Ropa Vieja/ Carne Desmechada (Cuban/Colombian Shredded Beef) | Kenji's Cooking Show
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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Daniel Gritzer has a good ropa vieja recipe on Serious Eats, here: www.seriouseat...
Here is a carne desmechada recipe from My Colombian Recipes, which is a great Colombian recipe site: www.mycolombia...
It made me laugh at the end when you were telling us this is what ropa vieja looks like when it cooks longer, and pretty much all we could see was the lid of the pot propped against the backsplash. Not complaining at all, it’s a pain to angle a camera correctly when it’s on your head, I’m just amused. And hungry! Your ropa vieja looks amazing.
That and the mistimed first snap, lol. Kenji, I'll edit your videos for free
@@TomMathew1981 I think that one was on purpose cuz he looked over and saw the cumin still there 🤣🤣
Lol totally agree, like why did he even include that footage at the end 😂. Probably trolling us
Totally pissed me off! Like offering me a taste of something, then popping it in your own mouth .
@@juneauesque pissed off at the youtube man!!
The way the steak fit into the bottom of the dutch oven was very satisfying
The triangle piece at the end was really something
I held my breath a little 😮💨
The way the glass enameled dutch oven screamed as he scraped those metal forks against the bottom of it made me cry.
@@fennecbesixdouze1794 real
As a Cuban, I'd say the only things my family adds differently are a little garlic powder and "Sazón completa" or "Adobo" powder (which is mostly powdered onion and garlic with some MSG), as well as a splash of wine at the end! The wine really helps to cut through the greasiness a little bit and add a little needed acidity. We always add bay leaves too, kind of a Cuban staple. Otherwise, seems great and authentic! :)
Call me crazy pero vaca frita > ropa vieja
@@helix031 you're not crazy, you're correct haha
Agree. Most of the Cuban families I knew (as well as my own) also put raisins and went heavier on the olives. Also ours was way thicker than his, less soupy. The sour olives with the sweet raisins are something special!
@@meikgeik how would you recommend to thicken it up? Kenji's looks good but I tend to like stuff like this less soupy
@@fuzzbuttles I mean you can ways add a bit of cornstarch slurry to thicken it, or just let it cook and evaporate longer
Put leftover Ropa Vieja on a toasted hoagie roll or ciabatta or baguette and melt some cheese onto it for the most glorious sandwich🤤
The best part about your videos is you just feel so casual. And you give easy alternatives while your doing it. It makes these recipes look so doable. So many channels like these are so strict with every step but you make these look approachable. I really feel I can make this at home because you make it seem that way. Thank you
Interesting take on orientation of peppers, Kenji.
I do the opposite. If I have a dull knife I ALWAYS place skin side down. My reasoning is that the dull knife is more likely to "slip" on the skin, and the fleshy side is easier to "grip" for the dull knife. Plus when you get to the skin (with flesh side up orientation), you can use the cutting board that's in contact with the skin to sandwich it...helping the dull knife to cut through it.
I may have to experiment
This is what I was always told too, skin down so the knife doesn't slip. As someone who keeps their knives sharp I never listened and cut which ever way I felt, but I have had it pointed out to me on several occasions.
That's what I've always thought too
Agree... I always prefer skin side down, with either dull or sharp knifes.. it always felt safer that way.. too many Bad experiences with skin side up ...
same
Was about to comment this. Also, with skin side down, even if the knife is blunt and has trouble cutting through the skin, it wont crush the rest of the pepper since all the soft flesh has already been cut through and isn't under the skin.
This seems pretty intuitive, so either Kenji is wrong about something in his video, which is rare, or something that seems intuitive and completely reasonable is actually wrong.
That’s hilarious! I kept seeing you blow by the cumin and oregano and I was like, “when is he gonna put that in?!” 😂
I noticed you forgot to toast the spices right after you remembered you had cherry tomatoes, every time you turned around I wanted to remind you 😭😂
Thank you Kenji. I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer a week ago, but I spent the entirety of the pandemic cooking for her, before and after she got sick. I took a lot of recipes and inspiration from your videos, and I feel very lucky to have discovered your videos and your books. Thanks again
Hope you're doing ok Nick, so sorry for your loss. Sounds like she raised a caring and intelligent son.
Hugs, man 🫂 I'm sure she enjoyed your company and cooking during her fight with cancer.
I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer in January, on her birthday, so I feel your pain deeply. I wish I would have been able to cook for her more, but last year I asked my local In-N-Out for packets of their spread, packed them on ice in a cooler, and drove them from Southern California to El Paso, TX. I did my best to recreate an In-N-Out burger for her and she absolutely loved it. I have so many fond memories of her showing me how to cook and making me delicious, comforting food as a kid, so I had to return the favor. Big hugs to you, Nick. It sounds like your mom knew how much you loved her. 🫂
@@ixD9 Hugs all around Ivan. Nothing says I love you mom quite like a good meal.
The sound of the fork scraping the dutch oven 💀
Omg thank you. That was killing me, I wanted to yell at him.
Isn't a dutch oven's enamel essentially glass? You might leave a mark like a spoon on a cereal bowl, but that is a tiny bit of metal from the utensil sticking to the glass, not the glass getting damaged.
Nails on a chalk boardd
@@washingtonirving1345 the enamel is a glass coating, your bowl is probably ceramic. Don't use metal on a dutch oven
@@disturbed157 the coating on a glazed ceramic is glass
But wait--did anybody else's mind get blown when he said that the pimento peppers in olives are usually just pimento flavored agar agar jelly cubes?
I knew that olives were stuffed with “pimento” but I had zero idea what pimento was 🫒🫑
@@yay-cat Come to the south and get you a pimento cheese sandwich.
That makes so much sense 😵💫
He did say this, but a google search doesn't easily produce any verification...
It’s true but it’s actually done with sodium alginate not agar, loads of common foods are prepared this way or at least aspects of commonly eaten foods
There's a dish in portuguese cuisine with the same name, "roupa velha". It's made from the leftovers of Christmas Eve's traditional boiled salted codfish (bacalhau), which is served with cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and sometimes other vegetables, all boiled in the same water. Roupa Velha is traditionally eaten the next day (Christmas day) and mixes all of those vegetables and the codfish, adding some of the water that they were boiled, in a delicious shredded pot of goodness. To my knowledge (and I am portuguese) it is really only eaten in that occasion, since the whole two day/leftover thing is really crucial to its flavor. Just wanted to share since the name reaminded me of this, and it tastes so good when eaten in that special occasion.
I regularly make salt fish with cabbage and carrots, but now I have to investigate this day after dish since it sounds so delicious. Thanks!
The best part of a Portuguese Xmas for sure
Maybe this was obvious to everyone else but Kenji just blew my mind with that stove top vs oven comparison with regard to temperature consistency. I have learned so much from watch Kenji's videos
Kenji whipping out the homemade chicken stock is the biggest flex every single time
I love the after explanation. Very useful for dialing in the texture. As Chef John says, “That’s just you cooking”. It’s SUCH an important concept for home cooks (like me) to get. I’ve cooked since I was a kid, and feel comfortable modifying to taste and preference, but I’ve met so many that do not feel the same way. This type of example really helps folks out.
Follow a recipe to the letter until you know what it tastes like. Then feel free to jam. Same thing with music, writing... life.
Mind blown about the “stews are better the next day” myth.
Also my three year old daughter has requested a “Pipo’s Cooking Adventures” animated show after reading Every Night is Pizza Night. Just throwing that out there.
Always appreciate braised beef and a good Goonies reference.
The whole theory of desensitizing yourself to the dish by smelling it all day and thus finding it tastes better the next day was kind of brilliant and definitely makes sense when you think about it. I suppose that letting the meat sit in the braising liquid overnight might also serve as a marination of sorts, albeit less effective since the muscle proteins are now cooked, which might improve dishes that were only exposed to the flavorful liquid for a relatively short period during the braise.
Yeahhh, that first shred was like hearing nails on a chalkboard. I thought another hour was needed to melt the meat and the shred should be inaudible. Fortunately you found that out too. The best ropa vieja burrito I ever had was from a food truck in L.A. at midnight after the club.
I cannot, for the life of me, keep my Dutch oven that spotless, inside. And I think I have the same one.
And then those metal forks scrape across the bottom. 😆
barkeeper’s friend!!! that’s the secret to all clean pans!!
@@janeosun Total Facts! Once I used it on my dutch oven I never used anything else for stubborn stains. Also works on cast iron ceramic coated sinks and stainless steel.
As a Cuban I have never seen ropa vieja be made like this but I'm sure it's still good!
This is the gangster version
@@boxscorewatcher413 fax
@@boxscorewatcher413 more like the gentrified version
How it is made originally? Como se hace en realidad? Tengo esa duda 😅 en México hay un platillo de nombre similar pero dudo que sea la misma receta
They make it this way in every cuban restaurant I've had it at in Miami 3 or 4... maybe they used tomato paste as well but I've made this and when we use tomato paste the tomato flavor is to strong.
Great recipe that I've made a number of times! I always struggle following the recipe from this video, so here is my version of the transcribed recipe. Hopefully it helps you all out!
Main Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 pounds flank steak, cut against the grain into smaller slabs
- 3-6 bell peppers (any), sliced
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1 Tbs oregano
- 1 Tbs cumin
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes (canned, fresh, any)
- 2 to 3 cups chicken stock (or water)
- Salt and pepper (start with 1 tsp each, then adjust to taste)
- 14 ounces olives, green or black, sliced or whole
Optional Ingredients
- Poblano or jalapeno peppers, sliced
- Small fresh tomatoes, halved
- 2-4 Tbs tomato paste
- 1-2 bay leaves
- Sprigs of thyme
- Juice of half a lemon, or more to taste
Instructions
1. Add 2 Tbs olive oil to a heavy-bottomed pot, such as a dutch oven. Set over medium-high heat.
2. Add the chopped flank steak in a single layer and sear (this is optional, but adds flavor). Continue prepping ingredients.
3. Slice the peppers, onion, and garlic. Remove the meat once seared, and set aside. Add the peppers and onions to the pot over medium heat and cook until softened.
4. Add the garlic, oregano and cumin, cook 30 seconds until aromatic. If using, add fresh tomatoes and tomato paste now.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes, stir, then add 2 to 3 cups stock. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the meat back to the pot, nestling it into the liquid. If using, add bay leaves and fresh thyme now.
7. Allow to come to a simmer over medium heat, then lower heat to and partially cover.
8. Simmer (not boil) for several hours. Start testing for doneness after 2 hours. If liquid reduces too low, add water and/or cover with lid. The meat is done if you can just shred it with a fork.
9. Shred the meat into the liquid. Remove bay leaves and thyme, if applicable. Add olives, stir, and taste for salt and pepper.
10. Serve with rice, black beans, plantains, or whatever you want.
Thanks man
I have been in utter love with this recipe since I tried Chef John’s. I will have to try using the oven and branching out on olives like you have though! Thanks Kenji
We have a similar dish here in Brazil 🇧🇷 It's called "Carne Louca" (literally "Crazy Meat"). Insanely tasty. One of my favorite dishes for sure!
Hey Kenji, I'm wondering about the sweating of the veg in the beginning of a stewed dish like this. It's something I've always done and always see in cooking, but in a dish that remains on heat for a long period of time, does that initial sweat make a difference in the overall flavor or texture of the dish in the end? Thanks!
Yes. Sweated vegetables taste different from boiled vegetables.
Just sat down to relax, didn't know what to watch. Opened UA-cam and was greeted with a 27 minute Kenji video; exactly what I needed!
Hey Kenji, a bit off topic, but do you still recommend the wokmon? You had an article that praised it, but in your more recent pot and pans video, you said the guy was a bit shady. I know the product is expensive, but if you want a better wok cooking experience, do you still recommend it?
My Cuban mom never added olives and I never saw them when eating in Cuban restaurants, either. One thing she did was pull the pieces of flank steak out, shred them on a board, then put them back in. There’s a wonderful non-tomato version version, no spices or peppers, just garlic and lemon juice, called vaca frita. That’s even better. The searing happens *after* the shredding and you get bits of toasted meat. Now I want to go and make it!
All us 80's kids laughing at the "This is my thyme out here" joke.
I would get very mad if someone were to scratch up my poor Le Creuset like that, or does it not bother you? Tasty either way!
anyone else just cut a pepper in half, scoop out the stem area by hand and smack the seeds into the sink?
"I don't know, I've never been to Cuba" us govt required legal disclaimer
We could not see the texture at the end.::
I love how he causally grabs things from his fridge and is just like I should use these tomatoes up first. I’m lucky if I remember if I have milk in mine.
Those forks scraping when Kenji shredded the steaks was the most painful 45 seconds.. and I wanted to skip it.. but also wanted to hear what Kenji was saying... so I toughed it out but I can literally still feel that sound in my teeth. 😱😱😱
Your videos are my favorite on youtube, they lower my stress so much and I learn a ton. You're a gem. Thanks Kenji 🤘🤘🤘
I dont know about the next day....
But time does influence flavor.
Still remember making greek food for a lot of people for the first time. And without thinking, I prepared the Yoghurt-garlic-sauce the day before.
I put enough raw garlic for it to be tasty while making it. The next day I had to throw away a gallon of sauce. Forget about the taste...the shit was so spicy, you physically could NOT eat it.
Yes, many Jews will prepare a braised dish on Friday to be left in an oven all night for Saturday lunch/dinner. It's called cholent. I personally use a slow cooker to prepare Saturday meals.
As for dishes tasting better the next day, that has most definitely been my experience with Chinese style fried rice.
Kenji, I noticed that you put your meat trimmings in the compost bin, but I have always been told not to put meat in with the compost. Have I been mistaken for 65 years?
You are right.
Kenji mentioned in another video that the compost is managed by the city, i assume the city's compost can handle meat somehow
Hey, I've found the easiest (and least wasteful) way to chop a pepper is to cut it directly in half, and then pop out the stem and seeds straight into the food waste bin. I hate seeing the top and bottom flesh go to waste!
I'm really glad you talk about the science of what's going on in cooking! It's super important that people actually UNDERSTAND how to cook and not just blindly follow recipes. It also helps to stop the spread of misinformation! Thanks Kenji for all you do!
Hi Kenji - my Mom used to make a cold meat salad from flank steak called carne deshebrada where she boiled flank steak then peeled the meat into strings and added some sort of vinaigrette (I think) along with olives (maybe?) and other piquant stuff - I don't remember - maybe roasted peppers? Do you know of a dish like that?
Salpicon de Res maybe? My Mexican in-laws make this dish and it sounds kind of like what you describe.
@@matthewnelsen6586 siii suena mucho a salpicón de res!
@@matthewnelsen6586 I looked it up and it sounds just like it - thank you so much!
@@Carcosahead I looked it up and it sounds just like it - thank you so much! I don't know how to thank you both at once. :-)
@@dianealison7191 helping people in the internet since 2001 :)
Combined thyme pun and Goonies reference, very nice 👌
castelvetrano is the only olive I can stand, it's incredibly mild & easy to snack, the way I imagined olives would taste before experiencing the salty, unpleasantly acidic reality
love ya kenji but hearing you use the forks to shred the meat in your enamel DO made me wince
9:08 - I'm big into coffee brewing and I've always thought about this! I wonder to myself why the coffee tastes better out on the porch, or as soon as I take it out of the house. Thanks for confirming I'm not crazy
Hi Kenji! I wanted to comment on your reasoning behind using the oven instead of the stove for braising. While I agree with your method, I had some differing thoughts on the why behind it. (Also, I am only being nit-picky because I know we share a love for the science behind cooking. I'm not trying to be the UA-cam police or anything.)
Like you, I have come to the conclusion that braising in the oven just produces a more consistent braise. However, you mentioned that the stove method risks getting too hot as things reduce, whereas the oven dials in a more even temp. I have found that, when it comes to stove temperatures and reducing mass, there comes a point when there is diminishing returns. Yes it's true that more mass requires more energy to heat up, but I have found that when it comes to **maintaining** temperatures on the stove, the more the mass reduces, sometimes MORE energy might be required to prevent temperature loss. For example, when I'm reducing chicken stock for storage, I might start out with 5qts of liquid and I'll be able to let it reduce at 60%-70% flame for 90 minutes or so at a moderate boil, but once it starts to get down to about 1/3 of its mass, I have to crank up the heat to maintain the same action. It appears that the larger amount of mass can help insulate a lot of the heat energy, and once it loses that mass, the leftover mass is free to give off heat a bit faster than it is taking in.
It's kind of like in Formula 1 cars where they really need to maintain high temperatures in their tires in order for the rubber compound to remain "grippy." As the tires wear down over the course of the race, the tire carcass becomes thinner and the rubber cannot hold in enough heat, and the moving air is able to pull away heat faster than the tire can generate it. I'm sure with reducing liquids, there has gotta be some sort of crossover point when this efficiency change happens as well, and I imagine things like concentration levels/thermal properties of things like starches and gelatin can play a role, but I just thought I would point out that reducing doesn't always equal higher energy storage.
The main reason I prefer oven-braising over stovetop (other than convenience) is that on the stove, the heat is only coming from one concentrated point at the base of the pot, which creates a very uneven thermal environment. Even when the top of the liquid is quite calm, the very bottom can still be more violent. The oven allows for a more even heat that penetrates from all sides, meaning no one part of the braise has to be hammered from the direct heat of the flame. This allows for near-boiling temperatures with next to no action in the liquid. It also means that things that can easily burn on the stove won't have this problem in the oven. This is also why ovens are great for making super clean stocks/broths. For example, I use a pressure cooker to make my stocks, but they were always coming out cloudy by the end. To experiment, I started component-isolating to figure out which ingredient was responsible. To my surprise, I realized that instead of the issue coming from impurities in the proteins and fats (like we're often told), it was actually the vegetables leaking out impurities due to the higher temperatures of the cooker. When I pressure cook chicken carcasses on high for 90-120 minutes with no other ingredients, the liquid is very clear with a very light yellow hue. After adding the veggies and re-pressurizing, it turns all murky and an ugly, dark color. So now I pressure cook light or brown stocks in the pressure pot with the bones/trim only, and then strain it and finish in a low oven with the veg only. Comes out way clearer than finishing on the stove.
Anyway, if you read this Kenji, thanks for letting me nerd out.
Thank you for "nerding out." I learned a lot about improving my instant pot stock.
The way I was taught to prep peppers was to square off the top and bottom then cut in and 'roll' the pepper around with your knife removing the core. No seeds and no waste as you can use the top and bottom pieces, and your main section is all squared off and really easy to work with.
Came for the cool ingredients, stayed for the best ingredient of all time, all the knowledge you serve us
Thanks for introducing us to another interesting dish, I've never heard of Kenji. Appreciate the education. Looks fantastic
You have no idea how much satisfaction I got from watching you fumble the meat turns w your wooden tongs. My family shreds any nice non-stick I've bought so I've replaced almost all utensils w wood. Often they suck! W good metal tongs I can easily pinch meat above my surfaces w/out a care. Sadly the fumbling w wooden utils is worth the pain because... wife and kids. If only they didn't think non-stick was the only way to cook. :/
OXO Good Grips makes some nice springback metal tongs with silicone or nylon heads that I use in my nonstick pans. I felt like Kenji was really struggling with those wooden tongs!
This looks amazing. My only concern is the forks scraping the pot. Otherwise really informative and entertaining 😊
I was waiting for someone to say something. I think I might be overly neurotic about protecting the ceramic coating of my dutch oven. Kinda scared me a little watching that lol.
@@xtspin6141 Lolol I’m overly neurotic in most areas, so this tracks.
Based on my expert Spanish 2 knowledge from high school almost 20 years ago, “ropa vieja” means “old clothes”.
Historically, Jews would prepare a stew (hamin, cholent, shallet, etc) before Shabbat starts (nightfall), and would put the pot in the community ovens which would stay hot for a long time after baking stopped and the stew would cook overnight and would be ready and hot by shabbat lunch (Saturday lunch)
This is the origin of many dishes that are traditionally cooked overnight, like ropa vieja, ful mendames, etc
The stovetop vs oven thing blew my mind. I braise shortribs a lot and need to start using the oven more so i dont have to fiddle with it as much.
19:39 Kenji with another clutch Goonies reference 👌👌👌
In our cuban household we first braise the beef separately with onion, bay leaf, and oregano in water or broth. Then once the meat is done and cooling a bit we make the sofrito (onions/peppers/garlic/cumin) and tomato sauce. Then add the shredded beef to the sofrito-tomato mixture. Otherwise the onions and peppers get terribly mushy.
need a note in the description about which knife is being used. always impressed by your cool kitchen knifes
Ive only now just realized different colored bell peppers aren’t different peppers, they’re just at a different stage of ripeness
So glad I found this channel. Science, cultural history, delicious food. Not much of a meat eater, but I'd eat this. A couple of times it seemed like the go pro on your head showed up in the video. Maybe a head lamp? Or have you got two means of filming overhead?
After getting misgendered in zoom meeting after zoom meeting, it always lifts me up to hear your "nonbinary pals" send-off. Thank you. Also, I am making this first chance I get 👁👁
hello fellow nonbinary pal. i also enjoy the correct gendering
I'd love to see a video on the best way to sharpen your knives or how you keep them as sharp as possible. Also how you clean your massive cutting board!
They can also use carbon monoxide which binds very strongly to haemoglobin and myoglobin and turns it to the red form. Carbon monoxide poisoning will actually fool a pulse oximeter because the blood looks like it's fully oxygenated but really it's bound 250x as strongly to carbon monoxide instead.
There’s a chain cafe/restaurant in Southern California (LA and Orange County…hoping San Diego soon) called Porto’s Bakery that serves the Cuban version of ropa vieja. This version looks as delicious. Thank you, Kenji, for another great recipe.
I find Chili specifically tastes amazing the next day. Really takes some time for all the spices to come to full flavor.
Es la mejor receta de ropa vieja que he visto.
My cast iron skillet seasoning is coming off with normal usage. Do I need to rebake it in the oven to set a new layer? Not using flax seed oil no more.
hope you will share your arepa recipe. masarepa not always available - wondered what your view was on substitutes
so impressive when Kenji just perfectly tiled the pieces of steak into the Dutch oven at 3:00
Here in Brazil we call this recipe "Crazy Meat". We usually put the meat inside a small 'ish bread and eat it like that. When I was a kid back in the early 2000's, this dish was very common at birthday parties.
I use a mixture of red onion, red and orange bell peppers, and poblano peppers and I really like it. Doesn't add really any noticeable heat but certainly more flavor than green bell pepper. Also it's much better with mexican oregano rather than greek oregano imo.
I wonder if the better next day' idea might be that stews and bruises simply are not always cooked long enough. Could it be that the carryover cooking happening to the leftovers in the pot while you are eating it the first time, combined with some additional cooking when the remaining stew is reheated the next day, simply cooks it long enough, whereas the stew eaten the night before was simply not quite ready?
No, I accounted for this in the blind tests that I did.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt 👍
As a spaniard is always interesting to find dishes that have travel away, to see how they have changed with time and the availability of ingredients. In Spain nowadays, ropa vieja is made the day before you eat cocido with the chickpeas and the shreded meat leftover, all sauted with some tomato.
This dish is very similar to a filipino dish named mechado, another country Spain brutally colonized
@@lowbrown4206 Are there non brutal colonizations?
@@Mumumuth I guess compared to other examples, the British colonisation of Malaya was relatively non-brutal. At least in terms of violence and bloodshed.
In Portugal "roupa velha" is also a dish made from leftovers but from the Bacalhau (codfish) used on Christmas Eve dinner. A big pot with codfish cabbage, eggs, my grandma used lots of vinegar too, would fit quite well in the dish
@@AshMenon I didn't know that, thanks for sharing. I guess the name is what is shared between all these dishes, along with the concept of "reusing" leftovers, and it's just adapated to each region cuisine/ingredients.
Can you show us how you use the oval shaped gas burner? An is it beneficial?
I was yelling at the screen for Kenji to add the spices before the tomatoes like I was watching a horror movie
Hello Kenji, I really love this one. It reminds me a bit of the way swiss steak looks. Braising beef in a tomatoey base is just so delicious.
p.s. I always knew those darn pimentos were a lie! lol
The pimiento was an "oh god, I've been LIED to!" moment
Always gotta appreciate kenji. Everything he does is usually pretty spot on and correctly made with very few exceptions. It's a rare quality in youtube chefs unfortunately.
Ahhh WRONG way around Kenji?!? Sharp knife skin side up. Dull knife skin side down... Think about it.
The fork scraping noises hurt my ears. Like nails on a chalkboard...
I'm Cuban and while this may not be the most traditional, I'd still eat it because it still looks pretty damn good and I'm sure it tastes great!
Hi Kenji, does that wok ring work on your stove kitchen?
I love ropa vieja. Dunno why I've never tried making it before, now I gotsta.
This isn't colombian, you need to stop believing your wife's claim to dishes being from there. Seriously. Colombians are famous for claiming food as their own, they try to do it with their sub-par arepas, with tequeños and cachapa, even buñuelos, natilla and pan de bono are from other countries.
Mexico: carne deshebrada
El Salvador: deshilachada
Nicaragua: desmenuzada
Venezuela: mechada
Brasil: carne louca
Did he say you can add cilantro????? I've been eating Cuban cuisine my entire life and I know of no Cuban dish that calls for Cilantro. Thats like adding BBQ sauce to Sushi. Some things just dont go together
OK, so you were handling the raw beef, and then touching a lot of stuff in the kitchen.
How safe is that? Or, I guess, how much should the average person living in a place like the US or Canada worry about food-borne pathogens?
I live in Japan where the general thought is "chicken and pork are dangerous, but beef and seafood is safe".
Kenji, nails on a chalkboard when you drag the forks across the bottom of the pan when shredding the beef. Work on your audio production, please.
It's interesting that you mention spicy foods (and vinegary foods) tasting milder the next day. My experience with spicy foods has been the opposite... as though more of the capsaicin has leeched from the spicy ingredients.
My experience, too. Fresh jalapeños seemed very mild when the dish was first made tasted spicy the next day.
Hi, I got into a small argument yesterday while cooking at a friend's place. Perhaps Kenji or another viewer can jump in and clear this up for us:
So I was cutting celery into small bits for a Bolognese and since I don't use expensive knives at my own home, I use the knife a lot to push around already chopped bits on the wooden cutting board or even use it to push the big finished pile from the board into a bowl. My friend's knife was also not super expensive (definitely less than the one Kenji is using in this video from the looks of it), but he asked me to use the back side of the blade for this, which I had never done before.
Now, I can totally see why you wouldn't want to use the sharp edge of the knife to scoop around large piles of chopped vegetables and drag your blade over the whole board several times in the process. I think he was right to correct me on that and I see Kenji is also making a point in always using his green spatula thingy to move his stuff.
But then my friend was also reprimanding me for those small wipes one does with the knife while one is cutting just to move some of the cut material out of the immediate way by just a few millimeters, like Kenji also does in this video at between 4:30 - 5:20 for example. In my opinion that's just how one uses a knife and flipping the blade every 5-10 cuts just for a small adjustment seems very impractical to me. In my opinion the damage a wooden board can do to a metal knife at any given time is limited. It simply builds up over time and I failed to see how these small 1cm wipes would seriously harm his knife.
Of course I still tried to do as he asked, but muscle memory took over several times. So please, I need to know, can one blunt a knife significantly faster or even permanently damage it by using the sharp edge from time to time to do those small wipes and adjustments on a wooden cutting board or is my friend taking this idea too far? Would be very grateful for someone's assessment and opinion on this. :)
If the knife is expensive I would never use it to move ingredients with the blade. I do it with my cheap knives though.
Some stews/curries definitely develop a more intense flavour e,g. Kerala red fish curry - if you forget to take the souring agent out (a fermented? Dried fruit labelled fish puli in my house) after a night or two in the fridge it becomes inedibly sour
Interesting point about stews tasting better on the next day, you are probably right and it's just one's desensitized olfactory system...
what motivated the mustache? I like the choice of peppers, I prefer the sweet flavors of red/orange/yellow.
Re: pimento-stuffed olives... I am distressed, disgusted, and horrified. How dare they!
Heh, those tongs are like peak "form over function".
The number of times the meat slipped out of the grip while he was turning them.
The second day phenomenon was explained by Alton Brown as a byproduct of rendered fat's melting point changing. So if you cook a big piece of braised meat you eat it fresh and hot out of the pot but upon reheating it you don't hit the melting point changing the texture of the meat. Could be wrong but that always made sense to me.
That’s what I was wondering, I thought that why a stew was better the next day is because of the texture of the meat (collagen)! I haven’t tested it myself so I could be absolutely wrong. I tend to trust Kenji more then Alton, though. Not that I think he’s wrong, but Kenji’s methodology seems usually better.
It was about collagen, not fat; which means it would not apply to all cuts equally. Brown was specifically speaking about stews with cuts that were collagen heavy.
This is very similar to the carne michada that I use for Pabellon. My MIL who lived in Venezuela for many years swears by the use of Heinz 57 in the recipe. Also, I switched up using the traditional flank steak for chuck roast for it's more tender and meaty flavor. Either way I'm sure it's very similar to the Colombian Carne Desmichada
I would argue chili is better, at least texturally, the next day. The beans break down more I think…
Love the detail and information that you provide to the viewer, I feel like I learned a lot watching your videos
Can you explain in a future video why you compost the meat? I have never seen that done before so I’m curious!
kenji im a rabbinic student and also an avid cook and huge fan. let me know if you'd like to discuss the jewish aspect of this!
Damn, three bell peppers for a dollar ?!?