Beef Steak Ranchero’s with Potatoes

Beef Ranchero’s with Potatoes in a frying pan.

The Best Beef Steak Ranchero’s

If you’re a fan of Mexican food and you’ve never tried this dish, you’re going to love it. Beef Steak Ranchero’s is so very versatile and it can be made mild or spicy. It can be served with or over rice, for breakfast with eggs, tacos, burritos, tortes, the skies the limit because you’ve got well seasoned and marinated beef, onions and tomatoes and, in this recipe, we’re adding potatoes.

2.37 lb. Raw packaged Beef Carne Taco Meat from the grocery store, $3.98 per lb.

What kind of Beef

As you read the title, “Beef Steak” Ranchero’s you were probably wondering what cuts to use. At my local grocery, they put together packages of beef for stews, tacos and burritos. It’s usually just the miscellaneous scraps from steaks and roasts that is too meaty to waste and throw away. Sometimes it’s even pre-seasoned but I like to get a few packages at a time that isn’t seasoned so, I can do whatever I want with it. One for the fridge and one for the freezer.

If you don’t have this available to you, I would recommend buying the cheapest cuts you can find because the meat tenderizes as it cooks so there’s no reason to get real spendy with this dish. Also, you’re going to need to get familiar with my Blackened Seasoning recipe because I use it on the meat.

Plate of Beef Steak Ranchero’s with rice, beans and a folded flour tortilla.

How to serve this Dish

As I mentioned above, there are so many different ways to eat Beef Steak Ranchero’s. The way I prepare it, in the video down below, I just serve it with beans and plain white rice. You can serve it with Spanish rice, if you prefer, but I find the Ranchero’s flavor has plenty of spice to blend in with white rice. Also, the addition of Potatoes in this recipe makes Ranchero’s great in burritos or along side a Chili Relleno. What ever you decide, you might want to consider a few classic Mexican additions because, you can never go wrong with a squeeze of lime, chopped green onion or chives and cilantro.

Beef Steak Ranchero’s with Potatoes Ingredients:

2 lbs Beef Stew Meat
2 tbsp Blackened Seasoning
2 tbsp Cumin, ground
1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 Jalapeno, chopped
1/2 cup Brisket Beef Fat, chopped
1 can of Tomato, diced

Kosher Salt & Pepper to taste (aproximately 1/2 tbsp each)

2 tbsp Beef Fat Rendered or vegetable Oil
1 Onion, chopped & sautéed
2 Potatoes, Pre-boiled then cubed & sautéed
1 tsp Oregano

Kosher Salt & Pepper to taste and consider adding lime, green onion and cilantro when serving.

Boiled the potatoes beforehand for 20 minutes then refrigerated overnight. Cook the diced potatoes and onions together but separately from the meat and tomatoes before combing. Follow the instructions in the video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make Beef Steak Ranchero’s with Potatoes. Also, this meal can be cooked in a slow cooker.

Barbacoa Pork

The Best Barbacoa Pork

Usually, when I hit a grand slam, I’m either running the bases or shoveling food in my face at Denny’s. Which one of those two moments do you think this is? If you guessed Denny’s, you’re half right. Only, this time, I’m stuffing my face with this amazing Barbacoa Pork recipe because it’s a winner.

Marinated Pork Picnic Roast for Barbacoa Pork.

Barbacoa Pork Marinade

In case you don’t know, Barbacoa is a recipe that was developed years ago in the Caribbean and it’s where the word barbecue derives. It’s usually prepared with beef meat, from the head. Sometimes goat or lamb is substituted for more gaminess and flavor(I think that’s a made up word, “Gaminess?” idk).

In this recipe, I use a Pork Picnic Roast(shoulder), and I used the Barbacoa Beef recipe that I filmed and posted a couple of years ago and transposed it for pork by adding Cilantro and Orange juice to the ingredients. That might sound crazy but it works, good I might add. And, Carnitas has Orange juice in it so, don’t even sweat it. Anyway, I only compare the two because of the mad similarities; they’re both pork recipes, with similar ingredients, cooked for long hours at a time and they both make excellent tacos.

My favorite taco condiments, onion, cilantro and lime.

Barbacoa Pork Tacos

In my opinion, the best tacos are fried tacos and this Barbacoa Pork recipe is no exception. I do occasionally double stack corn tortilla’s and eat my tacos soft but, nothing beats a little hot oil and some salt, to crisp up and flavor a boring tortilla. Then, I just keep it real with some simple condiments; onion, cilantro and lime. No need for salsa because the fresh flavor and spice is already in each bite. If you want to check out my Pico De Gallo recipe, however, I’m not going to stop you.

Barbacoa Pork Ingredients:

10 lbs Pork Picnic Roast
Kosher Salt and Pepper 1/2 tsp per lb

Marinade
1 small onion
6 Garlic Cloves, peeled
2 Chipotle Chili’s in Adobo Sauce
2 tbsp Adobo Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tbsp Oregano, dried
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/2 bunch Cilantro
1 cup Red Enchilada Sauce, PMGK Recipe Only

Red Enchilada Sauce Ingredients: (Watch the Video)

12 Large Dehydrated Chili’s, seeded
1 qt Chicken Broth, approximately
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Salt, adjust to taste
2 garlic Cloves

Follow the instructions in the Barbacoa Pork video tutorial and Bake the marinated Picnic Roast at 200° Fahrenheit for 12 hours. For Tacos, I recommend Corn tortilla’s, raw or fried topped with Barbacoa Pork and Garnished with chopped Onion, Cilantro and Fresh Lime.

American Greek Gyro

The Best Greek Gyro is Here!

A Greek Gyro is great way to celebrate a food. Not only are they great tacos, they’re 3 times the size of a street taco and, considered by some, much more like a sandwich. The basic shell is a flat bread called, Pita and the meat and filling can vary but traditionally the vegetables are consistently the same; lettuce, tomato and red onion. The one thing that is absolutely irreplaceable, however, is the Tzatziki Sauce and it is the secret sauce added to every gyro.

Greek Gyro Meat

Believe it or not, an authentic Greek Gyro isn’t made with Beef and Lamb or even Veil, for that matter. Recipes that have those mixed meats originated outside of Greece. The Greeks use a an intensified marinated pork that cooks rotisserie style. This enables the cook to trim a just little bit off the outside at a time for each Taco as the rest of the meat continues to cook towards the middle. The meat is sliced thin to begin with, so the trimmings from the outside tend to be very tender. And, thanks to the Marinade, very tasty.

In this recipe, I use a 1/2 pound steak cut from a Beef Chuck and 2 quarter pound Lamb Chops cut from a shoulder and I run the cuts through a meat grinder, using a large die. This gives me 1 lbs of ground meat to marinate.

Greek Gyro Marinade

Though the mixture of Ground Beef and Lamb can be very tasty, it isn’t enough flavor to stand alone in a Greek Gyro. A marinade must be added. The marinade I used in my Pork Gyro recipe works great in this one is well. The only real difference is that I cut the ingredients down because there’s less meat to season. Also, marinating the meat itself for a time isn’t necessary. You can cook it as soon as everything is mixed in and incorporated.

Greek Gyro Ingredients:

1/2 lbs Beef Chuck Steak, ground
1/2 lbs Lamb Chops, ground

Marinade
1/4 Red Onion, grated
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Rosemary
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings
Tzatziki Sauce, Click Here for Recipe
Baby Spinach or Lettuce
Tomato, diced
Red Onion, diced

Depending on your filling, you Should be able to get 6-8 Gyros from this recipe.