Machacado con Huevos: Mexican Drief Beef with Eggs ... My New Favorite Breakfast (and brunch, lunch, dinner, and snack)

 
Even though I freely admit that I have done it myself, I still always think it's kind of silly when food bloggers act like we've discovered some food or ingredient or dish  that's actually been around a really long time. You know what I mean : "Oh my gosh, look! It's mousse." Or "Did you know that you can actually make your own butter?" (I am guilty on both counts, by the way.)

And here I am ... about to do it again, with machacado con huevos. I discovered Mexican dried beef at the Fancy Food Show in D.C. - but not in the Christopher Columbus sense, mind you. I realize the stuff has been around long before I got to it, and I certainly don't seek to change it, colonize it, or alter its glorious essence in any way.

Allow me to digress for one moment: Why I didn't spend the majority of my time in the Mexico Pavilion at said Fancy Food Show is one of my life's greatest regrets. I only got to it in the afternoon on the second (my last) day. It was a wonderland of spicy snacks, salsas, tequila, mezcal, and amazing home cooking by Mexican chef Pati Jinich of Pati's Mexican Table. The samples were off the hook, including, of course, this dried beef:

How much do you love that cartoon 1950s housewife on the package??

Note the text at the bottom of the package: "To prepare the famous Machacado with Eggs. Delicious recipe on the back." Famous????  Here I am, frequenting specialty markets and buying fresh homemade tortillas at my favorite  Mexican restaurant whenever I can, and I had never heard of it. I felt like such a fool!

Well, the promised recipe on the back of the package divulged ingredients but no amounts, so I felt my way through it.  And let me tell you - this makes one kick-you-in-your-pants meal. If you aren't acclimated to spicy foods, I urge you to just go for it, because the heat here is crucial to the overall effect. No joke, this is one of my new favorite things.  I may be late to the machacado con huevos party, but I'm not leaving anytime soon.

Here's what you do: In a large saucepan, saute one diced onion, a diced green pepper, 3 jalapenos (seeds intact), a dried red chili, and a few minced cloves of garlic in butter or lard. Add the dried beef and cook until coated. Add 3 or 4 juicy chopped tomatoes and cook until warm. Move the mixture to the side of the pan and slowly add 5 beaten eggs, incorporating the beef mixture a little bit at a time. Once everything is covered in egg, cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs have set. Serve with tortillas and accompaniments of your choice - guacamole, salsa, etc.

Just because it has eggs in it, don't limit yourself to having it for breakfast - this tasted just as good with orange juice as it did with tequila!

And speaking of tequila ... don't forget to enter my Dragon's Hollow wine giveaway! I've extended the deadline to August 7 ... because I'm nice like that. Enjoy!