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Meat
Medium
10 Servings
Allergens 
10 Hours
Diets
No Diets specified
This special dish is a perfect appetizer or main for a holiday meal. These Mexican beef nuggets are cooked and then fried until perfection, with a perfect balance of subtle spice. Serves 10 – 15 Watch more Chef Gabe on Under the Hood!
7 pounds beef shoulder, cubed
1 large onion
15 cloves garlic
1/2 cup ancho paste
1/2 cup guajillo paste
3 tablespoons ground cumin, such as Pereg
3 tablespoons ground coriander
zest of 1 orange
few sprigs of oregano
3 cups beer
2 tablespoons salt
pepper, to taste
agar flakes or powder (see instructions below)
flour
6 eggs
4 ears corn on the cob
1 pint Gefen Almond Milk
1 tablespoon salt
about 15 medium jalapenos
1 tablespoon Haddar Kosher Salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup simple syrup
Salt and pepper the meat and brown in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once brown, remove and sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes, making sure to add oil if needed.
Add the ancho and guajillo pastes along with the ground cumin and coriander to the pot and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Deglaze with the beer, add the meat, orange zest, oregano, salt, and pepper to the pot. Add water until the liquid level covers the meat.
Bring the pot to a boil then cover and place in an oven heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around three hours. Check that the meat shreds easily.
While still warm, remove the meat pieces from the braise and shred into a nine- by 13-inch baking pan. Strain the liquid and add agar: use approximately three-fourths teaspoon per cup of liquid for agar powder or three-fourths tablespoon per cup of liquid for agar flakes. Bring to a boil. Add enough liquid to the shredded meat to almost cover the meat.
Place the pan in the fridge overnight to set. The next day, remove the set shredded meat from the pan and cut into two-inch cubes.
Coat the cubes in flour, egg, and panko. Freeze and save for later or fry in 350-degree oil until browned and crispy. If using frozen nuggets, defrost before frying.
Break the corn in two and cook in a medium-sized pot with the almond milk and salt until the corn kernels are soft, about 15 minutes.
Remove the corn from the pot, reserving the cooking liquid, and remove the kernels.
Using a blender or stick blender, puree the kernels with most of the cooking liquid until a nice puree has formed. Add more of the cooking liquid to the puree if it is too thick. Season with salt and serve.
Makes about 2 cups
Small dice the jalapenos; you should have about two cups, discarding the seeds and white parts. Mix with the kosher salt and sugar, place in a container and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, place in a small pot and cook along with the simple syrup over medium heat until it thickens and the liquid reduces. Cool and enjoy.
Makes about 1 cup
How Would You
Rate this recipe?
Around how many 2 inch cubes does this make?
I’m not sure how many exactly they make but it should serve between 10-15 people. Which means it would be at least 30 piece +
Definitley more than 30- this is a big recipe 🙂
pasta
ancho question where can I find ancho and guajillo I couldnt find it any subs?
Hi! For the show, they actually made the two pastes from scratch. It’s made by rehydrating the dry chilies in warm water. Remove the seeds and stems, then purée with some of the water used to rehydrate the chills. You can usually get the fried chilies at most local supermarkets or order online.
amazing appetizer for Yom Tov I saw this video two nights before Shavuos and just had to try it. It’s really very simple to prepare– I made the pulled beef before Yom Tov and let it set in the fridge. I breaded and fried it fresh before the meal on the first day, which was as easy as frying shnitzel!
It basically uses staple ingredients, and since I was making it at the last minute I just used whatever I had.
For the meat: I used a small kolichel and added some chicken bones to the braise to help it gel up instead of using agar. It worked very well. (I think it would probably work with any pulled beef recipe as long as it gels up.)
For the braising liquid: I didn’t have the fancy chili pastes, so instead I diced up a jalapeno to add while sauteing the onions and garlic, and added a couple of squirts of ketchup. I also don’t love to use citrus zest because of scales, so I added a large splash of orange juice instead. It came out so flavorful and delicious that I would use this recipe on a roast!
For serving, I warmed a can of cream corn instead of the corn puree 🙂 The jalapeno jam was extremely simple to prepare. I highly recommend serving it with both the corn and jalapeno, as they really rounded off the flavor and the plating nicely.
This one is a definite keeper!! Love how he took an expensive dish (usually made with beef cheeks) and brought us an affordable version!!