Feliz Navidad 2014
Tag: beef
TEXAS MONTHLY now has a barbecue editor!
From the NY Times.
and a scene I painted taken from a photo taken by a pal of mine, Mike Farmer. It’s at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, TX
Carne Guisada January 13, 2013
Yesterday I decided to make a beef stew, which turned out as a form of carne guisada.
- 1.5 lbs beef stew meat in ~ 3/4″ cubes. (You could use pork, lamb, goat, venison, or elk here)
- 1/2 cup ~ chorizo (if dried Spanish.. chop it up, if Mexican, w/o casing) I used Chorizo Seco from El Torito #2 in KCKS.
- 1 tbs olive oil (or bacon drippings or canola oil)
- 2 medium yellow onions chopped 1/2″
- 3 shallots sliced thinly
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped, crushed, whatever..)
- 1 red bell pepper chopped roughly
- 1 green bell pepper chopped roughly
- 6-8 tomatillos, husked & quartered
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 3-4 small russet potatoes cut into 8ths.
- 2 corn tortillas torn to bits (these are for both flavor and thickening)
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp epazote
- 2 tsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tbs chopped cilantro
- 1/2 tsp Penzey’s Bonnes Herbes Parisienne (the end of a jar of this stuff I had)
- 1 tsp ground chile ancho
- 1/2 tsp chile caribe or crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp minced chile serrano (I could add more chile, but my mother-in-law eats with us)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 bottle of beer
- stock to cover (I used chicken stock this time)
- salt to taste
Heat oil in large stewpot. Brown/render chorizo on low heat. Add beef and brown slowly.. when partially browned, add onions, shallots, garlic, epazote, mexican oregano, bay leaf, cumin and chiles. Stir regularly. As the onions finish, add bell peppers and have them soften. Add tomatillos, tomato paste, carrots, and potatoes. Add beer and stock as needed. (You could be hoity-toity and use white wine. But you don’t have to.)
Bring to a low boil, add torn-up corn tortillas, and cilantro, stir, and lower to a simmer, cover and let cook for at least two hours.
Good with bolillos (french bread) or cornbread.
Pine-Sol?
I had a glass of BLUE MOUNTAIN’S Über-Pilsner Sunday and was quite disappointed. The first couple of tastes were fine, the maltiness and mouthfeel right, but as I drank it, the hoppiness became quite coniferous. Like chewing on a pinecone.
Show some restraint!
A real beer festival..
From deepest Bavaria! With an ox, too! That might cheer up the wingeing chaps..
Peace, Love & Barbecue..
Our band (Leanne and the Bizarros) used to open for hers (Frieda and the Firedogs) back in Austin in the early ’70s.. get back!
Last week in Baltimore: 1
Ceriello’s at Belvedere Square Market is great! Richmond just doesn’t get it.
Here are the remains of my Abruzzo panini (from Ceriello’s) and a Saison DuPont: lunch at Gran Cru. The VA ABC couldn’t handle this. Nossir!
Sadly, I could not find a muskrat for Lent at Faidley’s at the Lexington Market. The season is from January 1 – March 15. Que bummer.
A nice steak from Belmont.
I’ve been busy. This is the most advanced cooking I can handle, other than makin’ a pot of frijoles rosados.
I put some Penzey’s “muralla del sabor” on this sucker.
Stubb’s makes good charcoal.
The deck and its environs. No hablo “gas grill”.
Move it to the side.. this fire could have cooked a load more meat. One could also roast an aubergine for baba ganoush in the cooker as it cooled.
Now for the slice.. tender as a maiden’s heart.
Hurrah for Belmont!
STYLE Weakly gets something right!
Their MEAT ISSUE mentions the Big Apple Market on Jeff Davis. Who let them off their West End tether? Next they’ll be reviewing the Guate bars in that neck of the woods.
It should be noted that Big Apple’s fish market can be rather aromatic in the summer. And they usually have the widest selection of dried beans in the area. Flor de mayo, Mayacoba, Canario, y mucho mas! And they often have tins of Caldo de Garrobo (iguana soup) which is said to be an aid in combatting hangovers and an aid for impotence.
London Broil con Recado para Bistek
A recado is a paste or rub for roasting meat, fowl or fish. A annatto/achiote based recado is used in Yucatecan pibil cookery. Recados are not unlike Jamaican jerk rub, which also uses allspice, black pepper, and herbs. Trans-Caribbean influences here, I’ll wager.
My son and Rachel came over last Saturday and I decided to take a London Broil and rub it with recado para bistek.
Recado para Bistek
1 tbs black peppercorns
1 tsp allspice berries
1 1/2 tsp whole cumin
2 tbs Mexican oregano
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
one head of garlic roasted & peeled.
Grind this in a food processor or a molcajete. When ready to use moisten with lime juice, lemon juice, or even beer. Rub on the meat and place in ziplock bag for at least an hour in the fridge.
Get your cooker going. I had this sucker in my smoker for 4-5 hours.
It was great. We had it with guacamole, frijoles rosados refritos, a spinach salad, and tortillas de harina.
We had enough left to take over to a friend’s house for dinner on Sunday.
Chickenfoot Soup 