Need A Recipe Please

[Tenpoint5]

Does anyone (Nepas' Mom) have a recipe for a wet fajita marinade? While in Texas my wife had some pork fajitas in a wet marinade that we bought at a grocery store in Boerne. I think it was a HEB store. Since my Brother is coming back for a visit she started asking me again if I can recreate the fajita's. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Chris

[deb415611]

Chris,

I have a couple mexican cookbooks & will take a look.  Any idea of base - tomato, chile, citrus, tomatillo, etc?

Deb

[westexasmoker]

I use the one from S&S for fajitas, its most excellent!

12 oz beer
3/4 cup vegtable oil
1/2 med. onion, chopped
juice of 2 limes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tbls worcestershire
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chiltepins or tabasco sauce
1 tsp cumin

C

[SaltSpringSmoker]

Hey 10.5,

The HEB fajitas are very good.  I used to buy them all the time back when I lived near Austin.  Don't know their marinade recipe, but Texas Monthly once published the marinade for the flank steak fajitas at Pappasito's Mexican Restaurant in Houston.  It is one of three restaurants in Houston that generally get rated as making the best fajitas in the city (El Tiempo on Richmond Ave. (my favorite - man are they good!) and Lupe's Tortillas are the other contenders). 

The Pappasito's marinade is

1 part unsweetened pineapple juice
1 part soy sauce
1 part beer (could substitute water if no beer available)
Splash of Teriyaki sauce

You need to marinate for at least 8 hours.  I usually add the juice of 1/2 a lime to the mix, but that's not in the original recipe. 

Now here's the thing.  Pappasito's flank steak comes out incredibly tender using this marinade, but they do something important to make this happen that is not easy to duplicate at home.  They repeatedly pierce the flank steak with a tenderizer fork, then put it in a thick, tough vacuum bag, then remove all air after adding the marinade, and then seal the bag.  And then, and here's the difficult part, they throw the bag into a rotating tumbler drum (kind of looks like a small cement mixer with internal baffles) which beats the hell out of the meat over night.

For cooking, they get the grill as hot as possible and sear on each side for only about 1.5 to 2 minutes.

The good news is that I do everything they do except the cement-mixer step and the end result is still very good.  I typically marinate for a fairly long time to compensate. 

We have guests coming over this Saturday night, and I am making fajitas, so I put the meat in the marinade this morning.  I'll send you pics of my finished product for comparison.

Do forget to grill some jalapeno peppers to go with the meal.

Would certainly be interested in getting Nepas' fajita recipe as well.

SaltSpringSmoker

[Tenpoint5]

Thanks everyone for looking I will give them a try to see if I can get close. SSS will that recipe work for pork as well as beef?

[Smokin Soon]

10.5 a word of caution on the pinapple juice on beef. I do quite a bit of Carne Asada for my guys at work, and have found that it's a 3 hour job instead of an overnighter. The pineapple can give beef a "mushey "
effect if left too long.

[Tenpoint5]

Thanks SS, Momma is looking for a pork marinade more than anything. Something I can cut up a butt and marinate in and then grill for her.

[seemore]

chris short time on pinapple juice dont is more then 3hrs
seemore aka scott

[SaltSpringSmoker]

HI 10.5,

The comment from Smoking Soon is correct.  That should have read marinate for 3 hours, not 8 hours.   Bit of a typo there that I should have caught, though I wasn't actually aware that leaving in longer has an undesired effect.

Also, I've not tried the marinade on pork so I can't comment on that.

SaltSpringSmoker

[SaltSpringSmoker]

Hi 10.5,

I used the flank steak marinade recipe I posted to you on Friday to prepare a fajita meal for a party at the cabin on the weekend.  Everyone really liked the fajita meat, which has been my experience in the past.  After marinating (and I did marinate for about 7 to 8 hours in this case), I applied 1.5 hour of mesquite with only the smoking element on.  Then I grilled them up as I wrote in my previous message.

After reading the posts by SS and Seemore, I can appreciate their point of view and experience.  The meat does soften due to the marinade and you need a very sharp knife to cut it properly.  But having said that, it was extremely tender, which I like, and very flavorful. 

When we got back home, I did pull out and read the original Texas Monthly recipe that I had stored in my recipe file.  I hadn't actually looked at it in years as I thought I had it memorized.  As SS suggested, it does say to marinate for 3 hours (not 8 as I thought and posted).  I imagine the reason for this is as stated by both SS and Seemore.  Feeling a bit foolish really, as I am aware that both SS and Seemore are far, far more experienced BBQ chefs.  Absolutely no doubt about that.  I was just doing my best to return the favor you provided me and my family by posting your excellent and detailed rib recipe.  Will apply the 3 hour method the next time I prepare this dish and let you know how it turns out.

SaltSpringSmoker

[Tenpoint5]

Thanks guys I really appreciate all the help.

[classicrockgriller]

if you have a H E B and u buy their Pork,chicken breast,chicken thighs  or beef fajita (which are all excellent) you have to remember that the ingredients are commercial pack. therefore if you wait till expire date to use them you might get fajitas that decompose on the grill. depends on what you want

[Tenpoint5]

I don't have one that's why I am trying to duplicate there pork fajita meat.

[classicrockgriller]

the construction co I own is one that does epoxy overlayments i have done work in most all heb warehouses for years i might can find out or I can freeze and ship

[Tenpoint5]

If you can find that would be great. My brother is supposed to be coming back for muzzleloader season in Oct. He said he would bring a few packages back with him.