This is essentially a red chili stew that can be made with either pork or beef. The key here is low and slow, and long, which allows the collagen of the meat to break down and become fall-apart tender. My adaptation here is fairly spicy; you might want to tone it down if you’re trying this at home.

The can of commercially made chili sauce may sound like an unnecessary shortcut to you. That’s your right. You’re entitled to your opinion. I just like the way it sort of “rounds” things off. You could omit and increase the liquid and dried/powdered chili if you feel like riding that high horse.

Carne Guisado

• 3 pounds beef shank, beef chuck, or pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat (probably around 2 1/2 pounds), cut into one inch pieces
• Flour
• Vegetable oil
• 1 28 oz can Mexican brand red chili sauce (such as Las Palmas)
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 4 dried guajillo chilies, stem and seeds removed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 7 cloves garlic, forced through garlic press
• 1/2 teaspoon pasilla chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
• 1/2 teaspoon new mexico chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 dried habanero peppers, stemmed
• 1/4 bunch of cilantro, torn

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Put guajillo chilies in a small saucepan and cover with 1 cup of beef broth. Simmer on low for 20 minutes. Remove chilies to cool.

Split the chilies, and using the back of your knife, scrape the flesh from the inside of chili. Discard the skin.

Put meat pieces into a large mixing bowl and dust with flour, and mix to coat lightly. Heat vegetable oil in cast iron dutch oven, and brown beef.

Add the the rest of the ingredients, stir to mix, and bring to a rapid simmer.

Cover and transfer to oven. Wait 2.5 hours, remove cover, stir, and return to the oven for another hour. Make sure you don’t eat those habaneros.

There are a couple ways I like to consume this. One way, as you can see in the first photo in this post, is with a mildly seasoned rice.

Rice

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 white onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon or so vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon anatto seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Put oil in small saucepan, add anatto seeds, and allow the seeds to perfume/color the oil over low heat for ten minutes. Drain oil into large saucepan and throw away the seeds.

Heat oil over medium heat, add onion and sweat. Add rice, garlic, spices, and saute for a couple minutes. Pour over broth, stir, cover, and simmer over low for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for half an hour. Remove cover and fluff rice.

Another option I enjoy is shredding the meat with a fork.

And enjoying it in taco format with your favorite table salsas and chopped onion/cilantro.

Or the next morning fry up a couple corn tortillas and an egg. Put the egg on top of the tortilla, top with shredded stew meat, add a few spoonfuls of the sauce, top with queso fresco, and put under the broiler for 30 seconds. Top with chopped onion/cilantro and a squirt of hot salsa.