2/19/2023 0 Comments Machacha carne![]() She grew up on a ranch in sonora and started cooking at a very young age. I grew up in Tucson in the 50’s and 60’s and we would go to our grandmother’s every week for Sunday dinner. You did a fine job in making your carne seca. My grandmother, who no longer is living, used to make carne machaca, which is the carne seca. I cut the patinho into steaks about 3cm (1 inch) thick and then covered all sides of the meat with a very coarse salt that is used for barbecues ( sal grosso). It is a lean cut, sold at a mid-range price. In English this cut is called Beef Knuckle or Sirloin Tip. I chose a cut of beef that Brazilians call patinho (sounds like ‘patch-EE-nyo’). How hard can it be? Well, it turns out that it’s actually fairly simple. So, I’m living in a fairly hot, fairly dry region and I love Carne Seca – it occurred to me the other day that I could probably have a go at making it myself. Generally they are soaked to remove the salt, then stewed or shredded and the end results are seriously tasty! But what the hell – in all cases we’re talking about meat that has been dried and salted to some extent or another. To confuse matters more, some people also use the term jabá to refer to carne seca. Some people use the words Carne Seca and Charque interchangeably, while others say that Charque has a higher salt content and therefore should be treated as a different thing entirely. As you can see on faces of my friends, we weren’t exactly filled with a desire to eat the stuff. The first time I saw carne seca I was in Bolivia and the meat was drying on a washing line next to laundry. ![]() When it is ready to be used, the carne de sol is soaked in water for a few hours to reduce the levels of salt – then it is ready to be fried or stewed and used in a variety of classic Northeastern recipes. The end result is meat with a dry, salty surface that protects the soft, succulent interior – the meat doesn’t require refrigeration and will keep for weeks. Originally the drying process was carried out in the sun (hence then name ‘carne de sol’, which translates literally as ‘Sun Meat’), but today it is more commonly dried in a covered location as the drying process is driven mostly by exposure to wind and low humidity rather than sunshine. Meat (usually beef) is salted and then dried over the space of a couple of days. Not all the accounts I have found agree, but I will try to explain the differences between the main types.Īlso known as Jabá, this is a speciality of Northeastern Brazil – a region that for most of the year is hot and very dry. Rather like that dubious story that Eskimos have 50 words for snow, so Brazilians have several terms for dried, salted meat. Happily, since those early days I have been enlightened. Before I got to Brazil I thought jerked beef was just beef jerky – dry, salty strips chewed by cowboys in the olden days. ![]() When the menu includes English translations this is often translated literally as ‘dry meat’ – I can’t imagine many people would pick that from the menu! A better translation that you also see used is ‘Jerked Beef’. One ingredient that you’ll find on almost every Brazilian restaurant menu is Carne seca. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |