Adobo seco - Dry marinade, a Pinedo recipe

I had a boneless pork loin just asking for a Pinedo recipe.  I liked the challenge of this one, on page 4, which was "cook enough red chiles."  Hmmm.  How much was enough?  For my redaction, I needed to balance the heat of the chiles (not too many!) with the flavor of the chiles (not too few!).  I have a bag of costeño chiles, which I was cautioned to be careful with because I am not as experienced a chile-eater as the person who gave it to me.  I'm getting better, but I heed the caution.

Her Recipe

My Translation

My Redaction

3 pounds, 14 ounces boneless pork loin

0.8 ounces costeño chiles (dry)

1 pound tomatoes

1 tablespoon garlic

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil for frying

And the olive oil.

Remove the stems, seeds, and cores of the chiles.  Cover them with boiling water and let them soak for 10 minutes to soften them.

Core and coarsely chop the tomatoes.  Grind them in a large mortar (or pulse them in the blender) until the mixture is wet and not as chunky as they were after they were chopped.

Grind the cumin seeds.

Drain the chiles.  Grind them with the tomatoes.  

Add the garlic and cumin.  Grind them more.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven.  Add the chile/tomato mixture and the vinegar.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Add the meat and turn it over to get the sauce on both sides.  Then ladle sauce over the top of the meat.  

Bring the sauce back to a boil.  Turn the heat down so the sauce is simmering.  Leave the Dutch oven uncovered.

Cook the meat for about 2 hours, turning over occasionally and spooning sauce over the top.  This is how long it took for the sauce to reduce to very thick.  Adjust the heat as needed to maintain the simmer.  Turning over the meat will slow the simmer for a short time.

When done, turn off the heat and let the meat rest in the sauce for a while.

Serve slices with the sauce spooned over the top.

Chiles soaking

Coarsely chopped tomatoes

Grinding in my mortar.

Sauce in the pan and the pork loin on top.

Spoon that sauce on top!

All done.  Notice how little liquid is left in the pan.

My Notes

I used my large (ish) mortar to grind everything.  I ground half the tomatoes and put the result in a big bowl.  Then I ground the other half with the chiles.  After that was done, I added the garlic and ground it some more.  Then I repeated that with the ground cumin seeds.  Then it all went into the bowl and I mixed them together.  If I were to do this again, I would use my blender and make it more of a puree.

Since I didn't know how long it would take to cook the meat, I turned it every 20 minutes, spooning sauce over the top each time.  I think 30 minutes is better.  Since the Dutch oven is uncovered, the top of the meat seemed to be colder than the rest, so it stopped the simmer when I turned the loin.  I adjusted the heat to bring it back to a simmer.  

The sauce started getting thick but it appeared the meat juices and fat made it runny again.  Then it got thick again with more cooking.  Be careful not to scorch the sauce.  Turning the meat helped keep the bottom of it from being scorched, too.

After two hours, the internal temperature read about 150 degrees F.  

The Verdict

I was hoping that the meat wasn't overcooked, i.e., dry.  It was very mildly pink in the middle and appeared moist.

I served it as a simple dinner with green beans and wine.  

Put a little sauce over the top.

My concern was that the tomato skins and/or the chile skins would be tough and noticeable if they were bigger than what a blender would make.  That is what I was looking for when I tasted it.  I really wanted to know what my guest tasters thought of the chiles' heat levels.

One guest taster, the one who is not really into spicy foods, thought the chile heat level was just right.  He enjoyed the flavor of the sauce and thought it was good with the meat.

The other guest taster, who loves spicy food and strong flavors, thought it was not chile-hot enough and that the sauce was "sweet" from the tomatoes.  He did not really detect the costeño's much at all; he wondered if it had any chiles in it.  He also did not think the sauce had much flavor.  He compared it to some rosemary-flavored crackers which he thought did have a flavor punch and said those had flavor but the sauce did not.  Does that make sense?  

As for me, I liked the flavor, although I would agree that it was not strongly flavored.  I thought the sauce was important to moisten the meat and keep it from being "just a slice of pork loin."  So if I were to do this again, I would bump up the amount of chiles (if my first guest taster were not involved) and definitely bump up the garlic and cumin content.  Even my first guest taster would like more garlic and cumin.

One guest taster noted that the skins from the chiles and tomatoes were annoying to eat.  I agree, that was my worry, and though I didn't experience that with this dish, I have previously.  So definitely use a blender to make the sauce.  Perhaps using a mano and metate would have broken up the skins better than a mortar and pestle.  I don't know.  

Also, everyone agreed that the meat was cooked to perfection.  It was cooked enough but not dry.  I think the slow cooking and the regular turning helped that along.

The green beans with a variation on a Pinedo pipian sauce were a good accompaniment!  You can see that recipe here:  Ejotes en pipian.  I used red wine as the liquid and cinnamon and cloves as the spices.  

Success!

Cuban Corn, a World War II U.S. rationing recipe

I've been exploring World War II cooking ideas, especially those relating to food rationing and the ration coupons that went along with it.

One interesting book is titled Coupon Cookery by Prudence Penny.  The subtitle is "The New Book of Ration-Revised Recipes and Menus Including a Handy Changeable Table of Point-Values For All Foods..."  Yes, the book includes a table that helped a family plan how to track their coupons and use them efficiently before they expired.  It is in the chapter called "How to S-T-R-E-T-C-H A POINT."

Published in 1943, so no ISBN.

There are all sorts of tips for shopping with ration stamps (coupons), how to calculate your family's budget.  Throughout the book are cute and sometimes silly cartoons and poems along with the chapters that emphasize the need to be frugal, avoid waste and hoarding, while still feeding your family a healthy diet.  There are "Penny Tips" that point out, for example, ways to achieve speed or better flavor.

On page 72, there is a recipe for "Cuban Corn," basically a casserole that can be a side dish or, as the Penny Tip notes, be "a good main dish for meatless days."

Cuban Corn

2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
Dash cayenne
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cups canned or fresh corn
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon fat
1 dozen chopped ripe olives
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup grated cheese

 Add flour and seasonings to corn.  Brown onion in fat and add.  Add olives and thoroughly combine all ingredients.  Put mixture in a casserole; pour hot tomato sauce and the grated cheese over the corn.

Place in 350 degree oven until mixture is well heated and the cheese is melted.  If fresh corn is used, cook slightly before combining with other ingredients.

My Notes

I think it is the use of chili powder and cayenne that makes this "Cuban."  My experience with reading recipes from the 1940s is that savory seasoning use was often limited salt, pepper, garlic powder or salt, and not much else.  Anything beyond that was pretty exotic!  People's palettes were accustomed to what I might consider "bland."  (This could be my biased opinion, but I don't see much evidence to think otherwise.)

First I started the oven preheating.

I used olive oil for the fat.  

Since I chose to use canned corn and my cans were 15 1/4 ounces each, I used one full can (1 1/2 cups) and topped off to two cups with the other can.  These were drained before measuring.

I mixed the corn with the flour and seasonings in a big bowl, then browned the onion and chopped the olives, and mixed everything in the bowl.

Corn, flour, and seasonings combined.

With onions and olives, too.

Once the mixture was poured into the 7" x 11" glass casserole - so I had set the oven to 325 degrees F, -  I heated the tomato sauce for 1 minute in the microwave and poured it over.  

Spread it throughout the dish.

 

Distribute the tomato sauce throughout, too.

I chose to use a mixture of cheeses: asiago, parmesan, provolone, and fontina, which were already shredded and mixed.  My impulse was to just put on a lot, which would have been more than one cup, but I restrained myself and followed the recipe.

Okay, that should be enough cheese!

It heated in the oven for 15 minutes; at this point the tomato sauce was bubbling and the cheese was melted.  I could smell the chili powder as it baked.

Bubbly, melted, and done!

Then I took it to a family event and reheated it in the microwave for a few minutes before serving.

The Verdict

It certainly was easy to assemble.  Perfect for that busy day when you want a hot dish but have little spare time. 

In general, everyone thought it was fine as a side dish.  It went well with the beef main course and garlic mashed potatoes side.  

I think we all agreed that it wasn't overspiced or too spicy at all; in fact, I think it could have used more spicing.  Not just more chili powder but more salt and pepper.  It had bothered me to pour straight tomato sauce from the can onto the dish.  I had really wanted to add some seasoning to it, too.  

I'm not sure if that "dash" of cayenne made a difference.  A couple of shakes of Tabasco sauce would have been an improvement.

The one person who really dislikes olives (that was my mistake for picking a recipe that included them) said she couldn't taste them.  That was a relief on my part.

The cheese added a nice chewy and flavorful aspect to the dish.

So while it was a fine side dish, it wasn't spectacular.  I would do it again but I would increase the spices.

The leftovers were good as a side dish with raviolis and then as a filling in an omelette.

Unsurprisingly, the leftovers look just like they did on the first day!

Success, especially if you like mildly-spiced food.