Mmmmmachaca! An Ode to Carolina's

Has any food ever brought tears to your eyes? Not the kind of stinging, onion-induced variety but real, honest-to-goodness tears?  Me neither...until the night I left Phoenix.


The day had been a long one, filled with packing, cleaning and preparing for the 1300 mile haul to Portland. While disappointed with our sluggish departure, there was a silver lining to that cloud: If we rushed, we could enjoy one last meal at Carolina's on our way out of town. Carolinas is a divey little Mexican restaurant in south Phoenix that serves up the best damn machaca this gringa has ever eaten. Oh, and having lived in Phoenix for the last seven years, I've eaten a lot! 


The machaca at Carolina's is hot, wet and a little bit spicy. If there are onions or peppers still in the meat, they're so cooked down I haven't noticed them, unlike at some other taquerias, where they constitute half the filling. Tightly wrapped in a soft, handmade tortilla and served with Carolina's addictive salsa, the machaca burro (or burrito to the rest of you) is not to be missed. It is the perfect farewell Phoenix meal and my stomach was screaming for it by the time we locked up the apartment and closed the roller door on the U-Haul. 


Unfortunately, time was tight and I knew that if I was going to score a couple of machaca burros, it was going to be right before closing time and I was going to have to race for them. Although the drive there is a bit of a blur, I know I pulled some Andretti-like moves in my little white Versa while Martin followed distantly in the cumbersome moving truck. Then, just before 7:30, I got stuck at the stoplight directly in front of Carolina's. It was 7:29 when I finally parked so I tried the door. Joy of joys, it was open! 


"Two machaca burros, please!" I said panting.


"Sorry, Mam, we're closed," said the man behind the register.


"But it's not 7:30 yet!" I cried.


"It's 7:31," he said, nodding towards the restaurants's clock.


"Please!" I begged "I'm moving and I have to have one last machaca burro!"


"Sorry, the registers are already closed," he said patiently.


I finally gave up and slunk out to the car, defeated. "I didn't make it," I told Martin over the phone, my eyes beginning to water. "I just really wanted one last machaca burro."


The ridiculousness of the whole thing didn't strike me until later and although I know moving can be a stressful time, I maintain that the machaca burro is a special food, if not a tear-worthy one. 


The following recipe is my own tweaked version of Big Dave's Beef Machaca and, despite the name, it comes astoundingly close to Carolina's machaca. We had it for dinner on Christmas Eve as a sort of tribute to our Christmases in Phoenix.


Beef Machaca

Ingredients

• 3-4 lb Chuck Roast

Marinade

• 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

Additional Ingredients

• Additional vegetable or olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion-cut into large chunks
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup beef broth
• 1/2 a 28 oz can of Las Palmas Red Chile Sauce (or other sauce)
• 1 small can whole green chile peppers
• Dash of Tabasco Sauce
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon oregano

Directions

1. Slice chuck roast into 3" pieces. Trim larger portions of fat off and discard.
2. Combine marinade ingredients, add meat and marinate overnight.
3. Heat a small amount of olive oil or vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat on the stove.
4. Remove beef pieces from marinade, dry with paper towels. Working in batches, brown beef in hot oil. Do not crowd pan or beef will steam instead of brown. Remove beef from pan. If necessary, add a little more oil. 
5. Add onions and saute for approximately 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute for an additional minute.
6.  Return beef to pan. Add broth, chile sauce, chile peppers, Tabasco, cumin and oregano. 
7. Bring to a boil, scraping browned bits off the bottom of the pan. 
8. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.
9. Remove beef from pot. Allow to rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. 10. Meanwhile, strain pan juices through strainer into a bowl. Discard onions and chile peppers in strainer. Pour strained sauce back into Dutch oven. Note: This step can be omitted if you would like onions and chiles mixed in with the final machaca.
10. After its 10 minute rest, use two forks to shred beef pieces.
11. Return shredded beef to sauce in an uncovered Dutch oven.
12. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and continue cooking until much of the sauce has cooked off and mixture is just slightly wet.
13. Season with salt and chile pepper flakes as desired.
14. Serve rolled in warm tortillas with cilantro. Provide salsa on the side.