Tyler Carnohan Encarncions Kitchen Articles and Recipe Book Excerpt Blog Post. February 4th, 2022. The initial article by Victor Valle was quite the informative piece in that not only did it discuss the origins and estimated intentions of Pinedo and her recipe book but it also went into the culture of post American conquest of Alta California and its inhabitants. It is clear from the information and accounts documents within his article that a great number of injustices were performed on the native population of Alta California, such as the murder of Jose de los Reyes Berreya and his two nephews of which is but one documented slights out of hundreds of occurrences that went unwritten during this transitional era for the people of Alta California. It is clear that from this article that the culture of the inhabitants of Alta California underwent a great reform due to the Anglo conquest, of which saw the creation of the “Spanish” moniker as well as its formation as a distinct culture within the southwest United States. Many of Pinedo’s recipes appear to be both as a result of her deep Catholic schooling which accounted for her above average schooling, and bilingual abilities, as well as the accumulation of authentic Mexican recipes and dishes present within newspapers, magazine articles, and documents passed down by her mother and grandmother. There’s also the use of the “Spanish” naming style for her recipes as well as the inclusion of snide remarks discussing the failure of English cooking to teach their men how to cook food that was not bland in flavor or with “soul”. Dan Strehl’s article opens in a similar manner to the previous one but the opening section focuses more on Pinedo’s family line and how they came to be in the Californio area, as well as slightly touching on the conflict the family has with the anglos. The closing of the section also made note of how Pinedo was able to vent her frustration with the anglo people by talking down their recipes within her own book which I found to be quite enjoyable to read about. The history of the publication of Mexican cook books and how little there actually were in Latin America was something I wasn’t expecting especially since they have had access to printing technology for a long period of time. The formal nature of how these recipes were passed down from mother to daughter was something I found quite nice since its something I can personally see within my own household, but at the same time the loss of these recipes due to the death of these families is something that I believe should be equally valued. The shear significance of Pinedo’s book is something I can wholly appreciate due to the fact that these recipes are amongst the only written records of these California dishes that were not perverted by using Anglo methodology to prepare them. After looking through the recipe book excerpt I’m noticing that the preparation of the ingredients as well as the ingredients themselves are both unique to her people’s culture most notably was her description of her “Tortillas” within this recipe she describes how the ingredients are cooked in a Comal, which is a type of cookware unique to that area of the world, as well as how she describes cooking the final product over “coals” are all methods of cooking that are somewhat unique to their people’s culture, and I look forward to discussing these articles further in class next week alongside the class facilitators.
February 4th, 2022 Blog Post
