My Quest for Mexican Red Marinade

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Hope everyone from Oklahoma good after those storms last night. Luckily did not get to bad across the Red River here in Texas.

Trying to figure out that Mexican Red Marinade they use at our Meat Market. Ended up only using one of those oranges and used the other for my Sangria Sprite with sliced oranges drink. Used two packages of the Sazon.





Let pork steaks marinade for 2 days. Meat borderline tough and way over seasoned as the sucked up most the liquid.





Added some tenderizer to steaks and let sit another day. More tender now and still over seasoned. Not sure what I was thinking doing all 4 steaks at once! The other 2 going to the trash. Next batch I will cut seasoning in half and add some of my frozen fresh pineapple. The color of marinade is about right.

 

[BigW.]

Bummer it did not turn out how you wanted....but the meal looks great!

 

[JLinza]

Thanks for sharing the results, I'll know to be cautious when I try it.

 

[zwiller]

LOOKS GOOD. Thanks for taking one for the team. Been think about this off and on. I think this is a recado rojo and you already said it, achiote. I have a few printed but this one is current fave but a little busy:
https://patijinich.com/wprm_print/22920

On the tenderness, Rich chopsaw schooled me on the pork steaks, do opposite of beef steak and get IT up there near pull temps.

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

This is what I use for a whole chicken. I have never tried it on steak but I don't see how it wouldn't work.

2 Oz Achiote paste
2 Tbls vinegar
2 Tbls grapeseed oil
1 Tbls chipotle adobo sauce
2 Tsp dried Mexican Oregano
.5 Tsp ground cumin
2 Tsp salt
1 Tsp pepper
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 limes juiced and some zest
1 blood orange juiced

 

[tallbm]

Hope everyone from Oklahoma good after those storms last night. Luckily did not get to bad across the Red River here in Texas.

Trying to figure out that Mexican Red Marinade they use at our Meat Market. Ended up only using one of those oranges and used the other for my Sangria Sprite with sliced oranges drink. Used two packages of the Sazon.

View attachment 719406View attachment 719405View attachment 719404

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Let pork steaks marinade for 2 days. Meat borderline tough and way over seasoned as the sucked up most the liquid.

View attachment 719410 View attachment 719408

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Added some tenderizer to steaks and let sit another day. More tender now and still over seasoned. Not sure what I was thinking doing all 4 steaks at once! The other 2 going to the trash. Next batch I will cut seasoning in half and add some of my frozen fresh pineapple. The color of marinade is about right.

View attachment 719415 View attachment 719414

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Nice report and sucks to figure some things out from scratch lol.

If you didn't throw those over seasoned cuts out you can do another Mexican dish with them and braise them in a skillet on the stove. A guisada dish should rescue them and have a pretty ok meal from them.

If over seasoned salt wise, 1.65% salt is a good number. Just remember a lot of seasoning blends and even chili powders have tons of salt so it's always easier to control when adding each seasoning individually. I'm sure you know all of this. The thing that may not be known is all of the individual seasonings for a Mexican seasoning like this. The Sauzon ingredient list will spill the beans on what they use.

With pre made seasonings like that I find they skew more towards 2- 3% salt per serving size of the seasoning. So if they list a serving size per pound of meat then trying about half that amount often gets you close to 1.65% salt and you can dial it up a little more if needed or then note to tone it down a little if still a hair salty.

If they don't list a per pound of meat serving size then I always find it helpful to treat the whole seasoning as though it were salt. So 48gm of salt per pound of meat is 1.65%.
If you have a pound of meat and use this seasoning at 48grams per pound then you likely will be close to the salt content and not over season things. A little fry test after marinating will let you know how close you are to nailing the per pound amount of seasoning. I do this with seasonings I'm gifted to figure out how to use them and not over season things and use up the seasoning when marinating stuff :D


Here is the ingredients list I found with a quick google search:

So, MSG, Salt, Garlic, Cumin, Annato, Mexican Safron, and Tumeric. I saw some ingredient lists have coriander (cilantro) in them as well.


I think 1.65% Salt, a tiny bit of ground Cumin (a little goes a long way), and then the others "to taste" would get it done for you.
I think using some real Pineapple juice (Dole in a can) along with your other citrus will fix the tenderness issues. The from concentrate pineapple stuff has never worked for me.

Anyhow, I hope some of this info is helpful for your next run through because I too would be interested in copying the Mexican grocery store meat marinade so I have it in my back pocket when I need it :D

 

[zwiller]

Hit my local latin market and will be playing along in the background. As of late I am using Adobo or or other mixes instead of individual spices.

 

[sandyut]

Sorry it didnt turn out, color is great!

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Nice report and sucks to figure some things out from scratch lol.

If you didn't throw those over seasoned cuts out you can do another Mexican dish with them and braise them in a skillet on the stove. A guisada dish should rescue them and have a pretty ok meal from them.

If over seasoned salt wise, 1.65% salt is a good number. Just remember a lot of seasoning blends and even chili powders have tons of salt so it's always easier to control when adding each seasoning individually. I'm sure you know all of this. The thing that may not be known is all of the individual seasonings for a Mexican seasoning like this. The Sauzon ingredient list will spill the beans on what they use.

With pre made seasonings like that I find they skew more towards 2- 3% salt per serving size of the seasoning. So if they list a serving size per pound of meat then trying about half that amount often gets you close to 1.65% salt and you can dial it up a little more if needed or then note to tone it down a little if still a hair salty.

If they don't list a per pound of meat serving size then I always find it helpful to treat the whole seasoning as though it were salt. So 48gm of salt per pound of meat is 1.65%.
If you have a pound of meat and use this seasoning at 48grams per pound then you likely will be close to the salt content and not over season things. A little fry test after marinating will let you know how close you are to nailing the per pound amount of seasoning. I do this with seasonings I'm gifted to figure out how to use them and not over season things and use up the seasoning when marinating stuff :D


Here is the ingredients list I found with a quick google search:
View attachment 719480

So, MSG, Salt, Garlic, Cumin, Annato, Mexican Safron, and Tumeric. I saw some ingredient lists have coriander (cilantro) in them as well.


I think 1.65% Salt, a tiny bit of ground Cumin (a little goes a long way), and then the others "to taste" would get it done for you.
I think using some real Pineapple juice (Dole in a can) along with your other citrus will fix the tenderness issues. The from concentrate pineapple stuff has never worked for me.

Anyhow, I hope some of this info is helpful for your next run through because I too would be interested in copying the Mexican grocery store meat marinade so I have it in my back pocket when I need it :D

First I had know idea what I was doing. I also did not realize that all that liquid would get absorbed. The
La Michoacana Meat Market in Sherman never has marinaded pork steaks anymore and to hard to talk to guy behind the counter. I tried to use translator for pork steak last time but he had know idea what I wanted. Those pork steaks where the best thing they had. I will give another shot later.

 

[tallbm]

First I had know idea what I was doing. I also did not realize that all that liquid would get absorbed. The
La Michoacana Meat Market in Sherman never has marinaded pork steaks anymore and to hard to talk to guy behind the counter. I tried to use translator for pork steak last time but he had know idea what I wanted. Those pork steaks where the best thing they had. I will give another shot later.

Pork steaks are usually cut from a Pork Butt/Shoulder. If interested, the next time there is a $0.89-$0.99 pork butt sale you can get a pork butt and cut a bunch for cheap on your own.
I just debone and then cut steaks on my own. I don't have a saw to cut through the bone so boneless it is :D

 

[SmokinEdge]

Brian, I’ve used Sazon a few times and it’s just ok. I think it’s more ment to be in soups stews or rice dishes. The instructions are vague in that it something like “for every 4 servings made use 1 packet” up to you to figure out a serving size. So in my view not a great choice for marinades.

I don’t measure when I make mine, it’s all by eyeball, but Chris up in post#5 posted a recipe very close to what I make. I do sometimes add pineapple juice to though but just add it.

Just make sure you source some Achiote or “annatto powder, same thing. Can also buy whole seeds and grind.