Mojo Marinade???

[Trixie]

Does anyone have any suggestions to where I can find that mojo marinade for the Pollo Rancho Luna recipe from May's issue? I live in the north Seattle region, and typically have NO problem locating off-the-wall ingredients, but this one has me stumped! (And the recipe looks sooo good!) :D

Thanks!

Tracie (aka Trixie)

[Gail]

I took a look at this issue and KNEW the question was going to come up. What you need is a Latin Market, or a regular market in a Latin area.

If all else fails, I couldtell you how to make a conventional mojo-- problem is that it's really high in oil content (mostly it's loads of garlic, olive oil, bitter orange-- which you can duplicate using half regular orange juice to a quarter each of lemon and lime juices-- and thinly sliced onion.) I suspect, though, that the bottled mojo is a slightly different animal.

I'm interested in making this as well, 'cause I never could decide if I liked the conventional Chicken Rancho Luna (mine was a broiled recipe with predominantly lime and no mojo).

Good luck!

[beacooker]

Well, I will go ahead and give you a recipe for homemade mojo! I tried the bottled kind once, and as Gail said, it is a totally different animal, as a slug is a totally different animal from a leopard. I absolutely love homemade mojo, the bottled stuff is terrible. When I saw the Pollo Rancho Luna recipe, I knew right away that I would be substituting homemade mojo - its worth the small amount of extra effort!

Mojo

1/3 cup olive oil
6-8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or minced
2/3 cup fresh sour orange juice or lime juice (I have always used lime juice)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly toasted but not brown, about 30 seconds.
2. Add the juice, cumin, and salt and pepper. Stand back: the sauce may sputter. Bring the sauce to a rolling boil. Correct the seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cool before serving. Mojo tastes best when served within a couple of hours of making, but it will keep for several days, covered, in the refrigerator.

[Vanessa]

Goya has mojo criollo in 12 oz bottles
Mojo Criollo
Zesty Mojo Criollo with garlic, onion, and citrus for tender, tasty meat and poultry .
Gail is right you need to find a hispanic market. Maybe a "world type market" where you can find hispanic products might be available in your area? If not possible then try asking the store manager f he could get you the product or try getting in contact with Goya (the closest to you would be)
Goya of California
15320 Salt Lake Avenue
City of Industry, CA 91745
Tel: 626-961-6161
Fax: 626-937-2464

I searched around & remembered there's PIke Place Market in Seattle. There you will find El Mercado Latino
206-623-3240 located in the Sanitary Market Building.Don't know how far it is for you but its a great place to visit We were in Seattle a few yrs ago and spend few hrs walking around it.Well hope this helps..:)
Also you can certaintly try making your own
6 to 8 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium-size onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup sour (Seville) orange juice or 1/4 cup sweet orange juice and 1/8 cup each fresh lime and lemon juice
1 Using a mortar and pestle or a food processor, crush the garlic with the salt to form a thick paste.
2 In a mixing bowl, combine the garlic paste, onion, and juice, and let the mixture sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer.
3 Minutes before you are ready to serve the mojo, heat the oil over medium-high heat in a medium-size pan until it is very hot, add the garlic mixture (do this quickly because it will splatter0, stir, and serve immediately. To reheat, simmer over low heat until heated through, 6 to 8 minutes. The sauce keeps several weeks refrigerated.

[Gail]

Beacooker,

I have obviously never used bottled mojo, so I'm a babe in the woods here. What is the consistency of it? (Completely liquid as in naranja agria or does it have solids in it?)

[beacooker]

Hmmmmm...I just looked to see if per chance I still had the bottle in my fridge, but I guess I did chuck it. I didn't spend much time with it (one taste and I decided it wasn't a good sub for the real stuff), but I'm pretty sure that it was the same consistency as homemade mojo - completely liquid except for small chunks of garlic.

Of course, now I know other people who try the bottled stuff will probably wonder why I hated it so much - its probably not really that bad, but I just felt that it wasn't citrusy enough or, more importantly, garlicky enough. If you are not a huge garlic lover, you may find the bottled mojo ok.

[Gail]

Interesting. I'm going to suppose the reason for using the bottled mojo was more a case of cutting back on the oils than anything else, since the preparation of mojo is so easy.

Just for comparison, the recipe I use is the one Vanessa posted above.

[Trixie]

Wow! Thanks to all you resourceful women for answering my question for me! After I read your posts, I remembered I should check out Cost Plus Imports, since they have a large international foods section. I was just down by the Market (as in Pike Place) this weekend, but it didn't even occur to me to look there...duh. But, in the meantime, the homemade recipes sound fabulous...and I do like my garlic!

Thanks again!

Tracie

[jjsooner73]

I'm glad someone already started this thread!

Was I the only one who was a little bit annoyed that the most important part of this Cuban recipe called for a bottled marinade? That just seems to take away the authenticity (no matter that I've seen Goya products advertised on Cuban cooking sites).

Maybe it's just me, but I can buy a bottle of something and marinade it w/o a recipe. If you're going to give me a recipe, I want it to be from scratch!!

Now if this was in the superfast section, I wouldn't complain...but I'm not big on bottled stuff. I had originally thought this sounded good until seeing it called for the bottled marinade. I then strached it off my list. Maybe now I'll do it w/ the homemade mojo!
Thanks! :)

[newsomz]

vanessa or gail-

I don't know if it's just to late for me to be on the computer or what. However, the recipe vanessa posted for mojo says heat the oil but, doesn't say how much? please help! :) how much?

Thanks,

Carrie

[Vanessa]

Ops Carrie my apologies its 1/2 cup pure Spanish olive oil(you cvan cut it down a bit so its healthier)

[Gail]

Originally posted by jjsooner73
I'm glad someone already started this thread!

Was I the only one who was a little bit annoyed that the most important part of this Cuban recipe called for a bottled marinade? That just seems to take away the authenticity ... Maybe now I'll do it w/ the homemade mojo!
Thanks! :)

Hi Jennifer,

You know, I'm thinking I flaked a little, even bringing up the subject of a mojo recipe being oil-laden, because it occurs to me at this very late hour that cooked mojo-- such as the two recipes listed here-- and the marinade aren't the same thing. One is served with your finished dish, the other is used as a marinade. The cooked mojo is actually fried in olive oil, the marinade uses either little or no oil at all.

If the idea of the bottled marinade puts you off, try this: I marinate in either the combination of orange, lemon and lime juice as described above or occasionally with bottled naranja agria (bitter orange), with the addition of rubbing meats with loads of garlic and some comino (sometimes also oregano), and may also add sherry and even thickly sliced onion to my marinade. If you want a taste of Cuba in your meats without using the bottled stuff, try that-- (though if you use it with CL's recipe, the addition of the comino and oregano are going to alter the flavor of the dish somewhat.) Or if you'd like another version of Chicken Rancho Luna, I can post that as well.

One other comment on the subject of the Cuban recipes (and I'd be interested in Vanessa's opinion as well as that of any one else who does any Cuban cooking). To me, an hour or two of marinating isn't nearly enough time. I've always preferred 6 hours to overnight and would recommend the same with these recipes.

[jjsooner73]

Thanks Gail!

I agree with you on the marinating. I almost always marinate chicken/even beef overnight. Much better that way.

[Vanessa]

Hi Gail:
I am a believer that anything marinated tastes so much better.
Cuban & PR food are similar in that we marinade.
I try to marinade early in the morning and in some cases like turkey, fresh ham etc even a couple of days.
I agree with you :)

About rubs/marinades I don't have this particular recipe(no CL May issue yet) but poultry is really enhanced when you marinade it. We make a paste with garlic salt oregano poultry seasoning pepper olive oil and vinegar.And "rub" it on the poultry then let it sit in the fridge like Emeril would say make the chicken "happy happy"
In regards to mojo we have several versions. One is well known as salsa aji-li-mojili (actually we have a fantastic restaurant by that name)
2 garlic cloves
3 ajis dulces
2 peppercorns
1/4 c olive oil
2 tab lime juice
2 tab apple vinegar
1 tsp salt
Mash using pestle and mortar garlic aji and pepper add rest of ingredients and mix well.
We use this for lechon (fresh ham or suckling pig) crab and seafood or green bananas
We also have a different version of the mojo criollo adding alcaparras, olives tomato sauce roasted pimentos and of course lots of onions.
The mojo we have been discussing in PR we might use it for fish & poultry that has been rotiserried or plainly BBQ to add or enhance flavors too. In many parts of the Island you might find bottles of pique (spice) some times a variety of pineapple mojo with little hot peppers just to sprinkle over dishes and some bottled (maybe homemade then bottled) mojo (like the one discussed) some sprinkle on their meats.

We have a pescado en escabeche (escabeche fish) which uses as a base something similar to the mojo criollo I posted basically the escabeche part.In this particular case the mojo is cooked and also the fish and both are mixed in a container alternating fish and mojo leaving to "marry" flavors 24 hrs in the fridge.

[newsomz]

vanessa, beacooker and gail-

thanks for all your input on cuban/pr food. i love both and usually only get to taste it at friends houses or at the local cuban restaurant (which i love). now, i'll definately try some of your marinades and suggestions, can't wait!

carrie

[Ralph]

Found the bottled marinade just as they recommend in the Mexican section of the grocery store, but since there's a large Hispanic population here, I'm not too surprised that I found it.

[lhall]

Like Ralph, I found mine at the regular grocery store. But, I was surprised. I guess I shouldn't have been. I also found sofrito, which I need for the cuban beans recipe.

Anyways, it was in the real 'mexican/spanish' foods section. Where the label are in spanish THEN english.

Leigh