Dinner of Carne Bistec, Rancho Meling style...

I can think of about a hundred thousand compelling reasons to visit Meling Ranch, but in my opinion, the highlight of a day at Meling Ranch is the wonderful dinner, prepared and served by the attentive and friendly staff. I feel that I have a pretty good command of the English language, but I can't think of enough adjetive superlatives to describe the wonderful food served at Meling Ranch. On Tuesday, October 23, 2008, when the dinner bell rang promptly at seven, I knew that I was in for a treat, as Andrea Meling had told me that they were going to prepare Carne Bistec for dinner.

Photo: Jicelia adds more wood to the fire. Note the pan of tomatoes and chili peppers that are cooking over high heat.

Prior to this visit to Meling Ranch, I'd never had the opportunity to enjoy a dinner of Carne Bistec, despite the fact that I've been enjoying Mexican cuisine for over 50 years, so I was quite interested in actually what it is, and more importantly, how its made. The staff starts preparing dinner around 5:30 in the afternoon, so I barged into the kitchen, complete with notebook and digital camera, to pepper Jicelia and Antonia with stupid, gringo questions, and attempt to unlock the magic of Carne Bistec, Meling Ranch style.

Photo: Jicelia transfers the cooked veggies into another pan before mashing them to make salsa. The Carne Bistec is cooking in the pot next to the salsa, and the other pot, near the stove pipe, contains refried beans. Note the ever-present coffee pot; coffee is always on at Meling Ranch.

What is Carne Bistec you ask? Well, basically its steak, seasoned with seasoned salt and garlic, cut into very thin strips, and fried in oil. Then, the fried steak strips are mixed with cooked salsa, and its all served together. Carne Bistec has the consistency of a thick beef stew, and it makes a delicious main dish that will satisfy the appetite of a lumberjack.

Jicelia did most of the cooking, and since she remembered me from last year's visit, she allowed me to take many photos, and she answered my many questions, and explained what she was doing every step of the way. Way to go, girl!

So how does the staff at Meling Ranch prepare Carne Bistec? Well, this isn't really a recipe, but I'll attempt to describe what I observed, in words and photos.

Photo: Jicelia toasts corn tortillas on the wood-fired stove.

I was amazed when Andrea walked into the kitchen carrying a basket fresh Roma tomatoes, pasilla and Anaheim peppers, that she'd just picked from the garden. Jicelia was already at work, dicing up a couple cloves of fresh garlic, an onion, and cutting a couple of steaks into small strips, then rubbing seasoned salt into the meat. Andrea placed the tomatoes and chili peppers into a large frying pan, and placed the pan on the hottest part of the already-hot wood-fired stove. Answering my question, she told me that the idea is to fry the vegetables until they're almost burnt, then remove the burnt skins; the idea is to implant a smoky taste to the vegetables. When the vegetables were finished to perfection, Jicelia placed them in a colander, ran hot water over the colander, and removed the skins from the veggies. The skinned veggies were placed on a cutting board and then chopped up into small pieces; next stop for the veggies was a pan on the stove, filled with a small amount of hot vegetable oil, where Jicelia took a potato masher and mashed the cut veggies together, to form a coarse salsa. The mashed vegetables were left to heat....

Photo: Tonight's delicious meal for three, consisting of refried beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, Carne Bistec, and toasted tortillas.

Meanwhile, Jicelia added the slices strips of steak to a pan, already heating on the stove, that contained a small amount of hot vegetable oil. After turning the steak strips until they were browned, and evenly cooked on all sides, she added the diced garlic and onion to the meat, and stirred everything together. What a sight to see, not to mention the delicious smells, coming from the kitchen. Dinner wasn't just all about Carne Bistec, as a pan of Meling Rice was simmering on a side burner, along with another pan of refried beans, and Antonia was busy making guacamole.

Photo: I've dished up my plate and I'm ready for dinner.

When Jicelia was satisfied that the meat was completely cooked, she added the salsa to the meat, plus a little water, and allowed the mixture to come to a boil. That, my friends, is Carne Bistec, Rancho Meling style. I managed to pry the recipe from Jicelia, click on the hyperlink for the recipe from our sister web site.

Along with the delicious Carne Bistec, my dining companions Steve, Chuck and I enjoyed a meal of refried beans, Meling rice, guacamole, and fresh corn tortillas, that Jicelia toasted on the wood stove. Steve and Chuck uncorked a bottle of "Two Buck Chuck" wine that they'd brought along for the occasion, but I preferred to sip some fine tequila that I'd purchased earlier in the day, as I was passing through the beautiful city of Ensenada.

Photo: Chuck (left) and Steve (right), two good ol' boys from Los Angeles were my dining companions for the evening. We swapped many lies over a fine dinner.

In keeping with the rustic tradition enjoyed by guests at Meling Ranch, this dinner was simply delicious. Jicelia and Antonia are simply fantastic cooks, and masters at preparing a fantastic meal, utilizing a very-low-tech wood-fired stove. At Meling Ranch, you'll enjoy wonderful food, and you'll never go away hungry.