Queso Fundido, Sweet Potato Pudding & Totopos

                   "Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it"
                   "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it"
                       "Those who choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it"

I’m sure you’ve all heard at least one of the above quotes and are wondering where the hell I’m going with this newsletter.  I’m not sure – but I’m gonna muddle on.  I will admit that I’m  certainly not known for my sartorial elegance.  I have been described as having absolutely no sense of style.  I have overheard myself being described as dressing in a way that made me look like an unmade bed.  It’s probably true because I’ve been dressing the same way for approaching 50 years. On the other hand, every 15 years or so I find myself on the cutting edge of fashion.  In the same vein, if a person can maintain the same set of political beliefs throughout their lifetime -  every 15 or so years they are guilty of treason.  I guess the same thing holds true with food fads.  I’ve recently received a number of inquiries about fondue recipes.  I lived through the great ‘fondue scare’ of the 70’s which followed close on the heels of the ‘great folk music scare’ and just preceded the ‘great disco scare’(you remember – little high voices singin’ about stayin’ alive).   Well, the yuppies have rediscovered fondue.  Oh my Lord, can bell bottoms and Irish setters with red bandanas around their necks be far behind?   Uh-Oh…………I sense platform shoes, maxis and granny glasses lurking just off stage left.  God save us all from Bermuda shorts, ivy league trousers with the belt in the back, pegged pants, and pink and black poodle skirts.

Anyway, I have to confess that even though I make fun of the fondue craze.  I have been making and serving a traditional Mexican dish called queso fundido for many years.  So if you want to try out that neat fondue set you got for Christmas and stuck in the attic, here are a couple of traditional Mexican ways of making ‘Queso Fundido’. And it’ll be a whole lot hipper than the melted Swiss cheese or Velveeta with wine that your yuppie friends are serving.  If you make queso fundido you can serve frosty Mexican beer and tortillas.  If you go with ‘Fondue’ you need cute little forks, crusty French bread and wine.  Then you have to listen to a bunch of boring people who don’t know what they’re talking about say things like “nice bouquet, fruity but not cloying” - “hmmm, assertive without being aggressive” – “robust, with just a hint of the oak, but not too woody”- “both rich and buttery”.  Jeeze, wine snobs are worse than the food snobs – I may have to focus on them in my next life.  In the meantime, here’s how you can make some yummy, traditional ‘Queso Fundido.

First you have to decide on what kind of cheese.  If you have access to Mexican cheese I prefer a good ‘Chihuaha’ – the closest thing to cheddar in Mexico, but the truth of the matter is if you have a cheese you like sliced you will like it melted as well.  You could use almost any cheese – Jack, Jalapeno Jack, Cheddar, Fontina, Jarlsberg, whatever……  Smoked Gouda sounds good too.  This is really simple because both ‘Cheese Fondue’ and ‘Queso Fundido’ translate as merely ‘melted cheese’.  So, if you can melt some cheese you

can make this one.  There’s no doubt that a fondue pot or chafing dish with a heat source is best for this one – but not absolutely necessary.  As a matter of fact –at the restaurant we make it in a Teflon pan on the stove. The downside to this is that the cheese doesn’t stay hot in the bowl for very long(you might want to use a heavy bowl that’s been heated in the oven), so eat it fast – before it gets cold.

queso fundido con rajas

The three most common fundidos are con rajas, chorizo or champinones (chile strips, Mexican sausage and mushrooms) and they are all so simple that GWB could do it………….almost.

Almost everyone uses poblano chiles, but If you want something hotter you can use jalapenos.  I’ve done both and have finally settled on the poblanos with a bowl of hot salsa on the table for the tough guys.  I use roasted, peeled and seeded chiles but there’re no rules on this one, you could easily get away with canned Ortegas or sautéed fresh poblano – or jalapeno – strips.  Put the chiles in a coated pan with a little butter – actually you can use any kind of pan you want but clean-up can be a bear with uncoated stainless or aluminum.  I usually throw in a clove or two of chopped garlic and if I’m using fresh chile strips I sauté until the chiles are soft.  If I’m using roasted or canned chiles  I just heat them up.  Turn the heat down and add about 3 times as much grated cheese as chiles and melt the cheese while stirring.  That’s all there is to that – serve it up with some hot tortillas, some tortilla chips and something cold to drink.  Incidentally if you want to make your own chips – try making them with flour tortillas.  They’re really good and I’ll tell you how in just a moment.

queso fundido con chorizo

You make this exactly like above but with chorizo instead of chile strips.  When I’m using chorizo I’ll throw some salsa Mexicana or some chile strips in with the chorizo.

queso fundido con champinones

With  the mushrooms, I use ordinary white mushrooms, but if your yuppie boss is coming over I suppose you could use shitakes or chanterelles but don’t tell him/her you got the recipe from me.  When you sauté the mushrooms  they will first absorb the butter  and then exude the butter and juice back into the pan creating a lot of liquid.  If you use the mushrooms when there just barely done - before the juice oozes back out – they will be prettier.  That’s what I usually do.  On the other hand if you keep cooking till all the juice is back in the pan the fundido will have a darker color and a much mushroomier taste. Make a choice.  I often make it with a mix of mushrooms and chile strips but I don’t like the mushrooms with chorizo.  Okay now you know as much about queso fundido as I do ---- and more than your yuppie friends.

oh, one more ‘very untraditional’ fundido

When I was a kid I liked that junky canned bean dip that you found on the potato chip rack.  Feeling a little nostalgic I made some up recently with canned refries that I prepared like in my last newsletter.   I kept adding so much cheese that I wound up with something that was more queso fundido than bean dip ………….and it was great.  Heat the canned beans up in some bacon fat and proceed just like above.  Cook some up and be the first one in your neighborhood to serve ‘Coral’s Almost Authentic Fundido con Frijoles’.  Or you could call it Spencer’s ‘Cheesey Beans’.

postre de camote

(sweet potato pudding)

I know that ‘postre’ does not translate as ‘pudding’ -  it translates as dessert or sweet (the noun not the adjective).  Mexico is not real big on desserts – sweets you bet, but not a formal dessert course at the end of a meal.  To be sure enormous amounts of sweets are consumed, but mostly as between meal or late night snacks.  If you ever stop in a Mexican grocery or bakery you are sure to be amazed at the vast array of sweet exotic candies and bizarre sweet baked goods.  Then go to a Mexican restaurant outside of a tourist area and be equally amazed that they have no dessert.  Because of pressure from American tourists most tourist restaurants now offer desserts.  Unfortunately except for flan you will find few if any ‘traditional’ Mexican desserts – they have mostly frozen NY Cheesecake or Cappuccino Cheesecake or some silly frozen  9 layer German Chocolate cake – all from Costco. 

 I wanted to come up with another dessert for the restaurant but something homemade and Mexican and good.  Unfortunately the only traditional dessert I knew about was flan, and we already had the best flan in town.  I was stumped until I remembered a weird dessert experience I had many years before in Guaymas.  It was my first trip to the interior of Mexico and we had dinner in a modest non-tourist place in Guaymas.  The meal was great but they had no desserts on the menu.  I told the waiter I wanted some dessert and rather than tell me no – he went to check with the kitchen.  He told me the cook said she could make me some postre de camote.  I didn’t know what that was but what the hey!  I’m sure disappointment showed on my face when the waiter set down a plate containing what looked like a big ol’ slice of cooked but unpeeled cold sweet potato covered in what appeared to be cold chicken gravy. With some trepidation I gave it a taste. The ‘chicken gravy’ turned out to be a tasty traditional caramelly Mexican syrup called cajete.  It’s made from Goat’s milk, sugar and honey and is real good.  What I thought was a slice of cold boiled sweet potato was indeed nothing more than a slice of cold boiled sweet potato – but it was yummy.  Anyway, I remembered this when I was trying to come up with a traditional dessert then I recalled all the times I’d enjoyed the sweet potato pie at the soul food places and rib stands in Berkeley and Oakland.  I went home and started fooling around with sweet potatoes and this is what I came up with.

I have since found out that postre de camote really is a traditional Mexican treat and is sold all over the county – mostly in empanadas (turnovers) by street vendors.  My version is not traditional, but I’ve fooled many Mexicans with it.  It’s real easy to make and guaranteed to impress.  Here’s how I do it:

parts list

sweet potatoes………………I’ve never been sure what the difference is (if any)between                 yams and sweet potatoes, but I use the darker orangey ones with the reddish skin.

Sugar or other Sweetener…the first time I made it I really wanted to be

Authentically ethnic and traditional so I used piloncillo – a Mexican sugar cone.  It was good but what a pain in the butt – it was rock hard and took forever to melt down.  I now use regular sugar or powdered sugar.

Whipping cream……………..half and half or milk will work in the pudding but I like 

                      have some left over cream to make whipped cream to top the dessert with.

That’s all you really need for the basic ‘pudding’ but there are some optional things you can add, so read this all the way through before starting. Please don’t write me complaining that this is not really a pudding because it’s too easy to make and you don’t have to separate any eggs or use double boilers and you don’t have to bake it.  I know all that, but if it looks like pudding, tastes like pudding and I’ve been telling people – for years – that it’s pudding, well my friend this is indeed ‘Spencer’s Sweet potato Pudding’ and here’s how you put it together.  This is one of those recipes that I have never measured anything – I just taste it and adjust as I go along.  You should do the same.

Okay, let’s make some puddin’

First time you should probably just make a small batch – in case it really sucks.  Get a couple nice sweet potatoes and cut them in about 4 pieces.  I do not peel them but I do know that they grew in the dirt – so I wash them pretty good.  Put ‘em in a pan and cover them with water – bring it to a slow boil and go have a beer or shampoo a rug or call your mom.  Just let them boil until they are really, really done (no ‘al dente here – we want ‘em mushy).  When they’re done – pour off the water and let them cool down.  As soon as they are cool enough to handle.  Pull the skins off with your fingers and put the peeled potatoes in a big bowl.  Add a little butter and start mashing.  If you happen to have a potato ricer or food mill, run the cooked spuds through.  You want these guys well mashed – no lumps at all.  As matter of fact – this is one of the times that a modern appliance comes in handy – if you have an electric mixer, use it.  We want these spuds as fluffy and creamy as possible.  When they are pretty well mixed pour in a little cream and whip some more.  Okay, now start adding sugar while you keep mixing.  Don’t be timid – add lot’s of sugar (this is a dessert).  Taste it and add more sugar (you could also use a mix of sugar and honey – or even some maple syrup - and keep mixing.  When it’s sweet enough for you, check the texture and if it’s too thick add some more cream and taste it.  Keep adding cream until it’s the thickness you like.  If it’s already too thin you’ll have to add some more potatoes.  Add a little vanilla and taste again.  You want to just barely taste the vanilla.  Hey, the basic sweet potato pudding is done.

 Now you can embellish it a little.  Traditional Southern recipes call for ginger and cinnamon but I avoid these because I don’t want it to taste like pumpkin pie.  They are good though, so you can use them if you want.  I do sometimes add chopped walnuts or pecans and golden raisins.  I’m not a big fan of raisins but they are good in this.  However, I simmer the golden raisins in a little water until they puff up and get tender then toss them in.  Pineapple goes real well with this so I suggest you chop some pineapple and add it to the mix – just add the pieces of pineapple, not all the juice because the juice will permeate the pudding and change it to sweet potato/pineapple pudding.  Actually that sounds okay too, but I want a sweet potato pudding with occasional bursts of pineapple flavor.   That’s it! You’ve just made some “Postre de Camote’.   I serve it in a little pudding bowl topped with a dollop of whipped cream.  If you want the really special version you can pour a spoonful of cajete (the traditional Mexican caramelly  topping – (available in most markets) or a little chunky pineapple syrup like they put on a banana split.  You can make a surprisingly good pineapple topping by heating some pineapple jam in a pan and thinning it with water to a syrupy texture. 

Don’t be intimidated by all the instructions, remember this is basically just mashed potatoes with sugar and vanilla and is easy, easy, easy to make.  A word of warning – sometimes the yams/sweet potatoes will be stringy and fibrous.  If you get any stringy lumps - toss them.

Let me know how it turns out.

totopos

No, nothing fancy or exotic, ‘totopos’ is just the Mexican word for tortilla chips.  Easy to do, but when you tell folks they’re eating ‘homemade totopos’ they’ll think you are really cool.  Hot fresh tortilla chips are a treat but the best thing about making them yourself is – you get to make flour tortilla chips.  Almost no one has ever had flour tortilla chips and they are really good.  Something wonderful happens when you fry flour tortillas – they get  almost pastry-like.  I promise you that everyone will love them.  The down side is they are very fragile and tend to break off in guacamole, bean dip or other thick dips, but no problem with salsas.  I get lots of letters asking how to make them and, being an obliging sort of fellow, I  reply.  I’m getting tired of typing out the same recipe over and over so I’m putting it in a newsletter.  It’ll eventually get posted on my web site and I can just direct future queries to www.felixcabosanlucas.com  .

Actually I’m just going to paste in a copy of the last letter I sent in reply to a ‘tortilla chip’ request.

“Sure Geoff, glad to oblige. Just get a pile of corn tortillas and cut them like a pizza(about 8 pieces). Deep-fry them at about 350 degrees. The results will be much, much better if you use stale tortillas. At the restaurant we go through the tortillas so fast that we don't have any stale ones around so we spread out the chips before we fry them and let them dry out for at least a couple of hours. If you use really fresh tortillas the moisture content is so high that the oil foams way, way up - dangerously so, and makes them hard to get crisp. So, be careful to add the chips to the hot oil a little bit at a time. Fry them 'til they're crisp - check one for crispness because sometimes they look crispy before they are. Most people don't know that flour tortillas make great chips (totopos in Mexico). We don't use them at the restaurant because they're pretty fragile and a lot more expensive - but go ahead be the first in your neighborhood to make flour tortilla chips. They're wonderful. Don't forget to salt the chips pretty heavily as soon as you take them out of the oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the chips will be on the greasy side. One other thing: use a neutral tasting oil-corn or safflower works well. Olive oil is too expensive and adds a taste you don't want.
Spencer “  

One other thing: if you live near a yuppie market, you might want to buy some very hip ‘Blue Corn Tortillas’.  They ain’t gonna taste much better but ‘Homemade Blue Corn Totopos’ sounds really cool.

That’s all folks, Spencer