eatingclub vancouver: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos

[js]
I can't believe July is over today -- and we had ambitious plans to make our July such a mucho jam-packed month of Latin food deliciousness!

Oh well. It has been a crazy month here and the last two weeks of the month has been deliriously HOT too, which no doubt contributed to the busy-ness effect.

Like our snow-filled December, when we had to wade in snow and wet slush, every little task seemed to take double or triple the effort in 30+ degree Centigrade weather, and in twenty years in Vancouver, I've never sweated so much as I had in the last ten or so days!

I'm thinking of how to segue into the topic on hand, which is our shredded beef and tripe tacos from our last taco night. I'll leave it to our handful of readers to fill in the blanks.

[js]
Perhaps it is the heat talking, because I have been craving for something light -- and something light that's not a salad. Lately, I've been strangely enamoured by the the idea of "white" or "light" beef.

I suppose the months of browning beef has finally gotten to me -- and I wanted to try my hand at the "lighter" preparations of beef.

Our "dancing cilantro beef" is a good place to start, but in that dish, the beef is braised in a bit of soy sauce, which, even though diluted with water, still results in that deep, round, caramel-y, brown flavour.

When I cooked this two or so weeks ago, it wasn't as hot as it had been in the past few days. Hence, I cooked this dish indoors.

The past week, when the temperature inside the house reached 35 degrees Celcius, I've been using our grill as our all-purpose cooking device: baking pasta out there, steaming, poaching, and braising meats. Not actually grilling, because the heat was just too intense, and I couldn't bear to stand in front of the grill for long periods of time.

Simple Poached Beef

[js]
This filling is actually a very simple poached beef dish.

I used a combination of beef cuts, oxtail and veal breast, which I blanched first to get rid of the blood and the impurities. The tripe was a tad of an afterthought, because I had also been craving "offal" and/or "variety meats" lately.

After blanching, I put the oxtail and the breast in water with an onion, a head of garlic, a teaspoon of Mexican oregano and epazote. After about an hour or so of simmering, I added the tripe (which had been washed and cleaned thoroughly), because the tripe actually needed less than hour to become tender, as it had already been partially cooked before being sold.

When everything was fork tender, I turned off the heat and let the pot cool. I did this the day before because the oxtail and the veal breast would render out fat, which I wanted to let cool and congeal so I can take most of it out.

[js]
The next day, I took the pieces and shredded by hand. I suppose one can add some of the liquid to make the filling more wet, but I didn't because I didn't want it too wet. The "wetness" I desired was just the moisture clinging to the pieces of meat. The whole thing needed seasoning and it was good to go.

Tripe-y Goodness!

[js]
This specific taco was filled with our light but oh-so-flavorful beef and tripe filling, tomatillo salsa (salsa verde), chopped onions and cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Happiness.

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Recipe
Shredded Beef and Tripe Filling (for Tacos)

2 pounds oxtail, in large pieces
3 pounds veal breast, in large pieces
half pound tripe
1 onion
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon epazote
water
salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add the oxtail and veal breast pieces until the outside changes color. Take beef pieces out of the water. Discard dirty water.

In a pot, add oxtail and veal breast pieces, the onion, garlic, Mexican oregano and epazote. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer for about 2 hours.

In the meantime, throughly wash the tripe to get rid of any "bleach-y" aroma. Add the tripe to the simmering pot. Simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Check the pot. If tender enough, take out tripe and cut into small pieces. Also, shred the oxtail and veal breast pieces. You may keep as much or as little of the liquid as you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

[eatingclub] vancouver Mexican
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Semi-Lime-cooked, Semi-Yucatecan Shrimp with Garlic Chips
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese with Pipían Verde
Quickie Turkey Tortilla Soup
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Shrimp a la Mexicana (Camarones a la Plancha)
Enchiladas Verdes
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Mexican Ancho Guajillo Chicken
Chipotle Ground Turkey on Flour Tortilla
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Blueberry Tres Leches Cake
Crab Tostada
Homemade Mexican Chorizo Sausage
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

UBC Blueberry Fest

[ts]
JS and I are still indisposed right now, so in the meantime, why not enjoy some blueberries at the UBC Blueberry Fest?

UBC presents its first UBC Blueberry Fest!

Days:
Tuesday, July 28
Wednesday, July 29
Thursday, July 30

Time:
9am to 1pm each day (rain or shine)

Where:
UBC Bookstore Plaza
(6200 University Boulevard and East Mall)

Supported by the BC Blueberry Council and the UBC Bookstore

The BC Blueberry Council will be promoting BC Blueberries with a fantastic supporting cast of events:
- Daily prize draw and free recipes
- UBC bookstore discounts
- Pancake breakfast, parfaits, blueberry muffins, scones, cakes, crème brûlée, blintzes on the menu
- Blueberries from the farm

For more information, please visit the following links.
http://www.bookstore.ubc.ca/whatsnew/BlueberryFest
http://www.bcblueberry.com/

[ts]
We will be trying to figure out what to make with blueberries, seeing as we only have a measly 3 recipes with blueberries on the blog!

Challah Bread Pudding with Blueberries & Cardamom

http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com/2008/11/challah-bread-pudding-with-blueberries.html

Blueberry, Genoa Salami & Apricot Panini

http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com/2008/07/blueberry-genoa-salami-and-apricot.html

Blueberry Soup with Mascarpone & Tarragon

http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com/2008/08/blueberry-soup-with-mascarpone-and.html

Blueberry Soup & Sandwich Combo
http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com/2008/08/blueberry-soup-and-sandwich.html

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Monday, July 27, 2009

Taipei Convenience Store Foods

[ts]
It's been busy here at the [eatingclub] HQ. So before we get to our Shredded Beef and Tripe taco filling post, here are some quick example of Convenience Store foods in Taipei.

That above, is of course, tea eggs or stewed eggs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_egg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_egg

Various balls (that is, fishballs or seafood balls, I assume) and skewered items.

Buns!

And even roasted sweet potato! I must say, this attracted me quite a bit, but I resisted.

Convenience stores in Taiwan seem to be even more "convenient" than the ones here. You can even pay your bills there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_store#Taiwan

Convenient, indeed.

Taiwan trip 2009
Taiwanese Bakery Goods (including ChiaTe Bakery)
Dan Shui 淡水, Taiwan (including food)
Taipei Quick Eats: Mos Burger, Hong Ya Breakfast, Ay Chung Flour-Rice Noodle
Taipei Convenience Store Foods
Shilin Night Market 士林夜市 (Taipei, Taiwan)
Breakfast Buffet at the Shangri-La (Taipei, Taiwan)
Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup, 4 versions (Taipei, Taiwan)
Yehliu 野柳 Geopark; Dried Seafood (Taiwan)

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling

[js]
Another day, another different carnitas method.

Once, the pork butt was kept whole in a very wet braise with a whole bunch of herbs and spices, including chocolate, then shredded and baked with milk in the oven;

Once, the pork butt was started like above (but with a more orange-y braise), then forwent the baking with milk, but rather, was sautéed until crispy, then shredded;

Once, the pork butt was cut into small-ish cubes and then simmered in a little liquid until all evaporated and the chunks are browned in their own fat.

I can't say which is my favourite. I think I was still deciding how to do the carnitas when I started chopping them up into large-ish cubes.

I wasn't going to do carnitas for our recent taco night, but I figure I might as well, since I had three pieces of pork butt waiting for me in the fridge. I bought six pieces (approximately 2 pounds per piece) and I had used up half of it for my al pastor. It was already 2:30 in the afternoon and people were coming at 6:30 -- I looked at the large-ish cubes and decided that they can be smaller to speed up the cooking process.

[js]
I put the pieces in a pot, dumped a bottle a beer, and covered them with water.

The beer was a spur of the moment decision, given that we had a lone bottle of beer that was taking up valuable fridge real estate and I wanted to get rid of it. I'm not a beer drinker and I don't even know if I like beer, but there it was. As soon as I did it, though, I started to regret my rash, capricious act. When the pot started to boil, I smelled the beer and I started to get very, very afraid.

Feeling unsure now, I kept it simple with the aromatics and spices. I added an onion, some dried epazote, salt and pepper. When the pieces were tender but not falling apart, I tasted one, and while it was okay, passable, I felt the flavour wasn't where I would like it to be. It wasn't ALL that it can be.

before and after

[js]
I started scooping the pieces out of their bath and put them in another pan. Going by smell, I figured the whole thing needed celery. I chopped up a couple of stalks and put them with the pork. I added more salt and dried thyme. I poured about 2 cups of milk into the pan and put the pan on the grill to continue cooking. I could have used the oven but the grill was already on and I didn't want to turn on the oven.

The pork pieces started to brown and get crispy, the milk added a lot of richness to the pork, and the dried thyme added depth. I pulled the pan out of the grill a little too late (some of the pieces were over-brown) because I got distracted by other stuff.

[js]
So, as you can see, even though we had tacos al pastor, we still had the carnitas. It is a family favourite and I knew people were going to be asking me if we had any carnitas for this night. I preempted the question and just made it with the extra pork butt we had.

And it's a good thing I made the carnitas because they were SOLD OUT. As expected, people went for the carnitas more than they did the al pastor. It is that brown crispy allure of the carnitas: too good to resist!

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[eatingclub] vancouver Mexican
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Semi-Lime-cooked, Semi-Yucatecan Shrimp with Garlic Chips
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese with Pipían Verde
Quickie Turkey Tortilla Soup
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Shrimp a la Mexicana (Camarones a la Plancha)
Enchiladas Verdes
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Mexican Ancho Guajillo Chicken
Chipotle Ground Turkey on Flour Tortilla
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Blueberry Tres Leches Cake
Crab Tostada
Homemade Mexican Chorizo Sausage
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa

[js]
Whenever we have tacos, our pork offering is usually carnitas.

See, I've always heard and read tacos al pastor spoken and written with such reverence that it seems daunting to attempt it at home. Traditionally, the meat for tacos al pastor came off a vertical rotisserie like meat off gyros, and not having the same type of set-up at home, I figured it was pretty much hopeless.

But then I remembered that some of the tacos al pastor I've had in LA had small-ish cube-ish pieces of meat, not quite the long-ish, thin strips that might have been shaven off a rotisserie. Like our carnitas, which we've enjoyed both cube-ish and shredded, perhaps there are different al pastor aesthetics at play.

I recalled Marc of [No Recipes] making a home-version of al pastor using a stupendous-looking hunk of meat. I then used the recipe from Kevin's Closet Cooking as a guide, and we proceeded to tackle the al pastor project for our taco get-together last Sunday.

[No Recipes] Tacos al Pastor
Closet Cooking Tacos al Pastor

The Marinade
[js]
It started with 6 ancho chiles and 4 guajillo chiles. I popped them in some water, waited for the water to boil, and turned off the heat.

That's all I can remember of the sauce because I asked TS to make the rest of it. I was tending to our other menu items.

[ts]
This was another one of those dump-everything into the blender deals.

Along with the hydrated anchos and guajillos, in went some onions, chipotles, garlic, vinegar, Mexican oregano, cumin and pineapples.

[js]
When the sauce was done, I made my slices on the pork butt pieces.

[js]
I sliced into the meat, half an inch from the bottom and half an inch apart. This will cause the meat to fan out and the sauce can get into every nook and cranny. I imagined that when done, we would have to slice the meat in a perpendicular direction from the original slices to achieve the vertical rotisserie effect.

nice slicing, JS!

[js]
The marinade went onto the pork butt pieces and into those cut grooves.

The Grill

before & after

[js]
I put the pork butt pieces on the grill, to cook low and slow. We didn't have pineapple rings so I figure these pineapple chunks would have to do.

A little rest after they were cooked, then we sliced them perpendicular to the grooves.

Chipotle Peanut Salsa

[js]
The chipotle peanut salsa was a spur-of-the-moment creation.

I had planned on making a red salsa with straightforward tomato and chipotle flavours (I had made it previously for our other taco nights). I roasted about 6 tomatoes and an onion in the oven, but I was too impatient to wait until the tomatoes got really, really dry. You see the deadly habit of procrastination catching up with me again.

When I started puréeing the tomatoes with a couple of chipotles in the blender, to my dismay, it was a tad watery. I thought of ways to thicken up the salsa, and I knew I had some pumpkin seeds in the freezer but I didn't want to scrounge around in that treasure trove.

So I spied with my little eye the peanut butter. I added about approximately 3 tablespoons of peanut butter until I got the consistency I wanted. Actually, I still had to heat up the salsa and let some of the water evaporate until I got the consistency of my heart's desire. I also added in more chipotle peppers so this salsa was freaking hot!

note:
The recipe at the end of the post assumes that you will not cram your salsa-making in an hour as I did.

[js]
I was very pleased with the flavour of these al pastor. The only complaint I had was I don't think our slices were thin and/or small enough for our tortilla shells.

But as for the filling itself, it tasted very "authentic" to me, similar to the ones I've had in California. (Not having been to Mexico, I can't quite make an absolute claim.) The flavour was pork-y, rich, smoky, and deep, and the pineapples added a bright sweetness to the whole thing that made it quite addictive.

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[eatingclub] vancouver Tacos
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos

[eatingclub] vancouver Mexican
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Semi-Lime-cooked, Semi-Yucatecan Shrimp with Garlic Chips
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese with Pipían Verde
Quickie Turkey Tortilla Soup
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Shrimp a la Mexicana (Camarones a la Plancha)
Enchiladas Verdes
Cilantro Horchata
Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak
Mexican Ancho Guajillo Chicken
Chipotle Ground Turkey on Flour Tortilla
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos
Duck Enchiladas with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Blueberry Tres Leches Cake
Crab Tostada
Homemade Mexican Chorizo Sausage
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)

Recipes

Tacos al Pastor
adapted from Closet Cooking's Tacos al Pastor

Our recipe uses 3 pieces of pork butt, which is a lot. Feel free to divide by 3 and use 1 pork butt.

3 pieces pork butt (approx 2 lbs each)

6 ancho chiles
4 guajillo chiles
2 small onions
1 can golden pineapple chunk in juice (19 liq oz/540mL)
3 chipotle peppers in adobo
2 tablespoons vinegar
15 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
salt

Slice into each pork butt piece, leaving 1/2-inch (half-inch) at the bottom (do not cut all the way through). Make the slices 1/2-inch (half-inch) apart.

Rehydrate the ancho and guajillo chiles by placing in boiling/hot water. When soft and pliable, remove seeds and membranes.

Place chiles in a blender, along with the rest of the ingredients. Process until smooth.

Pour the marinade ocer the pork butt pieces, working the marinade into the grooves. Marinate for at least 4 hours; perferably overnight.

Place on the grill and top the pork butt pieces with pineapple rings or pineapple chunks. Cook in the grill over low heat (300f) until done (approximately 4 hours).

Slice thinly perpendicular to the "cut grooves." Serve as taco filling.

Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Makes approximately 3 cups

6 large tomatoes, sliced
1 onion, cut in wedges
4 chipotle peppers
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper

Roast the tomatoes in the oven until most of its liquid has evaporated. Roast the onions in the same pan as well. Blend the roasted tomatoes and onions, and everything else in a blender until smooth.

Serve as a salsa for tacos, or as a sauce for grilled meats.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Tacos... again (July 2009)

[ts]
Julio Latino ("Latin July") is still alive and well at [eatingclub] vancouver!

It seems to have been a while since we last made tacos at home. Or at least, it feels like it has been a while. Mama has even made several requests for a taco night in the past few weeks. It's a request that we are more than happy to fulfill!

We made three different taco fillings. Of course, we had to have the ever-popular carnitas, but JS also came up with two new fillings for this taco night.

Carnitas

taco w/ carnitas filling, pico de gallo

[js]
We've cooked carnitas a couple of different ways now. It seems that each time we make carnitas, I've used a different method. This time was no different.

Beer-braised Carnitas post

As expected, the carnitas filling was very, very popular with the crowd.

Tacos Al Pastor

taco al pastor w/ onions & cilantro, chipotle peanut salsa

[js]
I wanted to do al pastor for the longest time but it always seemed to entail more work than carnitas, which was why it kept getting pushed back down the queue.

[js]
In any case, today was the day we were going to do it. I even forced myself to do it by telling myself NOT to do carnitas. To no avail, though, as you can see now, but the edict worked because I did the al pastor first before deciding to supplement our taco filling offerings with the carnitas above.

Tacos al Pastor recipe

Shredded Beef and Tripe Filling

taco w/ shredded beef and tripe filling, salsa verde

[js]
I had been craving some sort of offal or "variety meat" lately, so I made this "wet" beef filling with tripe, oxtails, and veal breast.

tripe-y goodness!

[ts]
This filling was very flavorful without being too heavy. It was melt-in-your-mouth.

Shredded Beef and Tripe Filling recipe

The Tortilla

[ts]
We wanted to have authentic taco shells for this summer's taco night. We first bought some white stone-ground corn tortillas from Que Pasa, but they were a little large and a tad too thick. What we wanted were those tiny, thinner taco shells.

So, we drove on over to Doña Cata and purchased ourselves some of the taco shells they use. On the bag, they are actually called "Lonchera", and they are only 4 inches in diameter. (You can see the considerably larger Que Pasa tortilla under it.)

Que Pasa Mexican Foods (Richmond, BC)
Doña Cata Mexican Restaurant & Taqueria (Vancouver, BC)

Salsas & Condiments

[ts]
Of course, there had to be several salsas on offer. In the photo above, you see we had a big bowl of pico de gallo, and beside it, a bowl of strawberry cilantro salsa (which was another Mama request).

Besides the strawberry cilantro salsa, another new addition to the condiments table was this Chipotle Peanut Salsa, a JS creation.

Chipotle Peanut Salsa recipe

We also had (clockwise from top left) some diced onions, a standard salsa verde made with tomatillos, the chipotle peanut salsa, lime wedges, chopped cilantro, and chopped jalapeños.

We and the guests certainly had a great time mixing-and-matching the different taco fillings and salsas to create their own unique tacos.

Other Items

left: Philippine-style Chicken "BBQ" w/ its peanut sauce
right: Corn "al Pastor"

[ts]
To round out the menu, in case some people didn't like tacos (heaven forbid!), we also had Philippine-style Chicken "BBQ" and what I like to call Corn "al Pastor."

That's corn niblets that we cooked with some of the marinade reserved from making tacos al pastor, a blend of ancho and guajillo peppers, and a touch of pineapple.

[ts]
Once again, taco night was a delicious, fun-filled night!

[eatingclub] vancouver Tacos
Tacos... then
Tacos... now
Tacos of Carnitas with Pineapple, with Roasted Salsa and Sweet Potato
Tacos... again (July 2009)
Tacos al Pastor with Chipotle Peanut Salsa
Tacos with Beer-braised Carnitas Filling
Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos

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