Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Bangin' Beef Birria in Mexico City

(Xhico in Mexico)

Beef Birria Tacos in Mexico City
Rafael prepping Beef Birria for Tacos
I can't complain about my apartment in Mexico City. It's everything an artist could want - spacious, beautiful and full of natural light. Though, I think the best thing is waking up to the smell of quesadillas by Doña Chelo in the morning and coming home in the evening to the air filled with the delicious smell of beef birria. Birria is a traditional Mexican cuisine that hails from Jalisco, Mexico. It's usually prepared with goat or sheep that is marinated with dried chiles and spices.

Right outside my door, I have a wonderful street food stand where Rafael prepares his own version of "Birria de Res" or Beef Birria. It is braised in a seasoned broth for several hours until it is tender and juicy. The texture reminds me of my grandma's pot roast, but the flavor is definitely more robust and slightly spicy.

Beef Birria braising in a giant kettle, the scent wafts thru my apartment
Beef Birria Consomé
Beef Birria Tacos with Salsa
For twelve years, on this very corner, Rafael has stewed his birria. When it's ready he takes it out of the broth and chops it into fine pieces for tacos. The small corn tortillas are dipped in the broth, heated on the comal and served with cilantro and onion. He then served a small bowl of consomé, which is absolutely fantastic. A few squeezes of fresh lime juice over the taco and into the broth adds a brightness which compliments the flavors wonderfully.

Beef consomé, perfect for a rainy day
If you want, ask for salsa at the bottom of your consomé bowl and add some marinated onions and habanero for extra heat. Now get to dipping! Dip your taco into the broth for a taco experience that you won't forget. You can also order a stew with meat in broth.

Visit Rafael at his Beef Birria Puesto on the corner of Chilpancingo and Aguascalientes just a few blocks from Parque Mexico in the Condesa neighborhood. I hope you don't have the same problem I have of not being able to stop eating these delicious Birria Tacos.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Cecina, Delicious Marinated Beef and Pork in Mexico

(Xhico in Mexico)
Taco of Cecina (Pork, Enchilada Style)
I haven't seen it on the menus much in Mexico City, but cecina is definitely food of choice a little over an hour outside of the city in a pueblo called "Chalco". I went on an adventure with my friend, Antonio. His family lives in Chalco and I was invited over for lunch. An invitation that I could not resist. Though it was a bit of a trek it was worth every bite.

Inside the church courtyard across from the mercado.
We started out the morning for "desayuno" (breakfast) at the Mercado Municipal in Chalco. Like many of the markets in Mexico City, there are puestos (stalls) selling fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meat and poultry. Of course there are also many places to eat inside and around. The main difference was that there were many puestos dedicated to preparing "cecina" for the drones of people packed inside the market. Beef and pork, pounded flat and piled high into a wall of meat separating the patrons from the cooks. As the people line up and are seated into long-narrow tables, the meat is put over a hot fire and cooked to perfection.

Stacks of beef cecina waiting to be grilled

Cecina being cooked up at the mercado in Chalco, Mexico

The cecina is lean cuts of beef and pork that has been cut and pounded into thin slices, marinated and served hot off the fire. We ordered the pork "enchilada-style" which means that it has also been marinated in chilis which gives it a reddish hue.

Cecina meat - Beef (left), Pork Enchilada Style (right)
Fresh made blue corn tortillas are the foundation of taco construction
Tacos of Cecina (beef)
We decided on the puesto called "Becerro de Oro", got a seat and ordered. Antonio ran to go get some cheese at a nearby stand. He insisted that the double-cream cheese was delicious when making tacos with cecina. I was so hungry I could hardly wait as I got wafts of grilled meat arousing my olfactory receptors. Then it came. The beef and pork steaming hot and simply served on a banana leaf. Blue corn tortillas were served along the side with cream and salsas. Everything was complete to let the taco making process begin. I put a slice of meat, salsa, cream and the double-cream cheese atop a tortilla and began to eat my first cecina taco. It was slightly salty, spicy and creamy - everything delicious should be. Even though after two tacos, I was full. I couldn't stop snacking on the meat.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Xhico's Choice: Krave Jerky

Xhico's Choice this week is Krave Jerky.



I love Krave Jerky! Of course, I first gravitated toward the sack of meat because it had a bangin' package design that bounced off the self. It's bright modern western branding filled with typography and playful icons brought it's unique flavors to my attention. I now found myself standing in front of a wall of beef and turkey treats marinated with gourmet flavors. I ended up picking the Sweet Chipotle Beef Jerky and It's still my favorite! I haven't tried the Black Cherry BBQ Pork Jerky yet because they don't carry it at my local store, but I will but them until they do.

Krave Jerky is unique to the jerky world because the meat is super soft, tender and moist. You don't get "Jerky Jaw" pan from chewing the same piece for hours like most jerky brands. They have beef, turkey and pork jerky varieties and an assortment of gourmet flavors that will tickle your tongue.

For you hardcore jerky lovers, they even have a Krave Klub to deliver #jerkylove to your door every month!

Krave Jerky flavors:
Basil Citrus Turkey
Lemon Garlic Turkey
Black Cherry Barbecue Pork
Grilled Sweet Teriyaki Pork
Chili Lime Beef
Garlic Chili Pepper Beef
Sweet Chipotle Beef
Pineapple Orange Beef

ORDER KRAVE JERKY SAMPLER TODAY!


Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Rambutan in Silver Lake

Rambutan in Silver Lake is an average Thai restaurant with a great atmosphere of bright orange and acidic green The tables are sparse with white plates and accents of colorful chopsticks. Everything is pretty good but nothing was a total standout for me.

The Summer Rolls were refreshing and the peanut dipping sauce made me want more. The Pad Kee Mow aka Drunken Noodles was very good. I've normally had it with a light coat of gravy, but at Rambutan they do it two ways. You can get it "dry" with a light coat of gravy like I normally get. But the best option here is to get it in a bowl with gravy to the brim. It does make the noodles extra slippery and you may need to master your chopstick skills. I got some gravy in my eye when the noodles slipped away from me. The Crying Tiger beef neither made me cry nor feel like a tiger. It was a simple flank steak grilled almost perfectly, but by itself had little flavor. It's all about the sauce. It's sweet and tangy and a little onion-y. It kept reminding me of flavors in Mexican Salsas.

RAMBUTAN THAI
2835 West Sunset Blvd
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA
213-273-8424

Thai Iced Tea

Summer Rolls

Summer Roll

Pad Kee Mow

Crying Tiger Beef

Jasmine Rice

Monday, January 3, 2011

Leftouts: Making Beef Broth

I try to use all of my resources to their full potential - even all my leftouts. After Christmas I had some leftover prime rib bones with alot of meat and fatty tissue still attached to the bone. I decided to make a beef broth. It was fairly simple. There really is no "recipe" you can do it all to taste, say with bone, a carrot, couple green onions and couple cloves of garlic. Just reduce the ingredients accordingly and to taste. Anything goes.

From this process you will yield three products for future use: Beef Broth, Beef Tallow and Beef Meat.

1. I took a large stock pot and filled it with water (about 8 cups) and set it on high.

Use leftover prime rib bones to make beef broth. 
2. I then added:


  • Leftover Prime Rib bones with meat and fat on bone
  • 1 carrot cut into 3 pieces
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 4 green onions cut into thirds

  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp fresh ground green pepper


3. Bring all ingredients to a boil. This takes about 15 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour and a half.

5. Add two more cups of water. Salt and pepper some more. 

Bring all ingredients to boil and reduce to simmer

6. Simmer until meat falls off the bone. About another hour. Just keep checking on it.

Remove and discard bones, carrot pieces and onion.
7. Remove from heat. Remove and discard the bones, carrot pieces and any large chunks of fat. You probably wont see much left of the garlic and onion. After they cook this long, they basically dissolve.

Strain broth from meat
8. Have a large bowl with a strainer ready. Empty and strain stockpot with remaining beef broth and beef pieces. Set aside strained meat pieces. Remove large pieces of fat and carrots in the meat mixture and reserve the meat for later use.

Set meat aside and refrigerate broth for about an hour.
9. Refrigerate bowl with broth for about an hour until it "sets". You will see a white solid layer form on top of the broth. 
White solid layer of "tallow" will form on top.



10. After solid layer forms on top of broth, remove from fridge. This solid white layer you are seeing is the fat (which when was raw was called "suet") now solidified into a "tallow". You will save this part to use later.
Gently remove top layer with fork.
Take a fork down the edge of the bowl and gently separate the solid layer from the layer below by slowly lifting it up. Do this slow and be careful to try to keep it in one piece and it will be less messy. Remove this piece and set aside on a piece of foil. 


11. Below the fat layer you will see a gelatinous brown liquid. This is your broth base. Put in airtight container and freeze for future use or use immediately to make soup.

You now have three resources from this process to use:

Broth base - use immediately or freeze for future use. Gently heat on low and add a little water until mixture returns completely to a liquid. You can use this for a base to make delicious soups.

Beef Meat - use immediately or freeze for future use. This meat is great for taquitos, tacos and pasta sauces.

Beef Tallow (Fat) - freeze this fat to use for the future. To use, gently reheat in a skillet. Use beef suet to make refried beans, fat base for gravy or to fry french fries.

Enjoy your new cooking resources!



Friday, December 3, 2010

Take me away in the Pattywagon! LA's Hamburger Food Truck


I love the Pattywagon. It's one of my favorite food trucks in LA. Fortunately for me and my friend David (and his lovely wife, Nina) they have a weekly stop here in Silver Lake near Trader Joe's on Wednesday evenings. I've also been lucky enough to run into them elsewhere in the city.

There's nothing new about a burger truck, but Pattywagon offers grassfed beef. And boy is it delicious. Those little hamburgers are packed with flavor and melt away in your mouth. They are prepared with an array of toppings and sauces and the menu changes regularly.

Check out Pattywagon's menu and follow them on Twitter to see where they are in Los Angeles.