Ropa vieja

What is ropa vieja?

It does not mean ‘old rope’ though I don’t see why that moniker should not stick in the English language. ‘Ropa vieja’ means ‘old rags’ and ‘carne desmechada’, even cuter, is ‘dishevelled beef’. Ropa is the Cuban version of the dish and the dishevelled one – Colombian and Venezuelan.

It’s pretty much the same dish, with minor differences which might as well be marked between individual recipes rather than nations. So taking Kenji Lopez-Alt’s example, whose recipe I mainly follow, I use in it the combination of aromatics that I like, rather than sticking religiously to a Colombian or Cuban prototype.

Why dishevelled rags?

Those colourful names of the dish refer to the way it looks: shredded strands of meat mingled with strips of red and yellow peppers do resemble a bunch of rags, or a multicoloured mop head. It tastes much better though, I can assure you.

What meat cut for ropa vieja?

The classic cut to use for the dish is bavette, aka flank or flap steak. It is a flat, lean piece of meat which offers excellent value if handled properly.

It makes a perfectly decent steak if seared rare or medium-rare, but it also renders itself to low and slow, long and gentle, turning into tender shreds of meat.

Beef is the most common type of meat for ropa vieja but pork shoulder or even poultry is not out of the question, if desired.

How to prepare ropa vieja?

Dry brining (sprinkling with salt in non-cheffy terms) always helps to tenderise the meat, and you can do it several days in advance, storing the salted meat in the fridge, unwrapped.

When ready to cook, that flat, long steak should be cut into three or four strips across the grain. The width of each strip will be the length of the cooked meat shreds so bear that in mind.

The peppers and onions need to be cut into strips of a similar length. This is one of those dishes where you cut the onion halves lengthwise rather than across, to obtain slivers, not rings.

And then it’s just like any braise. Brown all the pieces of the meat over high heat on both sides and remove, then do the same with onions and peppers, joined by the aromatics.

My choice, as mentioned before, is what I like best in that kind of dish so I’ll suggest garlic, cumin, oregano, thyme and allspice. But if your preference is, say, for chillies and paprika, go for it. What matters is how it tastes to you, not what’s in the recipe canon.

Tomatoes are a staple ingredient but you don’t have to add three different preparations like I suggest: feel free to use just fresh, or just tinned ones.

Braise until tender

Once you return all the ingredients to the pan (and a cast iron casserole will work best for this, not least because you can use it both for browning and for braising), slide it into the oven covered with a lid, but leaving a slit ajar for the steam to escape, and to stop it from getting too soupy.

Braising should take about two hours. I used to think there was no upper time limit to braising meat and the longer it cooked, the better and tenderer it would get but I know better now. You should braise the meat until tender to a prod of a sharp knife. If you leave it in the oven too long, it might dry out too much and, absurdly, turn out tough.

At this point you should grab two forks and go at the beef, shredding it into strands and tossing them with the vegetables and the sauce rendered in the pot. It’s a strangely satisfying exercise.

Olives and coriander

The last touch is adding sliced, pimento stuffed green olives and a handful of chopped, fresh coriander. The olives seem controversial; some Cubans would not, others would and ditto for Colombians. I like the olives, especially for the dots of colour they add to that pile of old, superiorly tasty rags.

And of course if you are one of those people who think coriander tastes like soap, chop up some parsley instead or nothing at all.

To serve, nothing beats a mound of plain steamed rice with ropa vieja, or else warm tortillas. Or a baked potato. Or a large chunk of fresh bread. Or anything else you fancy.

More Latin American recipes

Pink Mexican rice, arroz rojo, is easy and incredibly tasty. Spicy restaurant style Mexican rice is cooked like pilaf, with tomato and onion puree for the colour, chillies for the heat and diced potato and carrot for the texture.

Brazilian carrot cake, bolo de cenoura, is mixed in a blender and the outcome is as reassuringly pleasing as the English tearoom staple.

Pan de jamón, Venezuelan ‘ham bread’ is the traditional Christmas bread in Venezuela filled with ham, bacon, olives and raisins. It’s a soft and delicate bread dough enriched by laminating with butter, but using a super easy method. And the bread baked like this is beyond delicious!

More cheap beef cuts recipes

Oven braised beef brisket, tender and flavoursome with onions, mushrooms and sweet wine. Beef brisket turns almost into pulled beef after 4 hours of slow roasting in the oven, and the rendered sauce is to die for.

Spicy seared bavette steak, seasoned with a dry rub of chilli flakes, oregano, garlic and a secret umami agent: dried mushroom powder.

Best red wine braised short ribs of beef with plum sauce, sweet and tender, called Obama’s short ribs, after the dish served to Barack Obama in a Harlem restaurant.