Death by Jerky
Alamo Basement Aggie Ring and I just replaced my molcajete which had been lost last year during my move back to Texas. It’s basically a mortar and pestle but it is hand carved from volcanic stone. Pretty much any kitchen in Mexico or the Southwestern United States has one.
A molcajete is used to grind/crush spices and vegetables. Crushing spices and such brings a taste to the game that you don’t get by running the same items through a food processor. The crushing process brings out the natural oils in things that you don’t get by running them through a blender. I spent a few hours the other day curing/seasoning my new molcajete as it was brand new. Today was the day to christen it by making a batch of jerky.
I wanted to make a batch of super hot and spicy jerky. So hot and spicy that anyone who tries a piece will rue the day that they met me. So spicy and hot that they will look down at the ground and spit whenever my name is mentioned! The kind of jerky that makes one think, “I am damned for all time!”
My beautiful friends on the jerky group are always asking for recipes, so here it goes. God save us all!:
I procured 14 pounds of meat. That weight would require about 6 cups of liquid. I went with my standard 50/50 mix. I used 3 cups of vinegar (red wine vinegar this time) and I was going to use 3 cups of Dr. Pepper for the other half. However, seeing as I was using a molcajete, I went with Mexican Coca-Cola instead.
I procured some Serrano peppers, plenty of habanero peppers, fresh garlic, and a white onion. All, I believe products of Mexico.
First, I chopped up the white onion and ground it to a paste in the molcajete. After transferring the paste to a container, I diced about 5 or 6 Serranos (keeping the seeds and all the insides. Again, ground to a paste and transferred to a container.
Then, I took about 14 habaneros, cut off the stems, diced, and ground them to a paste. Transferred.
Followed by a handful of fresh garlic roughly diced. Again, crushed to a paste.
I looked in my spice collection and found some mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Threw them into the molcajete and ground them to a slurry. The smell of grinding whole spices is amazing.
After combining the spices with the six cups of liquid, I added about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and Prague curing salt. I was going to add honey, but they had bourbon barrel aged maple syrup at the grocer’s. How could I say no to that? I used about 1/2 cup.
I performed my typical, “Taste a teaspoon” of the completed marinade. It was sweet. It was painfully hot. If eternal damnation has a flavor, this would be it!
I’ll let the meat marinade for about 18 hours and “get ‘er done!”
WARNING: Don’t wear contacts or plan on wearing contacts for a day or so after doing something insane like this! Even after washing my hands I rubbed my forehead and it started to burn. It’s a good burn.
Death by Jerky
Alamo Basement Aggie Ring and I just replaced my molcajete which had been lost last year during my move back to Texas. It’s basically a mortar and pestle but it is hand carved from volcanic stone. Pretty much any kitchen in Mexico or the Southwestern United States has one.
A molcajete is used to grind/crush spices and vegetables. Crushing spices and such brings a taste to the game that you don’t get by running the same items through a food processor. The crushing process brings out the natural oils in things that you don’t get by running them through a blender. I spent a few hours the other day curing/seasoning my new molcajete as it was brand new. Today was the day to christen it by making a batch of jerky.
I wanted to make a batch of super hot and spicy jerky. So hot and spicy that anyone who tries a piece will rue the day that they met me. So spicy and hot that they will look down at the ground and spit whenever my name is mentioned! The kind of jerky that makes one think, “I am damned for all time!”
My beautiful friends on the jerky group are always asking for recipes, so here it goes. God save us all!:
I procured 14 pounds of meat. That weight would require about 6 cups of liquid. I went with my standard 50/50 mix. I used 3 cups of vinegar (red wine vinegar this time) and I was going to use 3 cups of Dr. Pepper for the other half. However, seeing as I was using a molcajete, I went with Mexican Coca-Cola instead.
I procured some Serrano peppers, plenty of habanero peppers, fresh garlic, and a white onion. All, I believe products of Mexico.
First, I chopped up the white onion and ground it to a paste in the molcajete. After transferring the paste to a container, I diced about 5 or 6 Serranos (keeping the seeds and all the insides. Again, ground to a paste and transferred to a container.
Then, I took about 14 habaneros, cut off the stems, diced, and ground them to a paste. Transferred.
Followed by a handful of fresh garlic roughly diced. Again, crushed to a paste.
I looked in my spice collection and found some mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Threw them into the molcajete and ground them to a slurry. The smell of grinding whole spices is amazing.
After combining the spices with the six cups of liquid, I added about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and Prague curing salt. I was going to add honey, but they had bourbon barrel aged maple syrup at the grocer’s. How could I say no to that? I used about 1/2 cup.
I performed my typical, “Taste a teaspoon” of the completed marinade. It was sweet. It was painfully hot. If eternal damnation has a flavor, this would be it!
I’ll let the meat marinade for about 18 hours and “get ‘er done!”
WARNING: Don’t wear contacts or plan on wearing contacts for a day or so after doing something insane like this! Even after washing my hands I rubbed my forehead and it started to burn. It’s a good burn.