Friday, March 27, 2009

Original Sin

Future posts will consist of pictorial representations of the before and after, fear not. However, for the first couple, I'll be working off of memory. You can all utilize your vivid imaginations to picture the powerful flavors.

The inspiration for this chronicle comes from a meal I prepared some time ago. Being a penniless graduate student, I at least pay nodding attention to Value when I go out to eat. Being someone who loves to eat and to cook, I go out to eat probably more than I should. The combination means that I eat at places with large portions, and quite often have leftovers. After all, paying 25$ for one meal is entirely beyond my budget. However paying the same 25$ and eating it 3 times equals GREAT SAVINGS.

That being said, the same leftovers only last for so long. How many times can you eat on the same pizza before you'd rather starve? For me, the answer it twice. Thus, the birth of the first abomination on the list: The Metafood.

A metafood is a food that is deconstructed and then reconstructed into a similar food. Sound complicated? Well, maybe a little. Why would you want to do such a thing? Pure Flavor, baby.

Case the First: The Tamale Chimi

Source Food: Delicious Tamales over Chili from Corky's

Pantry Items: Tortillas

Corky's does a BBQ nachos to die for, but I feel ridiculous ordering an appetizer as a meal. Besides, when split 2 or 3 ways, they are not nearly sufficient for a full meal. My meal choices are generally the BBQ Chicken dinner, some kind of Ribs, or the Tamales. They're all good, but that day I chose the Tamales.

Fast forward 8 or 10 hours, and it's time to eat again. No food in the house, and it's the hour of the morning where defrosting something is just not going to happen. The only Recent and Edible thing in the fridge is my leftover Tamales. Since I'd been burping them all afternoon, just scarfing them down wasn't going to happen. Thus, the first catastropie.

Process:

I scraped all the chili out of the box and off the talames, and stuck it in a bowl. I then chopped the cold talames up into small pieces, and blitzed them in the food processor. I now had a thick porky paste. In a pan, I saute'd some Pepper Onion Blend (Re-Cook Essential Ingrediant) with some butter. Into this I added some chopped garlic (Another Essential, keep it in the fridge, it'll stay good forever) and a bit of chipotle pepper from the freezer. Once this was smelling good and turning brown, I mixed it in with the porkpaste.

Next, I began heating some oil in a skillet. I used just enough to start coming up the sides of the pan. While it was heating, I began spooning the think mixture into the tortillas (I probably thinned it with something, sour cream maybe? I can't remember). I folded the tortillas into the standard shape, and put them seam side down into the now-hot oil. Once they were brown on the bottom, I flipped them. On all but one, the seam stayed closed...success!

Once they were all done, I dolloped some sour cream on top. If I had had some salsa, it would have been a nice touch too, or maybe some kind of cheese sauce. However, we must deal with what we have in front of us.

Score:
Ease: B- (food proccessing is always a pain)
Flavor: B- (needed something more to accessorize)
Criminality: A (metafoods are hilarious...try describing to someone the process of essentially making a burrito out of an old burrito without looking like a jackass)

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