Jack Chandler's Diary, July 2010

Last modified at 04:35 PM on Monday, August 16, 2010.

Wednesday, July 21

We tried frying catfish and hush puppies again last weekend. This time, we got a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil, and the way the temperature changed during the cooking process surprised me more than it should have. Not only is the indicated temperature affected by the temperature of the food immersed in the oil, it is also affected by the level of frothing on the oil surface. The frothing brings more oil into contact with the thermometer stem, which raises the average temperature in the sensing tip. I guess the thermometer I bought at Bad Beth (aka Bed Bath & Beyond) needs a little more liquid content than my skillet could give it. I won't have that problem in the future, because I bought a deep fryer that has more heat transfer area, better insulation, and much better temperature control than the skillet did. We'll try it one of these days.

It won't be this weekend. This weekend is the infamous boat race weekend, and the Tri-Cities fills up with hydroplane crazies from hundreds of miles around. I don't think anybody has ever published an authoritative attendance figure, but I have heard estimates of 30,000 people watching the unlimited hydroplane races in Columbia Park on a hot Sunday afternoon. ESPN has televised the race a couple of times in the past, but even one time on TV was enough for me. It's like NASCAR with life preservers. For years I have made it a point to get out of town on boat races weekend, but it looks like we're staying put this year. We have driven down to LaGrande, Oregon, the last few years, but this year we're economizing and settling for a day trip up to Naches, Washington, to get a remarkable cheeseburger from one of the last remaining Lariat hamburger stands. Long drive for a burger, you say? Yeah, but it's quite a burger. It's almost a tavern burger.

What's a tavern burger? Short answer, it's a cheeseburger served by a tavern, but that definition falls a little short. Tavern burgers usually have large, hand-formed patties that are cooked on a hot griddle, and many of them have trademark extras, like maybe a large slice of onion. I think the original bacon cheeseburger may have been a tavern burger. Whatever tavern burger you find, you can count on it having enough calories to last you until lunch tomorrow and beating the dickens out of any hamburger advertised on national television. I had a tavern burger in the Texas panhandle last month that really did the genre justice.

On a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show this week, host Guy Fieri highlighted the extremes of tavern burgers across the country. One of the places, for instance, used grill cheese sandwiches for the bun halves on a monstrosity called the "Dead Texan." Another one served a burger that was deep fried with tempura batter and served with wasabi. Most of the restaurants featured burgers with fried eggs. I love a good tavern burger, but these things were 'way beyond me.

Monday, July 5

Jake is terrified by fireworks, so Independence Day and New Year's Eve are terrible ordeals for him. As long as the fireworks continue to pop off, he alternates between cringing next to Mama's feet and barking at the noise. Last night was no exception. Fortunately, we made it through the evening without serious incident.

The carne adovada made with New Mexico red chile powder and dried New Mexico red chile pods from the grocery store was much better than the effort a week ago. It helped, of course, that I got some advice on the preparation of red chile sauce from Joe, my brother in Albuquerque, and followed a recipe for chile verde that I found in The Green Chile Bible, a compilation of green chile recipes from The Albuquerque Journal. I substituted resurrected red chile pods for the green chiles in the recipe, of course. The dish was more flavorful (and substantially spicier) this time around. I think using the right red chile powder made the biggest difference.

The red chile sauce was better because we used the food processor to get everything to the proper consistency. Joe said to drop the ingredients in the blender, but we gave our blender to Goodwill a few months ago in an effort to create some space in the kitchen. We added garlic, fresh onion, and variational fresh tomato as called for in the recipe. I actually prefer the flavor of green chile to that of red, so I can imagine how good the real stuff made with fresh (or even frozen) green chiles would be. We made more of the sauce than we needed, so there will be some for other Mexican dishes later.

As I was looking at a friend's page on Facebook, I noticed a political preference of "Republican." That's a little amusing. When I left Mississippi a little over forty years ago, the political establishment there was exclusively Democratic, and I shared no common ground with the political powers in the state. I was a Republican in a Democratic state, and I was out of place. Fast forward ("picture-go-fast," as Monk would say) 42 years, and now the political powers in Mississippi are Republican. To mirror the change, I now find myself more in agreement with the national priorities of the Democrats. Yes, Mississippi and I have swapped ends of the political spectrum, but we're still in the same place.

Saturday, July 3

The marinated pork was really good, but it wasn't carne avovada by a long shot. There are plenty of reasons that might not be related to the recipe itself. I may have had some trouble putting the marinade together, for instance, and the California red chiles that I put into the mix may have been too mild for the desired effect. But the biggest problem was likely my inability to put together a reasonable red chile sauce to pull the whole thing together. I had dried chiles, but I think I really need fresh ones to make the sauce. Maybe we can get some fresh ones if we make the trip to Albuquerque in October. Anyway, we're going to try again with mail-order New Mexico red chile powder and imported (Mexican) red chile sauce tomorrow night. It may still fall short, but it ought to be an improvement.

In my search for a carne avovada recipe, I happened upon a piece on the New Mexicans' obsession with using chile instead of chili to describe peppers. The words are actually synonymous in their denotation of the fruit of a pepper plant, but New Mexicans have conceded the word chili to connote the Tex-Mex bastardization of chili con carne that has become "chili" to Americans. And they don't want their signature fruit to be connected with what Texans call chili in any way. Period.

Okay, I'm guilty, too. I have my own recipe for chili con carne that I call "wimp chili." So I'm going to refer to the jalapenos and poblanos I get from the produce counter as chiles from now on. I guess I have sympathized in my own way for years, bristling whenever I see the term "chili peppers." Why would you say "pepper peppers," anyway? Maybe I am on my way to becoming a New Mexican at heart.

Prompted by classmates at my high school reunion last month, I have posted a personal page on Facebook. Look for "Chris Chandler." Tell the guy Jack sent you.