An uncommon dish I loved in Yucatán Mexico was Tzic de Venado, which can also be written as Tsi’ik de Venado. Venado is Spanish for venison, and Tzic means one thing like pulled meat. So that is pulled venison. What makes it uncommon, is that the pulled venison is served chilly as a salad with onion, cilantro, Seville orange juice, cucumber, and and Mexican radishes. The venison is cooked with a spice combine referred to as recado blanco, a ‘white’ spice combine from Yucatán. Spice mixes are referred to as recado there, and there may be additionally recado rojo (used for Cochinita Pibil) and recado negro (used for Relleno Negro). Tzic de Venado is served with crispy corn tortillas (tostados), and a soupy model of refried beans. The normal approach of is to organize it wrapped in banana leaves, after which cooked in a gap within the floor with a fireplace of native hardwood. Sous vide is a good fashionable various for that. This dish may be very appropriate to organize a batch of a number of parts directly, after which freeze them to be loved later.
In Yucatán venison of the native white-tailed deer is used, which isn’t accessible right here within the Netherlands. So I’ve used the leg of native deer or roe deer as a substitute. As I wasn’t certain about the fitting time and temperature to prepare dinner that sous vide to finish up with a ‘pullable’ texture, I made a decision to strive some small items first at 68C/155F and 74C/165F for each 8 and 24 hours.
After 8 hours at 74C/165F the meat was properly ‘pullable’, however at 68C/155F the meat was too robust.
Even after 24 hours at 68C/155F it was nonetheless too robust. After 24 hours at 74C/165F the meat was even simpler to drag than after 8 hours at that temperature, but in addition a bit extra dry. So I made a decision that 8 hours at 74C/165F was the best way to go.
Elements
For the recado blanco (per kilo (2.2 lbs) of meat)
- 2 grams (2 tsp) dried Mexican oregano (or common oregano)
- 0.25 gram (1/8 tsp) garlic powder
- 3 grams (1 tsp) black peppercorns
- 0,05 grams (1 piece) cloves
- 2 grams (1 tsp) cumin seed
- 1 gram (1/2 tsp) Mexican cinnamon (or common cinnamon)
- 2 grams (1 tsp) coriander seed
- 10 grams (1/2 Tbsp) desk salt
- 7 ml (1/2 Tbsp) Seville orange juice, or common orange juice
For two servings
- 300 grams (.66 lb) venison
- 10 grams recent cilantro (leaves solely)
- 50 grams (1/2 cup) minced white or pink onion
- 100 grams seeded and diced cucumber (1 cup) or 50 grams cucumber and 50 grams sliced radishes
- 200 ml (1/2 + 1/3 cup) Seville orange juice (or 80 ml (1/3 cup) orange juice and 120 ml (1/2 cup) lime juice)
- 1/3 of the recado blanco as described above for 1 kilo/2.2 lbs of meat
- 2 banana leaves (non-compulsory)
Directions
For the recado blanco, grind the cumin seed, coriander seed, black peppercorns, cloves, and dried oregano in a spice grinder…
…to acquire a nice powder. It’s also possible to use a mortar and pestle for this.
After grinding add salt, cinnamon, and garlic powder.
Reduce the venison into cubes and add the recado blanco along with a little bit of orange juice.
Combine nicely.
Wrap the meat in banana leaves. That is non-compulsory, as a result of it doesn’t do a lot for the flavour.
Vacuum seal the meat.
Cook dinner sous vide for 8 hours at 74C/165F.
Take the meat out of the bag, and reserve the juices. Pull the meat with two forks. You may then combine the pulled meat with (part of) the reserved juices. The meat ought to be moist, however not soupy. Permit the meat to chill.
Add the Seville orange juice, or combination of orange juice and lime juice, and permit to marinate for not less than 1 hour.
Then add the cucumber, cilantro, onion, and radishes (if utilizing).
Serve the Tzic chilly with refried beans (in Mexico it was served with a refried beans soup (frijol negro colado) in a bowl, however I didn’t like that as a lot), tostados (corn tortillas toasted for 10 minutes in an oven with fan at 180C/350F), and habanero salsa for spiciness.
Wine pairing
At wine pairing dinners I organized at residence for family and friends, we tried this dish with the next wines:
- Torraccia del Piantavigna Vigna Pelizzane Ghemme DOCG 2011 (90% Nebbiolo, 10% Vespolina, Italy, Alto Piemonte)
- Valdeorra DO Mencia Carballo 2014 (100% Mencia, Spain, Galicia)
- Pommard AOC 2015 Vincent Latour Vieilles Vignes (100% Pinot Noir, France, Bourgogne)
- Goldenits Neusiedlersee DAC 2020 (100% Zweigelt, Austria)
- Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja 2011 (100% Nebbiolo, Italy, Piemonte)
All of those are elegant pink wines with modest acidity and mushy tannins. The perfect pairing was with the Ghemme. This can be a magnificent beautifullly aged wine with velvety tannins and sophisticated aromas. The mixture with the meat softens the tannins even additional. This made me count on that the opposite aged Nebbiolo within the lineup, i.e. the Barbaresco, would even be an ideal pairing, however the tannins within the Barbaresco had been too hefty and made this my least favourite pairing. The Pommard was additionally a superb pairing, however as a wine not as magnificent because the Ghemme and slightly bit over its peak by way of ageing. The Mencia and Zweigelt had been additionally good pairings, and a extra inexpensive various for the Ghemme or Pommard.
