Yucatán Dry Spice Rub, Xak
Sometimes in the dead of winter, cooking needs a little extra oomph. Yucatán Dry Spice Rub, Xak, fits the bill. With a few minutes of work, your kitchen will soon be filled with warm, sweetly spiced, and earthy flavors. This easy and versatile spice rub stores well and provides a unique flavor boost to pork, poultry, fish, soups, veggies, or even garlic butter. Stay tuned for great new recipes in the next two weeks featuring Yucatán Dry Spice Rub to get you started. This spice rub recipe was inspired by Daniel Hoyer's book of Mayan cuisine.
Yield: approximately 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
- 8 inches whole Mexican cinnamon (canela)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
- 3 teaspoons whole allspice
- 3 teaspoons whole black pepper corns
- 2 teaspoons whole cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
Steps:
- Combine all ingredients in a mortar and pestle, spice grinder, or food processor.
- Grind to a fine powder.
- Keeps well for up to 2 months in a sealed container, or up to 6 months if frozen.
Smokey Mexican Chile Paste, Chilmole
Last weekend, Rebecca and I moved into our permanent house here in Haiti. What a relief after months of transition. With food on the mind, our first order of business was setting up the grill! And yes, if you were wondering... it is the same grill we had in Pittsburgh for 8 years, lovingly disassembled and brought over in a suitcase by my MacGyver-of-a-father. As temperatures rise, there is just something special about grilled food. Maybe its that the smokey char reminds me of campfires and sleeping under the stars, maybe its just the uncomplicated joy of cooking over flames. For me, this Smokey Mexican Chile Paste is the closest thing there is to bottling all that is beautiful about grilling. Our non-traditional take on Mexican chilmole paste tempers the hard char of the classic black version, for a lighter, more fruity chili flavor. This paste is excellent for making red rice, a great base for barbecue sauces, a go-to rub for meats, and a potent flavor boost for chilis and other soups.
Yucatán Quick Pickled Red Onions, Escabeche De Cebolla
It’s grilling season, and these cumin and oregano scented quick pickled red onions are the wonderfully vibrant Mexican condiment that recently took our household by storm, summarily ousting ketchup and mustard from first-shelf-fridge-status. Since the weather is warming up, we like to keep a jar of these delicious Yucatán Quick Pickled Red Onions on hand to top burgers, hot dogs, tacos, even salads get piled with a handful of these fuchsia gems. Whip up a quick batch, and try these pickled red onions out with our Turkey Feta Burgers With Yogurt Curry Sauce, Smokey Ancho Cheddar Burgers, Citrus Pulled Pork, Portobello Burger, or with Baked Tofu Rice Bowl.
Mayan Red Spice Paste, Recado Colorado
complex base, potent marinade, or vibrant accent flavor. Mayan Red Spice Paste, Recado Colorado, is popular, both for its beautiful vibrant red hue, and warm tangy flavor. Rich in color, and fall flavors, our non-traditional take on Recado Colorado streamlines the preparation process. Recado Colorado is excellent for making red rice, a great base for barbecue sauces, a go-to rub for meats, on burgers, and a potent flavor boost for chilis and other soups. Stay tuned for two fantastic recipes using our Mayan Red Spice Paste coming up in the weeks ahead.
You may have noticed that we have a fondness for spice pastes here at The Hungry Hounds. If you too have caught the flavor paste obsession, check out our two other potent pastes: Smokey Mexican Chile Paste, Chilmole, and Garlic Ancho Chile Paste.
Slow Roasted Mayan Pork with Garlic Salsa
Today marks Madeline's first full week outside the womb, and most aspects of our life have irreversibly changed. Cooking and eating together has been the one constant in this topsy turvy new world since we arrived home from the hospital. A food focus persisted during labor as I panted out a list of food requests in between contractions. Paul, both remembered every request and has been cheerfully cooking up a storm this last week. Yesterdays' creation was a yeasty sugar rush of homemade cinnamon rolls, but the vast majority of my requests have been for roasted aromatic meats like this Slow Roasted Mayan Pork with Garlic Salsa. This dish is a Paul invention, which means making use of some extraordinary homemade condiments (Xac spice mix and charred garlic salsa), the end result is transcendent.
Spiced Roasted Garlic Butter
We are both great lovers of butter in all its forms. Since butter is a luxury product in Haiti running around $12 a pound, we feel like it deserves special treatment and the addition of roasted garlic and the warm, sweetly spiced, and earthy flavors Yucatán Spice Rub, Xac, takes things to a whole different level. In this flavorful butter, a base of roasted garlic is mixed with the pungent flavors of Mexican cinnamon, oregano, allspice, pepper, cloves, bay and cumin. Slather this on garlic bread, meat, fish, roasted vegetables...we haven't found a medium yet that doesn't benefit from this punchy butter.
