Jamal brought fried okra! OH NOES!!!!

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I overall, do not care much for Mexican food. But tamales is the best.

My co-worker told me that hispanic families make 500 tamales at a time! Apparently it takes a lot time and work to make these.

Worddork beat me to it with a great description of what all goes into making tamales.

You don't like Mexican food! Sacrilege!

Just kidding. To be quite frank, you've probably mostly been given Tex-Mex or Southwestern food. I love all kinds of Southwestern/ Hispanic foods---there was a little El Salvadorean restaurant I used to go to in Santa Fe to buy pupusas (stuffed pancakes made with masa) and tipico (plaintains fried until almost caramelized). Authentic Mexican food is dishes like Mole, chilaquiles, pozole, tortas, etc. Burritos and enchiladas are more Mexican-American or Tex-Mex.

To this day I prefer eating my meals with corn tortillas instead of bread. I'm not a big fan of bread, but I can't live without my corn tortillas.

[tacohuman]

He was really into casseroles and mac & cheese type of food so I made him Chilaquiles

omg i love chilaquiles. especially for breakfast, topped with a fried egg and with a side of refried beans. now i'm hungry. tamales are awesome, too. i especially love salvadoran tamales. and fried plantains...latin-american food in general is delicious.

i believe corn on the cob was mentioned earlier in the thread. for a yummy twist on that, try this:

fry up a few strips of bacon until crispy (any pan works for this, but i've found it's best in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet). drain the grease except for about 3 or 4 tablespoons full.

shuck and clean 3 to 4 ears of sweet fresh corn. cut kernels off the cob.

throw corn into the pan with the bacon grease. crumble the strips of bacon you fried up earlier into it.

toss together and fry for 5 to 6 minutes.

voila! you have bacon-fried corn just like my grandma used to make. enjoy!

[tacohuman]

Mmmmm...tamales....*homer drool*

Speaking of which, I've always wanted to make my own but I have no idea where to get the corn husks to make them (stupid Maryland). I did hear that you can use parchment paper (which just sounds like sacrilage to me). Any ideas?

if there are any ethnic food stores in your area, you could always try there. or you could go salvadoran style and use banana leaves. of course, you could potentially have the same issue with finding those.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

tacohuman is right, you should check for ethnic grocery stores in your area.

The husks are usually called hojas para tamales in Spanish.

[Tria]

Can someone please come make me sausage and gravy biscuits?

kthnxbye.

YOu provide the transportation and the groceries and I will!

[PorkChop]

Mmmm... Tex Mex food! *drools*

Sometime, when I do have the time, I'll make tamales of my own. But gosh, with all the preparations that needs to be done it seems like a Thanksgiving meal.

Who likes Mexican Coca Cola! It is sweeter!

[princess4life]

Customer took great offense at this, stating that A) We have no right to talk about food while working, because we're supposed to be 'serving the customers' and B) this random statement was very offensive as Jamal is a stereotypical black man's name, and how dare somebody mention such a name and 'fried okra' in the same sentence.

Personally if I was the supervisor that took the call I would say something along the lines of
"Sir, you stated that what was said was offensive because the name Jamal is a stereotypical black mans name. Well there is no way for you to know the race of the gentleman that works for us that is named Jamal so I find your complaining offensive."

I really hate when people assume things about people by there name. Just because the name "sounds black" does not necessarily mean that they are black.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I am baffled by why the guy had a problem with it.

I'm not. Most of the people I've seen get really worked up over this sort of thing were white people who really wanted everyone to see how progressive they supposedly were. Y'know, cuz they were getting all worked up over how offensive the comment was to black folks.

I just got finished eating okra for lunch. Baked into a slimy green glop. Delish. I love fried okra. I love it baked, gumbo'ed, sauteed, raw, and especially, steamed with butter. The slimier the better. My siser once planted a row of okra just for me, down on the edge of my father's field where she figured (correctly) that I wouldn't find it and presented it to me for my birthday. Awesome gift!

Which was nice, considering she hates it and that I used to torture her with it when we were kids, steaming it and then making a big show of the white, eyeball like seeds floating in glistening strands of slime as I ate it in front of her.

[Geek King]

Late, but I have grown up on fried okra and cornbread. It's a southern thing, not a black thing. So is fried chicken and watermelon. Heck, fried anything likely can be traced back to the hills of Kentucky and Tennesee. I don't much care for non-fried okra though. I find it kind of slimey. I've never tried it raw though. I'll have to get some fresh from the store and try it.

[Misanthropical]

Personally if I was the supervisor that took the call I would say something along the lines of
"Sir, you stated that what was said was offensive because the name Jamal is a stereotypical black mans name. Well there is no way for you to know the race of the gentleman that works for us that is named Jamal so I find your complaining offensive."

I really hate when people assume things about people by there name. Just because the name "sounds black" does not necessarily mean that they are black.

A friend of mine has a wife with the same name as my daughter. He was trying to tell me how he had never heard of a white girl with that name, but he was trying to be PC about it. I just started laughing at the thought of a black man trying to be all PC.

[crazylegs]

If Jamal was willing could you have not put him on the phone and get him to talk about his cooking etc to show this guy what a plonker he was?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I am usually assumed to be black because of my real first name. It's not an uncommon or particularly ethnic name in general(well, at least not that particular ethnicity, anyway), but DOWN HERE, it is.

[LizaMarie]

this is late, but does anyone do fried pickles? I had those when I was in the carolinas and good lord, are they fantastic!

[SnapAddict218]

this is late, but does anyone do fried pickles? I had those when I was in the carolinas and good lord, are they fantastic!

WE DO THEM AT EVERY PARTY. We buy whole pickles by the gigantic jar, bread and fry them ourselves. IF we can find the oh-so-prized spicy whole pickles, all the better.

[smileyeagle1021]

ugh, why did I open this thread at work... with 3 hours left on my shift... now I may just have to stop at Betos on my way home (even if Betos isn't very good, it's better than taco bell).
Though on the topic, I think some of the best mexican style food I've had was at a place called Super Burrito in Reno on Plumb lane... OMG, they have the best burritoes on the planet, kinda like I think the best burgers on the planet are at Astro Burger at 3900 south state st in Salt Lake (which also happens to be across from the first KFC to be called KFC... yes there were other kentucky fried chickens first, but south salt lake was the first to officially put up a sign saying KFC instead... supposedly).
Oh and work is fun, we have a tradition, you visit our center, you bring food. Most visitors will cop out and either bring in Blimpie party subs, endless boxes of pizza, or junk food, but some will set up bbqs and serve burgers and dogs and some will even set up full buffets (the mexico devision of CP set up a burritoe and chips and salsa buffet, yum, I wish they would come more often).