Taking Beef From Tough to Tender

Panamanian beef is tough, we all know that. I’m wondering if any other country has beef as tough as we have in Panama.

The chicken and pork available in Boquete is amazingly fresh and tender, but the beef cuts are truly challenging. The first problem is how the cuts are named. Most all meats are sold the old fashioned way, over the counter. Of course, if you don’t speak Spanish, the names in the meat cases are different and you can’t pronounce the cuts of beef, even if you knew what you wanted to buy. For instance, punta de palomilla is rump tip.

But, Chef Juan Linares changed all that for the students at his on-going class, by teaching them how to buy, age and prepare tough cuts of beef to make them tender. Doesn’t that sound really special?

First, two butchers from our local Romero’s Supermarket showed actual cuts of beef the way they look in the meat cases of the supermarket. One butcher watched as Chef Juan explained how to prepare lomo redondo, see photo above. Some of the cuts were huge, not at all like they look in markets in other countries.

Falda, punta de palomilla and lomo redondo became familiar cuts of beef to us. We learned how to order exactly the cuts we would like to prepare, whether it was prime rib roast or stew meat.

Then, Chef Juan shared his methods of aging, marinating, and preparing three economical, readily-available cuts of beef. To everyone’s delight, each dish, Shredded Beef with Black Bean Sauce, pressure-cooked Black Roast and Beef Roast in Herbs Crust, was made tender and delicious.

Side dishes included an unusual Causa of Yucca with Cilantro Sauce and Papaya Avocado Salad with Pink Pepper Dressing . Chef Juan did admit that using papaya in the appetizer or salad prepares your stomach for enjoying the taste and tenderness of Panamanian beef. Papaya can also be used as a tenderizer for beef.

The final course of the dinner was an easy-to-make Maracuya and Yogurt Tart using local Graham Crackers called Galletas Maria.

To make this dessert, simply empty a can of sweetened, condensed milk into a bowl. Fill the can with plain yogurt and empty it into the bowl. Then, fill the can again with your favorite fresh fruit pulp and whisk the three ingredients together. Layer graham crackers, then the fruit mixture in a rectangular pan until you have 3 or 4 layers. Chill for at least 3 hours, cut and serve cold.

The surprise at the end of the evening was when Rose shared with everyone her gorgeous painting, “Three Happy Chefs”. The three chefs reminded us all how much fun it is to get together and learn new techniques for preparing gourmet meals at home. If you’d be interested in seeing Rose’s artwork, please let me know and I’ll send you more information.

If you’d like to learn more about how to convert tough Panamanian beef into tender and tasty main course meals, Juan has just opened another class to be held on Thursday, June 9, beginning at 11AM. This early start allows for daylight hours. You may click on the green and orange calendar at the right and reserve your seat now.

Special thanks to Betty Dabney for her delightful photos, see more at http://infinityglimpsed.blogspot.com/2011/03/coras-garden.html, including some photos of my garden.

Hope to see you soon,
Cora

Updating Panamanian Market Cuisine

As Chef Juan Linares was designing his new cooking class to include fresh and different ways to use ingredients found at most markets in Panama, he began thinking about the rich supply of farm products we have here in Boquete, often called “Panama’s market-basket”.

So many of Boquete’s newer residents and visitors see these various ingredients in markets, and they can’t imagine how they would ever learn to use them in their daily lives the way most locals do.

We commonly see otoy, tree tomatoes, plantains and tiny red peppers offered on menus in local restaurants. Achiote seeds, culantro and packs of panela fill the shelves of our local markets, but so many of us don’t know how to use them.

With that in mind, Chef Juan opened up his second series of classes offering techniques and tips on how to prepare more of these common foods to make our local Boquete cuisine even richer and more appealing.

Twelve lucky participants gathered in my kitchen to help Juan prepare Tropical Cosmopolitans, Plaintain Chips, Ceviche, Red Sweet Chili Rice, Round Salad with Fresh Tomato Dressing, Fish Moqueca, and Corn-Coconut Pudding. Each dish was made using farm-fresh ingredients such as those listed above.

Well, not every ingredient was found in the local market. The Herrerano Seco comes from Panama City, Boquete’s favorite alcoholic beverage. Juan and I both demonstrated how local residents use it with tree tomato syrup to make a very appealing and tasty cocktail.

It was fun to see Juan’s Round Salad take shape as eager participants assembled the variety of ingredients into gorgeous, colorful towers and then topped them with fresh tomato dressing and chiffonade of culantro.

To my good fortune, photographer Betty Dabney joined in on the fun, and she graciously contributed all the photos in this blog.

Thanks very much for your photos Betty, you captured the essence of the evening.

We understand that you’re an excellent cook as well as a photographer, having attended a couple of the finest International culinary schools. It’s so nice to have you join in some of our culinary events here in Boquete.

This little mountain town has so much to offer, especially when it comes to sharing talents of its residents and visitors. Chef Juan and Betty, two very talented friends, are busy doing just that.

Enjoy the markets in Boquete, they’re bountiful!
Cora

Getting Ready for Chef Juan

Our next Boquete Gourmet cooking class features Juan Linares, Professional Chef and exceptional teacher, presenting “Famous Historic Dishes”. Juan will tell stories about six historic dishes and he will demonstrate how to make them, explain how they figured in history and share how they can be replicated today in Boquete and in your kitchen.

The class is totally filled at this time, and a waiting list of eager participants are standing by, in case someone is not able to attend. The dishes are unusual; Beef Wellington, Antipasto, Crepes Suzette, and three other unique dishes, making a full-course dinner for the attendees. This is culinary history revisited.

I have received the recipes from Chef Juan and they are all very interesting, full of unique techniques and blends of ingredients to be prepared on Thursday.

One of the tips we’ll learn is where to get ready-made puff pastry, right here in Boquete. There are two main dishes, Beef Wellington and Chicken Marengo, each of which have interesting and unique histories.

My shopping list is now complete and it should be quite easy to find everything the chef needs. Almost everything is available within 5 minutes of my kitchen. Juan uses ingredients that are mostly found locally, except for one.

The item that may be a bit difficult to find is real French foie gras, or fat goose liver pate’. We have a small delicatessen on Boquete’s main street, so I’ll begin my search there. If I can’t find it here, I may need to go down to David, a city about 45 minutes from Boquete. Almost everything can be found in David’s many huge supermarkets.

If you’d like to read more about foie gras, go to Wikipedia for the complete history, methods of preparing and serving this delicacy. Wikipedia provided this idea of serving it with pickled pears, it really looks delicious.

The entire menu from the class will be posted soon, along with one of the recipes from Juan’s recipe book.

Please keep checking this site for more details on this one-of-a-kind, historical class, and especially of how Chef Juan plans to use the foie gras.
Wish me luck shopping!
Cora

Juan’s Clever Panamaian Cuisine

I asked for an innovative menu for using local Panamanian ingredients for a future cooking class, and Professional Chef, Juan Linares designed just the right dishes to showcase. Chef Juan is seen weekly at the Boquete Tuesday Morning Market serving his delicious soups, chili and regional dishes.

When I received the list of local ingredients Juan needed to use for the class, I found most of them were available in Boquete. How to use them to make a full-course dinner for Juan’s cooking class seemed a mystery to me. These are vegetables I see every day in the many markets in Boquete, but I couldn’t identify them by name. So, I asked for yucca by name, and the shopkeeper pointed to yucca. Same for plantains, raspadura, guandu and chayote.

I found the prices varied greatly, depending on which market I visited. It was interesting to find many of Juan’s vegetables on the bottom shelves in most markets, in unmarked bins. The blocks of raspadura were also found in among the vegetables. I usually pass up the things in the bottom bins, because I don’t know what they are or what to do with them.

That all changed last night.

Juan arrived in my kitchen a couple hours before the class was to begin. He quickly sorted, peeled and prepared many of the ingredients for the dishes he had planned to present. He began with the Guandu Dip and the Platanos Chips for dipping.

The Frozen Papaya Smoothie with Ginger Root and Light Rum went exactly right with the appetizer. After a smoothie, most of the students wanted to help with preparing yucca, chile powder, adobo and chayote.

Students brought their favorite knives and Juan demonstrated his expert knife skills to an eager group of onlookers, then everyone got into the act, even me.

As you look at these photos, do you see how much fun Juan had watching his students prepare “fancy” Panamaian foods? They stir-fried Chayote and Shrimp and made Yucca Bunelos with Raspadura Sauce. We all enjoyed the evening, thanks so much to Juan for sharing his very clever ways of using common, inexpensive ingredients to make a full-course, delicious, nutritious and beautiful dinner.

Most all Juan’s recipes for using these local ingredients will be included in the new “Boquete Gourmet Community Cookbook”, to be released next month in Boquete. Look for it soon! Cora