Things my father taught me
By Jody Stump/Special to The Malibu Times
If you are like most Americans, you think Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexican Independence Day-not so! In fact, south of the border nobody commemorates the day with the abandon of gringos-and for good reason. In many ways, it is an American holiday.
Mexico actually declared its independence on Sept. 16, 1810, but freedom was an elusive and costly proposition. By 1862, the year of the great Fifth of May, Mexico City was a circus of political firebrands vying for power and the country owed its very soil to England, France and Spain. In desperation, President Benito Juarez did what any sensible leader would do-he declared a moratorium on debt repayment-but his debt collectors invaded. Britain and Spain soon withdrew, deciding that beans and armadillos were hardly worth muddying their uniforms. But the French persisted, full of Gallic pride and the sneaky idea that they could wander up north and wrench back from an embattled America much of what they had lost in that bad deal: the Louisiana Purchase.
Under Napoleon III, 8,000 French soldiers marched toward Puebla. It must have been a scene out of Revelations to the ragged Mexicans who assembled with shotguns, cattle and farm tools to watch the procession from atop the scrubby hills. The French marched in columns, arrayed in magnificent parade uniforms with red satin ribbons and polished leather boots gleaming in the sun, and then the gods sent a cloudburst to stampede the cattle and, in the mud and confusion, Texas-born Zaragosa led a small band of Mexicans in mowing down the finest army on earth like so many ants stomped at a picnic. It was a pyrrhic victory-the French came back the next year and installed Maximilian as Emperor-but it was a brilliant memory of Mexican grit that sustained that populace through four nasty years of French rule. And the French never did get around to allying with the Confederate Army to destroy the United States.
That’s the story my father recounted as he assembled the mysterious special powders and piles of thick chopped meats to make the Chili that won the granddaddy Cook-off of them all: Terlingua, Texas. The recipe the International Chili Society publishes isn’t exactly my dad’s since no true chili champion ever tells it like it really is. I’ll let you in on the secrets, but they aren’t in the list of ingredients. They are buried in the text-just the way my daddy told me.
BUDDY’S FLAME-OUT CHILI
Serves 12
3 tbs. oil
3 onions, chopped
3 pounds each pork and chuck, coarse chopped
3 tbs. each: oregano, thyme, brown sugar, minced garlic
1 tbs. each: cumin, coriander, cloves
5+ tsp. chili powder (or to taste)
1 cup beer
1 large can Hunt’s tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 pint rich chicken broth
1. Brown the onions and beef in the oil, salt and pepper to taste.
2. Stir in the spices and cook until absorbed, adding 2 tsp. cinnamon.
3. Pour in the beer and reduce by half then add all other liquids. Simmer.
4. After an hour, add 1 large Hershey bar plus a handful of raisins. Simmer 2 hours more.
5. Serve with grated Jack cheese, sour cream and chopped cilantro.
CLASSIC CAESAR
When we first moved to California, weekends were spent at a little beach house my father found just south of Rosarito. We’d always stop for dinner in Tijuana Friday night for steak and salad at the legendary Hotel Caesar. There, the maitre d’ would wheel out the walnut and brass cart for whisking together the dressing that made Romaine a household staple. Here is the famous dressing that’s not too fishy; not too thin; not too spicy and not too bland. Viva!
Whisk together:
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 inches of anchovy paste
splash of Tabasco
1 egg, boiled for 90 seconds (use just the yolk)
Add and continue to whisk:
2 tbs. grated Parmesan
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbs. olive oil (add in a thin stream)
Toss with:
2 chilled heads of Romaine, torn apart
1 cup home-made garlic croutons
chopped ripe avocado
MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES
While my father chopped and stirred and slurped to taste, my mother whipped together a batch of palate-cleansing cookies to serve with fresh fruit for dessert. These are delicate, crunchy, not too sweet and very easy.
Makes 15 cookies
1 stick soft butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pecans, coarse ground
2 tbs. sugar
1 cup cake flour
confectioner’s sugar
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Beat butter until creamy – add sugar and vanilla; then pecans and flour.
3. Roll the dough into 1″ balls and set on a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 30 minutes. While hot, roll in powdered sugar.