Bob Belcher And The Heritage Turkey...

And a shredded beef taco recipe.

RECIPE FOR SHREDDED BEEF TACOS AT THE BOTTOM

Mami Update: The surgeon and the team have given Mami her surgery date, which will be at the end of October. She’ll have to stay in the hospital for up to seven days post-op, just to ensure her incision is healing well and that she farts without pain. Then she’ll start a round of chemo. When? I don’t know yet. In the meantime, I’ve just been keeping her life as normal as usual; thrifting, drives and casino. If she’s feeling up to it. And now you know everything I know.

I know some of you are wondering about Mami. I have been getting some of your DMs. I REALLY appreciate a lot of y’all that are holding off on DM’ing me to ask. Giving me some space. Sometimes one hundred individual DMs from well-meaning youse can get overwhelming and most days I don’t want to talk about the issue. The process has been so slow that there are chunks of time where we don’t know anything. I promise to always update you when we know more.

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I was recently scrolling TikTok at some ungodly hour. Trying to soak up every fibre of the app while I can, while it still can exist in the U.S. despite Zuckerman trying to take it down because of his own comic, supervillain-esque, vendetta against it. The video was a young woman interacting with her grandma, clearly from the “old world,” complaining the granddaughter had spent over a hundred dollars on a turkey for Thanksgiving. The grandmother seem personally insulted (hilarious), the comments seemed absolutely surprised that it was even possible. Oh, it be possible.

Not only did it remind me of Bob Belcher and his heritage turkey from Riverbrook Lake Farms, “…you guys don’t get it. These heritage turkeys are the best turkeys you can buy. They’re like the Ferrari’s of turkeys.”

But, it also reminded me of my own slow progression. From the Safeway $5, $6 and $7 turkey deal they used to have (when you spent $25) to Branigan’s Turkey Farm in Woodland. You used to be able to pick up your fresh (never frozen) turkey directly from the farm before the pandemic. For some reason, it made it more real? Now you just place your order over the phone with one of the supermarkets on the list, pick it up at the supermarket and hope you don’t get stuck behind someone that has forgotten their order number despite the clerks having told you several times to not forget your order number so they don’t have to go through pages of a physical notebook and search for your name in a sea of hundreds of names. Don’t get me wrong, Branigan’s have good turkeys. Better than what was happening with those Safeway turkeys. But, I have noticed that some years the turkeys are good and some years…ehhhhh…not so much.

This year it’s time to progress to a whole other type of bird. I already buy my meats through Stemple Creek Ranch. Their chicken comes from Big Bluff Ranch, which is up near Redding, California. They’ve just released their pre-orders for their turkeys and…they’re expensive.

October 20th is the last day to pre-order

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SHREDDED BEEF TACOS

Serves 2-4

2 pounds “stew” beef *

2 tablespoons Cali Guisada

2 teaspoons olive oil, for sauteing

2 teaspoons ground New Mexico chile

1 teaspoon ground Guajillo chile

Salt and pepper, to taste

Shredded cheese

Minced white onion and cilantro for garnish, optional

Season your meat with one tablespoon of Cali Guisada blend and set aside.

In a medium size pot, over high heat, sear your meat in olive oil until it develops some brownness, 3 - 5 minutes.

Pour in enough water (or stock) to cover the meat, ensuring there’s an additional inch of liquid. Season the water with Cali Guisada, New Mexico and Guajillo chiles. Bring mixture to a rolling boil and immediately turn down to a simmer. Depending on your stove, could be medium to low.

Simmer, covered, for one hour or until the meat is very tender.**

In a separate pan or comal, over medium high, add a little olive oil to slightly crisp up the tortilla. Add the tortilla and add 2 - 4 eating tablespoons of meat to one side of the tortilla. It really depends on how meaty you like your tacos. Add your prefered shredded cheese on top of the meat. Close the tortilla onto the meat and cheese, forming the taco. Slowly add an eating tablespoon of broth at a time from the simmering pot onto the exposed side of the taco. Add 2 - 3 tablespoons of broth. When it comes to using the broth, try skimming close to the surface where most of the fat has settled. The fat will help crisp, but the broth will give the tortilla flavor. Keep crisping it in the pan until your desired crispness. Flip the taco and repeat.

Serve with a side of the broth for dipping and sipping.

NOTES

*Stew beef can be any type of meat when purchasing it pre-cubed in the supermarket. You want to make sure it’s something that has a lot of marbling (those thin white veins) because the fat and the collagen are going to help thicken and flavor the sauce. If you can’t find this…purchasing a boneless beef chuck roast and breaking it down into 1/2’’ cubes would also work. It’s just a lot more meat than I want to cook.

**Keep an eye on the liquid level. You do want the liquid to reduce, but you want the level to always remain right above the meat. That’s why you give it an additional inch at the very beginning. By the time it reduces, we’re hoping to have a flavorful broth and enough to use for dipping and sipping. If you need to add more liquid, remember to reseason for balance.

***I know you’re looking for the fresh onion and garlic, but I didn’t use it. The Cali Guisada blend has so much garlic and onion powder in it, I just took the lazy way out on this day. Not that fresh onion and garlic have the same flavor profile as ground, they don’t. If you want to add fresh onion and garlic…do it! And report back because I’m nosey. LOL.

FOR THE VISUAL LEARNERS

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