This time, I am doing my write up over two weeks after the experiment. Next time I should write up the Objectives and Target Recipe ahead of time. This time I made carnitas, and attempted to improve my side dishes. I definitely improved the sides by putting a little more care into them.
Overall Objectives
My overall objectives remain the same – restated here:
- I want a beef entree that replicates the taste and texture of Orlando’s Carne Asada.
- The marinade should match taste.
- The cut of beef should match texture.
- The beef preparation should match texture.
- I want a collection of sides, that, together with the Carne Asada, replicates the taste and texture of Orlando’s Carne Asada Burrito.
- I want a burrito preparation technique that permits me to replicate the construction of an Orlando’s Carne Asada Burrito.
- As a secondary objective, I would like to explore substitute preparation methods.
Today’s Objective
In this experiment, I am focusing on item 2 – I want to develop my repertoire of burrito sides. My side list is:
- Beans
- Rice
- Salsa
- Olives
- Cheese
Target Recipe
- The base target recipe was https://www.recipetineats.com/pork-carnitas-mexican-slow-cooker-pulled-pork/
- I had a ~8 lb pork roast – twice the size used in the recipe, so I doubled the other ingredients
- I used an oven, following the instructions in note 2.
Ingredients:
- Skipping over the ingredients for now because (1) It’s in the linked recipe, and (2) I’m writing up almost 3 weeks late.
Process
- I made one big mistake here:
- I chose to sear the outside of the roast in my dutch oven before I put it in the oven. However, I started searing before I put the dry rub on! So the dry rub was placed mostly on just one side of the roast – the side which hadn’t been seared yet.
Sides Target Recipes
- Beans
- Base Recipe: https://fedbysab.com/chipotle-black-beans-copycat-recipe/
- I used this recipe, but did not follow the proportions exactly.
- I used 2 cans of beans, and I went low on chile power and cayenne pepper (have to be careful with spice levels for my kids). I may have also been low on Cumin – but I didn’t meausre it anyways.
- I also did not use fresh lemon/lime juice.
- Overall this was fine. I was a bit rushed and didn’t confirm my spice supplies before I started working.
- Rice
- Base Recipe: https://littlespicejar.com/cilantro-lime-rice/
- I followed this recipe almost exactly, only modifying
- The water volume to match the proportions recommended by the rice I used.
- I used bouillon paste instead of bouillon cubes.
- The rice was excellent – proper texture, and lime juice and cilantro definitely infused well.
- I suspect I should write this recipe up in its own post since it’s finalized now.
- Salsa
- For this dinner, I used the same recipe as last time.
- Original Recipe: ” 4 cups diced tomatoes (Roma works best, be sure to strain them for seeds and juice) 1 cup cilantro, chopped 1 cup red onion, diced 1/3 cup diced, seeded jalapeño 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp crushed black pepper 1 tbsp lime juice – combine in a bowl and mix”
- Unlike last time, I did not rinse the tomatoes. I just removed the seeds and chopped the main part of the tomatoes. I also put it only a tsp of salt and pepper at first, and then added more to taste.
- End result: Good Pico! Not too salty this time!
- Next time, I’m going to see if I can somehow separate the tomato juice from the seeds and add the tomato juice to the Pico.
- Olives
- Safeway brand Jumbo black olives, cut in thirds. I was hoping to reduce time spent slicing olives, but these olive chunks were way too big.
- Cheese
- Monterrey Jack cheese. Finely grated. Delicious.
- Tortilla
- Mission white flour tortillas, medium size. Good. I guess. Still looking for huge burrito tortillas, but I don’t care that much. Maybe I should warm them?
Results
The Carnitas were great, despite my cooking errors. The sides turned out very well.
Next Steps
I am confident that my sides are strong enough that I can return to Carne Asada. I need to find either some skirt steak (For proper Carne Asada), or some Chuck steak (ie diezmillo). I also need to completely write up my target recipe and assemble all the ingredients needed before even initiating my next attempt. Honestly it’s insane that I ran low on Cumin in the middle of making tacos! Outrageously dumb.