Salsa macha — “Sauce for the brave, los machos, real men…?” It doesn’t go down so well for an origin story, does it? Gratefully, there’s another one. Salsa macha, as ‘ground sauce’, from the word ‘machacar’ — to grind — usually in a molcajete. From unknown origin in the south of Mexico, specifically in the neighbouring…
There are thousands of barbecue places in Texas, and there are probably even more outside of Texas. The cuisine of smoked brisket, ribs, and sausage (but mainly brisket) has made fans of people all over the world, but outside of Texas the quality can be extremely variable. Many places in Europe try to hide middling…
The first thing that Boutheina Ben Salem remembers cooking was makrouna, Tunisia’s cherished pasta dish. She wanted to surprise her mother, who was returning from a trip. As her mother stepped into the house, she recognised by the aroma that the sauce was missing bay leaf. Ben Salem was sent outside to clear her nose…
You’re never more than five minutes from a taco in downtown Austin, and that taco is very likely to be absolutely excellent. Like any major city’s restaurant scene, what is and isn’t worth your money gets picked apart to death online but I think these restaurants are genuinely worth your time — in a city…
I’ve always loved chicken fillet rolls. When I was in my early teens, I used to always go to the car wash with my dad on Sundays – he would buy the papers and a couple of sausage rolls, and I would always get a chicken fillet roll. It always had the same fillings: plain…
This was a big one at Mangal 2 during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mackerel pide pretty much kept the restaurant financially afloat for two whole months. Five years on, here’s the recipe for you. Serves 4 Mackerel Pide 4 Mackerel fillets (pinboned or V-cut and dried in the fridge for 24 hours)1 Turkish pide or large focaccia1…
The fact that there is so much vitriol online is a given these days. That the majority of it is directed at upma (from time to time), a quick-to-make savoury breakfast dish, is undeserved. Talk about it to any South Indian child (or adult) and the response is the same: slander and hate about its…
My parents divorced 20 years ago and to this day whenever I speak to my dad he asks me for my mother’s recipe for pastel Azteca (Aztec cake). My mother, on the other hand, barely remembers ever making it, or even eating one for that matter. What’s more, unfortunately she threw away her old recipe…