Rachel Laudan

My comrade-in-culinary-arms, Ken Albala asked for hints on grinding maize for tortillas on a metate. First, for those of you who don’t know what a tortilla is, it is the basic flatbread of Mexico. It is made from maize. I spent a bit of time looking for a good youtube video of grinding and found [...]

Even at its outset, tipping engendered feelings of anxiety and resentment. In the mid-1800s, after leaving the Bell Inn of Gloucester, the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle complained: “The dirty scrub of a waiter grumbled about his allowance, which I reckoned liberal. I added sixpence to it, and [he] produced a bow which I was near [...]

And here’s one from Jane Lukens. I’m somehow very attracted to corn, to masa and to all Mexican things that can be cooked from it. After destroying a number of grinders, I have a Nixtamatic. I’m still learning to get the best grind from it. It is not a stone grinder but is, basically, a [...]