Text 25152, 91 rader
Skriven 2012-05-21 20:38:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: headmeat 4
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MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: About a Bulls Head Bbq Pt 2
 Categories: Beef, Mexican, Bbq, Info, Marinades
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
      1    Info file
 
  For our Chavarria-Higuera side of the family, the bull's head barbecue
  is a tradition dating back to the 19th century, recapturing the pride
  of the family's rancho. Most of the Spanish and Mexican land-grant
  ranchos in early California started out raising cattle and wheat.
  Since beef was so abundant, it appeared at every fiesta, and if a
  bullfight (sometimes staged with a grizzly bear) had taken place, the
  head was cooked in a stone- lined pit.
  
  (In later days, they saved the head if a beef had been slaughtered.
  Nothing went to waste, especially in lean times.)
  
  The person in charge of the pit, the collection of various woods, the
  meats and the head, the spices, the marinades -- and the show itself
  ~- was the asador. For us today, Jeff Chavarria is the man, just as
  before him his father, Jack, was the asador; before him, it was our
  grandfather, Frank Chavarria.
  
  Jeff not only has the right genes, but he also has the indefinable
  sixth sense of a true asador.
  
  Ultimately, a strong, opinionated asador is of the utmost importance.
  He has to be curmudgeonly, so that he doesn't care what anyone else
  thinks about the way he practices his voodoo on wood, smoke and meat.
  He cannot be bullied. There is simply a right way. His way.
  
  For our festivities, we ordered the bull's head from a cattle ranch --
  a month ahead. Jeff requested that the tongue be left intact; he says
  it's the most delicious part. He also wanted the hair left on the
  head, as was traditional on the rancho.
  
  The morning of the barbecue, after the bull's head was unwrapped and
  hosed off with cold water, it was liberally stuffed with large bunches
  of mint, oregano and rosemary. My son's girlfriend and one or two
  women vanished during the preparation, but my 8-year-old nephew,
  Cory, who lives in Connecticut, was fascinated -- the only other
  thing that interested him was the chocolate cake!
  
  After the herb stuffing, the head got liberal doses of wine, which was
  poured over the gunnysacking that was wrapped around the head, with
  wire to bind it tightly. This made it easier to lift the head into
  and out of the pit (see related story, this page).
  
  Long before dawn on the day of our bull's head barbecue -- in fact,
  for several days before -- Jeff and my husband, Bob, his assistant,
  were working hard, and not just on the bull's head. We'd had to assure
  everyone that other cuts of meat would be cooked in the pit, too.
  
  Often, pit-cooked meats taste steamed, because the method is really a
  lot like cooking in a sealed clay pot. But Jeff has a brilliant
  technique that breaks with tradition.
  
  First, the day before, he'd treated the two 12-pound roasts with a dry
  rub, then placed them on our old kettle grill, with smoldering coals
  pushed to one side. The lid came down; the meats smoked for an hour.
  The roasts were cooled down, then put in an ice chest to set the
  smoke.
  
  The next day, the day of the party, Jeff coated the surface of the
  roasts with minced fresh herbs and rolled up the meats in wine-soaked
  cheesecloth, then in aluminum foil. This method increases flavor
  about a
  
  hundredfold. Then it went into the pit (for pit-digging instructions,
  see related story, this page).
  
  Our barbecue was just like our childhood barbecues, with everyone
  running around in semi-organized pandemonium -- chopping herbs and
  vegetables for salsas, simmering beans, and arguing.

  From: Manny Rothstein                 Date: 04 Sep 98
 
MMMMM

Cheers

YK Jim


... Mustard's no good without roast beef. - Chico Marx

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