Bef Sale

The english translation of this recipe is Marinated Beef, Dried and Fried.  Doesn't the Haitian name sound better?  We had this for supper tonight, and Sam pointed out that we have had more Haitian food since we came home from Haiti than we had while we were there.  That was a true statement.  This is one of the last recipes I have marked from the Taste of Haiti cookbook I got a few months ago.  For this recipe you are supposed to marinate the meat for 6 hours, then bake it for 2 hours, then fry it.  I totally forgot I was going to make this today until 11 am.  So mine marinated for 3.5 hours, then baked for 1.5, then got fried.  But it was still very flavorful.  This is supposed to be served with sos ti-malis, which I will post separately, because it's going to be part of the last recipe I make, too and then I won't have to type it twice.  I blog and I economize.  We had it with rice, too.

Bef Sale
2 lbs flank steak, cut into strips
1 lime, cut in half
2 shallots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 thyme sprig
1 onion, sliced
4 whole cloves (small quantity purchased at NLC for $0.83 compared to small jar costing $9 at Walmart)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sos ti-malis (separate post)

Rinse meat with cold water.  Clean meat with lime.  Rinse with water again.  In a large bowl, marinate steak strips with shallots, garlic, thyme, onion, cloves, salt, pepper, and vinegar.  Marinate overnight or for at least 6 hours.  Preheat oven to 200 and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours.  Check periodically (for what, it does not indicate).

Heat oil in a pan and fry the meat on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.  Serve with rice and sos ti-malis.

I expected the younger children not to like this.  Nathan had one bite, said it was good, but then a minute later said it was not.  Emma ate almost all of hers.  Sam eats anything so it's hard to judge.  Steve and I both thought this tasted authentic.  I haven't had beef there before, but I have had a similar sauce over rice.  And I had goat one time.  I tried frying a few of the onions from the marinade in the oil once all the beef was done, because I love fried onions, but they were way too salty to eat.  The meat was very salty, too, but it tasted good mixed with the rice and the sauce.

I wondered what the "clean meat with lime" was all about.  Almost every recipe in this cookbook says to do it.  So I did some extremely authoritative google research, and found out that in countries without refrigeration or whatever, rinsing meat in lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar is thought to kill germs on the surface of the meat.  I have done it with the poultry recipes from this book, but I didn't do it today to the beef.  I was running short on time, and figured it was an extra step I could skip.