Thursday, June 22, 2006

Hey who wants some frikin Carnitas

Carnitas(from the Spanish for "little meats") is a type of braised or roasted (often after first being boiled) pork in Mexican cuisine. Sometimes it is actually prepared by frying, although this method is less traditional. It can also be made from beef using a chuck roast, although using pork seems to be the more common method.
Pork carnitas is traditionally made using the heavily marbled, rich 'boston butt' or 'picnic ham' areas of the hog. Contrary to their misleading names, these are neither butt areas nor ham areas, but rather the upper and lower sections of the front shoulder of the hog. The 6-16lb sections are usually sectioned down to a workable (6-10lb) size and seasoned heavily before slow braising or slow roasting, generally in the range of 160-180 F for 8-12 hours. At this stage the collagen in the meat has broken down sufficiently to allow it to be pulled apart by hand or fork or chopped by using a cleaver.
Having been dismantled, some of the rendered liquid is added back to the pork. Prior to serving, the pork is placed in fairly shallow pans to maximize surface area, then roasted at high (375-425 F) heat for a few minutes to produce the famous alternating texture of succulent softness and caramelized crispness.

Here is how Imake it
  1. Get your self a three to four pound pork butt and chop into 2-3 in chunks
  2. In a shallow roasting pan place 2 fresh jalapeño 2 seranos and 1 pablano chilies
    2-3 cloves of garlic
  3. Coat the meat in Chile powder and add to the pot.
  4. Add enough orange juice to cover half way up the meat
  5. Chop one bunch of cilantro
  6. Add a table spoon of salt and ½ tlb of pepper
  7. Cover and roast at 300 degrees for at least 3 hours
  8. Cooking time will vary according to how much meat you have
  9. But you can check it with a fork; you want to be falling apart.
  10. Once you have reached the fork tender stage drain OJ and spread out meat and dry roast for 15- 25 minutes to crisp it up

use it in tacos or buritos i like it covered in salsa verde .

enjoy

Friday, June 16, 2006


Carne asada is a Mexican style of cooking, literally meaning "grilled meat." Most recognized with the meats Ranchera (Chuck Steak), it is one of the most popular staples to Mexican food. It can be found in tacos, tortas and burritos. Mexicans traditionally hold barbecues with carne asada as the main dish.
In Mexico and the American Southwest you will find that Carne Asada is the Mexican equivalent of Barbecue. It is meant in the party sense of the word. Traditionally a large fire pit is used to prepare this party but you can use whatever you have. Since everything is prepared over direct heat you don’t need a lid or a fancy grill. The cut of beef you use doesn’t need to be fancy either.
Carne asada can be traditionally prepared using lemon juice, garlic, and green or white onions. The beef is marinated in these ingredients and then placed on the grill.
Carne asada can also be marinated with beer and orange juice and instead of lemon juice, key lime juice.

According to wikipedia
Carne according to Troy
I grew up les than 20 miles from the mexico boarder Carne Asada is more than food its a life style. here's my recipe.
start with 2-3 pounds of cleaned top sirloin cut 1/4 inch thick(place in a bowl)
juice 2 lemons
juice 4 key limes
juice 2 navel oranges
1 tlb spoon of garlic
1 tlb spoon of each black peper ,white peper , oregeno,onion powder ,
and 1/2 tlb spoon cayane peper
slice up roughly 1 yellow onion
halve 2 jalepeno and 2 serano chiles
halve 1 package button mushrooms
rough chop 1 bunch of cliantro (steams are and leaves)
1 can cheap beer (bud )
1 cup soy sauce(yep it realy helps)
1/4 cup lee kum kee chile paste ( or any chile sauce i recomend this one its my favorite .)
now the important part is to leave it alone for 2 days . now thats it's ready fire up the grill grab some tortillias and some gaucomole and enjoy.