With the boom of nearby Mexican restaurants in San Francisco has come to the proliferation of 
Mexico City’s guisados — the circle of relatives-style stews served in a huge pot at the middle of the desk with a pile of tortillas and rice and beans. When made at home, those hearty braises usually closing nicely past one meal, and the meat-enriched sauce works for other dishes too, as Gabriela Cámara of Cala restaurant writes in her new cookbook “My Mexico City Kitchen.”
That’s truly the case with this albondigas recipe from Isabel Caudillo, chef-owner of El Buen Comer in the Mission District. One batch of the meatballs made more than sufficient for 2 meals for my family of 4, and I’m already thinking about what to do with the leftover chipotle-infused tomato sauce they were braised in.
A Mexico City expat, Caudillo at first launched her San Francisco enterprise from her home kitchen and later went via the La Cocina incubator application before starting El Buen Comer in 2016, that is run with the aid of her and numerous family contributors.
There, she serves guisados like this one, in addition to a mole Verde with red meat and mole rojo with fowl, in a cazuela, or terra-cotta casserole, to be shared at the desk. That’s also how she gives her brothy black beans with epazote and purple rice, much like you might at home.
For the meatballs: In a meals processor, pulse onion, garlic and mint till very finely chopped.
Pour this mixture in a big bowl and combine with the eggs. Add the floor pork and salt, then use your palms to mix together.
Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, degree 1½ tablespoons of the floor beef aggregate. Roll the scoops into balls together with your arms and region them onto a baking sheet.
Heat the olive oil in a huge Dutch oven over medium-excessive heat. Working in batches, cook dinner the meatballs until gently browned on all aspects however nevertheless slightly pink in the middle, approximately 6 minutes. Add greater oil, if needed, with every batch. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel-lined plate (don’t wash the pan).
To make the sauce and end: In the food processor, puree the tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, onion and garlic cloves with ½ cup water until easy.
Add the tomato-chipotle puree to the same Dutch oven you used to cook the meatballs (if the pan is dry, upload a bit extra oil). Season with 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer over low warmness and cook for approximately 6 minutes. Add the meatballs and stir lightly to coat with the sauce. Cover and let simmer till the meatballs are cooked all the manner thru, approximately 15 minutes. Taste and alter seasoning with greater salt if preferred. Serve hot. Inconvenient – This can be from the Head Chef keeping the list of the standardized recipe in his room and had it locked or having three big books of a standardized recipe and need kitchen staff to flip over one by one to get everything done. Inconvenience is the number ONE factor that led to kitchen staff not using standardized recipes.
Time-consuming – This is also one of the reasons why the standardized recipe is not followed. During peak hours, a kitchen does not have time to waste and every second count.
Better variations – Some Chefs prefer to follow they are centric of taste, some just worship their own beliefs. This could cause a problem when there is no proper training provided and Kitchen Control.
Rules are meant to be broken – There are always different people/consumers around your restaurant. What’s important, the customers. When standardized recipes are not tested regularly on the restaurant, inaccurate information may be provided in the standardized recipe. Solution: Leave room or space for food/cooking variation. This usually happens when the Head Chef is not properly organized or trained well for his position.
