Comments on: Mechado a la Marketman, Revisited

By: rene ocampo

rene ocampo — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:22:00 +0000

Mechado was a regular fare in our household in my youth. Coming from a family of Kapampangans, our own version of mechado is sliced into 1/4 ” thick before laying it in a pot for cooking. There is a difference between our mechado and caldereta. We dont put any hot peppers but we employ a lot of garlic and we dont use liver spread as a thickenng agent. Our secret ingredient is adding olives and whole sweet pickles with some of the liquid from the bottle in the pot and simmering it on low heat for a few hours until the meat is soft. We add potatoes on the last 30 minutes of cooking.

By: max

max — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:02:06 +0000

hi marketman, ive always been a lurker of your blog and a collector of food magazines.
today, i made what i called asadong tagalog today. just like your mechado, i marinated pieces of flank cubes in soy sauce and lemon (no calamansi on hand) and some worcestershire sauce. i then simmered it in water and a can of tomatoes until tender. at this point, i should have taken out the beef and browned in oil as my family would do it -but laziness got the better of me.
anyway, i added carrots and potatoes and i think it turned out pretty well, tender and flavorful.
interestingly enough, a guest came over and said the MECHADO was good…and now reading your entry, her comment made sense.

By: Jack Congson

Jack Congson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:40:31 +0000

One more tip to avoid drying. The magic oven temperature is 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the Dutch oven pot in the middle rack of the oven. After about 2 hours check the internal temperature of the meat. The muscle starts breaking down at 200 degrees. Once you reach this internal temperature continue cooking one more hour. This really works. Good Luck!

By: Jack Congson

Jack Congson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:08:34 +0000

When you said the meat was dry, I looked at the dutch oven pot picture and I saw the burnt tomato sauce on the pot’s sidewalls. As well you kind of indicated some kind of a roast. Since the mechado is really a braised stew, I think you should have put on the cover of your Le Creuset. This will ensure self basting and not dry the beef. The evaporating liquid will just flow down the pot walls and you should not see the burnt tomato sauce. The larding process is an old European technique to make cheap tough beef cuts juicy and tasty. It is definitely not just a decoration. The tougher your meat , the more lardons you should insert along the grain of the meat. Essentially you are just artificially adding the marbling fat that is otherwise found in more expensive cuts. Beef mechado is really a pot roast, not a real roast exposed to the dry heat of the oven.

I enjoy reading your blog out here in cold Toronto. Thanks.

By: Lito

Lito — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:19:42 +0000

I use top round or kabilugan, as the butchers in Manila call it. Best with a thin layer of fat on one side. I ask them to insert the strip of pork fat inside.
I marinate it in soy sauce, kalamansi, a little red wine, and some worcestershire sauce. After about an hour, I take it out of the marinade, allow it to stand and dry, then fry on all sides. I remove the meat and in the remaining oil on the pan, I saute garlic, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, patis to taste, peppercorns ground roughly. I then add a half-cup of red wine and water enough to cover half of the mechado. Add a few pieces of bay leaf (laurel). Allow it to slowly braise until fork tender.
Now, to make sure it is not dry as in your picture, remove the whole piece of meat, and allow to cool. Meanwhile, strain the remaining liquid (you may add water as needed), fix the salt and seasoning to taste.
Slice the meat into 1/4-inch thick slices, and then return these into the liquid, and set to a boil. This way, the braising liquid enters the meat slices.
Thicken the braising liquid into some kind of thin gravy. Pour into the sliced mechado arranged in a serving platter. Best served with carrots and potatoes.