New food: huitlacoche

[redbird]

This was both a new ingredient and a new dish: quesadilla de maíz con huitlacoche.

Huitlacoche was glossed on the menu board as "corn fungus," which is fair enough: it's parasitic on maize plants. What they brought me wasn't what I'm used to seeing under the name "quesadilla," but a large (12-inch) corn tortilla filled with sauteed fungus and a bit of onion, topped with a very mild white cheese (queso fresco) and swimming in a fairly bland salsa verde. And there was a lot of it.

I'm glad I tried this, but mostly because I'd been vaguely curious about huitlacoche for years. I enjoyed the first few bites more than I liked what was still on my plate after ten minutes; I think this dish needs to be eaten hot, and it's a lot of food for one middle-aged woman who isn't feeling ravenous. I might consider ordering this again, if I found myself at Tenoch with a couple of other people who can eat both mushrooms and dairy and wanted to share it and a sandwich. Since that describes neither cattitude nor adrian_turtle, I'm more likely to go back and get something else—I liked the bit of torta that Cattitude gave me—or a couple of tacos.

Both this and the tacos I've had at Taqueria Victoria in Arlington Center are not just within my spice tolerance, but actually mild; most things labeled "Tex-Mex" are too spicy for me since I had my gall bladder out, which was long enough ago that I am used to it, though there are foods I miss.

There's a Tenoch near Davis Square in Somerville, and one in Medford Square, and I believe they have a food truck.

Comments

[anne]

I'll gladly have the other half! I saw a soon-to-open one somewhere or other, but naturally I don't remember where.

Edit: I wouldn't call it Tex-Med, but it's good anyway.

[redbird]

What I was trying to say is that I seem to prefer Mexican to Tex-Mex food, since I can no longer eat chili.

[anne]

Oh, I see! I misread because I miss true Tex-Mex. (And this time I caught the autocorrect.)

[randomness]

I'd split that with you sometime.

I agree that dish should be eaten while still hot.

[bibliofile]

It sounds tasty!

[bibliofile]

Though I am sad that losing your gallbladder has limited your diet of tasty foods that you like.

[redbird]

After a decade I'm basically used to it.

Post-surgery, I lost almost all my tolerance for, and enjoyment of, hot peppers (capsaicin). Fortunately, I am still on very good terms with black pepper, garlic, ginger, mustard, and horseradish. I've come up with a quasi-curry that is based on Penzey's Singapore seasoning blend (lots of black pepper), garam masala, ginger, and cumin. Smoked paprika also works for me sometimes, though hot paprika no longer does.

So, I have to be careful in restaurants—dishes labeled as "ginger" or "garlic" chicken are often hot peppers+ginger or garlic, and even if there was a universal calibration for what "hot" means, my own tolerance varies from day to day. (If cattitude or adrian_turtle is cooking for me, they ask me to test that day's smoked paprika tolerance before adding any.)

(I'm not sure whether my lost spice tolerance is a side effect of the anesthesia, or of not having a gall bladder. I do know that the problem is that hot pepper now hurts my tongue, rather than digestive issues. (Some years back, post-surgery, I ate something with significant amounts of capsaicin and of oil. The oil reduced the effect in my mouth, and I was fine the next day or so as it went through my digestive tract.

(A lot of people who have had their gall bladders removed have trouble with fatty foods; I'm still fine with almost all of those.)

[mrissa]

I love huitlacoche, but yes, I would eat that hot too.

[minoanmiss]

Tenoch is really lovely.

I wish I liked corn smut, since I CAN have both mushrooms and dairy and I would love to see you there.

I would say more but E is screaming.