I had a feeling I may have read Turnip Greens & Tortillas at some point but I was browsing in the Library and they had a Cinco De Mayo shelf and I wasn’t sure. Having read the book, I’m still not sure. But I’m glad I picked it up, because it has a recipe I have been looking for: bolillos. I cannot find them anywhere close to where I live, and they are probably the best sandwich rolls for most all roll/sub type sandwiches like bahn mi. Now I have a recipe that mostly works! First attempt, it’s definitely got the crust right, although the inside isn’t quite as light or fluffy as the kind I have to drive an hour and a half to find at a major international market. But they are pretty close.
(Yes, those are right out of the oven cooling in the microwave, because cats).
The other main thing I appreciate is the point in the intro narrative that “Authenticity” isn’t really a real thing is a lot of ways. Those tortillas every Mexican grandma supposedly made from scratch? She probably used a shortcut like Maseca, and that’s just fine. None of my grandmother figures are/were Mexican, but they were/are all good cooks (3/4 are gone). My great-aunt, probably the one I learned most cooking from (one of the three no longer here), definitely used things like her brand of gravy mix or soup mix in her famous meatloaf (which also involved commercially made ketchup) and so on. My one living grandma’s famous cinnamon buns? Those involve frozen bread rolls.
Anyways, back to book reviewing. The rest of the book is framed as a Southern-Mexican fusion, except the actual recipes really don’t feel or look that way. Most everything is either one or the other, maybe with one slight tweak. Take the refried black-eyed peas with chorizo, or shrimp and grits. The first tweak is pretty obvious (black eyed peas instead of kidney beans), and the second basically just adds jalapeno to sweet grits. I have no feelings on the sweet vs salty grits as a lot of native Southerners do, but sweet grits with shrimp sounds a little strange to me. There’s plenty of the expected taco, enchilada, etc. kinds of things, and most look pretty standard to me. The one of relatively few true hybrids is basically French onion soup made southern with Vidalia onions, and Mexican with cumin, tomato, and habanero. I’m a little unsure about the chocolate chimichangas, but I have to admit, the green chile-apple-pineapple turnovers with lime zest glaze look pretty good for what’s supposed to be a fried pie/empanada hybrid, except that calling it a turnover to me means it should use a puff-type pastry, not what looks more like a pie crust dough. Still gonna try it either way.