Mexican Vinegar Recipes

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN BIRRIA RECIPE

Steps:

• Season the meat with salt, pepper, and cumin
• Cut open the dried chiles with scissors and remove the seeds
• Fry the dried chiles with a small amount of oil in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes, moving constantly so they don't burn. Set aside
• Add the chiles from the previous step to a small pot with boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until softened.
• In the same frying pan where you fried the chiles, add 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the onions and tomatoes until they are browned. Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and all of the remaining spices except for the ground cumin and ginger. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, moving it around often.
• Add the chiles (including the water), the ingredients from the previous step, and the ginger, cumin, apple cider vinegar and water to a blender and blend until smooth. It will still be pretty thick, but that is fine. Strain and set aside the resulting sauce for the next step.
• Pour the sauce over the meat in a large bowl and cover. If using the oven or stovetop methods, you will want to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight. If using the electric pressure cooker option, you can marinate it, but it isn't necessary.
• Follow the cooking instructions according to your preferred method below.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large stockpot and cook over medium heat, covered, for about three hours, or until the meat falls off the bones and is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large oven-safe dish and cover with aluminum foil and cook at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 2 hours or until the meat is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade (or just the meat and the marinade separately if you chose not to marinate it) to the pot of the electric pressure cooker.
• Follow instructions for your electric pressure cooker to bring it to high pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release pressure naturally for 5 minutes and then use the quick pressure release option to release the rest of the pressure. Remove the lid per instructions and the meat will be tender and ready to shred.
• Remove the meat and shred it. You can then serve it over the soup made from the sauce that the meat cooked in or you can serve it with tortillas as tacos with cilantro, lime, onions, and salsa.

MEXICAN VINEGAR

Steps:

• Pour vinegar over bruised herbs. Cover tightly and steep 2-3 weeks.
• Strain into decorative bottle. Add a whole red pepper for decoration.

EASY MEXICAN COLESLAW

Steps:

• In a large bowl, toss the colelsaw mix with the sliced onion and chopped cilantro. In a small bowl or jar with a fitted lid, mix the canola oil, lime juice, garlic, honey, cumin, oregano, coriander, hot sauce, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. Pour over the coleslaw mixture and toss. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This recipe is best eaten day of, but can be refrigerated overnight.

MEXICAN MARINADE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Combine vinegar, oil, cilantro, water, garlic, lime, salt, pepper, and spices.

ESCABECHE RECIPE (MEXICAN PICKLED VEGETABLES)

Steps:

• Cut the vegetables and place them in a pint sized mason jar (or two). Use more or less of any vegetable as desired.
• If using whole seeds, toast them in a small pot over medium heat until fragrant, approximately 2 minutes.
• Add the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to the pot (and add the ground spices here if using ground instead) and bring to a boil.
• Remove the pot from the heat and pour the vinegar mixture into the jars over the vegetables. Let cool and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

MEXICAN GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a medium size mixing bowl combine the ingredients for the marinade. Whisk together.
• Add the chicken and submerge in the marinade. Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate 2-4 hours (over marinating can cause mushy chicken).
• Preheat grill to 425℉.
• Remove chicken from the marinade and pat dry.
• Place the chicken over direct heat on the grill and cook for 3 minutes then flip the chicken. Cook an additional 3 minutes.
• Move the chicken to more indirect heat on the grill, cover and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160°F in the thickest part.
• Allow the chicken to rest (the internal temperature will continue to rise to 165°F). After resting the chicken can be sliced and served.