September 26, 2020 Beef Barbacoa

This is a fool-proof, idiot-proof recipe.  You just need a smoker!  It is a riff on Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe, Smoked and Braised Beef Barbacoa .  I did not use the oxtails, and have never used them.  The couple of times that I have made this recipe, it has been flavorful enough without the seared beefiness that the tails would bring.  

What did I do differently this time around?  I coated the roast with Gravy Master and then a dusting of Penzey's BBQ 3001 spice mix.  Into the smoker at 250° F it went for about 3.5 hours.  I used a mix of dried peppers, ancho, pasilla, guajillo, smoked serrano, and oaxacan.  I softened them until pliability in the dutch oven and then they went into the boiling chicken stock until they were totally softened, and I added ground habanero pepper to the spice mix.  

I think his timing of 3 hours at 250° F in the oven is based on an unrolled hunk of chuck roast.  I found that my rolled ones always take longer than that.  After 2 hours at 250°, I bumped the oven up to 350° and covered the pan completely.  After another 2 hours, it was done.  I just need to keep that in mind when I make this again, as I will!

I served it with flame toasted corn and flour tortillas and chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, chopped hot peppers, chopped jicama, and lime wedges.

 

Dateline: August 30, 2020 CHORIZO

As per usual, I had a delivery from FreshDirect and I had a big ole pork shoulder coming.  I had been thinking about making chorizo and decided Friday was the day.  

Mexican Chorizo Recipe  click on link for recipe from Serious Eats

I made a few changes to grind size and number of grinds, but other than that, it was a written.  I ground the meat through a large plate, added the cold vinegar, and then ground thru a medium plate before stuffing into casings.

Another change I made was to cube the meat and fat up add the spices and let rest over night in fridge before grinding on Saturday.  Sure made the house smell good.  After filling the casings, I left them on a rack over a pan to air dry over night.  Sure made the fridge smell good.  I cut them apart, and portioned them into bags to be shared with neighbors.  I only made 3 lbs of chorizo, now thinking back, that seems stupid!

The over night rest really help set the deep reddish brown color associated with chorizo.  Good enough to eat raw!  Well, perhaps not.

Beautiful color, no?

Just before sealing them up!

Happy Sausaging!

 

Dateline: August 29, 2020 Almost Vegetarian Mexican-ish Stew

I had a hankering for a Mexican Style stew and thought of beans, peppers, corn, and tomatillos...All available in fridge or pantry.  I also had about 7 ounces of uncased chorizo which would add some flavor to the party as well.

Mexican-ish Bean and Chorizo Stew

Ingredients

3/4 cup each of three different type dried beans, I used greek white beans, caballero, and cranberry

6-7 ounces uncased chorizo

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 Fresno pepper, seeded and chopped

1 large onion, minced

3-4 large tomatillos, chopped

salt and pepper

1 T Mexican oregano

1-2 T dark chili powder

1.5 t chipotle chili powder

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

sprinkle of adobo seasoning

28 oz tomato sauce, marinara type or one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes 

2-3 c water

3 ears of corn stripped of kernels

Method

1.  Either soak the beans overnight, or using a pressure cooker, cover with 3 inches of water and bring to a boil.  Boil 2 minutes and remove and let rest for 1 hour.  (I used an InstantPot for this entire recipe).  After 1 hour drain and rinse the beans.

2.  Heat the InstantPot on saute, medium heat, and when hot add chorizo.  Cook until most of the fat has been rendered, and remove to a small dish.

3.  In the rendered fat, add the onions, tomatillos, and hot peppers and saute until softened.  Add beans, tomato sauce, chili powders, cumin, coriander, oregano, adobo and salt and pepper.  You may need to add about 1 or 2 cups of water here.  You don't want to get the burn message!  Change the setting to pressure cook, high, for 23 minutes.  

4.  When time is up, allow 10 minutes of natural release and quick release the rest.  Stir well to keep things from getting too thick at the bottom.  Taste the sauce, and check the beans.  Take 1 of each type of bean that you used out and cut in half.  If there is ANY white regions in the beans, add corn kernels and return to pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  Natural release for 10 minutes again, and check the beans again.  

If your beans were completely cooked, then add corn kernels and put InstantPot on stew for 20 minutes.

Taste for seasonings.  Serve with steamed rice.

Dateline: August 23, 2020 Chili Verde with some surprises

I have been holding on to some tomatillos for a while, and I checked them in the morning and they were still good!  Yeah!  So it was chili verde time.  Looks like a lot of ingredients, but most of these things you may have already, and most supermarkets are carrying dried peppers these days.

Ingredients

2 lbs pork cut into fairly good sized chunks, more than a mouthful, but less than a fist

2 T lard or neutral oil

2 oz cubed pancetta

2 poblano peppers

1 jalapeno pepper

1 other hot pepper, long and skinny type

1 large onion, cut into wedges, no need to peel, but cut off stem end and clean up root end 

6 tomatillos, papery skin removed and tomatillos washed

1 or 2 plum tomatoes, cut in half

6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

4 dried pasilla peppers, stemmed and seeded

1 dried ancho pepper, stemmed and seeded

2 t dried Mexican oregano

2 t ground cumin

1 t ground coriander

3 bay leaves

2 t salt or to taste

1 t pepper or to taste

2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, chopped up fine, with sauce

1/2 t chicken adobo granules

1 bunch of greens of your choice, collards, kale, any dark green will do.  Strip off of stem and cut into             ribbons, then cross cut into smaller pieces

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 ear of corn, stripped of kernels

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 c tomato sauce of your choice

1 c chicken stock

2 cups vegetable stock

juice of 1 lime

Method

1.  Break dried peppers, if necessary, in half, and put into a container and cover with warm water.  Weigh the dried peppers down so they remain under the water and soak until softened.

2.  Light grill and get it quite hot.  When it has reached at least 400°F, char poblanos, jalapano, hot pepper, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and tomatillos.  Put into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

3.  Remove soaked peppers and split open along a side.  Remove any seeds and ribs that did not get out earlier and place on hot grill to toast up.  When finished toasting, add to bowl with other vegetables.  

4.  Remove charred skin from the poblano peppers, jalapeno, and skinny hot pepper.  Split open and removed seeds and ribs.  Peel garlic cloves.  Put peppers, garlic, onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, and toasted soaked dried peppers into a blender and grind up.  Add some veg or chicken stock if necessary to get the mass moving. 

                                        

5.  Check over pork cubes for any bits of bone or gristle.  Salt and pepper them.

6.  Heat lard or oil in a saucepan.  When hot, add pancetta and cook until it renders its fat.  Add contents of the blender into the hot oil and stir.  Add chicken stock and vegetable stock to the pan and stir well.  Add pork to pot.

7.  Add bay leaves, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt, pepper, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and adobo granules.  Stir and bring to a simmer.  Taste.  Add tomato sauce.  Taste again.  Add salt and pepper if needed.

8.  Add stripped corn kernels, beans, and greens of your choice.  Stir and bring to a simmer again.  Put a lid askew on the pan, and let cook for about 45 minutes or so.   Check once in a while to make sure that the sauce or beans don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

9.  Simmer for another 30 minutes with lid askew.  After 30 minutes, taste again, and add salt if needed, or if more heat is desired, add chipotle adobo sauce or a chopped serrano.  Stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice.

10.  Allow to sit with lid on for about 20 minutes for flavors to meld.  Serve over rice.

So tasty, and it's even better the next day after resting in fridge overnight.