INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

When cornmeal is called for, use yellow or white, coarsely or finely
ground.
CUMIN:  This is the powerful, sometimes dominating spice so often used
in traditional southwest cooking.  Recipes may call for whole cumin
seed or ground cumin.
DUCK:  This bird is considered "game" less and less, perhaps because
it is widely available, frozen, in supermarkets.  Wild duck, indeed,
tastes gamy, and in fact the flesh of water fowl may take on a
distinctly fishy taint.  Commercially bred ducks, though, are well fed
and succulent.
FRIJOLE:  Spanish for BEAN.  See Beans.
GAME:  Americans tend to consider the following animals game:
Buffalo, Duck, Goose, Pheasant, Quail, Rabbit, and Venison.  Generally
speaking, farm-raised game animals haven't had to scratch for a living
and so is meatier and has a flavor somewhat less "gamy".  It is
traditional to serve any game with foods upon which it feeds.  For
example, serve game birds with berry sauces and wild rice.
GROUND RED CHILIES:  This is pure chili powder from finely ground
dried red chilies.  It is not blended chili powder.
GROUND RED PEPPER:  From ground dried cayenne chilies, this is often
called "cayenne pepper".  See Chili, Cayenne.
GUAVA:  These yellow-green fruits with pale faintly pink flesh are
about the size of a plum.  They are intensely fragrant when ripe.
Guava paste is only one of the fruit pastes beloved of Hispanics,
often served with cream cheese as dessert.  The fruit is cooked with
sugar until thick, then canned or shaped into blocks.
HOMINY:  These corn kernels have been soaked and lightly cooked so
that the outer coating can be removed.
INSTANT CORN FLOUR TORTILLA MIX (MASA)  This commercial product is the
shortcut in making fresh corn tortillas.  It is fresh corn MASA that
has been dried and ground.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (Sunchoke)  This knobbed root keeps well in the
refrigerator or other cold place.  Jerusalem artichokes discolor after
peeling.  Dip them in acidulated water as the flesh is exposed.  Enjoy
Jerusalem artichokes ray in salads, or broiled, sauteed, mashed or in
a gratin.
JICAMA:  The flesh of the jicama root is often compared to that of the
water chestnut, both for flavor and crunch.  Jicama is related to the
sharp-tasting turnip but is so mild in flavor that, when eaten raw, it
is usually sprinkled with lemon or lime juice and chili powder.  After
the brown fibrous skin has been pared away, jicama flesh does not
discolor.  Look for smallish jicama, which will be sweet and moist.
JUNIPER BERRIES:  The fruit of an ever green, juniper berries give gin
its distinctive flavor.  They are sometimes used to flavor game
dishes.  These blue-green berries are purchased dried.  Add them
(sparingly) whole to saucy foods for subtle flavor or slightly crushed
for more impact.
LARD: This has been perhaps the most frequently used cooking fat south
of the boarder since it was introduced by the Spaniards.  For tender,
flaky pastries, lard can't be beat.  It is little known that lard, for
all its reputation, has approximately half the cholesterol of butter.
MANGO:  The skin of this oval fruit is washed in gold, pink, red, and
parrot green.  The flesh is deep yellow, juicy and richly perfumed.
Mangoes have flat, oval pits.  To slice the fruit, free it from the
pit in large pieces.
MASA:  Literally "dough" in Spanish.  MASA is cornmeal dough made from
dried corn kernels that have been softened in a lime (calcium
hydroxide) solution, then ground.  Fresh MASA is commercially
available in Mexico, but it is tricky to work with and dries out
quickly.  MASA comes finely ground, for tortillas, and coarsely ground
for tamales.  It is easier to use instant corn flour tortilla mix when
making tortillas.
NOPALES:  These leaves of the prickly pear (nopal) cactus are firm
crunch pads.  Let size be your guide in buying them; the smaller the
pad, the more likely it is to be tender.  Use tweezers to remove
spines, a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler to remove their
bases.  With a flavor similar to green beans, NOPALES are eaten both
raw and cooked.
From Betty Crocker's "Southwest Cooking".
File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/sowest1.zip

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