The other month a forum buddy encouraged me to make Carne Guisada a Mexican dish, sort of like a beef stew but thicker that you can serve on flour tortillas, with rice, or alone as a stew.
I’ve never cooked anything Mexican or Tex-Mex before so I was a little intimidated. Over the weeks, probably closer to 2 months, I’ve been looking at recipe after recipe.
First I had to select a good chuck roast with good marbling. The best one happened to be on the smaller size but that’s fine, it’s usually just for my gf and I. Then I had to get Mexican oregano and cumin or “comino” in Spanish. I’ve never used either of the two, so I was eager to taste it first before cooking with it.
before:
After:
For the oil, I decided to use the beat oil on the world bacon fat!!!!
In most Carne Guisada recipes, they lightly browned the meat but I wanted to get some serious Maillard Reaction going and build a nice fond. I used the method of searing the whole roast all
At once instead of cutting it up, in order to limit the amount of water that would be expelled and counteracting the caramelization I was going for. But I’m sure if I had a high powered stove like some of you guys, I could’ve cooked off water easily and quickly. I let it rest a bit and then I cut it up.
It’s all about the spices! I mixed it up a bit. The spices I used were: cumin, Mexican oregano, paprika, ancho chili powder, salt and pepper. I used minced garlic, but I’m thinking garlic powder would probably be better. There’s also onion and bell pepper in there with a tomato.
So most of the comments I read from the recipe blogs, had a lot of comments about how it was supposed to be like a gravy and thick not loose and soupy. I went a little overboard because my potatoes broke down and made it thicker than I had wanted. Potatoes were optional but my gf loves them so I added them.
For sides we had corn salsa and Mexican rice and we ate the Carne Guisada as tacos. The corn salsa was really easy- a can of corn, half a red onion, a jalapeño, cilantro, and 1 lime.
