XPost: nyc.general, rec.food.cooking, rec.food.historic 
 XPost: alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove 
 From: mybaconbutty@hotmail.com 
  
 On Sat, 5 Apr 2008 09:15:35 -0500, "TMOliver" 
  wrote: 
  
 > 
 >"Mack A. Damia"  wrote ... 
 >> On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:14:18 -0400, Boron Elgar 
 >>  wrote: 
 >> 
 >>>On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:35:25 -0700, Mack A. Damia 
 >>> wrote: 
 >>> 
 >>>> 
 >>>>I still don't know the exact spelling of the delicacy, but 
 >>>>phonetically, it sounds like "Pitcha" (the accent is on the cha) and 
 >>>>is jellied cow's heel with garlic and sometimes hard boiled egg mixed 
 >>>>with it. 
 >>>> 
 >>>>Anybody know? 
 >>> 
 >>>Ptcha. Calve's foot in jelly/aspic. 
 >>> 
 >>>Boron 
 >> 
 >> Thanks, M8; I actually have a recipe for it, but it's quite involved 
 >> with the calf's feet, etc. 
 >> 
 >> Never knew the exact name, though. 
 >> - 
 > 
 >I'm quite fond of a very plebian (and ancient - at least early colonial, 
 >unless the Aztec had a version featuring the tripes of their sacrificial 
 >victims, which many historians presume were done away with - gruesomely and 
 >at a rapid clip -  to solve a protein shortage in the Valley of Mexico) 
 >Mexican soup/stew, Menudo, which requires tripe, hominy and long simmering, 
 >always with a calf's foot or two along with the traditional spices, herbs 
 >and chilies.  The calf's foot adds body.  Served with warm tortillas de mais 
 >(corn), chopped raw onion, chopped raw jalapeno (a different flavor than 
 >canned/bottled/in escabeche versions, chopped cilantro plus lime and lemon 
 >wedges, it is the traditional weekend cure "para la cruda", for a hangover, 
 >but remains a dish of which consumption may define social status/origin if 
 >not economic class.  Can one suppose that the Aztec may have used a few 
 >Toltec heels to fortify their "authentic/original" version? 
 > 
 >How the world changes....Years ago in my youth, tortillas de mais were the 
 >norm, with tortillas de harina, now available throughout the US, were 
 >Sunday/Holiday fare... 
 > 
 >The Law of Unintended Consequences rears its head..... Conscientious and 
 >conservation-minded 'Mericans "save" gas (and the government provides 
 >massive subsidies for the use of ethanol blended into motor fuel.  US 
 >ethanol is produced almost entirely from corn, demand jacking up the price 
 >of the commodity to exceed any previous highs.....  That's not bad.  We're 
 >prosperous and who notices the increase in corn syrup prices (our principal 
 >processed food sweetener), and shucks, not enough folks eat grits or hominy 
 >for those price increases to show (and there's not a lot of cornbread 
 >consumed anymore in the US) 
 > 
 >Meanwhile, down in Mexico's interior, higher corn prices have pushed the 
 >price of tortillas de mais, the staple of the diet of the poor and low 
 >income population, through the roof.  Children literally starve so that we 
 >can imagine that we are bettering the environment.  High corn prices help 
 >send thousands of young men and heads of households North to the Rio 
 >Bravo/Grande or the Baja Border to illegally enter the US to work to send 
 >home earnings to fill the bellies of their siblings and children. 
 > 
 >Somehow, I'd choose to discomfort the caribou up in ANWR with a few oil 
 >wells, while passing on contributing to the hunger of  los ninos pobrecitos 
 >de Mejico.  Who knows?  The caribou might be good to eat, while even Dean 
 >Swift would have been unlikely to modestly propose that we eat Mexican 
 >children (incalculably better flavored presumably than the poorly seasoned 
 >infants of Ireland). 
  
 I actually live in Mexico - Baja, south of Tijuana. 
  
 I don't care for menudo; I like my tripe pickled with plenty of ground 
 pepper.  Fish tacos are excellent, though, along with tongue, 
 goatsmeat and lamb tacos. 
 -- 
 mad 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)