Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Chipotle Style Beef

I have been developing a love for spicy food, in particular I like adding hot sauce to pretty much anything that is not a dessert. I thought that hot sauces would be useful in the cooking process as well. I had used hot sauce successfully in a pork recipe , so I figured it would work just as well with beef. I used a chipotle style hot sauce called pick-a-pepper, which has a more smoky flavor. I'm also proud to say that I kept this recipe to four ingredients. Particularly when you are busy, the less prep and ingredients involved, the better. Save the really complicated recipes for the weekend.
Ingredients
1 lb beef stew meat
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of "pick-a-pepper" sauce
2 tablespoons of Chipotle style BBQ rub (I got Northwoods Fire from Penzey's Spices)

Obviously you can substitute in your own sauce or spice rub. I really recommend these though. They are delicious and very inexpensive.

Put the meat in a bowl and add in the vinegar and pick-a-pepper sauce. Stir until evenly coated and sprinkle the rub on top, stirring again until all the meat is evenly coated.
Add in to your crockpot and cook on low for 8-9 hours (if you are making more than 2 lbs, I would adjust this 10-12 hours)

Remove the meat from the crockpot and shred using two forks. Add back in the remaining juices from the crockpot to return some moisture to the meat.

I served my meat with some Old Cape Cod Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Couldn't find a link for it, but most grocery stores carry it. You could also use some more pick-a-pepper sauce or your hot sauce will work great too.

Final Thoughts:
I thought my meat came out a little drier than usual. I think that was related to making a small amount of meat in a large crockpot, which prevent the juices from collecting and keeping the meat moist throughout the cooking process. I also think that I would have been better off with a a fattier cut of meat. The stew meat I used was pretty lean. That said, I definitely enjoyed my results and would make this recipe again in the future.

2 comments:

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

This also sounds AWESOME (and looks easy). I've just printed and it will give it a try next week. Thanks for sharing!

Barbara said...

Do you still reac comments on a 4year-old+ post? Hope so....'cause here's a hint you're going to love. Toss well-done meat (beef, chicken, pork, road-kill) into the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn it to speed 1, and in just a minute or two you'll have shredded meat. I don't know if it works with a hand held mixer or not, but I think you've got a fighting chance with that, too.