Ropa Vieja/Caribbean Stewed Beef
Caribbean stewed beef, whether Cuban or Puerto Rican, is a rich and filling comfort food.
As a child, I remember the smell of this dish filling the house. The rich smells of red wine, tomatoes, peppers, onions and beef just made me feel at ease. It is not known how old this dish is, but it definitely has the hallmarks of Spanish Colonial descent.
If you want to just get on with making dinner, scroll down to the recipe at the end of the post.
In the traditional preparation, this dish should be made with re-hydrated, dried beef. The salted meat should be soaked and rinsed and soaked and rinsed until it is chewy and moist and with most of the salt washed out. If my mother happened to be feeling nostalgic and wanted a taste of her own childhood, she would make it in the traditional way. Since she was raising us in the midwest in the 1980s, the Puerto Rican dried beef was hard to find. fancy groceries with ethnic foods were not common in Kansas at the time. Instead, she usually made it with regular beef roast and that became the version that has always felt like home to me. No matter which kind of beef goes into the dish, it is full of flavor and a little goes a long way. I’ve always been amazed at just how filling this dish is, given that the ingredients are not particularly special and nothing seems designed for the purpose of feeling full. Whatever leads to the incredibly filling nature of this food has to be part of the process.
And make no mistake, to do this dish justice takes all day, sometimes two. Whether you want to manage things in the kitchen in a single day or have a leisurely break and spread the work over two days, it all starts with stewing the meat low and slow.
For the first part of the process, I usually use a slow-cooker. My Crock-Pot is one of the most valuable tools since it allows me to set everything up to simmer through the night. Once it is set, I can just chill, or go to bed, knowing that in the morning, I will have perfectly cooked beef that is ready for cooling and shredding.
Everything but the meat for the stock.
If you don’t have a slow-cooker, you can always do the simmering on the stovetop. You’ll need to put the burner on low, and you’ll want to keep it simmering for at least 3 hours. I find that when I simmer on the stove, I often have to skim the scum off the top of the water a few times during the process. I never have to do this while it simmers in the slow-cooker. Whichever method you use, you’ll know it’s ready when you stick a fork into it and try to lift the meat up and it falls apart. That’s the goal.
The meat is completely falling apart after three hours of simmering
Once the stock is made and the meat is falling apart, it is time to start preparing everything to go into the frying pan. I use a 2”/5cm deep frying pan with a lid. Remove the meat from the pot and aside on a plate so it can cool while you’re prepping the rest of the ingredients. Use a ladle and pull off 1 cup of the stock liquid. Freeze what remains to be used in future stews and soups.
In an effort to keep myself organized, I prepare the veggies in the same order in which they will be put into the pan. I chop an onion and three cloves of garlic and put them in their own bowl followed by a green bell pepper, cleaned and chopped. Once the veggies are prepped, the beef should be about ready to start shredding. It is always easier to do this step after the meat has had a chance to cool. Shredding the meat should be easy to do, if it has been simmered properly. I usually do this with two forks, one to hold the meat and the other one to pull the meat apart into shreds using a dragging motion across the grain of the meat. In the photo below, I use the left fork to hold and the right one to shred. I am right handed so this method works for me. I have seen some cooks pull the meat apart with their hands, but in this world of COVID-19, it seemed like a good idea to advise that we keep our hands out of the food. The less we touch it, the better.
Left fork supports, the right one drags the meat apart.
With everything prepared, its time to start getting it into the pan. The key to achieving the robust, perfectly blended flavor is all in the timing of what goes into the pan. The length of the simmers can be longer, but as the recipe is given should be the absolute minimum.
Ropa Vieja/Caribbean Stewed Beef:
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: Anywhere from 4 to 18 hours depending on how you simmer the meat.
Serving Size: 1/4 cup
Yield: 8-10 servings
Ingredients:
For the Stock:
1.5lbs London Broil or other simmering/roasting beef
1 onion sliced in half
1 tomato slice in half
2 ribs of celery broken in to 4 pieces
1 tsp salt
3 bay leaves
For the Main Dish:
2c Shredded Beef, from Stock preparation
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 lg onion chopped
1 lg Green Bell Pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1c beef stock (From the above preparation as well)
1c Merlot
1/8c olive oil
1/2tsp cumin seeds, crushed (1/4 tsp cumin if using ground/powdered)
1/4tsp oregano
2c cooked rice, made to package specifications, or a preferred method.
• To make the stock and simmer the beef, add all 6 stock ingredients to a large stock pot. Add water until they are just covered. Simmer on low for 3 hours. Alternatively, use a slow cooker by adding the stock ingredients and cooking overnight on low.
Everything that goes in the pan, minus the cumin and oregano.
• When the meat falls apart as you attempt to lift it with a fork, it is ready. Remove the meat from the stock pot and set aside on a plate for cooling while you prepare the other ingredients. Use a ladle and pull off 1cup of stock for use in the main recipe.
• While the meat is cooling, dice the garlic, onion, and green pepper and set aside.
• Using two forks (or a preferred method), shred the beef
• Using a deep, large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-low. Follow the order of operations below to make sure the flavors are properly blended. You can always add more simmering time, but don’t use any less than is given in the recipe. The times that are given are the bare minimum to make the flavor correct.
Add the onions and garlic to the pan and fry, moving constantly, until the onions are just beginning to become clear. Whatever you do, do not let them brown. It will ruin the flavor if the onions get browned.
Add the chopped green peppers
Fry for about five minutes, stirring constantly to avoid browning.
Add about 1/2t of cumin seeds, crushed in your hand with the back of a spoon. 1/4t if it is ground cumin powder
Fry for another five minutes
Add the can of (drained) diced tomoatoes
Simmer for another five minutes, stirring often
Add the shredded meat
Stir constantly for another 2-5 minutes
Add the beef stock
Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced enough that the contents in the pan are wet, but there aren’t puddles of liquid.
Add 1/2c of merlot to the pan
Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half…about 10-15 minutes
Add about 1/4t of oregano. Go easy on the oregano! It is a powerful seasoning it can completely take over your delicately balanced flavor and ruin the experience.
Simmer for 10 minutes if you’re strapped for time, or go for at least 30 if you aren’t in a hurry. Keep adding merlot in small amounts to keep it moist as you simmer.
Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 10-20 minutes. This allows the meat to rest and pull more moisture in so the meat is tender and delicious.
Serve over rice (traditionally cheap white rice).
Variations:
• Use shredded pork or chicken in place of beef
• For a seafood version, use Shrimp or Squid instead of beef
• Use crushed rosemary in place of oregano
• Add diced Spanish Olives for a distinctly Spanish flair
• Serve over Quinoa, Brown, or Black rice for a more artisanal preparation
• Use this recipe as a filling for empanadas. Simmer a little longer to dry out the sauce a bit more.
Admonitions:
• Don’t use butter in place of olive oil. The flavor becomes too heavy and it is almost inedible.
• Don’t use an overly fatty cut of meat. It makes the shredding process more difficult.
• Don’t cut corners on simmering time. Like a good Bolognese sauce, simmering blends the flavors and makes all the ingredients sing the right tune together.
• Don’t serve this food cold. Always heat it up. The olive oil can get clumps if it left cold.
