Snacking State-by-State: Nevada III - Luck Be a Lush Tonight!

As I meant to say before, when Americans think of Nevada they think of Las Vegas.  And oh, so much comes to mind when we think of Vegas: casinos, gambling, singers - and whatever you would call Céline Dion, buffets galore (the one time I went I spent some quality time with the buffet at the Aladdin), CSI, the Strip... excess beyond excess!!!  (yes, even one of my favorite forensic dramas.  Any forensic scientist will tell you the equipment they have there just doesn't exist yet.  Again: excess).  It should surprise no one that many Vegas casinos regularly gave free drinks to patrons of their casinos. It should surprise few that mixologists have found a prominent place here.  It should surprise everyone that, despite the many cocktails that have been created in Sin City, none of America's most famous ones come from here.

Official Name: State of Nevada
State Nicknames: The Silver State; The Sagebrush State
Admission to the US:  October 31, 1864 (#36)
Capital: Carson City (2nd largest)
Other Important Cities: Las Vegas (largest), Henderson (2nd largest), Reno (4th largst), Sparks (5th lagest)
Region: West, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, Southwest; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Pinyon Nut; Chile Pepper
Bordered by: Oregon & Idaho (north), Utah (east), Arizona (southeast), California (south and west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: desert bighorn sheep (mammal - though generally not hunted); single-leaf pinyon (tree - for the pine nuts); Lahontan cutthroat trout (fish - whose low numbers are currently being replenished)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Native American and frontier foods, specificalyl Native foods typical of Great Basin peoples (including pine nuts); Basque cuisine; buffets and Vegas-style excess (in Las Vegas)


Many American cities boast signature cocktails.  New Orleans has its Sazerac.  New York has a few, it's so durned big (the Manhattan, the Long Island Iced Tea, etc).  And while the Mint Julep isn't indigenous to Louisville, the Kentucky Derby is its most famous venue.  Hell, even Baltimore has its Black Eyed Susan around Preakness time (not the most famous drink, but I had to recognize).  So I figured that Las Vegas has contributed at least one famous cocktail to the American culinary landscape. While investigating the many cocktails of Las Vegas, I found many that I had never heard of, some of which having been designated among the top American drinks of their year.  One notable one is the Cable Car, cousin to the Sidecar.  Notably served throughout Las Vegas, it was created by Tony Abou-Ganim at the Starlight Room... in San Francisco.  He did bring it with him to Vegas, but it isn't an indigenous cocktail.

One very popular (but again, non-indigenous) cocktail in Las Vegas is the Mexican Mojito - according to the I4Vegas website, it is perhaps the most popular one in Vegas.  I wouldn't know, but apparently it is a common one, a twist on the classic mojito replacing rum with, of course, tequila.


The Recipe: Mexican Mojito

While there are slight variations, the version of the Mexican mojito I used comes from Deborah Schneider at Leite's Culinaria.  For one of hers you will need:

* 100% agave blanco tequila (Since I don't drink many cocktails, and never drink straight liquor, I have fairly little around my kitchen - especially tequila, which will hit you when you least expect it like a ton o' bricks: Morelia, 2000, and an all-you-can-eat taco bar - trust me, I know.  I could have bought a large bottle for $40 or $50 that would have lasted me, probably, my entire life.  Instead, I bought a one-shot bottle of Patrón for the eye-popping price of $7.  This had better be a damn good cocktail.)
* fresh mint sprigs (hmmm, sounds like that mint julep so far. None fresh from my garden this time.  I had to buy some for $2)
* lime wedges (about half a dollar for one lime at Giant)
* sugar
* ice cubes
* carbonated water (a bottle isn't that pricey, under a dollar)
* lemon-lime soda (you may have some lying around)
* more mint and lime for garnish

First, muddle the mint, lime and sugar together.  I could'e used a spoon. Instead I used my pestle.  Be careful if you go that route.

Add a few ounces of ice to the glass.

And then add your tequila.  Next you shake it.  Schneider suggests using a shaker, which I didn't have on hand.

Don't laugh.

A few stray splashes over the sink later, the tequila, ice, lime, sugar and mint are all mixed up.

To this you will add some carbonated water...

...and some lemon-lime soda: Sprite, 7-Up, Sun Drop, hell why not go crazy and use ginger ale instead? Of course, that will make a different cocktail.

I'm glad the lady at The Wine Source recommended the small bottle of Patrón, because it was a good white tequila to use for this drink.  It's got the nice kick of tequila inside a mojito.  What else can I say?  It's a lovely drink.  But once again, I was reminded just how hard tequila can hit a person.  Even with this meager amount, I wasn't stumbling but I was feeling it for more than a few minutes at least.

- - - - -


We'll be spending some quality time mostly on the East Coast for a while, and our next stop is one of those early primary states.  Bust out the maple syrup and pie dough: it's Granite Time in New Hampshire.

Sources:


Detterick-Piñeda, Cynthia.  "Piñon Cakes - Pine Nut Cakes How To Make Pine Nut Cakes".  WhatsCookingAmerica.Net, date unknown.  Copyright WhatsCookingAmerica.Net 2011.


Elllingsworth, Christy.  "Basque potatoes".  The Daily Dish, posted January 4, 2011.


I4Vegas.Com.  "Popular Las Vegas Drinks". Date unknown.  Copyright I4Vegas.Com 1999-2011. 


The Modern Mixologist (TheModernMixologist.com).  "Cable Car: Tony's Signature Cocktail".  Date unknown.  Copyright The Modern Mixologist, 2007.


PineNut.Com.  "History of Pine Nuts & The People of the Great Basin". PineNut.Com, date unknown. Copyright PineNut.Com 1998-2011.

Schneider, Deborah.  "Mexican Mojito".  Leite's Culinaria (LeitesCulinaria.Com), posted May 5, 2010.

Zubir, Nancy.  A travel guide to Basque America: families, feasts, and festivals.  University of Nevada Press: Reno, NV, 2006.  Also partially available on Google Books.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Nevada" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Nevada".

Snacking State-by-State: Nevada II - Basque in the glow of oven fried potatoes

In the 19th century, Nevada saw pioneers searching for gold and silver.  Settlers came not just from all over the East, South and Midwest but from other countries.  Among those settlers were the US's first documented Basque settlers, coming to work in the mines and bringing with them their own food traditions from Basque Country.

Official Name: State of Nevada
State Nicknames: The Silver State; The Sagebrush State
Admission to the US:  October 31, 1864 (#36)
Capital: Carson City (2nd largest)
Other Important Cities: Las Vegas (largest), Henderson (2nd largest), Reno (4th largst), Sparks (5th lagest)
Region: West, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, Southwest; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Pinyon Nut; Chile Pepper
Bordered by: Oregon & Idaho (north), Utah (east), Arizona (southeast), California (south and west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: desert bighorn sheep (mammal - though generally not hunted); single-leaf pinyon (tree - for the pine nuts); Lahontan cutthroat trout (fish - whose low numbers are currently being replenished)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Native American and frontier foods, specificalyl Native foods typical of Great Basin peoples (including pine nuts); Basque cuisine; buffets and Vegas-style excess (in Las Vegas)

One of the earliest Basque settlements in the United States was the town of Winnemucca, in the northern part of the state.  Accorcding to A travel guide to Basque America by Nancy Zubiri, Basque settled all around southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada.  Few of those communities went on to flourish; Winnemucca was an exception.

Many of the newcomers were transplants from the smaller towns.  Located on the banks of the Humboldt River, Winnemucca was supported primarily by farming and ranching.  Several mines of gold, silver, copper, and tungsten brought many immigrants to the region.  But in surrounding Humboldt Colunty towns the mostly wide-open ranges with adequate greenery were an attractive starting point for Basques hoping to establish their own sheep band. [Zubiri 2006:292]

Today, Zubiri notes, Winnemucca and nearby Elko mostly thrive on tourist dollars.  Even with Interstate 80 funneling most traffic between San Francisco and Salt Lake City, people still stop in the cities - especially in the summer, when business for the Basque restaurants spikes, and when the Basque Festivals take place [Zubiri 2006:292-293].

I am familiar with several world cuisines, either in passing or through a more thorough investigation.  I must confess that Basque is not among them.  Among the sheepherder's breads - a mammoth loaf of bread cooked in a Dutch oven - and lamb stews (see this link from NPR for these recipes), I also found links to garlic soups and Basque potatoes.  There are various versions of both the soup and the potato (try Buber's Basque Recipe Page for more).  The recipe I went with is on the Daily Dish website, a blog of low sodium and salt-free recipes.  The author, Christy Ellingsworth, did what I am about to do: take photos of the cooking process (hers are prettier than mine).  I did add a little sprinkle of salt (hers is intentionally salt-free).

The Recipe: Basque Potatoes

For Ellingsworth's version of Basque potoatoes you will need:

* potatoes (for a potato dish?  Seriously, I got about a pound of reds.  This one calls for Russets though I've seen others that call for red or Yukon gold.  The red ones worked well, and are cheap)
* garlic (had it)
* dried parsley, rosemary and thyme (have them, though I need to replenish the thyme)
* paprika, cayenne pepper and freshly ground black pepper (yup, have those too)
* olive oil (same)

Peel and cut up your potatoes.  I did mine in large chunks, as per the recipe.  However, you could just cube them as well.  Adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Ellingsworth says to bust out that mortar and pestle and get to grinding up your garlic.  Oh, if I had a mano and metate, I'd grind garlic in the morn...

Throw the garlic and herbs and spices into an oven-proof pan (when in doubt, stick with cast-iron) filled with olive oil, and heat for a few seconds.

Quickly add the taters and coat.

Adjust the cayenne to taste.

Next, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and place in a preheated 375°F oven for about 15 minutes.

Uncover, stir, and put in for another half hour or so.

The garlic wound up being hard and very browned, but you won't be eating it in this case.  The potatoes are the star here, in this simple, spicy potato dish.  The garlic and rosemary left a pretty subtle flavor, I think - surprising to me, since these are not things that usually impart a mild anything.  This is a good, quick introduction to Basque cuisine (says the guy who knows next to nothing about Basque cuisine).  Perhaps I should tackle that garlic soup?


Sources:


Detterick-Piñeda, Cynthia.  "Piñon Cakes - Pine Nut Cakes How To Make Pine Nut Cakes".  WhatsCookingAmerica.Net, date unknown.  Copyright WhatsCookingAmerica.Net 2011.


Elllingsworth, Christy.  "Basque potatoes".  The Daily Dish, posted January 4, 2011.


I4Vegas.Com.  "Popular Las Vegas Drinks". Date unknown.  Copyright I4Vegas.Com 1999-2011. 


The Modern Mixologist (TheModernMixologist.com).  "Cable Car: Tony's Signature Cocktail".  Date unknown.  Copyright The Modern Mixologist, 2007.


PineNut.Com.  "History of Pine Nuts & The People of the Great Basin". PineNut.Com, date unknown. Copyright PineNut.Com 1998-2011.

Schneider, Deborah.  "Mexican Mojito".  Leite's Culinaria (LeitesCulinaria.Com), posted May 5, 2010. 

Zubir, Nancy.  A travel guide to Basque America: families, feasts, and festivals.  University of Nevada Press: Reno, NV, 2006.  Also partially available on Google Books.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Nevada" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Nevada".

Snacking State-by-State: Nevada I - Viva Los Piñones

When Americans think of Nevada... well first we usually think "ne-vah-duh", like the "o" in cot (or like the Spanish word nevada, meaning "snowy").  Nevadans will correct you by saying "It's 'ne-vă-duh'" (IPA - /æ/ ), like the "a" in cat. The state's travel website even says this (though note: even though the state is  "ne-vă-duh" the Sierra Nevada mountain range is "ne-vah-duh".  Nevada, Nevada, potato, potato... ah, hell).  Anyway, it's next on my food tour.  And my first attempted recipe comes is yet another variation on frybread using, of all things, the incredible, edible pine nut.

Official Name: State of Nevada
State Nicknames: The Silver State; The Sagebrush State
Admission to the US:  October 31, 1864 (#36)
Capital: Carson City (2nd largest)
Other Important Cities: Las Vegas (largest), Henderson (2nd largest), Reno (4th largst), Sparks (5th lagest)
Region: West, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, Southwest; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Pinyon Nut; Chile Pepper
Bordered by: Oregon & Idaho (north), Utah (east), Arizona (southeast), California (south and west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: desert bighorn sheep (mammal - though generally not hunted); single-leaf pinyon (tree - for the pine nuts); Lahontan cutthroat trout (fish - whose low numbers are currently being replenished)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Native American and frontier foods, specificalyl Native foods typical of Great Basin peoples (including pine nuts); Basque cuisine; buffets and Vegas-style excess (in Las Vegas)


Historically, Nevada's food is a reflection of its Native American and frontier immigrant cultures.  The Native peoples of of Nevada are in the Great Basin (which extends into much of Utah, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, California and Oregon).  The Great Basin peoples were by and large hunter gatherers.  Just as buffalo was the key thing for the Plains peoples and acorns were for many of the California Indians, so pine nuts were the staple food for Native peoples in the Great Basin.  And this was far from an easy nut to crack (pardon the pun).  The processing of pine nuts - or pinyon nuts, pignolias, piñones, etc - was largely a communal effort, extending from summer into fall.  And the first falling of pine cones was considered a sacred time for many Great Basin peoples. Then the processing began - as PineNut.com notes, this was the hard part.

This began by roasting the pine cones around hot coals, turning them often, to cause them to open up. Then, the cones could be beaten lightly to cause the nuts to fall out. When a supply of nuts was available, these required further processing since the nuts were covered by a soft brown shell. Cracking this shell would be difficult and would injure the fruit inside. The nuts were processed by placing them on a basketry tray with hot coals from the fire. Once introduced together, the whole mass was kept in constant motion, throwing them up and swirling the tray, until the shells were roasted to a hard, crisp dark brown. The coals were removed at this point and the nuts were poured onto a grinding stone where they were lightly pounded with a mano until all of the shells had cracked and falled free of the inner fruit. [PineNut.com, date unknown]

The pine nuts would then be dried for future use, often being ground into a flour, not unlike the California Indians did with acorns (which had their own special processing needs).

The Great Basin peoples adapted their dishes with the influx of whites to their area.  During the Long Walk (the relocation of Native Americans in the West to reservations), many recipes were adapted to the new staples brought in from the whites.  One old recipe incorporates flour and powdered milk; perhaps an ancient version may have included pine nut flour.  This pine nut cake, a modern cousin to the many varieties of frybread, is often eaten today while stories of the relocation are told [Detterick-Piñeda, date unknown].

The following recipe comes from Cynthia Detterick-Piñeda of Andrews, Texas, and reposted on the WhatsCookingAmerica.net website.  Check here for a list of Detterick-Piñeda's (and others'?) Southwestern recipes.

The Recipe: Pine Nut Cakes

For pine nut cakes, you will need the following:

* pine nuts (seriously, you need these.  As we now know, these things aren't easy to process, and that's why they're so pricey.  I found that I didn't need a whole lot of them, maybe 1/2 cup at most.  This will make half of the above recipe.  I bought extra but found I didn't need to.  Great - more pine nuts to use all around!).
* powdered milk (had it)
* whole wheat flour (had it too)
* oil (for frying - had it)
* salt and water (well, yeah, I have those too)

First, throw the pine nuts into a food processor with all the remaining ingredients, except of course for the oil.

Pulse at a high speed until you get something mealy...

...eventually adding water little by little until you get a nice ball of pine nut dough.  I had to add just a little bit more water than the recipe called for.  The dough ball pretty much just formed all of a sudden.

Break off pieces of the dough.

Form each piece into a ball, about the size of a walnut.

Or a Brussels sprout.

And flatten that ball.

Fry in hot oil for a few minutes on a side until golden brown.  The author recommends cutting the first one open to make sure it is not doughy in the center.  Mine weren't.

Drain and serve hot.

 

With whatever condiments you so choose.  I have Icelandic butter and some of that Great Plains wojapi on top of mine.

Again, this is a smaller cousin to frybread.  I find that these pine nut cakes are best fresh out of the fat.  I had some day old pine nut cakes, cold.  They should at least be rewarmed, maybe even refried for a minute in the pan.  It is definitely a different way to eat pine nuts than I am used to.  I ate mine with butter but you could use honey, jelly (or wojapi).

Sources:


Detterick-Piñeda, Cynthia.  "Piñon Cakes - Pine Nut Cakes How To Make Pine Nut Cakes".  WhatsCookingAmerica.Net, date unknown.  Copyright WhatsCookingAmerica.Net 2011.


Elllingsworth, Christy.  "Basque potatoes".  The Daily Dish, posted January 4, 2011.


I4Vegas.Com.  "Popular Las Vegas Drinks". Date unknown.  Copyright I4Vegas.Com 1999-2011. 


The Modern Mixologist (TheModernMixologist.com).  "Cable Car: Tony's Signature Cocktail".  Date unknown.  Copyright The Modern Mixologist, 2007.


PineNut.Com.  "History of Pine Nuts & The People of the Great Basin". PineNut.Com, date unknown. Copyright PineNut.Com 1998-2011.

Schneider, Deborah.  "Mexican Mojito".  Leite's Culinaria (LeitesCulinaria.Com), posted May 5, 2010. 

Zubir, Nancy.  A travel guide to Basque America: families, feasts, and festivals.  University of Nevada Press: Reno, NV, 2006.  Also partially available on Google Books.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Nevada" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Nevada".

El Nayar

As I've said here many times, it's just too darn difficult to find good Mexican food on the East Coast. That holds true for Baltimore, of course. But I was hopeful when I stopped in the Catonsville location of El Nayar, a Mexican restaurant that specializes in the sabor of the western state of Nayarit. Of course, the menu offerings are what you will usually see on most Mexican restaurant menus (though I had never seen the tequila and chicken soup or cactus and eggs, both of which I will have to try on future visits), but El Nayar promises that they are indeed true to their nayarita roots.

El Nayar is a pretty good place to save money - the a la carte and lunch menus offer some inexpensive (my definition: in the neighborhood of $5) choices for diners, as well as more expensive full-blown platters. None of these is too expensive. The priciest dish I found for lunch was about $10, and their dinner platters aren't much higher. Plus, they have a lunch "happy hour" eery day, in which a different thing is discounted: 10% off your bill, 75 cents off a burrito, etc. (They don't serve alcohol, but the place is BYOB)

Among the dizzying array of foods to eat with my complementary chips and salsa, I chose the three taco platter ($6 - yes, I'm a cheapskate, but I kinda have to be) and a tamale on the side.

tacos and tamale

This is some of the best Mexican food I have had outside of California or (natch) Mexico. The three tacos came with onions both raw chopped and grilled, as well as chopped cilantro and some unexpected radish slices. Along with them came two types of salsas, a mild green salsa and a medium-hot red salsa. I can take heat better than many people I know, and though it didn't make me sweat or tear up, it came close. A lot of people would find it hot. I myself like this. In case you're not a "hot salsa" person, it comes in a little ramekin on the side.

The tacos consisted of three little soft corn tortillas, the kind you don't often see "Back East" where we are but which you can easily find in Mexico or (again) California. You can have your choice of chicken, carne asada or barbacoa, or mix and match the three - that's what I did. The chicken was moist and flaorful, better than most chicken I have the misfortune of eating out these days. The barbacoa reminded of cochinita pibil but without the tanginess or citrusiness. This was a mellow but ery juicy barbecue. The taco I liked the least was the carne asada one. I did like it a lot, but it wasn't as good as the other ones, as some of the pieces were a little dry on the edges. But that happens sometimes with carne asada. Each taco went well with both salsas, though my favorite salsa had to be the red one.

The tamale was a welcome surprise. This was just a good, "homemade style" chicken tamale. The corn dough around the chicken reminded me of one of the first tamales I had ever eaten on a visit to Phoenix (the one in Arizona) years ago ("El Andar" was that restaurant. I wonder if it's still open?). I loved that one, and it has become the default yardstick against which all the other tamales I have eaten since have been measured. This tamale measured up well against that one, and better than most I have eaten in years.

Along with my soda my entire bill came to little over $10. I left a few dollars extra for the tip (easy to figure out since a 20% was just $2). The service was good, and the food came out fast, so that was a nice thing, too. All over it was a good, cheap eating experience, and a welcome oasis of tasty Mexican food in a part of the country where tasty Mexican food just isn't that easy to find.