My Comal

Pictured here is a comal, a clay-based Mexican cooking platter. These days, most folks if they have one, opt for an iron or stainless-steel version. A dear, dear friend of mine gave me this clay one. It has revolutionized my soul food kitchen.

You wouldn’t think something this simple (and inexpensive) could be such a game-changer. In fact, as I searched high and low around Tel Aviv for Calcium Hydroxide powder, which, when mixed with water, is used to cure the comal, I had serious doubts about how much this all would be worth. I was way wrong.You use a comal primarily for dry roasting things like peppers, garlic, onions, tomatoes as well as to prepare tortillas. I haven’t yet tried tortillas, but I am fiendishly roasting peppers — dried and fresh, jalapenos, and habaneros, and guajilloos, and anchos, and chipotles, and these long unnamed israeli chilis that remind me a bit of green new mexican chiles.

What, you probably want to know am I doing with this wild inventory of roasted peppers? That’s a good question. OK, so a small portion is going to actual orders. MY roasted corn and jalapeno salad with dried tomatoes, garlic, and cilantro is now on a whole nuther level. I’ve also taken a few of my standard bbq sauces to new heights. My standard North Carolina red (ketchup-based) sauce has now taken on a whole level of complexity with the addition of the chipotles in adobo sauce. Wow. And the mustard-based remoulade sauce that usually accompanies our low-country crabcakes now consorts with a green chili and cream sauce.

But truthfully, the sheer pleasure of slow-roasting has become its own raison d’etre. I get up in the mornig, stare at my comal, and ask it what we feel like cooking today. It’s a dialogue, a negotiation, a give-and-take with this elegantly simple and surprising addition to my kitchen. It has made its home here, in a way that cast iron and stainless steel never really have.

I dunno. A few more years of this shit, and I’ll be cooking on wood fires on the floor of my apartment.