[cristina]

I've been over on the Supper thread, reading about Rancho's experiments with carne en su jugo. It occurred to me that y'all might like to make this our next Mexican cooking project.

Anybody up for it? If somebody bites (as it were), we could maybe get somebody who knows how to move the carne en su jugo posts from Supper over here to this thread...

[rancho_gordo]

cristina, on Aug 25 2006, 02:32 PM, said:

I've been over on the Supper thread, reading about Rancho's experiments with carne en su jugo. It occurred to me that y'all might like to make this our next Mexican cooking project.

Anybody up for it? If somebody bites (as it were), we could maybe get somebody who knows how to move the carne en su jugo posts from Supper over here to this thread...

Of course, I'm in. We have two different versions plus what I assume is going to be the definitve from Cristina.

[Liza]

I'm in.

[Jaymes]

I'm totally in. Although since I'm in the middle of another road trip, don't know when I'll be able to actually make it.

I'm heading down to Austin for a few days, and then to Del Rio, and then to Ciudad Acuna to help the people in the cardboard colonias.

But carne en su jugo is one of my very, very, very favorite dishes. It's the sort of thing that it's even worth buying special plates for. So I'm so in that I'm going to buy me some special carne en su jugo plates in Mexico next week.

Sign me up.

[cristina]

A different (if not definitive) recipe will be posted on Sunday, by which time I anticipate feeling more like thinking about food, if not like eating any. Right now I'm working on getting rid of a bout of typhoid. Ugh.

Meantime, Ranchito, why don't you repost your recipe over here?

[rancho_gordo]

I will but I want to stress neither is "mine". One was found on the internet and the other is Marilyn Tausend's from her William-Sonoma book Savoring Mexico.

Typhoid? That sounds dire. We can wait!

[rancho_gordo]

Here is the recipe from a Low-Carb group on the Internets:

Quote

Carne en su Jugo:

2 lbs of beef sliced thinly and cut into 1 inch pieces (when we lived in the US, I had our butcher at the grocery store do this for me) or ground beef will work as well.
1 lb of bacon cut into pieces
1 lb of fresh tomatillos (canned will do)
4 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
1 handful of cilantro plus some set aside as a garnish
fresh lime
1 diced avocado
1/2 diced onion
your favorite salsa or hot sauce


First cook the bacon and then take it out of the pan and put it in a pot, save the grease. Then cook the beef until brown in your bacon grease and add that to the pot. Make a green stock in your blender using the tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and a little water. Blend. Now add that to the beef and bacon and cook until tender (The original recipe calls for beans in the soup or on the side as a garnish to be added, I omit the beans for lc) Now dish it up and add cilantro, raw chopped onion, avocado and salsa. You will LOVE this! Your friends will be amazed. It was the hit of every potluck I brought this to.

Sounds like this version is close to the one I ate at La Fogata:


This is the Tausend version, which is tomatillo-less, adapted by me to sell some of my beans:

Quote

1/2 pound of thin sliced bacon, the leaner, the better, finely chopped
1 pound of non-fatty beef such as sirloin tip or top round, sliced thinly and then chopped.
4 cups beef broth
2 chiles in adobo
salt to taste (but mind the bacon!)
pepper to taste
2 cups cooked, drained Flor de Junio or Anasazi beans (save the pot liquor for poaching eggs or soup)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
green onions, grilled
fresh peppers (serrano or jalapeños)
quartered limes

1. In a frying pan, slowly fry the bacon until done. Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper toweling. Add the beef to the bacon drippings and sauté for about 2 minutes. Transfer beef to a large, heavy pot.

2. In a blender, place 1 cup of the broth with 2 (or 3) chipotles en adobo and blend well. Add to the pot with the beef and add the other 3 cups of broth and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Heat the beans in a saucepan and when warm, divide among individual serving bowls. Ladle the meat with its broth into the bowls and sprinkle with bacon and cilantro. Place some onions along the side of the bowl and pass the limes and peppers at the table.

The finished dish. Perfectly delicious but not what I remember:

The black flecks are cilantro. They weren't really black.

What memesuze, Jaymes and I ate with La Cristina at Karne Garibaldi, which looks and sounds pleasant but I tell you here and now it was f*cking grand. And then some!

[cristina]

rancho_gordo, on Aug 25 2006, 10:59 PM, said:

Typhoid? That sounds dire. We can wait!

102* fever early yesterday morning. Horrid wracking body aches. I was at the doctor's office by noon. Yep, typhoid. Big pink antibiotic pill, 1X/daily for two weeks.

Absolutely no appetite, if you can imagine such a thing. Slept on the couch most of the day today. It won't kill me, but for a few hours I was wishing it would.

Time to go back to bed.

[Anónimo]

cristina, on Aug 25 2006, 10:49 PM, said:

A different (if not definitive) recipe will be posted on Sunday, by which time I anticipate feeling more like thinking about food, if not like eating any. Right now I'm working on getting rid of a bout of typhoid. Ugh.

Meantime, Ranchito, why don't you repost your recipe over here?

I'll give it a go. I've been wanting to try this dish for some time, and to see how it's different than caldillo or birria.
In fact, I already had some beans soaking.
Cristina, get better soon!

[cristina]

Here's the first of several recipes that I'll post for carne en su jugo. The truth is, almost every cook has a recipe for this dish--and each one is the authentic one!

One of the things I've learned about the Mexican kitchen is that anyone's Mom is the gold standard of authenticity. If it's not like mamá used to make, it's not the real deal. So...from somebody's mamá to your table...¡provecho!

Carne en Su Jugo 1

Ingredients

2 lbs meat for carne en su jugo (solid lean beef, cut into pieces 1" long by 1/2" wide). Here in Mexico, we simply ask the butcher for meat cut for this dish--in the States, you might have to cut it yourself.
1/2 lb bacon strips, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 cups water
1 bunch green onions
Garlic salt and beef bouillon base to taste
Worcestershire, Maggi, or soy sauce (or a combination of the three) to taste
2 cups recently cooked beans

Coarsely chopped cilantro
Minced onion
Sea salt
Salsa ranchera
Radishes

Preparation

Fry the bacon until crisp, drain and reserve.

In the bacon grease, fry the onions until slightly softened. Drain and reserve the onions.

Pour the bacon grease into a deep pot. Add the beef pieces to the bacon grease and brown lightly. Carefully add the water, the garlic salt, and the Worcestershire sauce. Add the beef bouillon base. Allow to simmer over a slow flame for approximately 15 minutes.

Just before serving, add the beans to the pot and quickly bring to a boil.

Serve in deep plates or soup bowls, garnished with the cilantro, onion, and sea salt. Serve accompanied by the salsa ranchera (to be added to taste), sautéed onions, and radishes.

[Behemoth]

I think I will have to give this a try. Came across a pic of it on LTH forum a while back (great Chicago-area food forum):

http://www.lthforum....t=7927&start=0

(Scroll down.)

Maybe a Chicago 47th street investigative journey is needed...

[helena]

i'll play...

btw Behemoth, thanks for linking the LTH thread - quite a reason to spped up my upcoming business trip to Chicago...

[rancho_gordo]

This sounds swell, but I think I'll saute garlic with the onions and omit the garlic salt and maybe use actual beef stock instead of a cube. I'm a snob.

Cristina, at KG, didn't they also have large perfectly roasted onions?

[cristina]

rancho_gordo, on Aug 27 2006, 08:41 PM, said:

Cristina, at KG, didn't they also have large perfectly roasted onions?

They had cebollas de cambray, which some people call knob onions. They're like overgrown scallions. At KG, the green ends are cut off. The onions are then sauteed whole to achieve that caramelized sweet brown-ness, as they are in this recipe--probably in a mix of bacon grease and lard. At KG, the onions are served separately (as they are in this recipe), on the plate with those incredibly delicious frijolitos refritos.

The next recipe I post will have fresh garlic...but no beef stock, still bouillon. And the bouillon isn't a cube--it's stock base, comes from a jar. Knorr makes it.

The various Knorr stock bases (tomato, chicken, beef, ribs, vegetable, and shrimp) are so commonly used here in the home kitchen that most recipes that call for one or the other of them merely tell you what quantity of knorrsuiza (all one word) to use.

Remember that carne en su jugo is absolutely home cooking: comfort food to the max.

It's unlikely that KG will hand over its recipe, but as soon as I'm done with this illness I'm going over there to ask them. Oooh, a Mouthfuls coup, if only they will!

[cristina]

I think this recipe most closely approximates the carne en su jugo that is served at KG. Rancho, Jaymes, and memesuze: please tell me what you think.

The recipe uses 1/2 cup of puréed beans to thicken the beef broth. I think this step could be eliminated, but I like the slightly thicker broth with the beef, bacon, and beans in it.

Carne en su Jugo 2

Ingredients

1 quart rich beef stock
1 limón, cut in half and seeded
Worcester, soy, or Maggi sauce (to taste)
Salsa Tamazula (to taste)
Knorrsuiza de res (beef bouillon powder) (to taste)
2 lb aguayón (rump or sirloin) of beef, cut into 1" by 1/2" pieces
1 lb bacon, cut into pieces 1" by 1/2"
2.5 cups frijoles de la olla (recently cooked beans with their liquor) (two uses)
Cebollas de cambray (knob onions)

Cilantro, roughly chopped
Minced white onion
Limones
Salsa ranchera
Sal de grano (sea salt)
Radishes

Preparation

Day Before
Put the beef into a large deep stainless steel or glass bowl. Squeeze the limón over it and add the sauce that you prefer (Worcester, soy, or Maggi, or a combination of the three). Add the Tamazula sauce. Sprinkle with the beef bouillon powder. Mix well, cover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight. Stir from time to time.

Day of Serving
In a deep pot, fry the bacon pieces until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Sauté the cebollas de cambray in the bacon grease until caramelized.

Drain and dry the beef. Lightly brown the beef pieces in the bacon grease. As soon as the beef is browned, add the marinating liquid and some of the bean liquor to the pot. Add the beef stock. Allow to simmer over a low flame until the beef is thoroughly cooked, about 20-30 minutes.

At this point, put half a cup of the cooked beans and some of the bean liquor in your blender. Blend until smoothly puréed. Add the bean purée to the pot of beef and liquid.

Add the remaining two cups of whole cooked beans to the pot. Correct the seasonings (add salt with caution). Bring to a boil and allow to simmer briefly. Add the bacon.

Serve in deep plates accompanied by the caramelized onions, chopped cilantro, minced onion, radishes, salsa ranchera, and freshly squeezed limón to taste.