter. ]
[garlic? yes, lots.]
[cumin? sure!]
Cook corn meal, water and salt in top of double boiler for 45 mins. Chop onion and pepper and fry in hot oil. Add tomatoes, meat, salt and cayenne or chile and cook until thickened. Line greased baking dish with half the mush [RED FLAG: this meal will not be good. It will instead be mush.] pour in meat mixture, cover with remaining mush and bake in hot oven [oh, a hot oven. Good idea!] (375 degrees). 30 min. or until top is slightly browned [adding some cheese to the top is not a bad idea either]. Serves 6 to 8. Use 3 cups of cooked rice instead of first 3 ingredients, if desired [yuck]."
I don't have an opinion on what we cook next, just mo' beans please!
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