Making Carne Seca - Any Sonorans out there?

Question

Just returned from Tucson AZ; had a food epiphany there with the carne seca!

I'd like to make it at home, but all the recipes I'm finding either call for cooking the meat in an oven all night, or salting / draining in the fridge all week. What I had down there was sun-dried in a cage on the roof.

I'm not in the desert, but I have a food dehydrator and a smoker available, and have successfully made beef jerky in both.

 All I could pry out of the restaurant was that the beef was marinated and dried, then shredded (how do I do this?), then the shreds marinated again in green chili sauce overnight and then grilled very hot to give some char.

Any recipes or suggestions as to how to proceed?

It was amusing that the waiter made us taste it before ordering, because many out-of-towners complain that it's "just shredded beef jerky" and they hate it. Of course it's the fresh lime juice on the fine shreds that make this stuff so awesome!

Thanks in advance..
DAN

Answer

Food Channel featured El Charro's carne seca many years go: beef strips dried on metals racks in the hot Tucson sun. I can't remember any more about the recipe, but my husband and I both think it's way too tough even it must be famous for some good reason...

Answer

The method I have seen used that differentiates Mexican carne seca from American jerky is that the jerky is raw when it is dried and traditional carne seca is cooked first. Here is a recipe using this process: http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/tucson-carne-seca. 

In what is now New Mexico (and maybe other parts of Mexico, I am not sure) the tradition years ago was to soak carne seca in some kind of liquid (like stock or just water) and use that as "true" machaca. Today most folks skip the drying step as we have refrigerators and freezers and there is no need to dry the meat to preserve it.

Answer

Thanks for the replies, all. I can still taste this stuff, and it's been a week!
I'm going to start out by buying a bag of it dried and pre-shredded at a local tiendita, then marinate that, then hot smoke it.
Will report back here!
DAN

Answer

I live in Tucson, and while I've been tempted to dry beef on my roof, I've figured out a much easier way to make it in the kitchen. It actually starts with leftover pot roast and winds up tasting like it came from El Charro. 

Any basic pot roast cooked in a tomato-based sauce will do, though I wouldn't use something with a lot of character or its own, like sauerbraten. I usually wind up with about a pound-and-a-half of leftover pot roast, so adjust the seasonings up or down depending on how much meat you have. Take your cold pot roast and shred it, then spread it out on one or two baking sheets. Squeeze one lime over the meet.

 Mix:
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground New Mexico chiles or other mild red chiles, such as ancho powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Sprinkle half of it over the meat and give it a stir.

Bake at 275 degrees for twenty minutes. Sprinkle with the rest of the seasoning and stir well. Return to the oven for about 30 minutes, until brown and dried. 

Cool, then shred it further with your hands or give it a quick pulse in the food processor, being careful not to overdo it. You want fine threads, not sand. 

To finish, heat 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil in a pan and add a small chopped white onion. Cook until the onion gets soft.

Then add: 
two or three green chiles (such as Anaheim or poblano that you have already roasted to remove the skin, seeded and chopped up, 
a couple of chopped tomatoes, 
two cloves of minced garlic, or more if you're like me,
1/2 teaspoon of oregano. 
Add the meat and cook until all the liquid from the tomatoes is evaporated.

Serve on tortillas sprinkled with lime juice.

Answer

Growing up in Tucson My grandfather always marinaded the meat and hung it up to dry outside. When I was a kid I use to get in trouble because I would sneak a piece or two before it was ready ;) 
I always made it by mincing fresh garlic green onions large can of whole tomatoes and diced green chilies. I would put a little oil in a pan and heat the garlic add the onions and shredded beef green chilies and tomatoes I always chop the whole tomatoes. I use whole tomatoes because I like the extra liquid ;) You could add hot peppers for heat. Let it simmer the meat will incorporate the tomatoe juices...cook slow until most of the liquid has reduced out of the pan :)

Answer

My grandma dried it at home in Nogales Arizona and pounded it with a clean rock until it was finely shredded. I think a metal meat pounder would do the same.

Answer

Dan, 

I never thought of making carne seca myself. But if you look up carne seca from blanquIllo Mexico. Actually the city is called congregacion calles. That is the real deal. My cousin actually is one of the larger makers of it and it is much different than jerky. Not even close. It is meet that is cut thin and hung to dry. Long process. 

I just got two packages in the mail today and can't wait to make me some carne seca con eggs.

Answer

Is "carne seca" the same as what's called "cecina" in some places?

Answer

If you were in Tucson getting carne seca i'll go out on a limb and say you were at a restaurant called El Charro Cafe. A restaurant famous for many reasons but the Carne Seca pulls me from PHX somewhat monthly. There is an El Charro cookbook out there but the recipe they give is actually Machaca. Good but not the same. Think they protect their staple. For a marinade I'd go with Worcestershire,lime,chili,cumin,garlic,s&p. As a chef I've been trying to mimic the stuff for years. Think I need to build my own sun drying box. Also, think El Charro loves drying the meat just to tease us with it in the open air. Smell that stuff from across the city. My next attempt I will be using Alton Brown's Fan and air cleaner method for drying meat. Wouldn't use a smoker. Might be good. But not El Charro. Luck

Answer

https://youtu.be/JDAgu4Em14Q


This video will show you exactly how =)

Answer

Update: I was in Tucson, AZ last year a couple of times to visit my beloved Aunt Edna, who just passed away at 94 and Aunt Mary who is 101 and still here, and while there we went to two restaurants highly recommended by our family there: La Indita and Mi Nidito. Guess that they had at La Indita: the machaca in the style my grandmother made it every year! It was delicious and finely shredded and very delicious. I told the waiter it had been years since I'd had it and he said "you ordered it just in time, because we can't make it during times of humid weather: the meat won't dry properly." Which means the restaurant chef must me drying it exactly as my grandmother did: hung up in the kitchen naturally. Amazing. Makes me want to try making it this year, but given that I am in CA, I think I will have to test out the methods of drying it in the oven.

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Making Carne Seca - Any Sonorans out there?

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