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Tortilla
2009-06-20 : gastronomy
Oh, the miracles of olive oil.
Tonight I made a Spanish tortilla with chorizo and chives, and quickly realized that I still hate my only nonstick pan (it gets used about once every quarter for an especially pernicious egg dish of some sort). After reading Harold McGee’s (old) report on Teflon alternatives, I’m considering giving the Le Creuset enamled pans a shot, but they’re not nearly light enough for delicate agitation, being, you know, a block of cast iron.
Also made some fresh garlic mayonnaise. I don’t know why I hadn’t made mayo from scratch before; it’s not difficult, and it definitely tastes better than the stuff from a jar. That it only keeps for a few days is a bit of a bummer, but you can’t have everything.
Anyhow, the two went nicely together,
Both recipes were from Cook’s Illustrated.
I should add that leftover mayo, as well as slices of the chorizo fried up, over toast … is also amazing.
— Aaron N. Tubbs 20 June 2009 #
“it definitely tastes better than the stuff from a jar. That it only keeps for a few days is a bit of a bummer” <— and that would probably be why it tastes better.
Technically you made an aioli, didn’t you?
BTW — what kind of chorizo did you use?
— Bill 21 June 2009 #
A traditional aioli forgoes the egg yolks, whereas mayonnaise always contains egg yolks.
For chorizo, ended up with some Portugese stuff that wasn’t probably quite right, but did okay. It wasn’t the shelf-stable variety, but in fact the raw “please cook this shit” stuff. Gritty and gristly, but it lended the right flavors, and plenty of rendered fat, so who am I to complain?
Of course, things get more arbitrary after that. Modern usage of aioli seems to be “mayo with shit in it” but it still is typically prepared in a mortar and pestle, instead of food processor or other means.
Anyhow, I’m having a hard time determining an accurate statement, but the recipe called it mayo, so I’m going to call a duck a duck, and roll with that.
— Aaron N. Tubbs 21 June 2009 #
I’m not quibbling. I’m also amused that the only people who still call it mayo are Belgian chefs, and they call everything mayo.
Portuguese chorizo would be spelled with that fancy c, wouldn’t it? Granted, chorizo seems to mostly mean “sausage.” It’s kind of like art — it could be anything.
— Bill 22 June 2009 #
For nonstick, you can try berndes from Germany. Not exactly cheap, but Le Creuset isn’t either.
— YZ 22 June 2009 #