No Way Jose Cuisine

This dish is popular in the northern part of Mexico. It is made in so many ways, but the most traditional way to make it is with scrambled eggs for breakfast or brunch. Depending on the region, it will be served with corn or flour tortillas. Is salty dried beef, then shredded and crushed—an old way to preserve the meat. Traditionally the meat is sun dried and you need a hot and dry weather, that's why the north of Mexico is manly a producer. Is also heavily coated in salt because it aids in killing harmful bacteria, which makes it high in sodium, but if you are dehydrating it in the oven or food dehydrator, you can skip the heavy salt or all at all as long as it is dehydrated between 150 and 180 F. There is no measurements just directions so you can make as lees or much as you want.

Machaca (Beed Jerky)

cut the meat in large chunks and wrap them up with plastic; then put them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to make them firm and easier to slice.

With a meat slicer or a sharp knife, carefully slice the meat not tho thin and not too thick, the thicker the longer it will take, I sliced mine half centimeter of thickness. 

Season the meat with salt as much as you like since salt helps preserve it longer and kills harmful bacteria. Machaca is very salty, but you can skip the salt if you want as long as you dehydrate at the recommended temperature. If your meat is juicy and dripping blood/liquid, tap-dry it with paper towels before seasoning it.

Place the slices of meat in the trays of the food dehydrator and dehydrate at 150-180 F for up to 12 hours. just ensure is dry and hard. If you dont have a dehydrator, hang the meat on the oven racks but only if your oven reaches low temperatures, some ovens dont go under 200 F.

When dried, crush the meat in a molcajete or metate. Meat will be too hard for a food processor and if you use a blender it will be finelly ginded and thats not recommended.

once crushed, seal them in zip bags or vacum sealed bags in your pantry for a long long time. Cook it in scrambled eggs, or a la mexicaca with onion, tomato, jalapeno, cilantro and water; in a soup or just as a snack with lime juice and spicy chili powder or salsa.

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