Mexican restaurants do different variations of this. I tend to like versions similiar to Matt's El Rancho which I took from the Mex-Tex cook book and made a couple of adjustments to. It calls for very simple ingredients and is pretty darn easy to make and hard to screw up. It was really good the cold day this week I made it. Even better the following day. Any additions or thoughts are welcome Ingredients: 3 tablespoons vegetable oil. 3 pounds of sirloin steak (substituted for round steak) 1 onion 2 bell pepper 2 cups water (3 for doubling) 3 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon cumin 1/2 tablespoon of salt 1/2 tablespoon pepper 4 ounces tomato sauce Step one: Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet and put the steak (cut up into bite size pieces) into it. Brown the steak real good. Step two: Drain the skillet. Step three: Chop up your onion and bell pepper and toss it in. Step four: When onions are translucent add the flour, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir up real good. Step five: Add the water. Step six: Cover and let simmer for two hours. Step seven: Add tomato sauce and cook for 15 more minutes. Step eight: Bust out the tortillas and go to town! I also am a white rice fanatic and serve it up with this.
Damn that looks good! Looks perfect...only thing that i might add would probably be a little chipotle powder for some heat.
Yeah...if it wasn't frozen outside I would have gone nd grabbed some fresh jalapenos to serve with it. I like the heat too
I have too admit that looks very good. Have you ever tried the HEB Carne Guisada? You just add a can of Rotel tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. The meat is extremely tender and the seasoning is as good as I've ever had and I've tried CG at too many TexMex joints to remember. Just curious if you've tried it and, if so, what you thought.
I can 2nd that HEB carne guisada mix. It turns out great in about 30 minutes. I cooked it for some Dallas friends once and they ask me to bring them frozen packages whenever I go up there.
I have not tried the HEB version. I will have to do that. The meat, especially day two, is very tender on this recipe also.
One of my favorite dishes. I don't use bell peppers but do use a couple of anchos. Also, I use about three or four times as much cumin. The exemplar of the dish can be found at the Taco Shack on the Drag....(or at least, that's where it was 25 years ago).
i used to make a carne guisada all the time and it was very similar. instead of tomato sauce it used can of diced tomatoes and sliced up jalapenos instead of bell peppers. but very similar.
I use carne guisada to judge new Mexican restaurants that I try out. Some people do it by tortillas, salsa, enchiladas, what ever, but I judge a place by their carne guisada. Growing up near San Antonio, I prefer a more "gravy-ish" version, but I appreciate many variations. Not many places in Austin serve up a carne guisada that is up to par, and I'd like to start making my own. I just may try it sometime soon.
The recipe on the Fiesta Brand mix sold at HEB makes a gravyish dish. I double or triple the spice proportion and add peppers and onions.
Another thing about that HEB ready to cook carne guisada meat mix -- it makes a PERFECT base for a pot of chili. Big hunks of meat, that cook up tender as hell -- couldn't ask for more. I use the chili recipe on the back of the Bolner's chili seasoning bottle (although I cut the salt, as the HEB mix already has some salt) -- it makes a mean pot of chili, and it does it in a short amount of time. For a good "shortcut" chili, it's hard to beat. Oh, and my best carne guisada is made with venison. My mom would have relatives ask her to make it when they came to town to visit. If there's a better comfort food than venison carne guisada, I don't know what it is.
I try to never make anything the same way twice, but here's what I did yesterday: 3 lb chuck steaks cut into 1" cubes 1 Large White Onion chopped One Can of RoTel Tomatoes 3 Tbls Cumin 2 Ancho Chilis de-stemmed and seeded 2 Sun Dried Tomato Halves, (cause that's what I had left) 1 Handful of sliced and dried Shiitake Mushrooms Brown the meat in two batches in a five quart Dutch Oven. Drain the first batch. When the second batch is almost done, toss in the chopped onion and the drained first batch. When heated through, sprinkle in the cumin and allow it to fry with the meat and onion for 2 or 3 minutes. Then pour in the can of RoTel with liquid, stir well and allow to heat through. While your first batch of meat is browing, put the Ancho Peppers, Sun Dried Tomato, and Mushrooms in a small sauce pan, together with a beef bullion cube, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Allow to simmer for about ten minutes. Turn off heat, and leave covered until the meat is all browned and RoTel is heated through. Strain the Pepper/Mushroom mixture allowing the broth to pour into the Dutch Oven with the meat and onion. Dump the reconstituted Pepper/Mushroom mixture onto a cutting board and allow to cool. Finely chop the mushrooms as it's really the added depth they bring to the broth that you were after anyway. Peel the skins from the Peppers, (should come off quite easily). Chop the Tomato halves and the Pepppers and add it all to the pot. Season to taste and simmer with the lid cocked for three hours making sure it has plenty of liquid. Served with finely chopped Onion and Cilantro on fresh steamed flour tortillas. The kids also added grated cheese and sour cream. Good stuff.
Nice pics Tailgate. The guisada I make is similar except I use a can of Hatch diced tomatoes & green chiles instead of tomato sauce, beer instead of water, and add about a tablespoon of beef base. I don't measure my dry ingredients, but I think I use about double the cumin.
Went for it last night and made it, good recipe, I do think it needs some spice and some more cumin next time though. Thanks!!
Made some tonight, but used a boneless beef chuck shoulder roast instead of sirloin (it costs less and I think it's actually a more traditional cut for carne guisada), and the Bolners/Fiesta carne guisada seasoning instead of flour, and no tomato sauce. And I cut up a whole jalepeño and threw it in with the onions and peppers for good measure. Holy hell, that was awesome. Thanks for the idea.
Yeah, I agree on the spice. I like the hatch chile idea or even some fresh cut up jalapenos. I will try that next time. It's a good foundation to build on
Glad you like the pics. It really does help when trying to duplicate a recipe. BTW I did get the HEB carne guisada per the posts here and I will be trying it this weekend!
There was a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in San Antonio my friends and I went to back in high school that served frantastic carne guisada and eggs and tortillas. I can't remember the name of it, but it wasn't too far from downtown. My wife will love it when I try to find it from memory next time we're in S.A. Anyway, is the HEB kit a spice mix or is it a cryovac package of marinated meat? I'll have my dad bring some up here next time he visits, but I need to tell him what to look for. If it wasn't midnight, I'd start my own batch right now using Tailgate's recipe.
It's a clear plastic spice bottle in the HEB spice section. 2" diameter, 6" tall. One will do about 3 good batches. They say to use a certain number of TBS, like 3. You will want to double whatever that amount is that they recommend. If you like it gravy like.
