Has anyone in San Diego seen asiento?
Asiento - from the Spanish verb asentar, to settle - is what's left over in the bottom of the pot after you've made carnitas and/or fried off a bunch of chicharrones. Spreadable porky goodness. Also known as chales, jale, chalito and about 10 other names.
I need a 1/2 pound of it for a tamal recipe I'd like to make. If you've seen it, where??? My inquiring mind would like to know
On my road trip to San Ysidro in May 2018, I noticed Zaruki Flour Tortillas after having lunch nearby. Sorry, I didn't post about it at the time. It had machaca, asiento and a variety of food stuffs besides its Sonoran-style tortillas. Unfortunately, it seems to have closed since then. However, its FB page says it was trying to relocate and shows a phone number and email address. Maybe you could try to see if it is in business somewhere else. https://www.facebook.com/zarukiflourt...
The carnicerias and supermarkets near me sell by the quart the lard stained tan to deep brown color from making carnitas especially this time of year. Maybe you could arrange to buy the tailings from the next batch. Or, depending on how dark the recycled lard might be, it has quite a bit of porky flavor itself. In my experience, don't buy it too dark, as it just starts to taste like too-old oil. You could use it by itself or fry some fresh ground pork in it if you need some meat.
The Oaxacan restaurant here in Escondido (El Tejate) uses it, so you might ask the Oaxacan place closest to you.
It’s pretty easy to create your own asiento. Just cube some pork back fat from your butcher, add a little water and render the lard, letting it get a bit browner than usual to create the asiento base. Then add aromatics and maybe a tiny bit of tomato paste to create the depth of flavor and thickness you want. I haven’t tried this vegan version, but it looks so good that I’ve kept it socked away for future use. Next time I make tortillas I will make it, probably using ghee instead of oil. You could make it with melted leaf lard to stay closer to your recipe: https://food52.com/blog/25099-why-bri...
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