Salpicón (Mini Cuban Meatloaf )

I first heard of Salpicón which is another variety of Cuban Meat loaf at one of my favorite Cuban blogs called "Cuban in the Midwest" it was 2 small meat loafs, simmered in a typical cuban style tomato based sauce (you the know the drill the sofrito of onion, garlic, bell peppers, lots of olive oil, tomato, etc.) Growing up my Tata/ grandma NEVER made "Cuban" style meat loaf, so it has always been something unknown to me until I started reading other Cuban blogs.

My first introduction to Cuban-style meat loaf was Marta Darby from the blog "My Big Fat Cuban Family" she posted a large fried meat loaf, that was simmered in another variation of the cuban tomato based sauces, except it wasn't called "Salpicon" it was called "Pulpeta" it seems Salpicon and "Pulpeta" are cousins ha ha both seem to be loafs of meat that fried and simmered in those cuban creole sauces on stove top.

The main difference is that "Salpicon" are little loafs, and the Pulpeta are huge meat loafs usually with hard boiled eggs in the center. (Btw I've already cooked my own version of Pulpeta if anyone cares to see the post here's the link: http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2009/11/pulpeta-cuban-meatloaf.html) my Pulpeta is awesome ;)

Anyways back to the Salpicon, these small fried loafs, reminded me of a large sausage in a savory creole sauce (don't thing wrong perverts ha ha) and so the recipe I came up with was inspired by the recipe I saw in the blog "Cuban in the Midwest" but this is my version/ variation. The way I made it was I wanted these fried meat loafs to taste like a spicy version smokey Spanish chorizo (like the Spanish chorizo's from La Rioja region of Spain) who's main elements are hot smoked spanish paprika and lots of garlic, thus I seasoned my ground meat mixture like that, and the ground ham in the meat mixture I used gives it that cured salty taste in addition the sauce I wanted it to accent the flavors of the loaf so I added to the sauce oregano because oregano and smoked spanish paprika really get along well together, not to mention I've noticed ground meat goes very well with oregano (of course this is just my opinion from messing around in the kitchen)

So here's my recipe hope you guys enjoy it :)

Main Ingredients:
-1 lbs. ground beef
-1 lbs. ground pork
-1/2 lbs. ground sweet ham
-5 eggs
-1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or cracker meal
-1/2 head garlic (peeled, through a garlic pressed or mashed to a paste in a mortar)
-1 tablespoon 1/2 hot or sweet smoked spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used 2 teaspoons depends how salty your ham or bread or cracker meal is)

Ingredients for Sauce:
-1/4- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
-2 large onion julienned
-2 large green or red bell pepper julienned
-1/2 head of garlic finely minced, or through a garlic press or mortar
-2 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-2 cup of water
-1 cup dry white wine or red wine
-1 tablespoon ground oregano
-salt to taste (about 1 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions for loafs:
(1) Mix all the main ingredients together, but do not over mix the mixture or it will be tough.

(2) Mold into 3-4 small loaves like picture below. Allow loaves to rest in fridge about 1 hour in a container, or plate with plastic wrap, so they marinade, and firm up.

(3) Pass the loafs through beaten egg, then bread crumbs. Pat the loaves so the bread crumb mixture sticks.

(4) Heat a large frying pan with about 1/4- 1/3 cup olive oil and carefully fry the loaves on all sides til browned.
Set aside in a large deep pot.
Directions for sauce:
(1) In the pan where you fried the loafs, sautee julienned onions and bell peppers until translucent, add the garlic and stir a addition 2 minutes until fragrant.
(2) Add dry white wine or red and de-glaze, and tomato sauce, and thin out the sauce with some water (I use about 1 cup) stir in oregano and bring to rolling boil.
(3) Add the sauce to the pot where you have the fried loafs.
Put that pot over high heat and when everything comes to a boil,
cover and simmer on medium low for about 25- 30 minutes, then flip the loafs carefully and simmer an additional 25- 30 minutes.

(4) Turn off heat, and garnish with finely minced parsley or cilantro if you have it.
(5) To serve remove loafs, when serving serve a 1 inch thick slice of the loaf, and spoon sauce over it. Goes very well with white or yellow rice or mashed potatoes and a salad of your choice

PLEASE NOTE:
(1)Yeah camera is still messed up, I can't see what I'm taking a picture of ha ha... anyone wanna buy me a new one?
(2) I made a lot as you can see I used a real large pan to braise all of meat loafs. You can cut the recipe in half. This recipe made like 16 servings. 4 of us ate one of the loafs (my Dad was missing otherwise it would've been 5) but it makes great leftovers, one day eat it with rice, other day eat it with mashed potatoes, and it would be great cold inbetween some french or cuban bread or simply sliced and inside whatever sandwich or cold with crackers.

Carne Con Papa (Cuban Beef and Potato Stew)

Carne Con Papa literally translates to "Meat and Potatoes" is a very typical and common Cuban beef dish, it's one of those that are up there along the "Picadillo" (ground beef hash), "Ropa Vieja" (stewed shredded beef), "Rabo Encendido" (oxtail stew)

So what makes it Cuban you may ask? The answer is that the beef is cooked with a combination of onions, green bell peppers, and garlic cooked down in olive oil or lard which is the base for most Cuban dishes we call this "sofrito", and it is stewed with tomato and wine a very common thing that is present in almost all of our meat stews. In addition it is married with potatoes a starchy tuber we all know (and starchy veggies are very much appreciated in Cuban cuisine taro, yuca, calabaza, etc.) and the final thing that makes this stew Cuban is that it is spiced with cumin, which was introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese during colonizations and became popular in Cuba. However it is also identical or similar to many of the meat stews made by the Spanish (specially those from Canary Islands and some parts of Northern Spain to no surprise, being that a lot of Cuban cooking specially that of my family and other white or Spanish Cubans is very intertwined with the Cuisine of Spain and share many dishes)

Anyways :D today I present my Tata's version (my grandma's) :) it is very rustic, simple, authentic, typical, straight forward and delicious just the way Carne Con Papa should be. You end up with chunks of beef and potato in a smokey savory tomato based sauce. The sauce get's the smoked flavor from the browning of the meat that is de-glazed using tomato and wine, and kissed with a touch of cumin which gives it that extra oomph and depth but without over powering the dish, just subtle and marries well. This goes perfect over white rice :)

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. beef stew meat cut into 1 inch chunks
-1/2 large green bell pepper chopped
-1 onion chopped
-5 cloves garlic (mashed to a paste mortar or garlic press)
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
-salt to taste (about 2 tsp.)
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-4 regular potatoes peeled, cut in half

Directions:
(1) Heat olive oil on medium high heat, add the cubed beef lightly seasoned with salt, stir. The beef will release a lot of liquid usually do not freak out just raise the heat to high and stir occasionally and let it reduce at some point everything will evaporate and lower heat to medium high and it will start browning.
(2) When meat is browned add diced onions, bell peppers and stir let cook down about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic cook another 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant.
(3) Stir in tomato sauce, water, dry white wine, ground cumin, and bring to a rolling boil, taste it if it needs more salt or not. Cover and simmer on medium low for about 1 hour or until meat is as tender as you'd like.
(4) Uncover and when meat is tender add potatoes,
cover an additional 20- 30 minutes until potato is fully cooked.
(5) Turn off heat, enjoy with some fluffy white rice, and a side of black beans if you'd like and salad.
P.S.
If you liked this recipe, you may also want to check out my grandmother's alternative to this "Carne Con Papa" which she calls the same as this one, the only difference is she cooks a whole, un-cut, well cleaned, boneless chuck steak that is about 2 1/2 lbs. in the same fashion but uses red wine, a mix of red and green peppers, and large chunks of potatoes and carrot. It is worth checking out see the post for it below:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/10/carne-con-papas-meat-and-potatoes.html

Also if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso

Aporreado de Tasajo (Dry Salted Beef Stew)

Tasajo is dry salted beef, the beef is salted, dried, and preserved in a coating of beef fat or lard. Another one of those ancient foods that use to be consumed before refrigeration (just like Bacalao a.k.a. dry salted cod) although it is not well known in Spain. Seems to be more well known in the Caribbean and certain parts of South America. Tasajo use to be consumed by the slaves and peasants but became popular over time, now days it is not considered poor people food nor is it consumed often since it is expensive (it is hard to find in Southern California and the only place that I can find it here sells it at 10.99 a pound) It is seen as an occasional treat in my household.

However I must say Tasajo use to be made with horse meat or at least the Tasajo Cubans consumed back in the day, until it was banned in the U.S.A. by raging P.E.T.A. and others... I think the ban on horse meat is completely stupid... but that's just my opinion... (why would killing a cow, calf, or intelligent pig be any different than killing a horse for consumption?)

Last time I had real horse meat was probably when I was around 5 or 6 years old a Taiwanese friend brought back an assortment of dry horse meat jerky. Horse meat is earthy and has a natural sweetness. Also no matter how much it cooks it will retain it's red color... I do find it odd how the Tasajo sold here imported from Uruguay behaves the same even though labeled as beef (no matter how much you cook it it retains the red color, and is earthy with a natural sweetness) because of these characteristics and it's sweetness it is still popular in the "black market" in Florida where it can sometimes range from 7- 40 dollars a pound" if you know where to look you'll find it. This may seem a shock to some people, but horse meat is popular in many European countries (such as Germany, Belgium, Sweden and other parts, and can even be found as Sashimi in Japan since it is considered very clean and healthy and way less prone to disease than beef.)

HOWEVER before I begin I must warn you, Tasajo isn't for everyone I believe it's an aquiered taste, my mother dislikes it, so does my Travis, and my father isn't too fond of it. Only me and my grandmother love it. To us it has like I said an earthy, sweet taste, and salty addictiveness, the texture is soft but chewy? Hard to describe like a moist beef jerky? Although my mother say's it smells like dog food.. Travis agreed with her.... well if you ever wanna try something different give this a try :)

And so I leave you here with my favorite way to prepare Tasajo (their aren't many) I only know 3 ways, one the meat is shredded and stir fried in hot lard with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin until it is crispy and browned. The second is it is cut in steaks seasoned with lime, garlic, salt, and cumin then pounded and pan fried in lard or olive oil, onions are fried in the drippings then the steak is served with onions over it. Lastly and thirdly my favorite way is having it simmered in a savory cuban style tomato based sauce.

Ingredients for desalting tasajo:
-1 lbs. Tasajo
-water enough to cover tasajo 2-3 inches
-1 bay leaf

Ingredients for sauce:
-1/4- 1/2 cup lard or olive oil
-1 green bell pepper julienned
-2 onions julienned
-6 cloves garlic minced finely
-1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-2 cups tasajo boiling liquid (reserved from the desalting process)
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-salt to taste (if necessary the tasajo and it's liquid is already pretty salty)

Directions:
(1) Get tasajo, remove yellow coating of fat by scraping down with a spoon, throw away fat (I've been tempted to save it and use it to cook the tasajo but I thought lard or olive oil tastes better anyways).

(2) Put the tasajo in a large pot, cover with cold water and let soak at least 12 hrs. (24 is better) change the water whenever you remember (maybe every 4-5 hrs.)
(3) The next day, drain the water, cut tasajo in 2 or 4 parts, cover the tasajo with about 3 inches of water, throw a bay leaf in there and boil a total of 2 hrs more or less until tender (tender enough to shred or to be pierced by a fork). RESERVE THE COOKING LIQUID YOU WILL NEED IT TO MAKE SAUCE!
(4) When tender remove and shred by hand, discard fatty pieces. Set aside, if the tasajo seems to salty you may rinse it and drain.
(5) Now begin sauce. Heat a large shallow pan on medium high heat with lard or olive oil, when grease is hot add julienned onions and bell peppers sautee 5-7 minutes, add garlic sautee an additional 2-3 minutes, when fragrant add tomato sauce, dry white wine, cumin, stir and bring to bubble.
(6) Add shredded desalted tasajo, stir well, add the reserved liquid (about 1-2 cups depends how thick or thin you like your sauce), and cover to simmer 30 additional minutes. Turn off heat.
(7) Serve with whatever you'd like, either white rice, moros (rice steamed with black beans and its broth), or congri (rice steamed with red beans and it's broth) go really well with it along with either a simple salad (like Ensalada de Aguacate, Ensalada de Aji, or a simple tossed salad my friend Tita makes, "Tita's Salad", boiled root vegetables with mojo (yuca, malanga or name, calabaza or boniato), or fried root vegetables or other veggies (fried yuca, fried ripe plantains, tostones, boniato or sweet potato rounds, or even french fries still waiting to be posted haha)
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) I juliened everything thickly to make the sauce the onions and bell peppers because I wanted the pieces like that, I didn't want them to disappear into the sauce. You can julien everything thinly if you wish. My grandmother likes to use less onion only 1 or 1/2 of one and 1 or 1/2 a green bell pepper that she prefers to have it minced, it is up to you and your personal preference.

(2) Here's another recipe for Tasajo from my friend IDania from El Aroma de IDania (mil gracias por el pimienton dulce y picante de la vera) which she learned from another wonderful Cuban cook Marilyn from her cooking blog "My Cuban Traumas"

Guiso de Carne Con Platano (Cuban Beef and Plantain Stew)

I personally never cooked this at home, I was flipping through one of my Cuban cookbooks "Memories of a Cuban Kitchen" by Mary Urrutia Randelman whom is a Cuban exile from pre- castro Havana, Cuba and has very delicious recipes. Anyways I bumped into this beef and plantain stew she called "Carne Guisada Con Platano" (pg. 129) in the book and had some plantains sitting on the counter top and a large amount of beef chuck so I said, "Why not sounds interesting" of course I did it my way, I only used her recipe as a guideline and inspiration. I use the same spices just different proportions, use lard instead of olive oil (trust me it goes really well here, lard gives Cuban meat dishes a wonderful taste), less wine, don't use beef stock (for what I didn't have it on hand and the beef is gonna boil for a long time in the sauce so there's your beefy flavor) and add a generous amount of cilantro and leave wiggle room for any other changes which I think are fine.

The semi sweet, semi-ripe plantains give it a nice sweetness and plantain taste, BUT and it's a big BUT (haha just kidding) I know some aren't fond of sweet in their dishes, so one could easily use green plantains and end up with a delicious stew, or leftover Tostones or heck if you have the time fry tostones just to add to it (although if you go through the trouble of making them shouldn't you just eat them as a side?)

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup lard or olive oil (I use lard)
-4 1/2 lbs. beef chuck cut into 2 inch pieces (you can use beef stew meat to)
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste (I use about 1 teaspoon)
-2 medium onions minced
-2 medium green bell peppers minced
-1 head of garlic mashed (garlic press or mortar)
-1 cup dry white wine
-2 cans 8 oz ounces each tomato sauce
-water (enough to cover meat)
-1 teaspoon dried oregano
-3-4 bay leaves
-1 tablespoon ground cumin
-1 tablespoons sweet smoked Spanish paprika (optional use it if you have it though)
-6 large semi-ripe plantains peeled cut into 2 inch rounds (yellow or yellow with black spots)
-1 large bunch of cilantro, washed, chopped up finely

Directions:
(1) Pat- dry meat, heat a very large shallow pan on very high heat, when pan is super hot add lard, melt it until it slightly smokes, add beef all in one layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown meat in lard (this may take a long time, depending on how much liquid your meat releases it took me about 20- 30 minutes)

(2) Meanwhile prep everything, when meat is browned sautee onions, bell pepper about 7 minutes on medium high, add garlic stir until fragrant, deglaze with wine, add tomato sauce and water bring to a rolling boil.

(3) Now add more salt if nesseccary, throw all the spices (cumin, sweet smoked spanish paprika and bay leaves), bring to a rolling boil, cover and simmer on low for about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.(4) When meat is tender add plantains, cover and cook an additional 30 minutes, add more water if nesseccary. Finally when plantains are tender stir in cilantro.
(5) Serve with fluffy white rice and whatever sides you'd like :)
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE:
(1) I cooked a really large amount you can cut the recipe in half. The reason I cooked so much is because I want leftovers to take to school with me for lunch.

(2) I REPEAT Some people don't like semi-ripe plantains because of the sweetness they impart. You can substitute the semi-ripe plantains for green plantains. Or even if you want to go through the trouble you can add Tostones instead to soak up the deliciousness in that case simmer only 5- 10 minutes instead of 30.

(3) You can use pork instead of beef.

Pulpeta (Cuban Meatloaf)

Pulpeta is the Cuban version of American meat loaf. American meat loaf is usually made from seasoned ground meat binded with eggs and breadcrumbs then baked in the oven usually glazed with ketchup or tomato sauce. In general American meatloaf can be bland and boring (most meat loafs from restaurants and such). Although I must say if done right it can also be delicious.

What makes this Cuban version so different? Well for one the meat loaf isn't cooked in the oven. It is fried on the stovetop until well browned or a golden crust forms, then it is simmered in a delicious creole sauce. Generally it will also have hard boiled egg in the center for looks.

To be honest in my family we never made Pulpeta, I've only read of it, and seen it on other Cuban blogs. I was craving a delicious Pulpeta and since I don't have a family recipe for it or anything then I decided to come up with my own :) This is my version of the Cuban meatloaf.

Ingredients for loaf:
-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
-1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
-1/2 lbs. ground ham (grind your own in a food processor)
-1 heaping tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika
-1 heaping teaspoon hot smoked spanish paprika
-1 heaping teaspoon ground black pepper
-1 heaping teaspoon ground oregano
-3-4 cloves garlic mashed to a paste
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt (more or less to taste)
-3 large eggs beaten (or 4 regular ones)
-1/2 cup bread crumbs or cracker meal
-3 hard boiled eggs

Ingredients for Sauce:
-1/2 cup olive oil (more or less)
-1 red or green bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-6-8 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1- 2 cup water
-salt to taste
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/4- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
-2 bay leaves

Garnish (optional):
1/4- 1/2 cup sweet peas

Directions:
(1) Mix ground pork, ground beef, ground ham, with smoked sweet and hot spanish paprika, black pepper, oregano, garlic, salt, eggs, and bread crumbs/ cracker meal. Form into a loaf and cut open, fill with hard boiled egg and let rest in fridge wrapped in plastic wrap or something for about 2 hours. ALSO PLEASE DO NOT OVER MIX it makes the loaf tougher. The meat less tender

(2) Now heat a large frying pan on high heat till really hot, lower to medium high, kinda high but not super high, add generous amount of olive oil in a large frying pan allow to heat til it barely smokes. Brown loaf carefully on all sides. (Yes this can be intimidating and hard my mom did it for me while I took pictures ha ha) When well browned set aside.

(3) In same pan start forming your sauce sautee onions and bell peppers until onion is translucent about 5-7 minutes on medium high heat, then add garlic and sautee until fragrant another 1-2 minutes, deglaze with wine, add tomato sauce, water, salt, cumin, and bay leaves bring to a boil.

(4) Throw sauce in a deep pot, bring back to boil, add browned meatloaf, spoon over sauce, when sauce is boiling cover and simmer on low for about 25 minutes, flip the loaf carefully to the other side spoon sauce over, simmer an additional 25 minutes. Now add minced cilantro and peas all over.

(5) You can transfer loaf to a large plate to slice it and leave the rest of the sauce in the pot, use sauce to spoon over slices as much as you like. We served it with simple home made mashed potatoes (potatoes, milk, butter, salt and if you wish a drizzle of good olive oil) which we used the sauce from cooking the loaf as gravy to top the mashed potatoes one could also enjoy it with rice, and also served it with a simple salad (onion, cucumber, tomato, avocado with lemon or lime juice, olive oil, and salt)

PLEASE NOTE:
*Do your best not to make cracks or openings when browning loaf, because when simmering the meat this sounds gross but the scum or blood whatever is in the meat will clump and ooze out, if this happens scoop it out and remove.

*I know not everyone has access to sweet smoked Spanish paprika, or hot smoked Spanish paprika. If you still want to make this just omit it and season with cumin, oregano, and black pepper it will still be delicious but just different. The way I made mine is I wanted it to taste like a cross between sweet savory ham and delicious smokey Spanish chorizo but you can season it however you want, let this recipe be for inspiration, make your own sauce, season the loaf your way, make it yours sometimes the best stuff comes out from experimentation.

*If frying 1 large loaf is intimidating or you don't want such a large loaf you can make two small ones and fry both of them and simmer both together in the sauce.

Higado a la Italiana de mi Tata (My Tata's Liver Stirfry with Onion and Bell Pepper "Italian Style")

Tata is what we call my grandmother in my family. She is like a walking Cuban cookbook, any recipe I wanna know I simply ask I'll get one for anything that's Cuban she knows a few Spaniard dishes here and there to.

Higado a la Italiana meaning liver Italian style is a Cuban dish which I have no clue why they named it "Italian style" maybe something to do with method of preparation of marination? No clue... all I know that the recipe became popular or known when Nitza Villapol the Cuban Julia Child who became a communist introduced this dish in her cookbook "Cocina al Minuto" also Mary Urrutia Randelman shared her family version of the dish "Higado a la Italiana"

My Tata's version is neither like Nitza's nor Mary Urrutia, the reason their version of the dish is disliked or not cooked in my house is because the liver is marinaded in a lot of liquid (a generous amount of wine and vinegar with flour, salt, garlic, and pepper) a long with julienned bell peppers, onions, and a couple bay leaves. The problem is Nitza's and Mary Urrutia recipes heat oil, add bell pepper and onion and then higher heat and add liver with all marinade and stir for a few minutes like 10 THERE IS THE PROBLEM, it just boils the liver in the marinade with the bell pepper and onion... we don't like liver to be boiled liver in my house, we dislike the texture and taste obtained it causes the liver to release it's own juices and just taste blah in my opinion. (Believe me I've prepared this dish Nitza's way)

My Tata everytime we cooked liver it would be fried in very very smoking high heat until well browned on all sides. My grandmother's version is as follows:

She get's liver cut into bite sizes, very well seasoned and marinaded in vinegar, salt, lots of garlic, and smokey cumin she then fries it in very hot oil until well browned and quickly stirfry's it together with julienned onions and bell peppers and finishes seasoning it with a touch oregano or if no oregano is wanted she fries the bay leaves in the hot oil, removes and continues with the recipe. I prefer this version any day :)

Now here's the recipe with pictorials to be more specific.

Ingredients:
-1 ½ lbs. beef liver
-12 cloves garlic (pressed through a garlic press or mashed in a mortar to a paste)
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1- 2 teaspoons salt
-2 tablespoons white vinegar
-2 medium onions julienne
-1 large or 2 small green bell peppers julienned
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or 2 bay leaves your choice (oregano is better in my opinion)
-more salt to taste as needed.
-1/2 cup cooking oil that can withstand high heat (canola, vegetable, corn, lard, etc. )

NOTE BEFORE I START:
I know it seems like A LOT of oil, but REMEMBER this is to fry the liver, you can drain and or take out some of the oil after the liver is fried, my grandmother leaves all the oil in their, my mom likes to drain some of it.

Directions:
(1) Beef liver washed, cleaned, remove nerves, silver skin, and fat leave as clean as possible even if you must waste some of the liver meat. I buy 1 ½ lbs because I end up throwing ½ after cleaning. HUGE TIP when buying liver make sure your butcher shows you all sides of it because if the entire back area or not seen area has lots of nerves and holes IT IS NO GOOD tell him to get you another because nerves and other bad parts curl and give a very hard texture sometimes. UNLESS YOU ARE POOR PLEASE JJUST CLEAN IT WELL AND REMOVE ANY QUESTIONABLE AREAS THE FINAL RESULT IS WORTH IT.

(2) Now cut liver into BITE sizes and toss with vinegar, cumin, salt, and garlic.

(3) Heat a heavy skillet or wok on HIGH HEAT with generous amounts of oil ALMOST enough to pan fry you need really hot nearly smoking temperature. (about 1/2 a cup) wait until the oil starts smoking (your gonna want windows open or that filter fan in kitchens)

(4) Add liver in one layer leave alone a couple minutes until browned about 10- 15 minutes then toss to flip or move around until it is almost cooked and not pink.

(7) Add onions and bell peppers as well as oregano or bay leave and cook until onions and bell peppers pic up drippings and get rid of raw taste of onion.

(8) IMMEDIATELY serve this is NO GOOD WHEN IT COOLS SERVE IMMEDIATELY! With some white rice and beans. BE SURE EVERYTHING IS READY OT SERVE BY THE TIME THIS IS COOKED THIS DISH IS MEANT TO BE EATEN AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE!

P.S.

She prepares this almost identical to "Higado a la Vizcaina" which is the same as this except no bell peppers, oregano, or bay leaf. Instead towards the end when the onions are soft you add cubed crispy deep-fried potatoes you previously fried and salted to add to this dish. I have a recipe post for that you can check if you like:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/07/higado-la-vizcaina-liver-la-vizcaina.html

In addition we also make "Higado Encebollado" (fried liver steaks with onions) marinaded the same way except whole steaks are fried set aside then in drippings lots of onions are fried and used to top the liver steak check it out here if you'd like to:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/09/higado-encebollado-con-papa-frita-liver.html