June Newsletter

Return to top

Spencer,
We made it back to the great northwest. Mama's French toast was excellent with the strawberries and cream cheese filling. I wanted to know about the coconut mango shrimp. Three years ago when Felix' was across the street, the shrimp was deep fried and had a batter of coconut on it. When did you change to the non-battered recipe?. I loved the battered style and even took a picture of my last shrimp to show people back home how good it looked. It tasted incredible.
Thanks for the recipe for green salsa.
Stuart
from Salem, Oregon

Well, after reading this issue you will be able to make that French Toast right there in Salem. We switched to a non-deep fried Coco-Mango shrimp when we moved, but we're getting a lot of requests for the old recipe and will be offering the old recipe as a special during the upcoming season.
Spencer

Hello Spencer, we are Tom and Pam Sanders of the previous sportfisher called the "Islander". Remember us? We visited you several times, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. Hey, like the web site! Seems really weird to see that on our screen. We are now back in NC after being away for 14 yrs. Glad to be back here but do miss our old friends in CSL. Keep up the good work.
Tom & Pam Sanders

Yeah, howya doin' with those brutal N. Carolina winters? Say hi to all the folks in Blowin' Rock.
Spencer

Hi,
I tried your Hot Carrot recipe and I have a question....Should the carrots be spicy and hot right away? or do they have to sit for a good amount of time for this to happen. I like 'em in the restaurants when they are really hot, and that's what I'm tryin' for.
Thanks for your help...
Tom - Encinitas, Ca.

Tom,
No, the carrots will not be real hot immediately, but they should get hotter and hotter as time passes. Taste the liquid and a small bite of the chiles - if the liquid is not real spicy then the problem is that you didn't use enough chiles or the chiles just weren't very hot to begin with. It seems to me that the Jalapeno chiles are being bred to be milder and milder. You might want to try using a spicier chile. In the San Diego area you shouldn't have too much trouble finding Habanero chiles and these are almost guaranteed to be real hot all the time. Serrano chiles are also usually hotter than the Jalapenos. Another problem is that the less you cook the carrots the longer it takes for them to pick up the heat, so if you cook them longer they get hotter quicker but then after a relatively short time in the liquid they get a little mushy. Something else I always do when I make hot carrots at home is I throw in some peeled hard boiled eggs after a week or so in the fridge you come out with some pretty nice spicy pickled eggs. Let me know how it turns out.
Spencer

Hey!
My husband and I had the pleasure of eating at Felix' just 3 weeks ago on our 1st trip to CSL. Glad we made the hike from our hotel - it was well worth it! The salsa bar was incredible - that alone would get us to come back on our next trip next spring. However, the food was just as amazing and we're looking forward to it even though the trip is still 10 months away.....oh, the agony! I think I fell in love with the potato pancakes, even for as untraditional as they are. Please add us to your newsletter mailing list - I love the recipes.
Dawne Yaskus

Dawne,
Thanks for the kind words. Your name has been added to the list. My Polish grandmother would turn over in here grave if she knew what I did to her Potato Pancake recipe - but it is good.
Spencer

Hey there Spencer or Felix,
Wish we would have met you when we Norte Americano pilgrims ventured to your shrine of a restaurant last month. Loving your salsa recipes, etc. however the spouse had a profound religious experience with your Chiles en Nogada that he hasn't quite snapped out of yet and so we long and yearn for the recipe though likely without hope for I surmise this is one of those if I tell you, I'll have to kill you proprietary mysteries but then the innocent and believing part of me says -- oh, no -- that would be too celebrity chef-esque of Spencer/Felix and he's not like that, is he?
yours in supplication,
Joy Overbeck

Joy,
Hey, sugar, I ain't got no secrets....well maybe a couple of incidents from the Berkeley days that I don't talk about a lot. But my conscience is clear. The two Russian exotic dancers, the twins Magda and Svetlana (big girls) - accepted my apology - along with a whole bunch of hush money. I returned the tutu to the proctologist and the two videos to the taxidermy guy. I'm keeping the accordion though. Any way, I have no recipe secrets and the 'Chiles en Nogada' were the subject of my April, 2002 Newsletter. I'm forwarding you a copy. If it doesn't come through, go to my web site (www.felixcabosanlucas.com) and click on the 'Newsletter Archives". Let me know how they turn out. See ya next time around.
Spencer


	Newsletter for June/July, 2002 Issue 14 Today's Recipe FRENCH TOAST STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE AND TOPPED WITH BANANAS AND PECANS FLAMBÉ IN ORANGE LIQUEUR The Newsletter has grown so dramatically that I feel that it is time to introduce myself once again. For those of you who don't know....my name is Spencer Moore and I'm the chef owner of a couple of restaurants in Cabo San Lucas. Mama's Royal Café, an upscale breakfast restaurant thought by many to be the best in the whole country. I disagree. I think it's the best breakfast restaurant in the whole world. You can check Mama's out at www.mamascabosanlucas.com. My other restaurant is Felix', a dinner restaurant featuring mostly original recipes and regional Mexican dishes not generally found in restaurants. Not so incidentally, we also have one of the world's largest salsa bars with between 25 and 40 salsas at any given time. The address for Felix' web page is www.felixcabosanlucas.com. I have added a recipe page to the web site so you can check out the recipes from previous newsletters. Please tell your friends about this site and feel free to forward the newsletter..... or even sign them up without their knowledge, I don't care. Of course if you hate the newsletter you can always send gift subscription to your enemies, it doesn't matter to me....even jerks gotta eat. I'm just looking for numbers here, trying to build a power base so we can undermine the yuppie food-nazi conspiracy and the purveyors of canned and bottled salsas loaded with chemicals, preservatives and lord knows what else. You can subscribe either through the Felix' web site or by email to srm@cabotel.com.mx. Hell, if we get strong enough maybe we can do something about the takeover of the country by those corporate bandits posing as energy producers, accountants, bankers, stock brokers and public servants. Although this newsletter started out as "FELIX' SALSA NEWSLETTER", due to your demand, it soon changed into a " FELIX' SALSA & OTHER MEXICAN STUFF NEWSLETTER". Well, you guys are calling the shots and the number of requests that I'm getting for the recipe for Mama's breakfast recipes is causing me to change course once again. The newsletter will henceforth be know as "FELIX' SALSA & OTHER MEXICAN STUFF & MAMA'S ROYAL CAFÉ'S BREAKFAST SECRETS INCLUDING THE RECIPE FOR THE 'WORLD'S BEST FRENCH TOAST' STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE AND TOPPED WITH BANANA'S AND PECANS FLAMBÉ IN ORANGE LIQUEUR OR YOU COULD HAVE STRAWBERRIES OR MANGOES INSTEAD OF BANANAS NEWSLETTER". I think that has a nice ring to it, eh?.



Return to top Spencer, We made it back to the great northwest. Mama's French toast was excellent with the strawberries and cream cheese filling. I wanted to know about the coconut mango shrimp. Three years ago when Felix' was across the street, the shrimp was deep fried and had a batter of coconut on it. When did you change to the non-battered recipe?. I loved the battered style and even took a picture of my last shrimp to show people back home how good it looked. It tasted incredible. Thanks for the recipe for green salsa. Stuart from Salem, Oregon Well, after reading this issue you will be able to make that French Toast right there in Salem. We switched to a non-deep fried Coco-Mango shrimp when we moved, but we're getting a lot of requests for the old recipe and will be offering the old recipe as a special during the upcoming season. Spencer Hello Spencer, we are Tom and Pam Sanders of the previous sportfisher called the "Islander". Remember us? We visited you several times, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. Hey, like the web site! Seems really weird to see that on our screen. We are now back in NC after being away for 14 yrs. Glad to be back here but do miss our old friends in CSL. Keep up the good work. Tom & Pam Sanders Yeah, howya doin' with those brutal N. Carolina winters? Say hi to all the folks in Blowin' Rock. Spencer Hi, I tried your Hot Carrot recipe and I have a question....Should the carrots be spicy and hot right away? or do they have to sit for a good amount of time for this to happen. I like 'em in the restaurants when they are really hot, and that's what I'm tryin' for. Thanks for your help... Tom - Encinitas, Ca. Tom, No, the carrots will not be real hot immediately, but they should get hotter and hotter as time passes. Taste the liquid and a small bite of the chiles - if the liquid is not real spicy then the problem is that you didn't use enough chiles or the chiles just weren't very hot to begin with. It seems to me that the Jalapeno chiles are being bred to be milder and milder. You might want to try using a spicier chile. In the San Diego area you shouldn't have too much trouble finding Habanero chiles and these are almost guaranteed to be real hot all the time. Serrano chiles are also usually hotter than the Jalapenos. Another problem is that the less you cook the carrots the longer it takes for them to pick up the heat, so if you cook them longer they get hotter quicker but then after a relatively short time in the liquid they get a little mushy. Something else I always do when I make hot carrots at home is I throw in some peeled hard boiled eggs after a week or so in the fridge you come out with some pretty nice spicy pickled eggs. Let me know how it turns out. Spencer Hey! My husband and I had the pleasure of eating at Felix' just 3 weeks ago on our 1st trip to CSL. Glad we made the hike from our hotel - it was well worth it! The salsa bar was incredible - that alone would get us to come back on our next trip next spring. However, the food was just as amazing and we're looking forward to it even though the trip is still 10 months away.....oh, the agony! I think I fell in love with the potato pancakes, even for as untraditional as they are. Please add us to your newsletter mailing list - I love the recipes. Dawne Yaskus Dawne, Thanks for the kind words. Your name has been added to the list. My Polish grandmother would turn over in here grave if she knew what I did to her Potato Pancake recipe - but it is good. Spencer Hey there Spencer or Felix, Wish we would have met you when we Norte Americano pilgrims ventured to your shrine of a restaurant last month. Loving your salsa recipes, etc. however the spouse had a profound religious experience with your Chiles en Nogada that he hasn't quite snapped out of yet and so we long and yearn for the recipe though likely without hope for I surmise this is one of those if I tell you, I'll have to kill you proprietary mysteries but then the innocent and believing part of me says -- oh, no -- that would be too celebrity chef-esque of Spencer/Felix and he's not like that, is he? yours in supplication, Joy Overbeck Joy, Hey, sugar, I ain't got no secrets....well maybe a couple of incidents from the Berkeley days that I don't talk about a lot. But my conscience is clear. The two Russian exotic dancers, the twins Magda and Svetlana (big girls) - accepted my apology - along with a whole bunch of hush money. I returned the tutu to the proctologist and the two videos to the taxidermy guy. I'm keeping the accordion though. Any way, I have no recipe secrets and the 'Chiles en Nogada' were the subject of my April, 2002 Newsletter. I'm forwarding you a copy. If it doesn't come through, go to my web site (www.felixcabosanlucas.com) and click on the 'Newsletter Archives". Let me know how they turn out. See ya next time around. Spencer
THE WORLD'S BEST FRENCH TOAST STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE AND TOPPED WITH BANANAS AND PECANS FLAMBÉ IN ORANGE LIQUEUR Return to Top French toast - as we know it - was almost certainly introduced to the USA by the Creoles in New Orleans. The date is uncertain, but I have a recipe dating from the Civil War Era. It originated as a dish called "Pain Perdu" (Lost Bread) and it was designed as a way to utilize stale bread...really stale bread. The recipe calls for soaking the bread in an egg, sugar, orange flower water and brandy mix for at least 30 minutes. I'll print the original recipe at the end of this Newsletter, but first I'm gonna tell you a little about French Toast and give you my recipe for "THE WORLD'S BEST FRENCH TOAST" (which was inspired by the Creole version of "Pain Perdu"), stuffed with cream cheese and topped with bananas and pecans flambé in Orange Liqueur. If you want to make good French toast you have to use some good bread and it absolutely cannot be real fresh bread. At Mama's if we have to use real fresh bread we slice it and leave it out, uncovered for at least a couple of hours. If you have a good Jewish bakery near you get some Challah (egg bread) I think it's the perfect bread for my French Toast. Unfortunately we don't have any such bakeries in Cabo so we have a local bakery make us a pretty good, slightly sweetened, dense white bread. Second, you have to thin the beaten eggs with some other liquid (water, milk, cream, juice or liqueurs all work well). If you just use just straight beaten eggs they will be so thick that they will merely coat the bread and not soak into it. Lastly, you have to cook the bread at the proper temperature. Too hot and the outside will be done and the inside will be a raw, soggy egg soaked mess. Too low a temp and the outside will not crisp up to a beautiful golden brown. Okay, here's my recipe. Batter/Toast - Parts List bread One loaf of unsliced bread. Unsliced bread is mandatory for stuffing. You could just put some cheese between two slices of bread but it will be way too thick and the cheese won't melt properly and the inside will be uncooked and I just don't like the idea. I suggest some sort of white bread. Challah (egg bread) would be my first choice and I definitely don't recommend any heavy dark bread. Sweet French or Italian or whatever white loaf your local bakery has will probably work great. batter Just some beaten eggs with a little bit of added liquid (1 or 2 tablespoons per egg). milk is what I use, but you can use cream or some orange juice or water. If you want you can add some orange or lemon zest and/or a little vanilla...maybe a shot of rum or orange liqueur. cream cheese You may see some yuppie chefs calling for French toast with brie or some other pricey cheese...ignore them. Cream cheese works great although some sweetened riccotta works just as well. Okay, let's make some French Toast! You're probably gonna need a bread knife here. Slice (a very, very thin slice) down through the loaf almost - but not quite all the way through. Make the next slice just as thin but go all the way through. You should now have a slice of bread that you can open like a book. If you don't, reread the instructions and try again. When you finally get the bread right, place a slice of cream cheese (or spread some riccotta) between the book cover. Keep doing this 'til you have enough slices for everybody. Three slices is a more than generous portion and I can barely eat two. Dip the prepared bread into the batter and make sure it soaks it up. Hold it under for a while. You want the batter to soak into the bread - not just coat it. Toss the battered bread into a generously buttered (you can use margarine) pan or onto a griddle and cook it over no more than medium heat until it's golden brown. Turn it over and do the same to the other side. If you got it right the bread should be moist (but not raw and runny) all the way through and the cheese should be hot and softened. Hey, you just made some terrific French toast, but you should have made the topping first. Here's the recipe for the topping. Fruit and Liqueur Topping - Parts List bananas one small banana (sliced into rounds) per person sounds about right pecans chopped into peanut sized pieces, about a tablespoon or two per serving. Walnuts work great, taste and look just the same. I use pecans because it sounds a little fancier on the menu. sugar ...a lot. I use regular granulated sugar but brown raw sugar would probably be wonderful. butter ...a lot, but you can use margarine. No one will know and margarine doesn't burn as easily as the butter. orange liqueur let your conscience be your guide, but I use about a half shot per serving. If you have too much money use Grand Marnier, but any Orange liqueur will do. orange juice about half a small glass per serving. Start the bananas frying in a hot pan with lots of butter. When the bananas start to show a little color add the sugar - enough to absorb most of the butter. Stir until the sugar has melted and add the liqueur. A word of caution here - remove the pan from the flame before you add the liqueur. The liqueur is highly flammable and it can catch fire, travel up the liqueur and set the bottle on fire. Then you're standing there looking silly with a lit Molotov cocktail in your hand. You panic and drop the bottle - the bottle breaks, spreading burning Grand Marnier across your kitchen, setting the curtains on fire, burning down your house and you get really mad at me for not warning you and I just don't need anyone else mad at me right now. If you have an electric stove you'll have to set the liqueur aflame with a cigarette lighter or a flint and rock or something. When the flame dies down add the pecans and enough orange juice to make a syrupy mix to put over your French toast. If you have a whole bunch of pretty mint growing in your back yard - a sprig of mint and some powdered sugar makes the perfect garnish. If not, an orange slice looks pretty good, too. Let me know how it turns out. I promised to give you the original "Pain Perdu" recipe and here it is. This is reprinted without permission from a hundred year old cookbook put out by the "Picayune" in New Orleans. The recipe was old then and still is. Pain Perdu (lost bread) 5 Eggs 2 Tablespoons of Orange Flower Water 1/2 Cup of Sugar Slices of Stale Bread The Finely Grated Zest of a Lemon 3 Tablespoons of Brandy (if Desired) The Creoles utilize left-over stale bread in that delightful breakfast relish known as "Pain Perdu". Break the eggs into a bowl, beat them till very light, add the Orange Flower Water and the Brandy, if desired, and then add the sugar and beat thoroughly. Add the grated zest of a lemon, mix well, and then cut the bread into slices or round pieces, taking off the crust, or still again into diamond shapes, and soak them well for a half an hour in the mixture. Have ready a frying pan of boiling lard, lay in the bread, and fry to a golden brown. Lift the slices out with a skimmer, and drain on brown paper in the mouth of the oven. Then place on a hot dish, sprinkle with powdered sugar, as you would fritters, add a little grated nutmeg, if desired, and serve hot.