Have you ever Heard a about the cecina? Of you are originally from México your answer must be “yes”, other way, for the ones who doesn´t know what it is we will tell them. Cecina is a salty meat, dehydrated, traditionally from the middle and northern estates of México. In fact, it is from the Estate of Sonora that comes one of the most popula cecina or dry beef that we all know. We invite you to keep reading and get to know everything about this Mexican cecina.
To get a better understanding of its history, we have to travel back in time 2000 years when Spanish people used salty technics to preserve the meat for longer time in their long distance travels that merchants, explorers, messengers and warriors used to do. Over the years, this technics evolve and started to be implemented to elaborate the well known jamón ibérico, the belloteros and this popular cecinas. This conservation process crossed the Atlantic ocean all the way to Yecapixtla. 200 years ago, Mexican people began using this technics to conserve the deer meat, rabbit meat and boar meat.
Many cities in the Northern States of Mexico claim to be the place of origin of the Machacado Norteño de res. A lot of stories, myths and legends are known about where and how this delicious dish was born. We decided to stick with the story attributed to the State of Sonora, which tells that some miners tired of eating dried beef alone, as they used to do every day, asked the cook on duty to vary the dish, so she took what she had at the moment, besides the meat: some chiles, onion, tomatoes and eggs, and prepared for the first time what we know today as Machacado Norteño de res con huevo (Northern Beef and Egg Machacado).
The elaboration process of the cecina is more like a ritual carried out by an artisan. On one hand, it is very important that the meat cut has to be done by a specialist, otherwise the meat can be lost. It is been said that the cecinero master needs to have the ability to change the cutting direction without stopping the cut, this means that he can keep cutting always the same peace of flesh. After that, the meat gets salted and chiled, so then it is hanged under the sun and covered with fabric so it can absorb the salt and dry. The final step is to put some butter on it and zip it in a plastic bag.
Our Chef is a truly specialist when it comes to cecina. He knows a recipe that will make you fell like ordering one right away. It is made with 140g of crashed beef cecina meat, salted with chile´s poblano slits, onion and tomato, mixed with egg and frijoles refritos. What do you think?
To make your order, you just need to click here and enjoy this amazing dish. Fredy´s Tucán recommends to ask first if you have never tried before.
