The thrill of the road, for a foodie is getting to learn about local cuisine from an expert. Recently, I got to meet and cook with the well-known New Mexican chef, Jane Butel in Albequerque. Credited with starting the Tex-Mex trend, Jan published her first book on New Mexican and American Mexican food in the 1960's. These days, she's producing cookbooks, leading Northern New Mexico Culinary Tours, selling fresh spice blends and running her private cooking classes (dubbed one of the four best cooking schools in the world by Bon Appetit Magazine) out of her home. Today's class would be on making Sopaipillas, a delicious fried bread recipe that originated in Albequerque, 300 years ago. Jane greeted me at the door of her adobe-style home with her wildly energized 7-month old daschund. Settling ourselves into her roomy kitchen, with apron on, I watched eagerly and made detailed notes, wanting to try this back home. Jane mixed up the dough in a large metal bowl, kneeding the dough as we talked. On the counter, were two new-to-me tools that she would use. While she was rolling out the smaller amounts of dough on her granite counter, she used a small wooden mini roller, which was the perfect size for the amount of dough she was working with. The second was the appliance made famous recently by being ceremoniously buried on TV: a deep-fryer.
straight down, so the oil wouldn't splash, into a pre-heated TeFal deep fryer. We wiggled the dough a bit in the hot oil with metal tongs with teeth, then watched the pieces of dough puff up quickly. We watched carefully as they turned a golden color, then pulled them out of the oil and put them on paper towels to absorb excess oil. After the cooled for a minute Jane handed me a small honey pot and drizzler telling me how a small amount on the warm fried dough was delightful. She was right, of course. I ate three. Jane's kitchen, where she has been teaching cooking classes for many years, opens up onto a large casual dining area and a TV room with storage cuboards seem to go forever. Her kitchen has everything, and more importantly every tool/gadget/appliance she needed and acquired to create the thousands of recipes that have gone into her eighteen cookbooks.
Jane promised to send me her latest book "Real Women Eat Chiles," so I bought four bags of the amazing fresh chili spices she produces: Chipotle Chile, Pequin Quebrado, Caribe Chile and New Mexico Red Chili. I can't wait to try some of these recipes out on my chili-loving husband. For more information on her cooking classes, articles and books check out: http://www.janebutelcooking.com/Public/Home/index.cfm
