Fatty Gets Mexican, Part II: Learning My Cheese Enchiladas

So off on my adventures...the first thing I did was buy this cookbook, which I originally saw at Cat Crap's house. Thanks to my splurge on amazon prime, I had it in two days.

This is just about my favorite cookbook I own. It contains all of those recipes that I have tried to find on the open internet but have not been able to locate. Finding good recipes for Tex-Mex is a challenge. Too many people make chili con carne that tastes like spaghetti sauce and cheese enchiladas that contain velveeta.

Then I got cookbook. Tonight I made Chili Gravy (p. 74) and Original Cheese Enchiladas (p. 75).

Lessons Learned:

• Don't add any salt until you can taste test, especially if you use stock made out of bulllion.
• Don't use cheap chili powder.
  I used high priced "Ancho Chili Powder," which had a good, smokey flavor but was not spot-on for the sort of cheese enchiladas you get in good restaurants.
• Don't turn up the heat on the Chili Gravy as high as you think.
  I used medium-high heat (7), and my flour browned way too quickly, in 30 seconds, not 3-4 minutes. Next time, I will set the heat on 5.
• Add a little extra flour. My sauce was too thin--it needed to be a tiny bit thicker. Next time, I will add one tablespoon extra flour and be careful not to add too much water.
• Lard would be better than vegetable oil. The only lard in my house was stuck firmly to my backside, and I wasn't about to cook with it. I have seen Cat Crap's tub-o-lard (in a can, not on her can, which bears no resemblance due to all that fiber and chasing fifth graders!) and will be looking for the same.
• Update: Knowing I should research my cultural cuisine project carefully, Bumpus ran me over to our fay-vor-ite restaurant-run-by-a-pack-of-awesome-Mexican-ladies. I consulted with one of this wondermous people, and she said that they use only vegetable oil in everything except their tamales. The masa contains lard. Vegetable oil (not shortening) for all other cooking.

Even with my blunders the first recipe was more than edible. And it was damned fine with a large serving of cheap white wine.