A New Year's Tradition

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For me, buñuelos are a symbol of family, holidays, and fond memories. I grew up hearing stories of Grandma Antonia making wash tubs full of these tasty treats. Everyone I know who has ever tasted a buñuelo becomes addicted. Our family's tradition of making buñuelos on New Year's Eve has seen a few changes through the years. The OKC tradition started a few years after Fina (Mary Jo) moved to Oklahoma City.

New Year's Eve began with Fina getting up early to make the dough. I usually arrived at her house around 8 a.m. to find the 3 sisters -- Sally, Evelyn and Fina -- having their morning coffee. As I prepared the kitchen table for rolling out the dough "to paper thin tortillas", they cleared and wiped down the dining room table. Each of us had assigned tasks. I rolled, Fina cooked, Evelyn sprinkled and Sally bagged. All 3 sisters shared the task of Quality Control.
 
 
Bunuelos
 After rolling out a buñuelo, it was taken to the dining room table "to rest". When a dozen or so had "rested", Fina would start melting the solid vegetable oil in her cast-iron skillet. This step included placing a dime in the skillet so the buñuelos wouldn't burn. In the past, a dime was used because it was was solid silver. The modern dime is a blend of metals so I guess the buñuelos won't burn as badly as they could without the dime.
  		 
Sally and Rocky sharing a Bunuelo.
While Fina was busy at the stove, Evelyn would get out a large bowl and start mixing the cinnamon and sugar; Sally would replenish their coffee cups. The first buñuelo was divided between the four of us. After that, the process took on a routine during which they visited.

Making buñuelos must have had a memory evoking effect on the sisters, too. There were stories of Jesse's violin contests, Rudy and Joe terrorizing Myrtle (the lady who helped around the house), Teno's claim to be an Apache just to get a good grade from his teacher and many, many more shennanigans which featured the Hernandez brothers and sisters.
 
Sally would re-use Wal-Mart and Target bags to divide the buñuelos. Someone might ask if she washed the bags before she used them. I don't know if she did or not. Let me just say that all three made a habit of washing and re-using throw-away cups, plates and silverware. To them, the term disposable meant it didn't last as long as the real item. As long as it could be washed, it could be re-used.