NOW ...we have BOTH ...and the big breaking news is: the best examples of the two have come together to make sure that nom nom nomming them both will be as easy for you as picking them up at a supermercado!
This is truly a match made in heaven.
If you´ve ever had one and not the other ...you may have started cussin´ up a storm at how much better your Mexican dinner could have been!
No Worries, No Mo'! You can now pick-up the phone and get both delivered at the same very same time ...together at last!
Let me tell you a little about both of these expat founders and their products. I doubt that I´ve ever been more proud of two immigrants to our fair República ...nor more grateful. Ladies first...
When word first started to buzz along the expat grapevine that there was a woman from Veracruz, Mexico making real corn tortillas from scratch ...I sought her out the very same day. Once I opened the measly ½ kilo I ordered ...I was overwhelmed with the smell of real, fresh, nixtamalized corn. They were tender, and perfect, and just eating one out of the bag on the way home transported me to Ol´ Mexico, a place I call "my first love."
I´d been so long without that basic staple of every "south of the border" village and town ...that I´d been threatening to produce them MYSELF. Once I realized how much work that would be, however, I resigned myself to never having them as my "daily bread."
After tasting them, I sought out Gabriela and made a video interview you might remember from this blog.
What Gabriela and her Argentine husband, Pablo, produce is so authentic that it is rarely done even in Mexico anymore. Of all the "foreign" foods in Argnentina, you really need to try Las Tortillas de Pancho Villa... and friend them on facebook, too!
Closer to the US, is Larry Rogers of Salsas El Tejano. When I first tasted El Tejano´s salsa ...I threw away any thoughts of ever trying on my own ever again. The balance and care and skill that he puts into every jar is evident with every scoop of the chip! The words "Secret Recipe", "Secret Method", and "Secret Ingredients" pop to mind along with winemaking terms like "balance" among others.
Larry found himself in the same situation as Gabriela ...making something for himself from home that he couldn´t find anywhere. After a while, his friends started to ask for some to take home ...and after a while longer, Larry had a LOT OF FRIENDS! With his skill at making salsa (not a hot sauce!) he soon started outfitting that great expat bar, El Alamo, for their salsa needs as well as sauces for their barbeque and Buffalo Chicken Wings.
Personally, I´m crazy about it. It´s better than anything I ever ate in good ol´ Yanquilandia. I´ve seen guys (you know who you are!) devour a whole jar at one sitting, I´ve used it as an ingredient in cooking spicy pasta sauces, but there is nothing like ladling some onto a great taco or burrito!
El Tejano´s attitude was like that of a great lover... never to hurt ...always to bring pleasure. The fans of his salsa responded! But the cry for even more burn has led him to develop his line into 4 levels of hotness.
#1 is pure magic with all of the skill and secrets on display. #2 increases the heat to where the average argentino feels like he has experienced the exotic. #3 is more for yanqui tastes and satisfies most of us. The #4, to me, is the "have a big bite of STFU" for anyone who might have doubted that the Tejano couldn´t make you gasp for breath!
Both of these great expat culinary empresarios were star-crossed without each other, though. When you had that great salsa... you cried for lack of a great tortilla. When you had that amazing tortilla, you could almost weep for the lack of a salsa to top it and its contents.
Dry your eyes, my little friend! Jubilation´s in the land! They are now close partners ...and we get to share the love.
El Tejano on the web and facebook
Las Tortillas de Pancho Villa on the web and facebook
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