Burger Night
Mpls, MN
November 12th, 2011
Temp: 63ºF
Clear skies
Naturally, an outdoor burger celebration was in order. Likely the last of the season.
Made a chili paste with soaked cascabel and ancho peppers and toasted garlic.
How about on a burger?
Well, let’s just say it pretty much rounded out a beautiful afternoon.
As with hamburgers, the exact origin of chili is widely debated. The most frequent and seemingly most reputable claims say San Antonio, TX is where it began. In March of 1731, Spaniards held the settlement, then known as Bexar, with the French vying for control. The Spaniards sent word to their king to send more settlers for support. The king sent sixteen families, accustomed to spicy foods and garlic, from the Canary Islands. Their adaptation to the culinary environment found the first recipes for chile con carne. What exactly those recipes were… no one knows.
Of course, cowboys greatly popularized chili- and this is where my favorite recipes come from- the chuckwagons. The recipes of necessity and optimization. The best method of preserving meats at that time was by salting and drying. There are accounts of trail men carrying simply dried, salted beef pressed into bricks with chilipiquines(wild peppers). Alone insufficient for a meal, and to keep their load light, along the frequented trails the travelers would plant onions, garlic and oregano near the rugged mesquite trees- to dissuade animals from stealing their harvest.
(man camped in the mesquite brush near Uvalde, TX)
Sounds good. Some adjustments seemed prudent. Here’s 1.7 lbs. of chuck- cut into pieces “the size of pecans”- a descriptive phrase used commonly in old chili recipes:
To technically cure meats, one needs to add at least 20% of the weight in salt. Being that I have the luxury of refrigeration and sanity, I opted to tone that down. Three tablespoons of salt were tossed with the beef bits and set to dry for 3 days:
Commercially produced chilipiquines are spicy as hell(wild, old growth plants produce sweeter fruit), so to make a brew based on that would be suicide. Subbed in were ancho and dundicut peppers. First, the beef, onions and garlic were browned, then the rest was added- peppers, cumin, black pepper, Mexican oregano, bay leaves, 6 cups of water and a little corn flour:
After another hour and a half of simmering the meat was tender and the stew thick:
Still a little salty- just from the beef- and it would benefit from a touch of sweetness, but a very unique and intensely rich bowl all the same. The beans can stay gone forever, but adding tomatoes might be a good idea. The texture and flavor of the half cured beef was like moist, tender jerky- quite awesome.
Yes, Burger Night will have chili.
Onward and upward.
Making salsa ala Gonzalo.
I worked with a talented cook for a few years named Gonzalo. He came to America for 5 years, working 80-100 hours per week, living scantily, sending the bulk of his pay back to his wife and two young children in Mexico. His wife coordinated the purchase of a small estate and the construction of their home. He left a few years back to rejoin his family and use the remainder of their savings to start a restaurant.
Think what you will of his exploitative tactics, it was an impressive feat. He was a quiet, surly little guy, and most folks let that deter them from being in his company. But he had a wicked dry sense of humor and he understood authentic Mexican food better than anyone I’ve met. I spent a number of afternoons asking him questions and having him explain recipes to me. He once made me a burrito so spicy that my stomach had to… reject it. But I ate the whole thing anyway- it was that good.
Gonzalo didn’t believe in adding tomatoes to salsa. It was a sort of “wussing out” in his opinion. His salsa was glorious on Monday and hell on Tuesday. It’s like that crazy girl your can’t keep away from, even though you know she’s going to tear you apart. Chili de Arbol was his pepper of choice. He introduced me to using cloves and avocado leaves. I have to give Paulino credit for introducing me to papalos, but Gonzalo would use it too.
So over the years I’ve drawn from Gonzalo’s and other native Mexican’s guidance. Over years of experimenting, I often thought it would be fun to have a little taco stand in the city(Hopefully, someday I’ll write about the fish tacos I had at a roadside stand in the middle-of-nowhere, Mexico. To this day, in the top 3 things I’ve ever eaten).
Recently, I’ve been toying with the idea of adding Sloppy Joe’s to Burger Night’s menu. Being that grinding our beef fresh, on-site creates a unique style, why not explore the possibilities?
Then, last night, it hit me. Taco Joe’s. Or Sloppy Tacos… wait, no. But you get the idea. Saucy, Mexican style, loose meat sandwiches. Back to work.
Lyndale Farmer’s Market. Sunday Oct. 18th. Ridiculous. I’ll have 20 lbs. of jalapeno’s for $7 and 40lbs. of tomatoes for $8 please. Also, a bushel of thai peppers for $5, a garbage bag full of sweet peppers for $5, and how about a large basket of (peeled!) onions for $4.
Yes, all this late season produce for $29. Honestly had to be about 80lbs. total. If anyone ever doubted the truth of supply and demand, get to the farmer’s market this week.
But what to do with this bounty…
I gave away about half of the peppers to folks at work. The rest…
