Recipe Requested Ropa Vieja

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KingShapton

KingShapton

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Hello everybody,

I am looking for the most authentic recipe possible for a Cuban national dish - Ropa Vieja.

I have found some recipes on German websites, but with all the recipes I have the impression that the recipes are more adapted to European cuisine and European taste and I want the recipe as original and unadulterated as possible.

I thank you in advance for every help I can get.
 
It's all about the sofrito. Early in my kitchen days I was prep for a Cuban restaurant here in Fl. I don't recall specifics but remember making two or three batches of sofrito every morning - for ropa, roast pork, black beans, etc. All pretty much the same way. Cook it until it's a chutney consistency.

The beef was easy. Into a pot with water to cover. About 4 hours at simmer. (If I was to do it today I would SV overnight.) Remove beef and while it's cooling, strain the broth. Beef back into the pot, add sofrito, add some broth - get the consistency you want, not dry but not soup either. Bring back to simmer. Again if I was doing it now I would puree some of the sofrito before adding back in..

I'll try and find more detail.
 
Thank you very much, if you can find out more details that would be great.
 
A dish similar to Ropa Vieja that my Venezuelan MIL makes is called "Carne Mechada". I will poster her recipe below:

2 lb flank steak
8 cups beef broth
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 cup red bell pepper, chopped into small cubes
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
6 oz tomato paste
8 oz tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste

Simmer beef broth in large pot over medium-high heat. Add in flank steak to pot. Cover and let it cook for about 2 hours, or until meat is fully cooked and tender. As the meat cooks check the broth levels and add more if needed (meat should be covered by the broth).

When the meat is tender and fully cooked carefully remove from the pot, place on a plate, and let it cool. Reserve broth (about 3-4 cups).

Once the meat has cooled down, shred into strands of beef.

In the now-emptied pot over medium, heat the oil. Sauté onion and pepper for 3-5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add garlic and let it cook for 1 more minute. Add in cumin and oregano. Add back in the shredded beef and mix well.

In a seperate bowl combine the tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and reserved beef broth; mix well until everything is well combined. Add this mixture to the meat. Add the bay leaves, cover and cook for 20 -25 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Serve hot with white rice, black beans, and fried plantains (for pabellon). Sorry if there were any errors, I was translating from Spanish to English.

Not exactly Ropa Vieja, but hopefully it will point you in the right direction. Good luck!
 
From the cookbook The Cuban Table. Made once and enjoyed, but I don't know how it rates to others
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20200906_164233.jpg
 
Colin said:
Not exactly Ropa Vieja, but hopefully it will point you in the right direction. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, that really helps me in the right direction.

And I'll try "Carne Mechada" too.

Thank you for your effort with the translation.
 
Here's an approximation of my (Cuban) grandmother's recipe... all very rough quantities from my observations...

1.5 lb. flank steak
2 small onions, in long thin strips (or finely chopped)
1 green pepper, in strips (or finely chopped)
8-12oz roasted sweet red peppers (pimientos, jar), cut in long slices
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/8 c. ketchup (optional)
1 bay leaf
1 t salt
1 t cumin
black pepper
½ c. red wine
3 T white vinegar
Olive oil for cooking
Oregano, optionally (my grandmother uses it sometimes but not always)

Cover the meat with water, a pinch of salt, pepper, 1 onion, ¼ of the green pepper, 1 clove of garlic, and the bay leaf. You could also add some cumin too if you like. Boil until tender and easy to shred – about 2 hours – and save the broth. You might use some broth later in the cooking process, but the broth is good as a soup or stock for whatever. Shred the meat in long strands.

In a frying pan, sauté onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil until soft.

Add the shredded meat, stir well, and cook a few minutes.

Add the tomato sauce, ketchup, cumin, black pepper, and if it is too dry, add a little broth (few T). Cook a few minutes.

Add pimientos, and then add then red wine and vinegar. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir, remove from heat, but keep covered and wait for ½ hr (for some reason this actually matters; even better if you wait until next day).

Ready to eat. Serve over white rice. Good sides are tostones or plátanos maduros fritos, and/or sliced avocado and tomatoes with some salt and olive oil.

You will have to play around a little to balance the sweet, sour, salt balance but I follow something like this recipe and make decent ropa vieja. Never quite like my grandmothers though!
 
KingShapton said:
Hello everybody,

I am looking for the most authentic recipe possible for a Cuban national dish - Ropa Vieja.

I have found some recipes on German websites, but with all the recipes I have the impression that the recipes are more adapted to European cuisine and European taste and I want the recipe as original and unadulterated as possible.

I thank you in advance for every help I can get.
Click to expand...
Lol, I didn't know it was supposed to be the national dish 😂.

Here's mine tho, the way my grandma made it too pretty much

Ropa vieja

Ropa Vieja
• 5-2 lbs flank steak, skirt, or even brisket
• 2 qts water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion cut lengthwise
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4-6 garlic cloves (or more if they’re tiny)
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tsp salt divided
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1-2 bay leaves
• ¼ cup dry white cooking wine
• ½ cup beef stock (from cooking the steak)
• Olives for garnish (optional)
Reserve a quarter of the onion to add to the cooking water for the flank steak. Season the water with the quarter onion, chunks of green bell pepper, 3 whole garlic cloves, cumin, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a bay leaf. If using the pressure cooker allow 40 minutes. OR place in a pot on the stove top and bring water to a boil. Once boiling bring to a low simmer and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours. Add water as needed to avoid the pot from burning. Be sure to stir every once in a while so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.

Remove from the remaining beef broth and shred with two forks. Discard the onion and garlic, but mash up the green bell with the shredded beef for flavor. If you want extra bell peper flavour (I like it), saute some diced with the onions when you make the sofrito.

Once the beef is shredded season with the extra salt and oregano and set aside. Start the sofrito. Slice the rest of the onion and mince the other 2-3 garlic cloves. Sautee the onions in the olive oil until translucent and tender. Add the garlic and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Mix in the shredded flank steak and stir with the dry white cooking wine and tomato sauce. Add the beef stock and stir again. Simmer for 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally. You can add olives in while it is cooking or as a garnish (I prefer while cooking). Serve with white rice or congrí and fried/baked ripe plantains.
 
While we're at it here's my congris (or congrí) recipe.


Congrí (rice cooked with black beans)

3 cups of rice
1-2 cups of beans (I like about half as much beans as rice, you can always make more beans than needed and make bean salad with the excess)
water (depends wether you have a pressure cooker or not, but at least 6 cups. You want to have at least 3 cups of water once the beans are softened to make the rice)
Green bell pepper 1 big (2/3-3/4 diced)
couple diced tomatoes (optional)
onion (diced)
garlic
bay leaves (2)
cumin seeds (1-2tsp)
oregano
pepper
salt
olive oil
black cardamon (optional)
bacon and/or fried pork skin (can use only black cardamon for a vegan version but I can’t live without pork, it’s in my DNA…)


In a pressure cooker or pot put the beans and water with a piece of green bell pepper, some cumin seeds, and fried pork skin or any piece of smoked pork (just a bit, can substitute or combine with black cardamon seeds, 1/4tsp). Cook until the beans are soft enough to squash them into a puree but not enough to start breaking apart (about 25min in my instantPot).

Rinse the rice thoroughly several times and drain it.

In a different pot, big enough to have the beans and the rice once it grows, render some of the fat from the bacon (optional), stir fry the onion, remaining bell pepper, tomatoes (optional) and garlic. Once the onions are translucent add cumin seeds, pinch of oregano. Add the clean rice and stir fry it for a couple minutes. Add the hot soup from the beans (at this point one cup of the black soup for each coup of rice, might need some more later), the beans, and the couple bay leaves.
Add salt to taste, a splash of vinegar and half a coup of dry white wine (optional). In a PC close and cook for another 12 minutes, if using a dutch oven, wok or anything open, put on low heat covered and stir occasionally adding more soup (or water) as needed until the rice is fully cooked.
 
I lived all my life in Cuba until 6 years ago so mine is fairly unadulterated but there's many versions within the island like with any recipe, my measurements are more estimates tho.
 
valgard said:
Lol, I didn't know it was supposed to be the national dish 😂.
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No, not "the" national dish, but one of the national dishes, from what I have read.

Anyway, thank vou very much for your recipe.
And I'm also very happy about the Congri recipe, thank you very much for that too.

While we're at it, can I ask you for another recipe ?! I would be very interested in the recipe for Sopa de Frijoles Negros ...:chef:
 
Once again I don't really use a recipe for this but this is the core recipe with estimated quantities and I included some of the optionals stuff.

Ingredients:
-3 cups of black beans
-9 cups of water and more if needed
-olive oil
-1 big onion (chopped in small pieces)
-3-5 garlic cloves minced, crushed, or sliced, doesn't matter.
-1 green bell pepper (one chunk separated, the rest chopped in small pieces). Unfortunately this is one of the ingredients where the quality I can find here is far inferior non flavor to what we have in Cuba
-1-2 Aji cachucha (can substitute with a habanero as it has the same taste/smell but Habaneros are spicy and this recipe isn't supposed to be spicy at all). This can be considered optional.
- couple leaves of culantro (not cilantro), optional. This can be found in some Latin stores and Asian stores binder a different name (don't know the Asian name, I see it and buy it)
-salt to taste
-1/2 tsp of ground pepper
-1/4-1/2 tsp cumin (I like whole seeds better)
-1 or 2 bay leaves
-1/2 tbs of sugar
-1 tbs of tomato paste can substitute with a cup of tomato puree, or 3-4 diced tomatoes. Can also be considered optional.
-splash of vinegar ( I wanna say 1/2 tbs)
-1/4 cup of dry white wine
-1/4 tsp of oregano

Optional:
-2-3 black cardamon seeds (this is my personal addition for some smokiness)
-fried/roasted pork skin or bacon (2-3 bacon strips) for a bit more flavour
-couple medium potatoes diced and or couple carrots (I would do it without the first time so you can focus on the beans)

Directions

wash well and soak the beans (better if you leave a piece of green bell pepper in the water. using that water cook with the piece of pepper until soft but still keeping the shape and firmness. In a pressure cooker this should be 25 min if the beans were not pre-soaked a long time.

In a frying pan add oil and heat it, add the onion and bell pepper (if using bacon render the fat before adding the onions and pepper), when the onion is translucent add the garlic and fry until golden. Add the tomato paste (if using) and spices, salt and sugar, fry a bit more and then transfer to the pot with the beans and cook for about 40 min, add vinegar and wine and cook for another 40min min.
Here you need to have a few considerations, high heat will cook faster but it’s too violent and will break your beans most certainly, you want some bubbling but no violent movement. Also, how long you slow cook the beans will determine whether you have a runny soup or a thick flocculated consistency (this is up to you and be advice that once it’s thickening while cooking it will be much thicker the next day). Beans are the best the next day.

Add extra virgin olive oil on top when serving the beans.
 
Thank you again @valgard , it looks like there will be a "Cuban Week" at home soon. And I am very excited about it!

By the way, we seem to have a similar DNA, I can't live without meat !!!
 
KingShapton said:
Thank you again @valgard , it looks like there will be a "Cuban Week" at home soon. And I am very excited about it!

By the way, we seem to have a similar DNA, I can't live without meat !!!
Click to expand...
I think I originally wrote the beans recipe for a vegan friend and it might be one of the very few recipes I cook regularly that can be made vegan and still be almost the same as the original.
 
I love ropa vieja with white rice, frijoles negros, and fried very ripe plantains (plátano maduro frito) and/or avocado.
 
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