Arepa, Carne Mechada y Tostones

I lived in Venezuela for 3 years a little over 10 years ago. I live in Houston but still work in Latin America. For the "Pulled" Throwdown, I knocked off the national dish of Venezuela - Pabellon Criollo.

I bought a small angus chuck roast at my local grocery, seasoned it with lemon pepper, paprika, salt and garlic powder and let it sit overnight. This morning, I fired up the miniWSM and smoked it over Kingsford with some hickory chunks for about 2 hours.

The miniWSM rolling along at 275ish.




The chuck about 1 1/2 into the cook.




I pulled the roast at 160F and wrapped it in foil with two cans of Rotel Tomatoes and some Green Chiles.




I put the roast back on the smoker for another 1 1/2. I had to pull it in order to leave for my 7yo's birthday party so I wrapped it in foil and put it in the cooler with some towels to rest and stay warm. I pulled it when I got home.




In the meantime, I sliced up some plantain into 1" chunks and fried them til browned.






After they set out and cooled, I smashed them using the traditional implement and refried them to make tostones.

My assistant and the plantain smasher (patent pending)




Tostones ready to go




While all that was going on, I mixed some Harina P.A.N. with water and salt to make the arepas.

Arepa dough in balls ready for the Arepa Maker (why I have an Arepa Maker is a whole 'nother story).




Once it looked like this whole symphony was starting to come together, I warmed the pulled beef with the aus jus and tomatoes from the braising process. I sliced the arepa and warmed it too.




Plated and served as arepa con carne machada, tostones y caraotas. (corn cake, pulled beef, fried plantain and black beans).



Patria, BBQ o Muerte.......Venceremos!

LT72884 said:

Does the mini have a water pan like the standard wsm?

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The barrel of the mini is a 32qt tamale pot with the bottom cut out. It has a ledge about 2" from the bottom that holds an aluminum plate with holes in it. When it was a tamale pot, that plate would hold the tamales and diffuse the steam from the boiling water in the bottom.

I have used the diffuser plate once to see if it could work like the pan in my big WSM but i have good control of the temp without it so I don't use it anymore. I may work on it some more and rig it to hold a clay saucer.

It's a good cooker for a couple Or a family when the kids think your food looks "icky".

vr6Cop said:

That dish looks similar to something I had at a Colombian restaurant in Miami.

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The meat part of the dish is called ropa vieja in many places. I've had it in Colombia too but don't recall the name. In Cuba, it's called Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians) for the black beans and white rice.

vr6Cop said:

I think I'd like to cook that for my family sometime. Is there a ratio of the different dry spices, or do you just wing it?

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I just wing it. If you aim for a 1/3 mix of course lemon pepper, kosher salt, and course black pepper you would be close to what I use as a base. Then add the others as you see fit.

cdollar said:

Man that looks good. I spent about a year in Venezuela in '96-'97 and really loved the food there. Do you fry your Arepas or cook them on a griddle?

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We were there at the same time. Great days. I cook mine on a waffle iron looking thing that is made specifically to cook arepas. My friends gave it to me along with a kilo of Harina P.A.N. when I left in 1999.

cdollar said:

Now I have to go get some P.A.N.

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Couldn't believe it but I found some at my local grocer.