Every have Caribbean oxtails or stew beef? Delicious. Just like any sort of West Indian stew, the meat is browned to perfection and even though it should simmer for hours, it still has that wonderful, sort of crunchy, caramelized, yummy, browned goodness. The meat doesn’t lose any of it’s seared-y-ness no matter how long it’s boiled. How’d you do that? I asked my husband’s co-worker, the pantry manager and chef at an assisted living facility in Brooklyn. This is what she told me:
Firstly, the meat is marinated with “green seasoning” (we Puerto Ricans have something similar called ‘recaito’) and then oil is heated in a pot until smoking, brown sugar is added until it melts into a dark brown goo AND THEN the meat is browned in that.
Now, I don’t know how that would work in regular ole stew but in the highly spiced West Indies-- dang!
I wonder if the green seasoning is similar to the recipe I just got from my Brazilian great-aunt. It’s salt mixed with pureed onions, chives, garlic, and parsley. We just always called it “the green stuff.” I have no idea what they call it in Brazil.
My 'buela’s included onions, garlic, cilantro, recao, sweet green pepper and aji dulce, which is a sweet cherry pepper. She always kept a jar of that in the fridge.
I don’t know from Puerto Rican or Brazilian food, but I do have a cooking secret to share.
The other night, I went to make brownies from scratch. I found Alton Brown’s recipe on line. Now, whenever I make pancakes or waffles and such, I will often whip the egg whites extra long- it makes baked goods light and fluffy and almost souffle-like. But I did not know that you could do the same to brownies! Imagine, brownies that are rich and dense and chocolatey, but also light and fluffy and melt-in-your-mouthy!
I, for one, had no idea, and this has changed my brownie-making life forever and ever.