46
Friday, May 16, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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COOKING
THE
JEWISH NEWS?
Tex-Mex Jewish Cooking:
Chilies For A Chilly Day
BY GLORIA KAUFER GREENE
Cooking Editor
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In late January, the Jewish
Council of Howard County
sponsored its Third Annual
Heritage Day. The first of such
events — two years ago —
dwelt on Ashkenazic Jews and
Yiddishkeit. Last year's festi-
val focused on the Sephardim.
Those who wondered what
could possibly be left were
pleasantly surprised to learn
that the main theme, this year,
was "The Western Jewish Ex-
perience." That did not mean
Western Europe, but the
western part of the United
States.
Many of us who were born
on the East Coast and grew up
here tend to forget that large
numbers of our brethren
migrated West or entered the
country through ports other
than New York, Philadelphia
or Baltimore. For instance, to
bypass quotas and other im-
migration problems on the
East coast, a group of Jewish
financiers formulated a plan
whereby immigrants would be
directed to enter the country at
Galveston, Texas. The organ-
izers felt this would disperse
Jews more evenly throughout
the country, and de-emphasize
their Eastern presence.
A film called "West of
Hester Street," which de-
scribed this plan in detail, was
part of the Heritage Day pro-
gram. It was followed by
several workshops, including
one in which the Fabrangen
Fiddlers taught children how
to play "Western-Jewish"
music on their own instru-
ments.
As part of the program, I
was asked to do a workshop on
Western-Jewish cooking. Al-
though I have written about
Jewish cuisine from all parts of
the world, this request stymied
me at first. The only dish that
quickly came to mind was
"Chili con Queso," a sort of
Tex-Mex fondue. Although I
had included this tasty recipe
in the Shavuot chapter of my
Jewish Holiday Cookbook
because it is based mainly on
cheese, I had served the deli-
cious, warm dip throughout
the year, and thought it might
be perfect for a chilly January
afternoon.
My five-year-old son, Trevor,
inadvertently came up with
another clever idea while our
family was enjoying a snack of
"nachos" — corn chips topped
with melted Cheddar cheese
and sprinkled with chopped
chilies and slived olives. Trevor
is a whiz at finding Stars of
David in the most unlikely
places, and he excitedly
pointed out that our snack in-
eluded several pairs of
triangular corn chips in which
one was inverted directly over
the other forming — you
guessed it — Jewish nachos!
I continued to search for
more ideas. I found, as I had
during previous research, that
most of the Jews who came to
this country continued cooking
in the tradition of their
ancestors. Jews from Eastern
Europe still made chopped
liver and knishes wherever
they settled in the United
States. And Sephardic • Jews
from Greece who settled as a
group in Seattle, Washington,
continued to cook in the Seph-
ardic-Greek-Jewish fashion to
which they were accustomed.
Occasionally an ingredient had
to be adapted because it was
not identical to that from the
homeland, but most of the
"Jewish" dishes were not
dramatically changed to follow
the regional cuisines of this
country.
Mrs. Amelia Andres, a Bal-
timore Jew who grew up in
Beaumont, Texas, substanti-
ated this opinion. Her family,
she explained, had come from
Hungary and even though
they were living in Texas,
dumplings and other tradi-
tional dishes were their stand-
ard fare. However, the family
also began to enjoy gumbos
(Beaumont is near the Loui-
siana border), and red snapper
was sometimes used to make
an unusual but delectable
gefilte fish.
Gradually, Mrs. Andres add-
ed more Tex-Mex dishes to her
own repertoire, and she now
has a collection of favorites
such as Guacamole, barbecue
sauce, and Chili Rellenos cas-
serole. I tried Mrs. Andres'
recipe for Guacamole, moder-
nizing it a bit by using a food
processor. It was so tasty that
I decided to include it in my
very own successful demon-
stration for Jewish Heritage
Day.
Following are Mrs. Andres'
recipe for Guacamole, as well
as my own recipes for "Chili
con Queso" and another of our
family favorites, "Black Beans
and Rice Casserole."
AMELIA ANDRES'
GUACAMOLE
To prepare the guacamole,
Mrs. Andres, a former Texan,
directed me to mash the avo-
cado with a fork, but I suc-
cessfully used a food processor
instead. Both methods are
given below.
Note: Avocados as they are
purchased from the supermar-