Cheese Enchiladas

[thunderlounge 7814]

Get a rope.

[irishtexan 11515]

Made these tonight. Used Robb Walsh’s recipe. They came out great. And this was probably the best mexican rice I’ve ever made. Didn’t have an expo to wipe my plate down, as I gave the help the night off.

[Braff Zacklin 13553]

11 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

Made these tonight. Used Robb Walsh’s recipe. They came out great. And this was probably the best mexican rice I’ve ever made. Didn’t have an expo to wipe my plate down, as I gave the help the night off.

Gotta be honest here, irish--I'm a little miffed I wasn't invited. Damn fine plate of enchiladas con arroz, senor.

[jimmyjazz 45889]

1 hour ago, irishtexan said:

Made these tonight. Used Robb Walsh’s recipe. They came out great. And this was probably the best mexican rice I’ve ever made.

Rice recipe?  I struggle with that one.

[irishtexan 11515]

Rice recipe?  I struggle with that one.

1.5 cups long grain white rice. Toast rice in like 1/4 cup of vegetable oil until deep golden brown. Watch it and let it toast longer than you think you should, but make sure it doesn’t burnt. Add 1/4 of a finely diced yellow or white onion and sautee for a few mins on lower heat. Then add about 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic and sautee like 30 seconds till fragrant.

While you’re doing all that shit, in a separate saucepan bring 2 cups of chicken broth to almost a boil. Add that to the rice and onions and garlic right after you add the garlic. Also add 8oz of tomato sauce, a teaspoon or so of salt, about half a teaspoon of cumin, a few sprigs of cilantro, and a whole halved jalapeño. Cook on low for like 20 mins till done. Remove from heat but do not take off lid. Let sit for like 15 mins before fluffing. Remove japs and cilantro.

That’s how I did it. Difference tonight was that I toasted the rice a little longer, heated the liquid/broth before adding to the rice, and I let it sit a lot longer than normal after removing from heat.

[mooseoutfront 3643]

3 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

OMFG are you shitting me? Those are some of the worst tortillas on earth. My girlfriend accidentally bought some last week to make enchiladas. Fucking INEDIBLE. 

THEY ARE FUCKING MADE IN GEORGIA.

 

 

When you fry them in lard to soften them, as one should when making proper cheese enchiladas, I bet they are just fine. 
 

The tortillas are just the fat, cheese, chili gravy delivery device. 

[rage-a-holic 4381]

27 minutes ago, mooseoutfront said:

When you fry them in lard to soften them, as one should when making proper cheese enchiladas, I bet they are just fine. 
 

The tortillas are just the fat, cheese, chili gravy delivery device. 

Nope, still tasted like shit.

And I'm sure you get lots of free lard up in the boonies, but veggie oil is still cheaper than lard in Mexico, which is what your average person uses.

[williemackgarza 1826]

I hit up juan in a million on monday.
Cheese enchilada with fresh onion hit hard. Uses amerixan cheese.
Buddy got the don juan.
Soorry no pics.
Salsa like my mom and grandma used to make.
All was really good.
Juan still there. I think he thinks we boyz from back in tha day.
Always hits me with the vato slap shake when ever I walk in and see him?

[Celery Man 20932]

11 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

OMFG are you shitting me? Those are some of the worst tortillas on earth. My girlfriend accidentally bought some last week to make enchiladas. Fucking INEDIBLE. 

THEY ARE FUCKING MADE IN GEORGIA.

 

 

I live in North Carolina. Pickings are slim, which is why I had to learn how to make my own flour tortillas. Inedible is a stretch.

[Celery Man 20932]

lol I thought so - you literally took a pack of la banderita tortillas with you to Mexico 

 

On 5/2/2023 at 10:33 PM, rage-a-holic said:

I picked up a pack of these at Sam's Club 2 weeks ago and took them to Playa/Cozumel with me. Wherever we went, I just ordered the carne/queso and used these. They aren't bad. My girlfriend ran out of her cheap tortillas and has tried to finish them off; wish I had brought more.

 

 

 

[Celery Man 20932]

8 hours ago, irishtexan said:

1.5 cups long grain white rice. Toast rice in like 1/4 cup of vegetable oil until deep golden brown. Watch it and let it toast longer than you think you should, but make sure it doesn’t burnt. Add 1/4 of a finely diced yellow or white onion and sautee for a few mins on lower heat. Then add about 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic and sautee like 30 seconds till fragrant.

While you’re doing all that shit, in a separate saucepan bring 2 cups of chicken broth to almost a boil. Add that to the rice and onions and garlic right after you add the garlic. Also add 8oz of tomato sauce, a teaspoon or so of salt, about half a teaspoon of cumin, a few sprigs of cilantro, and a whole halved jalapeño. Cook on low for like 20 mins till done. Remove from heat but do not take off lid. Let sit for like 15 mins before fluffing. Remove japs and cilantro.

That’s how I did it. Difference tonight was that I toasted the rice a little longer, heated the liquid/broth before adding to the rice, and I let it sit a lot longer than normal after removing from heat.

Is that recipe from the Walsh book as well? I’ll have to try it. My super low effort recipe is to fry a cup of rice in a few tbsp of oil with about half a tbsp of knorr caldo de tomate and maybe 1/4 tsp of cumin, add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tbsp of chicken better than boullion and some frozen peas, bring to a boil, cover, cook as directed for twenty and then turn off the heat and let sit for another 10-20. I like it better with the onions and other accoutrement but the three year old loves “rice with peas” and I can do this whole thing while working on other stuff.

[irishtexan 11515]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

Is that recipe from the Walsh book as well? I’ll have to try it. My super low effort recipe is to fry a cup of rice in a few tbsp of oil with about half a tbsp of knorr caldo de tomate and maybe 1/4 tsp of cumin, add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tbsp of chicken better than boullion and some frozen peas, bring to a boil, cover, cook as directed for twenty and then turn off the heat and let sit for another 10-20. I like it better with the onions and other accoutrement but the three year old loves “rice with peas” and I can do this whole thing while working on other stuff.

Not a Walsh recipe. I looked at about four different recipes and came up with what I thought would be good, but also would be easy.

As far as store bought corn tortillas go, in Austin I like the El Milagro yellow corn tortillas that come in the cool paper sack. They don't have any preservatives (according to the package) and when you open the bag there's a noticeable rich masa smell. Of course, the downside is that they only come in packages of 30 and since they don't have preservatives they don't keep very long. And our family usually isn't eating 30 corn tortillas in less than a week. But I think they're much better than the HEB branded corn tortillas.

If anyone has a recommendation on store-bought corn tortillas that you feel are better, I'm all ears.

[hornian 5210]

9 hours ago, irishtexan said:

1.5 cups long grain white rice. Toast rice in like 1/4 cup of vegetable oil until deep golden brown. Watch it and let it toast longer than you think you should, but make sure it doesn’t burnt. Add 1/4 of a finely diced yellow or white onion and sautee for a few mins on lower heat. Then add about 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic and sautee like 30 seconds till fragrant.

While you’re doing all that shit, in a separate saucepan bring 2 cups of chicken broth to almost a boil. Add that to the rice and onions and garlic right after you add the garlic. Also add 8oz of tomato sauce, a teaspoon or so of salt, about half a teaspoon of cumin, a few sprigs of cilantro, and a whole halved jalapeño. Cook on low for like 20 mins till done. Remove from heat but do not take off lid. Let sit for like 15 mins before fluffing. Remove japs and cilantro.

That’s how I did it. Difference tonight was that I toasted the rice a little longer, heated the liquid/broth before adding to the rice, and I let it sit a lot longer than normal after removing from heat.

This is good, but here's my recipe:

3/4 cup Texmati rice

Toast rice in vegetable oil or butter - but probably only like a tablespoon. I eyeball it. I don't know if toast it as long as you, but enough to get that good toast smell.

Add in 2 cups chicken broth or water (I use broth, the wife who is from the valley usually uses water) + 1 package of Goya Season. I prefer this one: 

Cover and turn the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

 

It's the same idea as yours, just less work. No mincing, and the Goya seasoning gives it all the flavor/color it needs. I think the key is toasting the rice before you boil it.

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

12 minutes ago, hornian said:

I think the key is toasting the rice before you boil it.

^This.

[jimmyjazz 45889]

48 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

As far as store bought corn tortillas go, in Austin I like the El Milagro yellow corn tortillas that come in the cool paper sack. They don't have any preservatives (according to the package) and when you open the bag there's a noticeable rich masa smell. Of course, the downside is that they only come in packages of 30 and since they don't have preservatives they don't keep very long. And our family usually isn't eating 30 corn tortillas in less than a week.

Have you tried freezing them?

[Celery Man 20932]

I really do need to try both making my own corn tortillas as well as my own chili powder. I think corn tortillas are supposed to be easy. I have maseca and a press, and some plastic grocery bags, I think that’s mostly what you need.

[Covri 6244]

We used to do a full Mexican style recipe with boxed chicken stock, fresh onion, and tomato paste, but people here recommended this and now we can make Mexican rice even easier that tastes as good and doesn’t require we have the extra ingredients on hand. You can make great Mexican rice with this, rice, oil, and garlic powder/garlic salt. Onion still takes it up a notch, and we usually have some if it, but I’m sure onion powder could be used in a pinch if you want more onion flavor. 

 

[Deej 76755]

1 hour ago, hornian said:

I think the key is toasting the rice before you boil it.

I thought this was known?

[Celery Man 20932]

20 minutes ago, Covri said:

We used to do a full Mexican style recipe with boxed chicken stock, fresh onion, and tomato paste, but people here recommended this and now we can make Mexican rice even easier that tastes as good and doesn’t require we have the extra ingredients on hand. You can make great Mexican rice with this, rice, oil, and garlic powder/garlic salt. Onion still takes it up a notch, and we usually have some if it, but I’m sure onion powder could be used in a pinch if you want more onion flavor. 

 

I haven’t even checked the ingredients but I suspect that boullion contains the msg that is sometimes the missing *something* from the more natural ingredient recipes 

[jimmyjazz 45889]

4 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I haven’t even checked the ingredients but I suspect that boullion contains the msg that is sometimes the missing *something* from the more natural ingredient recipes 

It's literally the second ingredient.  The first is salt.  No thanks.

[Covri 6244]

6 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I haven’t even checked the ingredients but I suspect that boullion contains the msg that is sometimes the missing *something* from the more natural ingredient recipes 

It’s actually a similar but slightly different flavor enhancer, Disodium guanylate. But we use it for the ease of not having to have broth and tomato paste. We can make smaller amounts too than the traditional recipe. Flavor is pretty similar and a less “spicy” then when we use this canned sauce. The one watch out still is overall sodium.

 

edit: lol I missed it did have msg, it’s got what plants humans crave!

 

Edited March 27 by Covri

[Bozo_Casanova 26437]

8 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I haven’t even checked the ingredients but I suspect that boullion contains the msg that is sometimes the missing *something* from the more natural ingredient recipes 

 

It’s good, though 

[Celery Man 20932]

I think people are less mad about msg these days. But yeah.

 

i do think that using boullion is fairly authentic for Tex Mex

[Smax 3800]

23 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

It's literally the second ingredient.  The first is salt.  No thanks.

 

 

I've never understood peoples problem with msg, like most things moderation is key

[hornian 5210]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

I thought this was known?

Not by Gringos. 

[rage-a-holic 4381]

7 hours ago, Celery Man said:

lol I thought so - you literally took a pack of la banderita tortillas with you to Mexico 

 

 

And? Their corn tortillas are terrible. The ones in the pic are keto flour tortillas, which you can't find in most of Mexico. I said "they aren't bad" as in "they are edible". The corn ones aren't.

[utee94 15807]

For the rice, no need to dice the onion, just cut one in half, put it face down in the skillet as you cook everything, and stir occasionally.  This is how Abuelita in the Valley always did it.  

[Texzilla588 769]

Not by Gringos. 

Uhh folks have been making pilafs and other rice dishes in Europe and Middle East for Millenia. Frying rice in oil isn’t a Mexican invention.

[Brisketexan 105071]

It's literally the second ingredient.  The first is salt.  No thanks.

I mean…you can say that, but Knorr powdered bouillon was and is in every real-deal Mexican kitchen I’ve ever been in. It’s one of my “never run out of this” kitchen items.
And yeah, fry rice in oil, add onions, then knorr - that’s the basic Mexican rice I had in every family member’s house my whole life. The variation is using the chicken tomato instead of just chicken, adding peas and/or carrots, maybe adding a bit of salsa to the cooking liquid. But the basics are fried rice, onion, and knorr.

[jimmyjazz 45889]

Doesn't mean I have to eat that shit.

[Brisketexan 105071]

Doesn't mean I have to eat that shit.

If you’re eating Mexican rice at anyone’s house who is a real-deal messican…and in a shitload of restaurants…you already are.

[jimmyjazz 45889]

18 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

If you’re eating Mexican rice at anyone’s house who is a real-deal messican…and in a shitload of restaurants…you already are.

I'm pretty sure we don't need to elaborate . . . I'm aware . . . I'm not cooking with it.  End.

[hornian 5210]

On 3/27/2024 at 8:20 PM, Texzilla588 said:

Uhh folks have been making pilafs and other rice dishes in Europe and Middle East for Millenia. Frying rice in oil isn’t a Mexican invention.

I said gringos, not grecos. . 

[Texzilla588 769]

A nighthawks beef enchiladas dinner. I’m exhausted and thought I’d get one while in Tom tbumb. Tastes better than it looks.

[williemackgarza 1826]

On messican arroz. Mama always said to get the real messican kind when browning the rice you had to brown it till it popped like popcorn and filled the house with smoke, when you thought it was good, to go a bit past that.
Oh and simmer it and pull off heat and let sit for at least 7-10 minutes. Never open the lid once youve covered it until after that 7-10 rest.
Es pinche arros no ay razon a estar jodiendo con el sarten!

[Brisketexan 105071]

2 hours ago, williemackgarza said:

On messican arroz. Mama always said to get the real messican kind when browning the rice you had to brown it till it popped like popcorn and filled the house with smoke, when you thought it was good, to go a bit past that.
Oh and simmer it and pull off heat and let sit for at least 7-10 minutes. Never open the lid once youve covered it until after that 7-10 rest.
Es pinche arros no ay razon a estar jodiendo con el sarten!

Lots of verdad here.  Good and browned.  Then let it set, those rice grains do pop open like popcorn, makes the whole batch super fluffy.

And leftover rice stirred together with leftover enchilada gravy and cheese is it's own beautiful gift from the heavens.

[Anastasis 23463]

24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And leftover rice stirred together with leftover enchilada gravy and cheese is its own beautiful gift from the heavens.

Damn. 

[Focht Up 631]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Damn. 

That sums up my feelings too

[zlavydra 2119]

Had some at Chuy's in Atlanta yesterday. Would not recommend.

[jimmyjazz 45889]

2 hours ago, zlavydra said:

Had some at Chuy's in Atlanta yesterday. Would not recommend.

I'll bet they were better than those we had at Mandito's in Round Top on Friday.  Oof.  Should have stuck with the wait at Royer's.

[Texzilla588 769]

Lots of verdad here.  Good and browned.  Then let it set, those rice grains do pop open like popcorn, makes the whole batch super fluffy.
And leftover rice stirred together with leftover enchilada gravy and cheese is it's own beautiful gift from the heavens.

When in college in 70’s Memphis a TexMex joint had a starving student lunch.. for $1 you got a plate of Mexican rice, enchilada gravy, and some cheese and onions. The waiter usually gave me multiple baskets of chips and salsa and good queso (back then most places in Memphis brought queso free)

Chinese places had a $1 lunch deal back then too. A steakhouse had greens, pot likker, corn bread, green onions, iced tea for $1.

[MAROON 445]

Blanco Cafe (location on Blanco) this last Friday.  Amazing 

[williemackgarza 1826]

Blanco Cafe (location on Blanco) this last Friday.  Amazing 

Now thats how I Iike enchilada plates to look. Fresh onions.
Dayummm

[miguelito 11255]

I love the ring of grease around the edge of the plate. Authentic!

Blanco is the best.

[Wally Pryor 5261]

On 4/1/2024 at 2:39 PM, williemackgarza said:

Now thats how I Iike enchilada plates to look. Fresh onions.
Dayummm

Yeah, the onions are the crown.

[Mack Tripper 696]

On 3/27/2024 at 8:34 PM, Brisketexan said:

I mean…you can say that, but Knorr powdered bouillon was and is in every real-deal Mexican kitchen I’ve ever been in. It’s one of my “never run out of this” kitchen items.
And yeah, fry rice in oil, add onions, then knorr - that’s the basic Mexican rice I had in every family member’s house my whole life. The variation is using the chicken tomato instead of just chicken, adding peas and/or carrots, maybe adding a bit of salsa to the cooking liquid. But the basics are fried rice, onion, and knorr.

Except those bastards at Knorr recently changed the recipe for their chicken bouillon. They added more corn starch and removed the cooked chicken power. I noticed the difference right away after tasting something and without comparing the old label with the new one. 

[Celery Man 20932]

Any verde sauce recipe reccos? There’s one in the Tex Mex Handbook has one but i think it might be weird.

[thunderlounge 7814]

It’s rare I make something with verde sauce. Thus, on those rare occasions, Las Palmas it is. Not great, but whatever. Good enough for a time or two a year, if that.

 

[jimmyjazz 45889]

4 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Any verde sauce recipe reccos? There’s one in the Tex Mex Handbook has one but i think it might be weird.

Pati Jinich has a good basic version.  I like to add a roasted & peeled poblano pepper as well.

Salsa Verde

[Celery Man 20932]

24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Pati Jinich has a good basic version.  I like to add a roasted & peeled poblano pepper as well.

Salsa Verde

Ah that looks good, gracias… what’s the spice level on it?