A lot of my recipes call for meat that’s already prepped before you start assembling it into the final product. You can either pre-prep the meat yourself, or keep pre-made shelf-stable meat on hand. Being able to adjust to this second option actually opens up most of these recipes for emergency cuisine during power outages, etc.
Prep Tools
Meat monsoon machine. I love this thing. I call it this because when it processes red meat, it’s just like an intense rain of shredded meat pouring into a bowl. And just like the aftermath of a rain storm, the meat drips out of the blades for a few seconds after the torrent has concluded. But never forget, this thing knows nothing of life beyond its desire to eat your hands.
Chicken shredder. This thing takes up a fair amount of space, and most folks do this with a pair of forks. But it does work quickly and efficiently, and turns baked chicken into shredded chicken at a rapid pace. It’s also simple and quick to clean, unlike the meat monsoon machine, which requires an in-depth cleaning of its billion angry razor-sharp disc blades.
Shelf Stable Options
- Hereford Beef. Hereford is a Brazilian shelf-stable beef sold in bags, which I’ve really enjoyed. I prefer their shredded beef with beef broth, and apparently so do other people because it’s not always available. It does a pretty good job of standing in for Mexican shredded beef, and it doesn’t require any prep time.
- Canned chicken. There are a number of canned chicken options here. I have no particular preference between them.
Pre-Cooked Home Options
- Chicken. I like to bake boneless chicken thighs and run them through my meat monsoon machine. It’s neat watching it basically explode, and the chopped chicken stores quite nicely in the fridge or freezer for a few days. You can also run it through a chicken shredder for similar results, though it’s less entertaining.
Thin-sliced Options
- Pork. Use the meat monsoon machine, and you can make what’s nearly bacon, out of boneless pork chops.
- Chicken. While it’s possible to run raw chicken through the meat monsoon machine, it’s better to bake the chicken first and then drop it through. Thin-sliced raw chicken sounds like a nightmare for facilitating the rapid spread of bacteria.
- Beef. I’ll run chunks of roast or steaks through the slicer to produce a bunch of bacon-like cuts suitable for stir fry, or drop those bacon-like cuts back into the slicer to produce finely shredded beef which goes wonderfully in burritos.