Great class last night at Different drummers kitchen. Had a lot of "Tongue virgins" but we deflowered em all!
New World
Tongue Tacos
Many people
squirm when they even think about eating tongue, but most of our ancestors
loved it. When properly cooked it is the most silky and succulent eating
experience ever! And frankly, no one does it better than the Mexicans. Their
technique of braise/dry cook/braise make it unbelievable! This is a two day
process but the results are well worth it.
BRAISE #1
In Dutch
oven add the following ingredients
1 fresh beef
tongue
2 cups
yellow onion, coarsely chopped
4 large
cloves garlic, , smashed with flat of knife
2 tbs Ancho
chili powder
4 dried
Mexian chiles, gualjillo, ancho or pasilla will do
1 3” stick Canela (Mexican cinnamon) or regular
cinnamon
1 Tbs ground
cumin
2 Tbls
Mexican oregano
½ cup,
chopped of cilantro
1 tsp
epazote
juice of two
limes
1 tsp kosher
salt
Preheat oven
to 350
Wash tongue
well with cold water and put in a heavy pot.
Put chile
powder, oregano and cumin in a dry pan and toast until light plumes of smoke
are released. Add to pot.
Put dry
chiles in oven and baked until puffed
and soft, about 3 minutes. Using gloves, remove seeds and stems and add
to pot
Add all other
ingredients to the pot, cover with water
and bring to boil. Skim any scum. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for two
to three hours, or until tongue is beginning to feel tender under the skin. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Refrigerate
tongue with the cooking liquid at least 4 hours or overnight.
ROAST
The next
day, Preheat oven to 350.
Remove
tongue from the cooking liquid and reserve both the tongue and the liquid.
Place the tongue in a roasting pan and bake 1 hour.
Let cool.
BRAISE #2
A 12 oz can
fire roasted tomatoes, pureed in a blender
or one can round tomatoes and juice*
½ cup
cilantro
hot sauce to
taste
*If you cannot
find fire roasted tomatoes, try this:
Get a can of
round, inexpensive tomatoes without basil and strain, reserving the the
tomatoes and the juice separately.
Preheat
broiler
Put the
drained tomatoes on a cookie sheet. Add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil to
lightly coat. Cook under broiler until
beginning to get a little charred and freckled on the edges. Turn the tomatoes over and char the other
side the same way. Put in a blender with the resrved juice and puree until
smooth
Strain the
cooking liquid and put in a braising pot
Put the
sliced tongue into a pot.
Add the
tomatoes and cilantro.
Braise
gently for 30 minutes to one hour until he meat is soft as silk. Add some
Tapatio or chulua to taste.
Pickled
Cabbage for Tacos
Here is the
German influence on Mexican cooking. Tongue and cabbage!.
This will
keep for about a week in the fridge so make enough!
2 cups white
cabbage shredded fine
pinch salt
¼ cup lime
juice
1 tbls white
vinegar
1 tbl cumin
seed, dry toasted until almost black
Toss
together well!
Mexican
“Crema”
If you can’t
find this ingredient, which is essentially loose Crème Fraiche, simple whisk a
little buttermilk in to sour cream to thin it to a creamy but pourable state.
Done.
Street Cart
Tortilla technique
Tortilla
technique
This is how
to get those soft, lovely corn tortillas used in Food carts all over America
and Mexico.
Use ONLY
thick Masa corn tortillas.
To cook the
tortilla, dip in hot water for only 3 seconds, and shake off water.
Over a small flame on the stove or grill, toss on a
tortilla,
keep it
moving and turn until it just starts to
scorch.
Stack in a
tortilla warmer, or in a warm bowl covered with a dish towel
to help
maintain warm/humidity.
To serve
& eat
Grab a
tortilla from the warmer. Add spoonful of the
cabbage then
a spoonful of the tongue with the sauce. Garnish with some crema, a sprig of
cilantro and a squeeze of lime, perhaps more hot sauce?
Pupusas
Pupusas are
stuffed masa pancakes cooked on a griddle or in a skillet. The Cake is made
from masa harina and water and the traditional fillings include shredded meats,
cheese and veggies. The sky is the limit. The most important factor in
designing your own fillings is to consider texture. The corn dough is delicate;
golden on the outside and smooth and almost creamy textured on the inside. A
filling with too much crunch or chew would counter the sexy nature of the
dough. Pupusas are accompanied with assertive and acidic Curtidos or salsas
(see below).
You should
have seen how proud my El Salvadorian Sous Chef Carlos Arroyo was when an
article about our New World Pupusas graced the cover of a major restaurant
industry magazine.
The
following recipe makes 8-12 pupusas.
Each filling
recipe will make 8-12 pupusas also.
Ric-ter
scale – depends on the filling
Pupusa dough
3 cups Masa
Harina
2 cups or
more room temperature tap water
Mix the
water and masa together with your hands.
Fold and blend well. A soft,
slightly sticky dough will form. It will
feel like play-dough (remember?) Use more water if needed in small drops. Cover
with plastic wrap until ready to use.
It’s easiest
to use a tortilla press to flatten the masa dough but you can also use your
hands.
Form a ball
of dough about the size of a ping pong ball. Flatten to about 1/8 inch thick
between sheets of plastic wrap. Repeat until you have 16-24 flattened
tortillas. Keep between plastic wrap until ready to use.
Assemble the
pupusa.
Remove the
top layer of wrap from one tortilla.
Spoon a
scant tablespoon of filling into the center of the tortilla. Top with cheese.
Top with
another (unwrapped, obviously) tortilla and pinch around the edges to seal. The
masa will seal itself. Press the
stuffing down gently with the palm of your hand.
Cook the
Pupusa:
In a large
lightly oiled skillet or griddle at medium heat cook the pupusa gently on one
side until golden, flip and finish---sort of like grilled cheese. Pretty easy once you get the hang of it,
isn’t it?
Black Bean and
Mozzarella Filling
Makes 12
1 can “quick”
refried black beans*
1 cup shredded
Mozzarella
What are
“Quick” refried black beans you ask?
Take a can
of black beans and drain. Now take a cup of nice red salsa (preferable your
own, but you can cheat in a pinch with a reputable brand. Pure together in a food processor.
In a cast iron
skillet add a lil oil or “drippings” you may have stashed. Add the bean –salsa
mix and cook, stirring regularly until tightened up and a little crusted round
the edges.
Churros!!!
With
coco-cocoa!
Churros or
Mexican doughnuts, or not really doughnuts at all. They actually show the
influence of the French missionaries and are a variation of Choux pastry, or
crème puff dough.
Quickly
fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar and dipped in coconut milk hot chocolate. They
are insanely delish!!
Churros
Makes about
8
1 cup water
2 tbls brown
sugar
pinch salt
6 oz butter
1 cup AP
flour
2 eggs
½ tsp
vanilla extract
Vegetable
oil for frying and a frying thermometer
sugar and
cinnamon or ground Canela for dusting
In a sauce
pan add the water, brown sugar, salt, and butter and heat to a rolling boil to
melt everything. Remove from the heat
and add the flour and rapidly stir it in to make a paste. Set aside while you do the eggs.
In a
separate bowl, whip up the eggs until well scrambled and add the vanilla.
Now add this
to the flour mixture. Fold in until the eggs are incorporated but done overwork.
In a heavy
pan, Heat at least 1 inch deep of oil to 375
Fill your
decorating tool with the churro dough and attach the largest star tip you have.
Test your
oil by placing a small amount of dough in it. The dough should bubble up right
away or that means the oil is not hot enough.
Once the oil
is hot enough, squeeze some dough (with decorator) into the oil about 4 inches
long. I used my finger to release the dough from the decorator. Careful not to
burn yourself.
You should
be able to cook 4 or 5 churros at a time. Cook them about 1 minute and turn
them over with a slotted spoon. Cook an additional minute or two. You're
looking for that nice golden brown color.
Remove the
churros with the slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel to drain.
While still
warm, roll each churro into the dish with the sugar and cinnamon until coated.
Coco-Cocoa
“Hot Chocolate”
Easy? Yes.
Will it be a got to for your winters? I hope so!
Makes 4 cups
2 cups
coconut milk
½ cup
bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup semi
sweet chocolate
pinch of
cinnamon
Heat the
coconut milk to a simmer. Fold in the chocolate and stir until melted and creamy. Add cinnamon to taste ( or
not).
You can make
this lighter by using less chocolate or turn it into a fabulous ganache by
bringing the coconut milk-chocolate ratio up to 50/50/
