Picadillo – Close, But No Cigar

Picadillo – Close, But No Cigar

Beef Latin Food Spicy

I’m not sure if you’ve had picadillo before, but I’m very sure you’ve almost had it before. This Cuban creation is one of the world’s great ground meat dishes, and fairly similar to sloppy Joes, as well as bean-less chili, or as a chili connoisseur would call it, “chili." 

I went with beef here, but pork can be added, as well as chorizo. Often fillers like diced potato and squash are added, but since I serve this over rice, I typically don’t include those. I used to be more into hot, starch-on-starch action when I was younger, but these days, not so much.

As I mentioned in the video, many consider the olives optional, but for me, they’re one of the keys to the dish. Those briny bites reset your palate as you eat, which makes every bite seem like the first. Having said that, not everyone does olives, but I still really hope you give it a try soon – with capers. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

2 teaspoon olive oil

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (85/15 lean/fat)

1 cup diced yellow onions

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

3 cups crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup currants or raisins

1/2 cup sliced green olives, or to taste

Salt-Crusted Beef Tenderloin – No Lomo

Salt-Crusted Beef Tenderloin – No Lomo

Beef Latin Food Tips and Techniques

I received a food wish for lomo al trapo a while back, which I learned is a Colombian method for cooking beef tenderloin. The meat is encased in salt, wrapped in a kitchen towel, and then set on top of hot coals. 

Crediting the intense heat, and salt crust, aficionados of this Colombian technique say it produces the juiciest, most flavorful beef tenderloin you’ve ever had.

It really sounded amazing, and I wanted to try it, but realized many of you would have trouble explaining why you were destroying a perfectly good kitchen towel in the process. So, I decided to try a towel-free salt crust technique I’d used successfully on prime rib before, and despite some minor aesthetic issues, it worked amazingly well.

Beef tenderloin is a lean cut of meat, which can make for a fairly boring roast, but that was not the case here. The tenderloin took on an intensely beefy flavor, and was so juicy that I thought something was wrong.  There was so much on the cutting board, I was afraid there wouldn’t be any left in the meat, but I’m happy to report every single bite was dripping with moisture.

Maybe this summer, when the grill is fired up, and I have one too many kitchen towels around, I’ll try the real lomo al trapo technique, but in the meantime I was thrilled with how this came out, and really hope you give it a try soon. Stay tuned for the béarnaise sauce video, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

2 pound center-cut beef tenderloin roast

1 garlic clove crushed

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 egg white

about 3 cups coarse-ground sea salt