Mexican Dishes: Meats

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From One Hundred & One Mexican Dishes by May E. Southworth, 1906.

Buey Ahumando y Huevos

To a cupful of chipped beef, soaked in hot water and chopped fine, add a cupful of strained tomatoes, two hard-boiled eggs cut fine, one tablespoonful of grated cheese, one grated onion, a chile pepper chopped fine and a big lump of butter. Beat all these together, break in two raw eggs and scramble in a frying-pan.

Chile con Carne

Cut a pound of fresh pork into inch chunks and parboil. Soak five chiles in hot water, take out the seeds and veins, wash them well and put in a mortar (the Mexicans use the molcajete and tejolote). Pound to a pulp, adding a little garlic, black pepper, two cloves and a cooked tomato. Fry this in hot lard; then add the meat with some of the liquid in which it was boiled and a little salt. Cover and let it cook down until rather thick.

Chonzo

Cut one pound of fresh pork and one pound of beef into small pieces. Chop two pods of garlic and add one teaspoonful of ground chile, one-third teaspoonful of ground cloves, one teaspoonful of black pepper and one of oregano. Season with salt and mix all together with a glass of port wine and fry in two teaspoonfuls of olive-oil. When ready to serve break in two whole eggs and scramble together.

Chuletas de Ternero

Trim veal cutlets and season with pepper and salt; roll them in flour and lay them in a frying-pan in which six onions chopped fine have already been placed in hot lard. Cover the pan tightly and let the cutlets fry, turning to cook the other side; add a tablespoonful of vinegar, a little thyme, a bay-leaf, a clove of garlic and some comino seed or chopped parsley. When the cutlets are well browned, cover them with boiling water and move the pan to the back of the stove and let them simmer in this spicy bath for two hours. Serve with a garnish of fresh, crisp, cold radishes.

Estofado

Heat a tablespoonful of drippings in a saucepan and put into it two whole green peppers, one onion sliced, one clove of minced garlic, one tablespoonful of vinegar, two tomatoes peeled and sliced, one-half cupful of raisins and olives mixed, and a pinch of thyme. Add two pounds of round steak cut small, cover closely and stew slowly and thoroughly. When serving, put squares of toast on the platter and pour this over.

Guiso

Cut a round-steak into small pieces and put into a frying-pan with a tablespoonful of hot drippings, four tablespoonfuls of rice, a cupful of boiling water and a sliced onion. Cover closely and cook slowly until tender. Remove the seeds and veins from four Mexican peppers, cover with a half-pint of boiling water and let stand until cool; squeeze them from the water with the hand, getting out all the pulp. Add salt and a little flour to thicken. Pour this over the cooked meat, let boil for a moment and serve very hot.

Jamon con Pimientos

Cut a pound of ham into small chunks; add to this a pound of sausage meat, two onions and two tomatoes sliced, a sprig of parsley or a few comino seeds and some small bits of dried chile pepper. Fry these together in a little butter or drippings and then add a pint of boiling water.

Stir in a pound of soaked rice, cover and set where it will cook slowly without stirring. Salt to taste and serve hot.

Lengua de Buey Concida

Dissolve one-half cupful of salt in enough boiling water to cover a beef's tongue and cook until just done. When cool remove the skin and slice thin. Take a dozen chiles anchos or large dry chiles, cut them the long way, remove all seeds, veins and the stem end; drop the skins into boiling water with one-half cupful of salt, press them under the water and keep at boiling heat two hours. Skim into a chopping-tray, chop fine and press through a sieve. Add a teaspoonful of powdered summer savory, two of finely chopped onion, salt and a half-cupful of olive-oil. Squeeze the juice of two lemons into a cup and fill it up with vinegar. Add this to the sauce by spoonfuls and a bottle of olives stoned and cut fine. Heat and pour over the tongue as it is served.

Loma de Vaca

Take a quarter of a pound of suet, slice thin and fry until thoroughly melted. Put a sliced onion in this and fry until brown; then put in a four-pound roast of beef and brown on all sides. Take the juice of a large tomato, the pulp of a chile pepper, two whole cloves, one teaspoonful of vinegar, one of sugar, salt, and a dash of pepper, and put in the pot with the meat. Add a little water, just enough to keep from scorching, cover tightly, set on the back of the stove and cook slowly until tender. Serve with brown gravy.

Patitas con Mani

Scrape, singe and wash the pigs' feet thoroughly clean. Place in a kettle with plenty of water to which a little vinegar has been added and boil until tender. Peel, quarter and parboil some potatoes and have a cupful of roasted peanuts, half of which are whole and half ground. Remove and dry the trotters and fry with the potatoes and peanuts in hot olive-oil. Season with allspice and salt. Stir constantly so as to brown on all sides, cooking about ten minutes.

Puerco en Estofado

Sauter in a frying-pan a pound of young pork cut small; add the livers and gizzards of two chickens, an ounce of green root-ginger and three stalks of celery, all cut into small pieces.

Then add, a little at a time, a mixture of four tablespoonfuls of olive-oil, one of wine-vinegar, one of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of powdered cloves, salt and pepper. Add a half-cupful of boiling water and cook until nearly done; then put in a cupful of bean-sprouts and one of small mushrooms.

Pulchero Grueso

Cut up three pounds of beef, one pig's foot, a half-pound of ham, the giblets of a fowl and a chile pepper and simmer together for two hours; add a slice of pumpkin, free from seeds, half of a small cabbage, a large carrot, a bunch of herbs, two large onions and some broken macaroni. Cook an hour longer, then put in six small sausages and boil until they are done. Strain, thicken the gravy and serve meat and vegetables on separate dishes.

Tia Juana

Chop a clove of garlic very fine, peel and slice a medium-sized onion and fry both with a pound of sausage meat made into balls. When it begins to brown add a pint of tomatoes and one chile. Meantime scald a pound of tripe, scrape it with the back of a knife and cut into strips about two

inches wide and five long. Roll each and tie with a thread; brown quickly in butter, dredging with a little flour. Remove to a hot platter, making a circle of the rolls of tripe. Lift the sausage balls from the sauce and heap in the center. Strain the sauce, season with salt, reheat and pour over all.

Tripe Spanish

Boil the tripe until tender and cut into narrow strips. Brown a sliced onion, a clove of garlic and half a chile pepper chopped fine in two tablespoonfuls of olive-oil. Thicken with a little flour, season with salt and add a peeled tomato cut fine and a pinch of smoked Spanish sausage. Put the tripe in this sauce and cook fifteen minutes, adding a little water if necessary.

Southworth, May E. One Hundred & One Mexican Dishes. P. Elder and Company, 1906

May E. Southworth

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