Why Mexican Beef and Tomatillo Stew Turned Out Dry

Question

Just made this recipe and does not look anything like the picture.  No liquid is added so where does the liquid come from?  Added Tomatillo's (13.4 ounces) after 2 hours of cooking meat in oven with spices.  Cooked for an additional hour after add ing tomatillos and 15 ounces of Yukon Gold potatoes.   Cn out very very dry, i.e no liquid
Is recipe missing a liquid ingredient?  water. stock, broth?
very disappointing

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Richard - I’m not sure what may have gone wrong but I do know that, as Enrique Olvera mentioned in the story, the texture is more suited to serving in a tortilla or over rice than simply in a bowl as you would a more soup-like stew. This is an example of a dry braise. In a dry braise the juices from the meat and the liquid released by the aromatics are the only liquid in the braise. Since there is so little liquid the flavor is more concentrated yielding richer flavor. The tomatillos, added towards the end, will also add a fair amount of liquid but will naturally give off varying amounts depending on ripeness. Ripe tomatillos will have bright green flesh and husk and usually the smaller they are the more desirable. In this particular dry braise we use less meat since we are also adding potatoes and tomatillos. Because of this it’s really important to maintain the level of liquid in the pot by keeping it covered during the entire cooking period, which is a slightly different technique than most of our other Milk Street braises where we remove the cover after a few hours and return the pot to the oven. Again, I’m not sure what went wrong here but I hope this information is helpful! Best, Lynn C.

Why Mexican Beef and Tomatillo Stew Turned Out Dry

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