Poet's Corner

[Poet]

Hi marcos,

I just read the link on succotash that you posted. Fascinating! I knew it was originally a Native American dish but not that it had meat in it. My Irish grandmother always served it as a summer side dish, simply mixing fresh corn off the cob, lima beans, a little salt pork for flavor,light cream and butter.

I just googled "succotash" and see there are all sorts of variations on it from across the country. Some recipes contain green beans instead of limas, some have tomato, some sugar. Like language, cooking is an ever-changing reflection of the times and the region.

Moros y cristianos I always thought of as rice and black beans (I love the name, btw) along with lots of onion and cilantro. What do epazote and gai lan taste like? I'm assuming they're herbs. The second sounds Asian.