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Beef Fideo Delicioso, A Staple


As with last nights recipe, there are some recipes prized for their simplicity.  Fideo Delicioso is one of those examples.  When I was a child, it was referred to a poor mans dinner but every family I knew served it regularly.  We were either all poor or the stigma was ignorant.  Looking back at the perspective today, I am thinking the later as the local lunch dive always sold out before noon on Fideo day.  Be what it is, Fideo Delicioso is a warm, earthy meal that can be made a simple as the instructions say (my favorite) or added to with tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, etc.. creating a house specialty.  Fideo Delicioso is from the T&T list of meals.

Modifications Made:
Until standing in the grocer today reading the box for the ingredients needed, I don't think I ever have seen pork or chicken included as an option for the ground meat.  In the past venison, has been substituted for beef.  Since venison is lean, the dinner was disastrous as the fat from the beef is critical to the recipe.  With that, beef was used tonight as all other boxes cooked have been served before.

None as the yellow box instructions are as golden as the box they are printed on.

Scaled for Likability: Great
The key instruction to a successful Fideo Delicioso is to brown, brown, brown the noodles.  Brown until you think they are done and then brown them some more.  If the edges start to darken to black then you are getting close.  To achieve this high level of browning without burning is to cook over a low heat and stir constantly.  Once the fideo does start to brown, if they are not stirred consistently they will burn to a chard in a snap of the fingers.  Insufficient browning of the fideo results in a soggy mixture turning delicioso into grosso.

Fideo Delicioso can be topped with yellow cheese, queso fresco, sour cream, creme, cilantro, onion, pico de gallo, salsa, or nothing at all.  It can be served with skillet fried corn, charro beans, chips, tortillas, corn bread, a simple salad, or nothing at all on the side.

There is one downside to Fideo. Sadly, it does not reheat well.

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