Carne Machaca

[crockett]

I've often wondered if the Southwest Mountain Men used jerky with any chilies, etc. I just found out about a dried beef or pork pounded into shreds and then soaked to bring it back a little. It is supposed to be dried with chilies. The funny thing is I used to pound jerky into shreds and boil it with rice. The carne machaca sounds better. Anyone know how to make it?

 

[satx78247]

CHECK OUT: www.ediblephoenix.ediblefeast.com/recipes/carne-manchaca-con-veraduras-de-sonora

for a REAL Manchaca recipe. = Carne Manchaca is a specialty of Sonora State of Mexico.
(Be wary of adding SALT in cooking this dish as the carne IS quite salty already.)

ENJOY, satx

 

[crockett]

Well, from what I can figure it is sort of a pulled pork or pulled beef type thing, braised in liquid with spices and then dried. Once dried it keeps. If that is correct it would likely have a different taste than beef jerky.
Why do I care???? Just wondering how far back it dates? I am planning a southwest trip this summer- camping here and there. I'm going to try and follow some of the mountain man trails- Gila, San Francisco. Little Colorado, Verde, etc. In the interest of local fare and keeping things simple this idea hit me about tamales, if you could use shredded beef jerky and once the corn husks are added- bury the works in the hot ashes of a campfire and Voila! Dinner without much cleaning of pots and pans. Then I heard about this Machaca being used in North Mexico Southern- Southwest USA by cowboys etc. and I wondered how far back it was used (pre-1840?)

 

[satx78247]

SORRY. I have NO clue about when Sonora-style Carne Manchaca was FIRST made.

yours, satx

 

[crockett]

Thanks any way. Years ago I thought I knew a fair amount about southwest cuisine but now I realize I know very little. Well at least I'm making my "chili"- i.e. cubed beef and peppers- with dried peppers- from scratch. Now I can't eat the stuff out of a can.
Chilihead in the making.
And......a sign of getting older- when you start thinking more about cooking chili in a campfire instead of running around in the hills. Oh well.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Keep getting your recipe page kicked back as "unable to find". Do you know if it's available elsewhere there compadre?

 

[satx78247]

Well, the link worked yesterday for me. - Perhaps something has gone amiss with the website.

I'd try again tomorrow, if I was you.
(SORRY, I don't know of any other authentic recipe source for that dish.)

yours, satx

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

Keep getting your recipe page kicked back as "unable to find". Do you know if it's available elsewhere there compadre?

this it satx?
http://ediblephoenix.ediblefeast.com/recipes/carne-machaca-con-verduras-de-sonora

 

[satx78247]

YEP. 100%

yours, satx

 

[crockett]

Although they say it is essentially jerky, I saw a few other websites where the meat is braised or cooked in spices to give it a good flavor and then dried out- I thought the only meat you could dry was raw meat- I didn't know you could do the same with cooked meat.
Off hand, if your thing is a mountain man in the southwest- the Carne Machaca sounds like a pretty tasty trail food. The reason I was thinking about the tamale is masa flour should pack well and you might be able to cook the whole thing in campfire ashes- something to experiment on.

 

[satx78247]

NOPE. Most anything can be dehydrated & will keep, at least for a goodly amount of time.

Tamales on the trail sounds FINE to me, though I would think that it would be better to prepare them before leaving on a trek.
(Have you MADE tamales??)

yours, satx

 

[Wes/Tex]

I would think that it would be better to prepare them before leaving on a trek.
(Have you MADE tamales??)

yours, satx

Yes and I wouldn't want to do it on the trail.

 

[satx78247]

Me neither. Tamales are about as easy to make a 100 dozen of as one dozen. = PITA, is my opinion.
(B&B Tamales here in Southside SA makes 8 different kinds & MUCH better tasting than I can make, too for 6.oo/dozen.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

I got information from a docent at the Witte Museum that Randolph B. Marcy, the famous explorer, had mentioned in a "letter home" that he bought "dried beef stew, to which a gill of boiling water is to be added before eating" in St Louis in the late 1840s.
("Rob" didn't know if Marcy ever said whether the "instant stew" was good or not.)

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

We all know that if you can make it at home you can make it on a camp fire. That said I don't think I would try tamales on a trail or even in camp. That would be an unfun pia.

 

[tenngun]

Last time I was in Mexico was when I was in the navy. Two buddies and I stoped in a little town half way between Tiajauna and Ensinada. An elderly lady was sitting on a stretcher corner with a teenage girl and we're making tamales on Coleman stoves with number 10 cans of water to boil them in. She was selling them for a quarter or do. I think we paid about ten dollars each, they were really good.

 

[crockett]

Okay- that idea is out. :bow:

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

street vendors make either the best food in the world or the worst, no middle room. there is either a reason they can not afford their own restaurant, or a reason why they don't have to.

 

[tenngun]

IN the Philippines and Mexico I saw local people eating from street vendors and would give them a try. I never got sick from any. That that won't sicken a local won't sicken me.... I hoped, and never got burned.

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, some of the best food that I ever ate in South America was bought by the side of the road & with VERY basic food preparation "equipment".

IF you want to own a food place & have no money, you acquire a car hood, burn the paint off of it & scour it till it shines with water & sand, find several good-size stones, gather some meats (of various sorts = We called it "mystery meat".), set up your car hood, as a large griddle, over a fire & start cooking.

People will pull off the road & buy your food.

Later, as you make some money, you acquire a tub, ice & soft drinks to sell & later get a picnic table or two.

IF you are a good cook & thrifty, eventually you can gather enough money to build a lunch stand & finally perhaps a real restaurant.

yours, satx