El Tucan

As a follow up to my post on El Tucan, Alejandro spilled his trade secrets today.

The meat from his delicious hamburger comes from Carniceria Los Tres Huastecos at Carlos Del Castillo 4 in Colonia Guadalupe. They grind the flank steak fresh when you ask for Molida Especial. I asked for a quarter pound and it made 3 burgers.

To the hamburger meat, add two caps of soy sauce and 2 soy sauce caps of pineapple juice. Season with salt and pepper and cook. 

Not sure if I mentioned that a Burger, fries and a non-alcoholic drink is 50 pesos or $3.95.

He also sold me a half kilo of the bacon he uses on the burgers. I haven’t had a decent slice of bacon since I left Chicago. It’s the El Centenario brand. I will not tell you how delicious this bacon is but it’s the best 40 pesos ($3.16) I’ve spent this week. 

I rarely eat breakfast but it was so great to have eggs, bacon and toast today for a change.

He took the better part of 10 minutes trying to convince me that any grill - even this one I saw at the market today - would work just as well as a grill I just looked at...a Weber which is two and a half times the price in the US. 

He also showed me how to light the grill using the old “boy scout” method. I laughed when I thought of my brother Terry trying to do this when he was young and almost burning down our house.

There are no ends to what I will learn as I meet more people like Alejandro who utilize conventional resources as opposed to buying something new…like the Weber. 

If I were going to be here forever, there is no doubt that I would already be cooking on that Weber. 

For now, I'm searching for places to get BBQ out. So far, they are few and far between. 

Stay tuned.

Buen Apetito!