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).

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.

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.

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15oz diced tomatoes, drained
• 3 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp cilantro, minced

Cornbread topping

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

Add the oil to a cast iron skillet (keep in mind that this is essentially a one-pot meal, so make sure there’s plenty of room). Once the oil is nice and hot, add the onions, chili powder and 1/2 tsp salt and cook until the onions are cooked. Stir in the garlic, maybe 30 seconds.

Stir in the ground beef, beans and tomatoes. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon and cook for about five minutes at a simmer. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and start prepping the cornbread topping.

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and butter. Combine.

Add the cheese and cilantro to the meat mixture. Season to taste.

Add the cornbread mixture to the meat filling, trying to spread it somewhat evenly over the top. Place in oven for 10-15 minutes, or until a knife can be stuck into the cornbread without sticking.

Total cooking time: About 30 minutes.

Costs: Ground meat, $4; beans, $1; tomatoes, $1; onion, $.20; cheese, $2; miscellaneous spices and flour, $1. Total: $9.20 (about $1.50 per person).

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.

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.

Ingredients

• 2 roasted chicken breasts, shredded
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 zucchinis, chopped
• 2 15oz can white beans
• 1 10oz jar tomatillo salsa
• 1 15oz can sweet white corn, drained
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 3 cups chicken broth

Instructions

Layer the onions across the bottom. Sprinkle on salt and salsa. Layer beans, corn and chicken. Add chili powder. Spread the zucchini on top. Add broth. Turn slow cooker on “High” for four hours. Walk away. Play with dog. Catch up on some reading. Surf the “web.” Enjoy.

Cost: Chicken, $5; beans, $2; salsa, $2; corn, $1; zucchinis, $1; miscellaneous items, $1. Total: I lied, it’s going to actually cost $12, or about $1.50 per person. You’ll live.

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.

Ingredients

• 2.5 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 8 medium (about 2 pounds) Yukon Gold or red-skin boiling potatoes, diced
• 8 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 15oz can of diced tomatoes in juice

Instructions

If you’re using a slow cooker, spread the potatoes out along the bottom along with the onions and put the pork on top of that. If you’re using a dutch oven, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, reverse the layers, making sure to sprinkle the pork with just a little salt.

Toast the dried chiles. It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. You’ll know when they’re done when you can smell them. Tear the chiles into pieces, and put them in a blender along with the canned tomatoes and their juices, the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, a little salt, oregano and about 1.5 cups of water. Blend until smooth.

Placing a medium-mesh strainer over the pot, strain the sauce over the meat and potatoes. Stir to combine.

If you’re using a slow-cooker, just let it cook for about six hours on high. If you’re using a dutch oven, let it sit in the oven for about three hours.

Service

I thought this worked perfectly along with this mustard-based slaw:

• 1 pound cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Mix the mustard, caraway seeds, vinegar, oil, sugar and salt. Mix the onions, carrots and cabbage. Combine.

Cost: Pork, $3/lb or $9; chiles, $2; can of tomatoes, $1.50; onion, $.20; spices, $1. Sub-Total: $13.70 ($1.71). Cabbage, $.50; onion, $.20; carrots, $.40; oil, vinegar and spices, $.50. Sub-total: $1.60. Total: $15.30 ($1.91).

If you’ll recall, back in August a camera crew from the Travel Channel visited the Fremont location of Paseo’s. At the time, they said the footage we be part of some kind of montage show, and would likely air around Thanksgiving. Obviously, that didn’t happen.

The show ultimately ended being named “101 Tastiest Places to Chowdown,” with Paseo settling in on the 40-21 episode.

Inspired by Brasilliant’s posting about making red beans and rice and the other night, I felt compelled to ask her for the recipe she used. I figured she’s a Southern girl, so if anyone knows how to make this dish, it would be her.

The recipe didn’t disappoint. While I doubt mine came out as authentic as her’s does, I found it a perfectly satisfying and balanced dish. The veggies practically melt in your mouth. The sausage reaches a near-perfect consistency. And adding a little Tapatio to the plated dish gives it just the right amount of spice.

Like any dish made from dried beans, making red beans and rice takes some time. Erring on the safe side, I’d put aside four hours of total cooking and prep time, but most of that requires very little attention.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. dried red beans (kidney or chili beans)
• 2 links andouille sausage (kielbasa or other spicy sausage will do), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• ½ tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cayenne
• 6 c. low sodium chicken broth
• salt to taste

Instructions

Place the beans in a pot and cover by several inches of salted water. Bring to a boil for two minutes, cover, turn off heat and let stand for an hour. Rinse and set aside.

In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil and brown the sausage (3-5 minutes). Remove the sausage and set aside.

Add the veggies to the dutch oven, sauteeing for about 10 minutes and making sure to scrape all the bits left by the sausage. Add garlic and spices and sautee for about 2 minutes longer.

Add the broth (it really helps if you heat the broth beforehand) and beans. Bring to slow boil and then reduce heat. Cover pot with lid slightly open and cook for about two hours or until beans are fully cooked. Periodically check on the beans, making sure too much liquid hasn’t evaporated or been absorbed. Add more liquid if necessary.

Once beans are ready, add the reserved sausage and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes.

Service

The most obvious way to serve red beans is over long-grained rice. We used jasmine rice. Like I said, it went great with Tapatio, which is a Mexican chili sauce, but Tabasco is probably a little more traditional. Since it’s being served with rice, you should be able to get at least 10 servings out of this recipe.

How much this will set you back

Sausage: about $5/pound ($.50 per person); Red beans: $1.80/pound ($.18); Veggies: $1 ($.10); Broth: $2 ($.20); Miscellaneous spices: $1 ($.10); Rice: $1 ($.10). Total: About $12 or about $1.20 per serving.