Are fajitas the official food of fishing trips?

I have liked and used the book "Roughing It Easy" ever since I was a kid. Great recipes (including lots of kid-friendly recipes) and campfire cooking techniques in that book.
 
I worked at a shitty chain Mexican restaurant when I was in my teens. I can’t remember the name of the place but it was basically a wannabe Chilies type of chain restaurant that was nationwide but I don’t think it exists anymore. The food was not microwaved but was not freshly made either. Everything came pre-cooked, frozen and sealed in plastic bags. There was a huge water bath sous vide type vessel that all of the bags were immersed in to heat up. Once the plastic bags full of food were hot we would simply cut open the bag and dump it into the hot holding station. Basically sous vide before it became refined and trendy. I worked there for one month and got food poisoning twice during that time from eating there. One of the worst things I saw was when the manager showed me where to get the sour cream from the walk-in cooler. There was probably ten to twelve 5 gallon buckets of sour cream stacked in the corner of the walk-in cooler. I remember the manager taking the lid off of the top container of sour cream that had already been opened up. There was a thick layer of dark green gray mold covering the top of the sour cream. He went through the pile, bucket after bucket and every single bucket had already been opened but all were nearly full. Every single bucket had this same thick layer of mold covering the top of it. The manager eventually decided that he wasn’t going to find a fresh bucket so he simply scooped off the top layer of mold in one of the buckets to get what we needed. Clearly there was a major lack of oversight and some serious rotation issues going on in this restaurant. Needless to say I’ve always avoided chain restaurants because of this experience and after many years working in the food industry, low end and high end I’ve seen some pretty sketchy practices occur, a lot of which took place at esteemed high end establishments. I have lots of criteria and details that catch my eye but my general rule of thumb these days when going out to eat is if the bathroom is neglected or the first few feet that you can see of the kitchen is dirty don’t trust it. Not a fool proof method but definitely weeds out the obvious offenders. Fresh roadkill is probably a better option than most of these chain restaurants.
 
Sous Vide: I can't bring myself to cook something in a plastic bag. Got enough chemicals in me already. We have switched out all our cookware to cast iron. I don't microwave stuff in plastic even if it says microwave safe. Probably too little too late.

Enchiladas: from my observations.
Request for the cooking to be done in only an apron: Rejected. Sassy yelled at in Español +1. Take this as a win, make the cook either a Margarita or Mexican 75.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas, Peruvian dry beans, lard, onion, clay pot, oil, cilantro, cabbage green or red or both,.Monterey jack cheese, queso fresco, cream(Mexican sour cream/table cream), can of pickled carrots/jalapeños, sweet onion like a walla walla, dried red chilis(don't know what kind, Probably cascabel or arbol, or a blend, this is where the flavors vary, chicken bullion, garlic.

- Cook beans in clay pot.
- put some lard or oil in a skillet, Sautee onion then add cooked beans, mash to make refried beans.
- lightly oil Pyrex baking dish, set up your sliced jack cheese, beans, and tortillas, heat some oil in a skillet, fry corn tortilla for about ten seconds then pull out with your bare hands (Mexican super woman skills??) Tongs don't exist.
- Put beans, cheese, in tortilla, roll and place in dish, make 2 layers.
- Cook dried chilies in boiling water, blend chili's, onion, garlic, bullion cubes in vitamix to make a thick sauce, add chili water as needed to thin.
- Pour chili sauce over enchiladas and bake in oven.
- Thinly slice cabbage, cilantro, sweet onion
-put thin sliced sweet onion in brine from pickled carrots/jalapeños. Better if done overnight.
- when cheese is melted and enchiladas looked cooked and done serve topped with shredded cabbage, pickled onion, cilantro, crumbled queso fresco and drizzle of creama.

Edit: Enchiladas don't have meat, according to her, so its settled.
 
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FontinalisFin said:
Sous Vide: I can't bring myself to cook something in a plastic bag. Got enough chemicals in me already. We have switched out all our cookware to cast iron. I don't microwave stuff in plastic even if it says microwave safe. Probably too little too late.

Enchiladas: from my observations.
Request for the cooking to be done in only an apron: Rejected. Sassy yelled at in Español +1. Take this as a win, make the cook either a Margarita or Mexican 75.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas, Peruvian dry beans, lard, onion, clay pot, oil, cilantro, cabbage green or red or both,.Monterey jack cheese, queso fresco, cream(Mexican sour cream/table cream), can of pickled carrots/jalapeños, sweet onion like a walla walla, dried red chilis(don't know what kind, Probably cascabel or arbol, or a blend, this is where the flavors vary, chicken bullion, garlic.

- Cook beans in clay pot.
- put some lard or oil in a skillet, Sautee onion then add cooked beans, mash to make refried beans.
- lightly oil Pyrex baking dish, set up your sliced jack cheese, beans, and tortillas, heat some oil in a skillet, fry corn tortilla for about ten seconds then pull out with your bare hands (Mexican super woman skills??) Tongs don't exist.
- Put beans, cheese, in tortilla, roll and place in dish, make 2 layers.
- Cook dried chilies in boiling water, blend chili's, onion, garlic, bullion cubes in vitamix to make a thick sauce, add chili water as needed to thin.
- Pour chili sauce over enchiladas and bake in oven.
- Thinly slice cabbage, cilantro, sweet onion
-put thin sliced sweet onion in brine from pickled carrots/jalapeños. Better if done overnight.
- when cheese is melted and enchiladas looked cooked and done serve topped with shredded cabbage, pickled onion, cilantro, crumbled queso fresco and drizzle of creama.

Edit: Enchiladas don't have meat, according to her, so its settled.
Click to expand...

Just say no to the bag cooking of the French. Here in America we cook Sam Elliott endorsed beef on a God damn grill. The French and their bag cooking can't be trusted I tell ya. It's a threat to our culinary way of life. I won't even French cut my vegetables.
 
Fuzzytugger said:
I worked at a shitty chain Mexican restaurant when I was in my teens. I can’t remember the name of the place but it was basically a wannabe Chilies type of chain restaurant that was nationwide but I don’t think it exists anymore. The food was not microwaved but was not freshly made either. Everything came pre-cooked, frozen and sealed in plastic bags. There was a huge water bath sous vide type vessel that all of the bags were immersed in to heat up. Once the plastic bags full of food were hot we would simply cut open the bag and dump it into the hot holding station. Basically sous vide before it became refined and trendy. I worked there for one month and got food poisoning twice during that time from eating there. One of the worst things I saw was when the manager showed me where to get the sour cream from the walk-in cooler. There was probably ten to twelve 5 gallon buckets of sour cream stacked in the corner of the walk-in cooler. I remember the manager taking the lid off of the top container of sour cream that had already been opened up. There was a thick layer of dark green gray mold covering the top of the sour cream. He went through the pile, bucket after bucket and every single bucket had already been opened but all were nearly full. Every single bucket had this same thick layer of mold covering the top of it. The manager eventually decided that he wasn’t going to find a fresh bucket so he simply scooped off the top layer of mold in one of the buckets to get what we needed. Clearly there was a major lack of oversight and some serious rotation issues going on in this restaurant. Needless to say I’ve always avoided chain restaurants because of this experience and after many years working in the food industry, low end and high end I’ve seen some pretty sketchy practices occur, a lot of which took place at esteemed high end establishments. I have lots of criteria and details that catch my eye but my general rule of thumb these days when going out to eat is if the bathroom is neglected or the first few feet that you can see of the kitchen is dirty don’t trust it. Not a fool proof method but definitely weeds out the obvious offenders. Fresh roadkill is probably a better option than most of these chain restaurants.
Click to expand...
I follow the same guidelines, often a trip to the restroom to wash up tells me all I need to know.
 
Dustin Chromers said:
Just say no to the bag cooking of the French. Here in America we cook Sam Elliott endorsed beef on a God damn grill. The French and their bag cooking can't be trusted I tell ya. It's a threat to our culinary way of life. I won't even French cut my vegetables.
Click to expand...
Pure bullshit, DC! More good steaks have been ruined by wannabee grillmasters that either cremated the meat or served it raw. Everybody thinks they can do a perfect steak on the grill but with sous vide I can cook to exactly 133 degrees, sear in HOT cast iron for 60 seconds on a side and have repeatable perfection.

The French have set the world standard for cuisine since the middle ages, about the time the first settlers appeared in this country and started their rudimentary efforts to emulate what they ate back in their homeland. American cooking is kind of an oxymoron in that most of it's influences come from somewhere else. France, China, Africa, Eastern Europe, Spain, Southeast Asia, etc. If any one cooking discipline can be attributed to America it would probably be fast food. The land of burgers and hot dogs-and surprisingly-French Fries!
 
FontinalisFin said:
Sous Vide: I can't bring myself to cook something in a plastic bag. Got enough chemicals in me already. We have switched out all our cookware to cast iron. I don't microwave stuff in plastic even if it says microwave safe. Probably too little too late.

Enchiladas: from my observations.
Request for the cooking to be done in only an apron: Rejected. Sassy yelled at in Español +1. Take this as a win, make the cook either a Margarita or Mexican 75.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas, Peruvian dry beans, lard, onion, clay pot, oil, cilantro, cabbage green or red or both,.Monterey jack cheese, queso fresco, cream(Mexican sour cream/table cream), can of pickled carrots/jalapeños, sweet onion like a walla walla, dried red chilis(don't know what kind, Probably cascabel or arbol, or a blend, this is where the flavors vary, chicken bullion, garlic.

- Cook beans in clay pot.
- put some lard or oil in a skillet, Sautee onion then add cooked beans, mash to make refried beans.
- lightly oil Pyrex baking dish, set up your sliced jack cheese, beans, and tortillas, heat some oil in a skillet, fry corn tortilla for about ten seconds then pull out with your bare hands (Mexican super woman skills??) Tongs don't exist.
- Put beans, cheese, in tortilla, roll and place in dish, make 2 layers.
- Cook dried chilies in boiling water, blend chili's, onion, garlic, bullion cubes in vitamix to make a thick sauce, add chili water as needed to thin.
- Pour chili sauce over enchiladas and bake in oven.
- Thinly slice cabbage, cilantro, sweet onion
-put thin sliced sweet onion in brine from pickled carrots/jalapeños. Better if done overnight.
- when cheese is melted and enchiladas looked cooked and done serve topped with shredded cabbage, pickled onion, cilantro, crumbled queso fresco and drizzle of creama.

Edit: Enchiladas don't have meat, according to her, so its settled.
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That recipes sounds spectacular! Thanks for sharing!
 
Josh said:
I wonder if this is a real thing. Can sou vide in plastic bags really leech chemicals?
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I'm sure there's some studies that say its safe and probably good for you, and some that say its poison. Don't they say we eat a credit cards worth of plastic a week? I just don't trust anything anymore and lean towards technologies tested over the millenias.. edit:typo
 
Josh said:
I wonder if this is a real thing. Can sou vide in plastic bags really leech chemicals?
Click to expand...

If using standard ziplocks, possibly as the glues start coming apart at higher temps (but only close to boiling, which you're not doing with this method). Vacuum sealed food bags designed for such thing.

It's just an awesome tool to have in the toolbox.
 
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FontinalisFin said:
...and lean towards technologies tested over the millenias
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yep, same here. Hence utilizing a method that has been around since at least the 1700s.

I guess I look at it as just another tool in the toolbox. The more tools one has, the better off they will be.
 
I was part of the ghetto sous vide movement with zip locks 20 years ago…then I got a chamber vacuum machine and proper vacuum bags…huge time saver at large family gatherings…when the rib roast or ham was finished, all the sides get to the table hot and not over cooked…

But more on point with topic…I’ll often vacuum bag chili, stew etc and plop the bag into a pot of boiling water after a long day of fishing or wheeling (or both)…I’m chugging cold ones while waiting for a great homemade meal getting hot with minimum cleanup..,
 
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