Trader Joe’s used to carry jarred picadillo sauce. You’d brown some ground beef, add the jar of sauce, and there was dinner.
Because it was so easy and tasty, they discontinued it (some years ago).
I’ve had it at Cuban restaurants a time or two and still love it. I finally decided we needed to start making it at home - looking at the ingredients, it can’t be that tough.
This did NOT do the trick. Nothing “sauce-y” about it (I mean, I’m not expecting something like bolognese sauce in consistency, but a LITTLE moisture to soak into the rice…), and it was more bitter than sweet. It’s not supposed to be SUGARY sweet, but there was no hint of sweetness to this one at all. It wasn’t awful; the rest of the household liked it OK; I even ate it. But it did not really satisfy.
This one looks closer, but I don’t know if it’s quite there. It looks a little dryer in the photos, but that could be solved by a titch more water or tomato sauce: Picadillo - Budget Bytes
In my experience, adding water doesn’t make something saucy, it just makes it watery. You want to retain the moisture given off by the ingredients as they cook (lots of it in onions, for example). This includes the fats coming off the meat (don’t use too-lean beef) so they can emulsify in the liquid. That’s what gives you a thick rich saucy base. (Assuming you don’t want to cheat with a cornstarch shortcut or something.)
I looked around some, and this recipe may be what you want.
Good point. The water would be if we accidentally let it simmer a bit too long and it got too dry, but we would indeed do better to add some other liquid (broth, tomato sauce, sofrito or something).
That plays into their decision but so to does the complete lack of suitable replacement. But the biggest factor in cancelation most of all is how much you love it.
Yes, you, Trader Joe’s Blue Cheese dip & dressing.
I’ve made this recipe quite a lot. It has you serve the sauce over chicken rather then mixing it with ground beef, but it at the very least may provide some inspiration. Note the addition of currant jelly, which I think will give it that sweetness you’re looking for.
I found one at New York Times that involves a number of “sweet” spices (cloves were among them) and which looks interesting; it also includes a small quantity of dried chorizo.
Sadly, housemate loathes raisins, so we need to either add them later, to half the dish, or substitute (dried apricots would be acceptable, though when my son made the original recipe, the apricots were undetectable).
That same housemate likes mushrooms, so I have to question her taste buds, LOL.