One Hundred and One Mexican Dishes: Cooking in America

PAN RELLENO CHOP onion very fine and mix with mild cheese cut in small pieces in the proportion of one-third onion to two-thirds cheese; add a few ripe olives stoned and cut in half, and a pinch of oregano. Mix this together with a dressing made of oil and vinegar: two-thirds oil and one-third vinegar. Cut off the top of a small loaf of French bread the long way, dig out the center and fill with the cheese mixture. Put the crust back on top and cover with the mixture and bake in a rather quick oven. TAMALES are a mixture of meat or fowl made hot with chiles and wrapped in corn-husks. In preparing the dough or nixtamal, unless scalded meal is used for a substitute, it is necessary to prepare the shelled corn with lime-water. The Mexicans grind the corn prepared in this way, on the metate, and instead of a mortar use the molcajete and lejolote. To prepare the corn, cover it with water, add the lime-water and boil until the husks slip off easily between the fingers, then wash in cold water until perfectly white. The lime-water is made by adding an ounce of common lime to a quart of water; stir well and let settle; when clear, drain off the water for use. One quart of lime-water prepared in this way will do for a pound of corn. For the wrapping, cut off the inside leaves of the corn-husks about an inch from the stalk end and boil in clear water until perfectly clean. Tear a few in narrow strips to use for tying the ends; dry the rest and rub them over with a cloth dipped in hot lard. HOT TAMAL FOR the dough, add to one pint of corn-meal, one tablespoonful, each, of salt and lard, and enough boiling water to make a thick dough. Prepare the corn-husks as directed. For the filling boil one pound of beef and pour over it hot beef fat; cut into small bits and season with salt and chile sauce. Put a layer of the dough in the husk, over this a tablespoonful of the prepared meat; roll like a cigarette, with a layer of dough between each husk. Tie each end and steam two hours.

May Southworth's 1906 volume provides home cooks with one hundred and one Mexican recipes to try in their own kitchens.