I think about cooking

SUBSTACK OPENING POST

I think about cooking.

Not specifically, but generally I think about cooking almost all the time. And when I think about cooking, I am reminded that we all have to eat, but what we choose to eat says a lot about each of us.

I want to write about what that says about me and hopefully inspire, motivate, teach and amuse you along the way. I will share my ideas, recipes and thoughts on food and how it has impacted my world and the lives of others I share it with. I do not profess to be a writer so please forgive any minor grammatical errors or misspellings, but I will try my best to bring you organized commentary on my life in food.

I think about food when I wake up.

What should I make for breakfast? The options are endlessly limited…

Limited by time, technique and ingredients. How hungry am I and how soon do I have to be on my way out the door? How involved do I want to be in putting this meal together and how many pans/bowls/utensils do I want to dirty? And finally, what’s in the fridge? What’s in the bread drawer? What was left over from dinner last night?

Do we even have eggs?

Then, after deciding what I will make for breakfast, I unconsciously start to think about other breakfasts I have prepared for myself, for others, or have eaten that were prepared by someone else.

This past year I have eaten some amazing breakfasts - several in Oaxaca stand out. The eggs in Salsa with the very best corn tortillas I have ever tasted might be in my top 5 all-time. The Squash Blossom omelet with mole negro was also amazing. The many breakfasts I have eaten in Cozumel over the years are more than memorable. They have inspired many breakfasts prepared here at home and for customers at Canteen. A winter squash breakfast porridge I had recently at Capheroasters,

an amazingly hospitable Vietnamese-owned and operated cafe/coffee shop in Philadelphia, was eye-openingly delicious. And their anytime Banh Mi’s are made for mornings by adding a fried egg. The best. Period.

BREAKFAST TACOS

Over the last eight years or so, since I first opened Oxford Canteen, in the little alley next to the Lyric Theatre, here in Oxford, MS, I have, according to my guesstimation, made over 10,000 breakfast tacos. I suppose that makes me an expert. I have mostly made them for others, but I always make them as if I was going to eat them myself. I had never even had a breakfast taco until I travelled to Houston in the mid 90’s for research on a QSR Burrito concept I was working on with my Dad called Cool Peppers. Growing up in the Midwest, my idea of a taco, thanks to a family friend, was a hard-shell corn tortilla filled with amazing shredded Green Chile Pork, replacing the basic seasoned ground beef of Taco John’s-style. I once ate over 20 of these on a dare! He would also use this same pork in an amazing noodle dish that I would later recreate and sell at many of the restaurants I have cooked at - Green Chile Pork Fideos. Made all the better topped with an over easy farm egg.

Now back to the breakfast taco…We had heard that the best in town were at a strip mall on the edge of town. We drove to the area and discovered a small gathering of people in front of a laundromat. We parked and got out of the car and that’s when the smell of fresh corn tortillas being toasted on an electric griddle hit us all. Such a unique aroma muddled with the smell of potatoes and onions frying in a skillet explained the crowd of people huddled around the folding table waiting for their morning tacos on a brisk, for Texas, December morning. I carefully watched as 2 women handled the cooking of the eggs and the building of these breakfast tacos. First was a scoop of salt and pepper seasoned crispy potatoes and onions, then the warm gently scrambled eggs cooked in pork fat, topped with a roasted jalapeño, a little crumble of Mexican cheese and a big drizzle of Salsa Verde. I had no idea something so simple could taste so complex and all from a pop-up on the sidewalk outside of a Wash-n-Fold!

We stood around the hood of the car, trying more of these breakfast tacos, some with just barely crisp bacon and others with greasy crumbled chorizo. We washed it all down with decent Mexican coffee in Styrofoam cups. I will never forget that moment as those smells and tastes and hungry smiles were planted in my memories. And as I grew as a cook so did my love and respect for the flavors created that morning.

And as promised I want to share a recipe. It’s more of a story about a recipe than a recipe but I think it says a lot about how things can be created out of what we remember, what we are craving and the reality of what we have available to us.

So that Salsa Verde I mentioned, that was drizzled onto the breakfast tacos in Houston, became a challenge for us as we developed the Cool Peppers menu. We were going to have a Salsa Bar for customers to add their level of Mild-Medium-Hot heat to their Burritos, Tacos and Bowls. We had nailed the recipes for Hot-a puree of sweet carrots, dried habaneros and orange juice, and Mild-a mix of skillet blackened Roma tomatoes, onion and garlic coarsely chopped with cilantro, but we needed to round out the bar with a great salsa Verde. So, we came up with our version using roasted tomatillos, white onions and serrano peppers, Mexican oregano, lime juice, honey and cilantro all pureed smooth. It was really good and truly comparable to the original.

Well, as the story goes, while on our annual family vacation to Bethany Beach, DE, we were all hankering for some of that green sauce. Without the actual ingredients on hand and left with few options at the locally owned grocery store I figured why not buy a jar of salsa Verde and brighten it up with fresh cilantro. So, a jar of Herdez Salsa Verde and a bunch of rough chopped cilantro, stem and all,  went into the beach house blender and what came out is what I have used ever since. It’s never been a secret to those who asked. And it’s always been the closest thing to what I remember tasting in the parking lot on that chilly day in Houston.

As I was writing this morning I fixed a breakfast sandwich. Toasted “sourdough” with Chili-Crisp fried farm eggs, cheddar and sriracha mayo. I will take pics next time so you can see how that came together quite nicely.

Until next time, Eat like you mean it.