beef, herbs, chiles, beer = ?

March 3, 2016 5:16 AM

What is Michael Pollan braising in episode 2 of Cooked?

So Mr Libraryhead and I have been watching the Netflix documentary series Cooked. In episode 2, Water, Pollan learns how to makes a braise from a woman chef. It starts with a onion-carrot-celery mirepoix, has a bunch of herbs, a few spices, dried whole chiles, an unknown cut of beef, and what looks like beer. There may be other ingredients as well. The name of the dish isn't mentioned, and the chiles are kind of throwing me for a loop. What are they making? If I can find the answer, Mr Libraryhead will make it for dinner tonight!

posted by libraryhead to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

I haven't seen that show, but it sounds a whole lot like chili. Search for "texas-style" recipes which do not have beans. Here's an example.
posted by rainbowbrite at 5:26 AM on March 3, 2016

Response by poster: It's not chili. It's a whole roast, not cut up, and has carrots and a ton of herbs. The spices looked like mustard seed and coriander, though I'm not certain. It also had tomatoes.
posted by libraryhead at 5:32 AM on March 3, 2016

sounds pretty spot on for traditional (Read: not in an electric slow cooker) barbacoa recipe from [insert name of country between Texas and Antarctica)
posted by chasles at 5:39 AM on March 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

should have included a link... here, like this
posted by chasles at 5:40 AM on March 3, 2016

I saw that episode, and I have no idea. I think the thing is that she is generally cooking central American food and the range of salads and stuff are Mexican or similar, but the meat dish might be inspired by a bollito misto. She says something like "it's so Italian"
posted by mumimor at 9:39 AM on March 3, 2016

Chuck roast. Pretty widely available at supermarkets' meat section, as it's a bit on the cheaper side for "roast cuts."
posted by kuanes at 9:42 AM on March 3, 2016

Best answer: Just watched Cooked over the weekend.... and pulled that episode back up to review the scene.

The ingredients as I saw them:
mirepoix
whole cloves of peeled garlic
whole coriander
whole cumin
leggy cilantro - guessing it's from his/someone's garden
chiles
canned diced tomatoes
Fat Tire beer
Pork (looks like a thick slice of pork butt/ shoulder)

In the end, a tasty braised pork ready to be shredded and piled on tortillas or the like...
posted by jenquat at 9:16 PM on March 6, 2016

Response by poster: Pork! It looked so red that didn't occur to me, but that actually makes a lot more sense. And whole cumin, not mustard seeds, of course. We ended up doing a beef chuck roast, and all those spices and herbs did nothing. It tasted like every other pot roast I've ever had -- good, but kind of a waste of spices.
posted by libraryhead at 7:02 AM on March 9, 2016