Machaca!! It's What's (or Rather Was) For Dinner!!

[+ Gar1eth]

My first time making it. And it turned out great!! I don't know why I never tried it before. An acquaintance of mine from junior high who passed a few months ago would have really enjoyed it. He was (in)famous for making meal combos with "eggy-weggys."

 

I accompanied it with some roasted mushrooms and cherry tomatoes as you can see on the sides

 

 

 

 

Gman

[Daverwr]

That looks wonderful. Congratulations! That is one of my favorites but I’ve never attempted it. I eat it for breakfast or dinner. Was it difficult or take a long time?

[EastbayMike]

Looks delicious! No pan dulce or tortillas?

 

My husband was born in Mexico and he makes machaca about once a month. It's on the breakfast rotation along with huevos y chorizo, huevos ala mexicana, and huevos rancheros with home made salsa. My specialties are yeast waffles, scones, and gaufres.

[+ Gar1eth]

My first time making it. And it turned out great!! I don't know why I never tried it before. An acquaintance of mine from junior high who passed a few months ago would have really enjoyed it. He was (in)famous for making meal combos with "eggy-weggys."

 

I accompanied it with some roasted mushrooms and cherry tomatoes as you can see on the sides

 

 

 

 

Gman

That looks wonderful. Congratulations! That is one of my favorites but I’ve never attempted it. I eat it for breakfast or dinner. Was it difficult or take a long time?

 

 

Thanks a lot. It was easy-peasy and quick. I was really surprised at how quick everything came together.

 

If you consider the time it takes to gather everything together, it probably takes 15 to 20 minutes tops. And that's just because I'm slow. The thing that takes the most time is chopping and sautéing the onions (and other stuff).

 

It was esp easy because I cheated and used pre-cooked beef. Let me explain. I first became aware of the dish at IHOP. But not all of them have it. For example I've seen it offered at most Texas IHOPs, at the few IHOPs I've been to years ago in California, and possibly at an IHOP years ago in Madison, Wisconsin. If I did have it in Madison, that would have been the 1st place I had it. But I didn't like it at the time. I must have been crazy. Because when I tried it a few years later, I loved it and have been ordering it since.

 

On the other hand it was almost impossible to find at the IHOPs in Washington state. In the 9 years or so I lived there, it was only on their menu a few times. Even on the current menu in Texas, it's listed down in the corner with no picture accompanying it as if they are trying to hide the dish.

 

For those who don't know-machaca itself is some kind of dried beef popular in Mexico. I'm sure it's a holdover from the no refrigeration days. They cook the meet and let it dry out in the rafters to preserve it. Then when it's time to eat it, you soak it to soften it up. (Anyone who knows more about machaca please add in and correct any of my mistakes).

 

For the machaca with eggs dish that IHOP serves, they cheat and use the same beef they use for the pot roast.

 

I took a shortcut and used Hormel roast beef as I've never cooked a roast beef. Plus I'm single. Cooking a roast for one is a lot of work-it's not something you do every day even if you can save a lot for leftovers.

 

I used this. It cost just under $6 at Walmart. And there's enough for three generous portions at least.

 

It microwaves in 3 minutes. When it's done, cut it into pieces and shred it.

 

Recipe

 

1. Onions - 3 or so slices from an onion-more if you like.

 

2. 3 eggs

 

3. About a cup of tortilla chips broken up but not totally crushed

 

4. 3/4 cup salsa +additional salsa after its cooked

 

Directions

 

1. Saute the onions (and jalapeños if you like them) in some butter or oil until they are translucent (Here's a video on how to sauté onions if you need help. You actually don't need a lot of onions if you are only cooking for one

)

 

2. Heat the roast beef per directions in microwave.

 

3. Scramble the eggs in the same pan you sautéed and kept the onions in.

 

4. When the eggs are almost all the way set stir in the tortilla chips and the salsa.

 

5. Continue stirring until the eggs are set.

 

6. Stir in the shredded beef.

 

7. Plate and serve with salsa and warm corn tortillas

 

[some people add jalapeños and cheese while it's cooking. But I don't like jalapeños or cheese (well I like some cheese but in limited quantities), so I don't. ]

 

 

Some people also might plate it with sour cream or guacamole-but see my feelings on cheese and jalapeños for why I don't.]

 

You could also dice some tomatoes and mix it in with the onions while they are sautéing

 

Confession -I didn't go to the trouble to saute an onion. So I left it out.

 

I did however make some roasted mushrooms in the oven as a side dish, and I had cut up a few onion slices with the mushrooms. Now the mushrooms to prepare and cook took about 30 minutes. But I didn't include this in the machaca time as not everyone will want mushrooms. And if you do, you can certainly start the machaca prep after getting the onions in the oven

 

A Mexican restaurant I used to eat at in Puyallup, Washington would make the mushrooms for me as an appetizer when I ordered their machaca. I don't even think the mushrooms were on the menu. I think the manager one day asked me if I wanted an appetizer. All the appetizers pretty much had cheese, sour cream, fish, jalapeños or guacamole. None of which I eat. He asked if I liked sautéed mushrooms. I said yes. And he made some for me.

 

 

 

Looks delicious! No pan dulce or tortillas?

 

My husband was born in Mexico and he makes machaca about once a month. It's on the breakfast rotation along with huevos y chorizo, huevos ala mexicana, and huevos rancheros with home made salsa. My specialties are yeast waffles, scones, and gaufres.

 

I had been thinking about cooking this for a long time. But I wasn't sure how to cook the eggs with the chips. Little did I know how easy that was. I finally looked up tortilla chips and scrambled eggs on the internet and found out how easy it actually was. Prior to this I had tried looking up machaca, and my questions about the tortilla chips hadn't been answered.

 

Since this was a last minute meal, I didn't think far enough in advance to get some corn tortillas. (One of my roomies is Colombian and has pupusas. But I didn't even think of "borrowing" a few).

 

Gman

[EastbayMike]

Sounds like the eggs/chips dish you're describing is chilaquiles. I forgot to add that to the list of his specialties. if you're really ambitious, make the sauce with different dried chilles simmered for a long time with tomatoes and onions.

[+ Gar1eth]

Sounds like the eggs/chips dish you're describing is chilaquiles. I forgot to add that to the list of his specialties. if you're really ambitious, make the sauce with different dried chilles simmered for a long time with tomatoes and onions.

 

There's no real sauce except for the salsa. Here's the description from a Houston IHOP Menu-

 

 

 

Machaca Scramble

$9.39

• Scrambled eggs with shredded beef, Jack & Cheddar, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes & tortilla strips. Served with hash browns, tortillas & our salsa.
   
  Gman
  

[MikeBiDude]

Sounds like the eggs/chips dish you're describing is chilaquiles. I forgot to add that to the list of his specialties. if you're really ambitious, make the sauce with different dried chilles simmered for a long time with tomatoes and onions.

I was going to ask earlier “what about chilaquiles”!

[EastbayMike]

There's no real sauce except for the salsa. Here's the description from a Houston IHOP Menu-

 

 

 

Machaca Scramble

$9.39

• Scrambled eggs with shredded beef, Jack & Cheddar, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes & tortilla strips. Served with hash browns, tortillas & our salsa.
   
  Gman
  

I was referring to chilaquiles. And do you really want to use IHOP as a source for authentic Mexican food?

[EastbayMike]

I was going to ask earlier “what about chilaquiles”!

Can't believe I left that off the list. That's my favorite Mexican breakfast with a steaming cup of Abuelita hot cocoa.

[+ Gar1eth]

I was referring to chilaquiles. And do you really want to use IHOP as a source for authentic Mexican food?

 

Who said anything about authentic? After all theu use pot roast for machaca. But authentic or not, it's still delicious.

 

And so was mine. ?

 

On a different but related subject as it still refers to Mexican food-someday, I'm going to get the courage to cook up some caldo de res (beef soup for those whose Español is a bit lacking).

 

Gman