The Kitchen Table

We launched this community just over a year ago and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we have built together. A year ago this was a very small space with a handful of threads and the same five people replying to everything. Now we have members from four continents, genuinely useful threads that help real people with real cooking problems, and a food culture section that has become its own thing. What has impressed me most: the quality of the technical discussions. The threads about masa hydration, tortilla sealing, and chile sourcing are better resources than most things I can find elsewhere. That came from this community's knowledge, not from us. Thank you for making it what it is. Keep posting.

Started a mole negro three weeks ago because I had a free Saturday. Twenty six ingredients, six hours, and a result I would describe as fine. The thing that got me is that every source disagrees about the order. Some toast the chiles first and fry after, some the reverse, one insisted on doing both in the same pan without cleaning it, which I now suspect was the actual point. So. Who here has gone properly deep on this, and did you land anywhere you would defend?

Went out Tuesday morning and the bottom third of the bed had gone. Brown lesions on the stems, leaves curling, the whole thing. Pulled eight plants and burned them. This is year three and it is the first time it has happened, which somehow makes it worse. I had started to think I was good at this. I grow in raised beds, drip irrigation, decent spacing. Wet July is the only thing I can point at.

Standing weekend thread. Not necessarily burritos, not necessarily Mexican, just what is happening in your kitchen. I have a bar shift Friday and Saturday so Sunday is the only day I cook properly. Doing carnitas, mostly because it needs four hours of nothing and I need four hours of nothing.

Two days of work, twenty four tamales, about six of which I would serve to another person. The rest are structurally sound and taste fine but look like they were assembled in the dark. Photo of the good six and one of the bad ones for honesty. The masa was too wet, which I knew at the time and pressed on anyway.

Saturday festival gig, two trucks, four hundred and twelve burritos out between eleven and eight. Photos of the line setup because people keep asking how we hold consistency at that volume. Short version. Everything is portioned before service, nothing is weighed during it. Rice and beans in hotel pans on the left, proteins centre, cold stuff right, wrap and press at the end. One person does nothing but roll for the whole service and does not move. The rolling person is the bottleneck and you should staff for that, not for the till.

Left is my first attempt in February. Right is last night. Same filling, same tortilla, same person. The difference is entirely fill weight and the two second rest before rolling, both of which I learned here. Posting this mostly for anyone currently at the February stage and assuming they are just bad at it. You are not. You are overfilling.

This is the photo category. Finished burritos, work in progress, catastrophic failures, all equally welcome. The failures are honestly more useful, because someone can usually tell you what went wrong from a photo of the seam. No rules beyond keeping it food. Tell us what is in it if you can be bothered.

This comes up every time it gets mentioned in another thread so it may as well have its own. Potato camp says it soaks up the egg and makes the thing substantial enough to count as breakfast. No potato camp says it's padding and you should be tasting egg, cheese, salsa and meat instead.There's also a third group that only accepts potato if it's actually crisped rather than steamed in the pile, which I suspect is where most of the real disagreement is hiding.Where do you land, and does it change if it's a hangover order?

Hey Community-friends!We thought it might be fun to know who’s who, while we’re actively engaging on our community. I’ll start!The name’s Frank! I have been with Company for about 2 years, having started at the Support Department to eventually climb my way up the ranks to be your trusted Community Manager! I live in The Netherlands, have a wife and 2 kids. Hit me up if you have any questions, concerns or just to say hi! (emoji)Looking forward to meeting you all!- Frank