finalmente! tortillas de maiz.

I really thought I'd never see the day...Corny Bakers: you rock, rock. You know that list of things I keep saying you can't reliably find in Holland? Tomatillos, poblanos, anchos, pasillas, guajillos, achiote, epazote, corn husks, etc. No longer true. I really have no idea what their prices are like or if I can even order from them directly. But I bought some of their corn husks, masa harina, and frozen corn tortillas yesterday at Tjin's (who are now also my heroes), and everything was pretty reasonable...4 euro for 1.5KG of masa harina, for example.

Something embarrassing that did not seem reasonably priced (6 euro) but that I would have spent twice as much money on now that I've tasted it....Jim Beam BBQ Sauce (after looking at other websites, it's not such an unreasonable price after all). They also had Open Pit and BullsEye, but high fructose corn syrup was too close to the top of the ingredient list on those guys (second ingredient). It's not even that I'm supermilitant about HFCS or anything...it's just pointless, lazy cooking (in addition to being terrible for your body). With the Beam sauce it's just regular corn syrup, and it's not even its own ingredient, it just shows up as a component of Worcestershire sauce. Amazing.

Anyway, I said it was embarrassing because we know that off-the-shelf sauces are a no-no for any pitmaster worth their smoke. It was an impulse buy, though, and for once a really smart one...it's ridiculous and unexpected what a nostalgic taste this is (even though I've never had Jim Beam's sauce before)...I've obviously repressed the memories of exactly how much BBQ I ate during my time in the Southland. But this is an especially good BBQ sauce, assuming that nostalgia hasn't slipped my tastebuds a roofie. Vinegary and molasses-y and spicy, without too much smoke and a good bit of Worcestershire and black pepper. Let's just say I bought it yesterday and half the bottle is gone...I just had BBQ salmon for breakfast, following my BBQ catfish from last night. And a few spoonfuls before bedtime. And I am now licking my breakfast plate.

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