@Sue_CT
No mystery.
Roja sauce just means red sauce.

I did see that, I looked it up, I just haven't seen people mention using it. Maybe not very popular or common in Mexican cooking here. Red Salsa and Green Tomatillo salsa but at least this one seems to be a mix of tomatoes and tomatillos according to the ingredients.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chil ... ble-sauce/

A Recipe for a Roja Sauce a.k.a. Mexican Red Table Sauce.

Sounds like it is authentic mexican rather than a US Tex Mex invention, which is always interesting. I am sure i will use it. Considering how difficult it is for me to find authentic mexican ingredients locally, its a nice little free gift.

We ate mexican food at a local restaurant last night, (I had chile Relleno, yum). There’s only about a Mexican restaurant on every corner around here, it’s just like Dunkin’s is in New England, lol, there’s a Dunkin on every corner, we have a Mexican restaurant or Mexican food truck on every corner (I am totally grateful for this). Everyone last one serves a red, or roja table sauce and a green, verde sauce on the table, but sometimes you have to ask for the green sauce. Some, maybe most use tomatillos in one or both sauces, every restaurant has their unique take on the sauces they make in house. People around here comment on which restaurant has the best Red sauce and which has the best green sauce. I can generally eat my weight in chips and Mexican red table sauce.

They are as authentic as the people, all from Mexico, that run them. Some are from Jalisco, other Michoacan, or Tamalipas, all over Mexico. Really, the only thing that makes them Tex-Mex is that the restaurant is located in Texas. The staff, cooks, recipes, all have their roots south of the border.

My folks grew up with a family that was from Tampico, one of the sons, after a successful stint in advertising in New York City, ended up opening up several very successful Houston restaurants that reflected the food from Tampico. We go to one of them about every other trip to the city. My best friend’s dad went to catholic school with the owner.

One sauce sometimes found here on the Mexican trucks is the orange habanero sauce.

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 9:39 pm One sauce sometimes found here on the Mexican trucks is the orange habanero sauce.

Mexico is so big and varied that there’s going to be a huge variety of sauces and peppers getting into the mix. I think the Yucatan sauces are big on Habaneros.

I made a curry, with some chicken, about 6 oz of cremini mushrooms, some red chori beans (to empty the jar), about 1/2 c oat groats, and 1/2 c channa dal, plus about 1/3 c masoor dal, to thicken it some. I started with a chopped onion in a little oil, and when getting golden, added a tb of garlic, and cooked briefly, before adding the quartered creminis, and the diced chicken. I cooked on med-high for about 3 minutes, then added 3 tb of that malvini masala powder I made recently, about 10 curry leaves, and cooked that briefly, to bloom the flavors, then added water, the oats, and the legumes. I adjusted the salt, then simmered on low for about 30 minutes, added a half tb of garam masala, and simmered a few minutes, while I made the tarka, for the tempering. For this, I heated a tb of oil, and added 2 tsp mustard seed, and when they started cracking some, I stirred in 2 tsp cumin seeds, and 8 dried Thai peppers, swirled them until the peppers started browning some, then added a tsp of asafoetida and 10 more curry leaves. I stirred that around, off the heat, then added it to the curry. It was too late to make any flatbreads, but I'll make some, for the leftovers, which I have about 2 qts of.
A curry made with that Malvini masala powder, and some garam masala at the end. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

THAT looks and sounds delicious!

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 9:43 pm

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 9:39 pm One sauce sometimes found here on the Mexican trucks is the orange habanero sauce.

Mexico is so big and varied that there’s going to be a huge variety of sauces and peppers getting into the mix. I think the Yucatan sauces are big on Habaneros.

One of if not the first Mexican made hot sauces I ever bought was El Yucateco hot sauce naturally made in Mexico many years ago.
That's when I turned my back on most traditional hot sauces made in the USA.
The ones made here lack the layers of flavors found in the Mexican hot sauces.
Not adding the craft hot sauces for stupid amounts of money but ones traditionally made here.
Like Tabasco Chrystal and so forth.
When I say sauce I'm also adding what we call salsas also because they are one and the same in Mexican cuisine.
They just have different uses and textures.

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 7:20 pm FullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpeg

Farfalle (Italian for butterfly), also known as bowtie pasta, was on sale, here, the other day. A 16 ounce box for 99 cents, rather than the standard 12 ounces for usually the same price. It's one of my favorite pasta shapes for various types of white sauces and small-sized additions like peas and finely chopped veggies. Everything clings together better than when using long, thin, round pasta shapes.

Tormato wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 7:38 am

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 7:20 pm FullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpegFullSizeRender.jpeg

Farfalle (Italian for butterfly), also known as bowtie pasta, was on sale, here, the other day. A 16 ounce box for 99 cents, rather than the standard 12 ounces for usually the same price. It's one of my favorite pasta shapes for various types of white sauces and small-sized additions like peas and finely chopped veggies. Everything clings together better than when using long, thin, round pasta shapes.

There's a couple on YouTube I just discovered she is Italian and can tell you what it's all about.
The wrong the right and everything in between.
From what I can tell and past experiences she's spot on.

I used made in Italy Armando Farfalle that was bought from Aldi. I can’t remember exactly what I paid for the 16oz. Bag. Aldi here generally has good pasta available for reasonable prices. Good Italian Bronze cut pasta generally runs 1.99/# or less at times, but this Armando Farfalle isn’t bronze cut and I would not have paid as much for it. I don’t remember, though, it being as low as 99 cents/#. I try to keep several pounds of pasta on hand as pasta is sort of a no-brainer apocalypitic/pandemic/can’t think of anything else for dinner type of food to have around.

This recipe called for a block of greek sheep’s milk feta in the brine. Evidently, domestic cow’s milk feta doesn’t melt correctly. The feta was the most expensive part of the meal. I got a 6.4 ounce block of Greek Sheep’s Milk Feta and it was approaching $6. Cow’s milk feta is less than half the price. The feta melted beautifully after spending 45 minutes in the oven at 400°. I used a little of the reserved pasta water to make the sauce even more clingy and creamy.

For the next week, Dungeness crab clusters, legs, claws, body, cleaned and cooked are on sale at HEB for $9.97/#. Dungeness crab is my favorite. I’m thinking of adding some of that crab to the leftover pasta from last night for tonight’s dinner. We don’t often buy dungeness crab, but it’s hard to pass up at that price. Not too long ago, it was over $20/#, no way was I going to buy any at that price.

Pasta with just cheese and veggies often leaves me ravenously hungry like last night, maybe adding in the crab tonight will solve the hunger pains issue. Eating the crab in just melted butter and lemon without adding anything else would also not likely satisfy my hunger.

With paying nearly 6 dollars for the cheese and I used about nine ounces of the Farfalle at perhaps $1.50/#, the rest, the tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil all came from the garden. No telling how expensive that garden produce is especially factoring in my labor. That labor is why I’m hungry even after eating.

You will rarely if ever see me cook with Farfalle.
Too many bad memories of dried up bow tie pasta salad I was obligated to eat to keep the peace.

Since we're on pasta nobody seems to salt the water enough either.
If you're not going to do it right then just don't do it.
But that's my opinion.
A pinch isn't enough and use lots of water.

Not often do I make the gravy before I cook anything but this is an exception.
Mostly because of the long cooking time.
I used what little bacon drippings I had and a little oil with some flour but didn't make a cooked roux.
It was just to mix it up and make it easier to incorporate the water.
Lots of water because it's going to simmer and reduce down.
The simmering will be what cooks the flour.
The only spices are..
Black pepper.
Nutmeg freshly grated.
Mace.
Ground dill seeds in the molcajete and rinsed out with a little water.
Salt.
Quite naturally you don't want to salt to taste with all that water because if you do its going to be way to salty when it reduces down.
Also it will foam up and this foam is protein from the flour.
I have to keep a close eye on it.
Obviously I'm making pork schnitzel with some pork loin I'm thawing out.
Germans aren't known for heavy wild and crazy spices with this dish so I'm keeping it simple.

Here's the pork loin pounded down.
I have 4 of them.
They're in the refrigerator staying cold.

Next on the list is my variation of a northern Germany type potato salad.
Of which isn't commonly known.
The southern German potato salad is probably the most famous.
Of course every family has their own recipe just like here in the states.
And I'm using what I have that needs to be used.
This one is mayonnaise based.
It includes.
Cilantro because it's the last of it.
Mayonnaise.
Diced fresh tomato.
Sweet onion finely chopped.
Dill pickle juice.
Sweet pickle relish.
A pinch of black pepper.
No mustard this time.
A big pinch of sugar.
Egg is commonly used but a never use it in potato salad.
It's all mixed up and waiting for the potatoes.
Yukon gold and russet.
Once potatoes are cooked and cooked they will rest in chicken broth made from Knorr chicken bullion powder.
Knorr is a German product originally and the k is not silent like knife.
So it's pronounced Kanorr.

Schnitzel is one of those foods that the mere mention gets my blood racing. I’ve only had it a couple of times but it was an instant favorite.

MarkAndre wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:28 pm Schnitzel is one of those foods that the mere mention gets my blood racing. I’ve only had it a couple of times but it was an instant favorite.

It's probably one of the easiest things to make.
One mistake I made the first time was over cooking the bread crumbs thinking I needed to cook the pork more.
In reality if it's thin enough by the time the bread crumbs are right the pork is done.
It's probably best to make your own bread crumbs but Im having to use store bought myself.
The reason is the store bought are already too brown.
Or do I?@
I have some homemade bread I can dry out.
Any who here's where I'm at now.
It shows the cooked potatoes in the chicken broth and then removed to the potato salad mix.
And the bread drying at about 200F.
Door will be cracked open a bit.