Recipe: Sous vide cola carnitas

This is going to be quick mainly because I didn’t take photos and think the recipe still needs refining.

But, this came out good enough that I really wanted to share it. It doesn’t taste like most of the carnitas you’ve had in your local taqueria, but I’m assured it has a very authentic taste. The coriander and cola give it an interesting flavor, and if you take the time to give it fried edges, I think you’ll be very happy.

I used a sous vide technique, but did it with stuff you should have around the house. All you really need is a way of heating water and a freezer-safe Ziplock bag. I heated the water on the stove top and then added it to a cooler. This basically worked from a pure cooking standpoint, but I had to continually rotate in hot water to make sure the temperature didn’t drop too far. The cooler lost about 1 degree every 10-15 minutes, so every hour or so, I’d have to take water out and add hotter water. This was kind of a pain and kind of defeats part of the purpose of sous vide cooking. I’d actually suggest just leaving a large pot on the stove top and monitoring the water’s temperature.

The results were great, though. We made tacos the first night, tortas with guacamole the second night. The final meal consisted of throwing the meat on a pizza along with barbecue sauce, pineapples, bell peppers, cheese and cilantro. All three meals were really good.

Ingredients

• 2.5-3 lbs cubed pork shoulder with fat trimmed off and saved
• 1 12oz can sugar-cane cola (don’t use American Coke, in other words)
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp pepper corns
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 chopped onion
• 6 chopped celery stalks
• 2 tbsp crushed red pepper

Instructions

Toast the coriander and cumin seeds just enough so that they are fragrant. Crush them either by hand or in a blender along with the pepper corns. Add all the ingredients to the Ziplock bag, making sure to squeeze out as much air as possible.

Heat a large pot of water to about 165 degrees. Add the ziplock bag. The temperature of the water should drop 5-10 degrees. Continue to monitor the water’s temperature, trying to keep it as close to 155 degrees as possible. A few degrees here and there might not make a huge difference, but if you let it get too hot the meat will get overdone and defeat the point of cooking this way. If you let it get too cool, the temperature of the meat won’t get high enough to make it safe for eating. This should take 4-5 hours. After about 4 hours, randomly pull out chunks of meat and measure their temperatures. If they aren’t at least 150 degrees, you need to let them cook longer. Most of them should be as close to 155 as possible.

While the meat is cooking, begin rendering the fat. Basically, just put it on a baking sheet and throw it in the oven at a temp of about 250 degrees or cook it on a very low temp on the stove top. After about an hour, you should have rendered off as much fat as you’re going to get. Set that aside and refrigerate.

Once the meat is cooked, separate it from the braising liquid. Put the braising liquid in a blender and puree. Return braising liquid to a pan and reduce by about half. Remove the braising liquid. Using the cooled and rendered fat, coat the pan. Put the meat in the pan and place in a 450-degree oven. After about 10 minutes, flip the meat. After another 10 minutes, the meat should have a nice crust. Return meat to the stove top along with the pureed braising liquid and simmer for about 40 more minutes.

Remove meat and shred, using two forks.

Serve in tacos, as a torta or whatever else suits your fancy. I highly suggest using the braising liquid as a sauce. Guacamole also worked as a great condiment.

Costs: Pork shoulder (3.99/lb); assorted spices ($.50); can of cola ($.75). Total: $13.25 (less than $2 per serving).

Anthony Bourdain shows off acting chops

Apparently, Mr. Bourdain has a 2-year-old daughter. I give him props for the effort, but methinks he is not bound for scripted television.

Maybe my Mobile Chowdown ideas aren’t so crazy

Maybe you heard, but L.A. hosted its version of Mobile Chowdown — L.A. Street Food Fest — last weekend and lo-and-behold it sounded like some of the ideas I had to retrofit our little street food festival were actually incorporated there.

Mainly, they went with the tasting-size menus that I thought would be such a hit and encourage customers to try multiple offerings.

They also charged $5 a head in addition to whatever customers spent at the actual trucks, but vendors were allotted a set number of tickets to give away to their regulars.

And how did it all go? Well, supposedly about 10,000 people attended before event coordinators had to stop admitting people, turning away an estimated 10,000 more.

That’s obviously too many people, but are you telling me that Seattle’s vendors wouldn’t kill for that kind of exposure?

I seriously don’t think it’s too late to incorporate some of these ideas into Mobile Chowdown 3, but time is certainly running short.

Just for good measure, here’s a link to pictures of some of the food.

Recipe: I guess it’s called Tamale Pie

Once upon a time, I worked for a newspaper. At said newspaper, one of my coworkers used to rave about a dish he called “Tamale Pie.”

From best I can tell, this is a pretty decent approximation. If not, hopefully Daniel will forgive me.

That said, I’m not sure that this recipe from Cooks Illustrated bears that much resemblance to an actual tamale. Really, it’s more like chili with cornbread baked on top. Whatever you call it, though, it’s really good and not too difficult (although not very photogenic, I must admit).

Plus, it’s pretty cheap. Six servings will set you back less than $10.

Mobile Chowdown 3: SEA vs. PDX

Apparently not satisfied with proving to its own residents that Seattle serves up some pretty awesome street food, the organizers of Mobile Chowdown are upping the ante by inviting several Portland vendors to the newest incarnation.

The event will also have a new location to go along with its new format. Instead of a nondescript parking lot in the Interbay neighborhood, the March 13 event will take place across the street from Safeco Field, coinciding with the first day single-game tickets will go on sale for the Mariners.

Seattle vendors include standbys: Marination Mobile (winner of GMA Weekend’s best street food in the country contest), El Camion, Dante’s Inferno Dogs, Anita’s Crepes, Kaosamai Thai, Gert’s BBQ, Skillet Street Food (returning after missing the last one), Top Pot Doughnuts, Here & There Grill, and Veraci Pizza along with newcomer to the event Hallava Falafel (someplace I’ve been meaning the try). Portland vendors include: Burgerville (who I recently reviewed), Koi Fusion, Potato Champion, and Whiffies.

The event will once again be free, taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Recipe: White bean and chicken chili

I’m on a bit of a slow cooker kick right now, so if you’re looking for something that you’re going to have to slave over the stove for, this ain’t for you. If you used canned beans (I did), premade salsa (I’m embarrassed to say I did) and buy a pre-roasted chicken (well, I roasted my own), there’s a a shocking lack of work that goes into a dish that will feed your entire Super Bowl party and barely cost you $10 to do it.

The way I did mine, it came out a little brothy. If you’re someone that likes a thicker chili, I’d cut out about a cup of water. This came out almost like a pazole and really needed to be served with rice, which suited me just fine.

Note: I’m going to say “chili powder” in the ingredients. By all means, feel free to use whatever you want. I absolutely love Alton Brown’s chili powder, and that’s what I used here.

Recipe: Spicy pork and potato tacos

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably surmised that few things excite me more than good Mexican food. When it comes to home-cooking, my go-to recipes are almost always those of the very un-Mexican Rick Bayless.

The reason is simple: He very rarely steers me wrong, and while his skin may be more pale than mine, his recipes almost always are praised for their authenticity.

So, it should come as no surprise that my newest discovery was due in no small part to Mr. Bayless’ “Mexican Everyday.”

Not only was the pork fall-apart-in-your-mouth tender, but the spiciness was heavy on flavor, while staying easy on your stomach. The potatoes provide a next textural accompaniment. I topped mine off with a mustard-based slaw I adapted from the “Silver Palate Cookbook.”

Making this dish a real winner, though, was how easy it was to make. Literally four steps if you don’t include dicing and chopping. Total prep time is maybe 15 minutes, with the bulk of the work being done in either the slow cooker or dutch oven.

To top it all off, it makes between six and eight healthy servings, which pencils out to about $2 a person.