Ropa Vieja

By J. Kenji López-Alt

Published Oct. 7, 2020

Ropa Vieja
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
3 hours
Rating
4(1,431)
Comments
Read comments

Flank steak braised with vegetables and aromatics until it shreds into strands is the national dish of Cuba, though the cooking process is popular throughout Central America and the Caribbean. In Cuba, it’s called ropa vieja, which translates to old clothes, a reference to the beef’s tattered appearance. In Venezuela and Colombia, you’d call it carne desmechada. This version starts with a sautéed base of peppers and onions, which is further enhanced with olives, capers, raisins and tomatoes. The flavorful mixture works equally well with flank steak, pork butt or even chicken thighs. Serve it with cooked black beans and rice.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 cups (4 servings)
  • 2pounds beef flank steak or sirloin flap, cut crosswise into 3- to 4-inch sections, or pork butt, cut into 3- to 4-inch steaks against the grain
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1tablespoon grapeseed, vegetable or canola oil
  • 1recipe Braised Peppers and Onions (about 3 cups)
  • 1(15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
  • ½cup Manzanilla olives, sliced crosswise
  • ½cup golden raisins
  • ¼cup capers, drained
  • 2cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
  • Cooked white rice, black beans and sautéed or braised hearty greens, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

686 calories; 35 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 48 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 47 grams protein; 1530 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Season beef or pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high until lightly smoking. Working in batches as needed, cook the meat in a single layer, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch, reducing heat as necessary if the oil smokes excessively.

  2. Step 2

    Add braised peppers and onions, tomatoes, olives, raisins, capers and chicken stock. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer, cover with the lid slightly cracked, and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping any crust that has formed at the edges of the pan back into the liquid, until meat is completely tender and shreds easily with two forks, about 2½ hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Shred meat with two forks, and serve immediately with white rice, black beans and hearty greens. Ropa vieja can also be shredded, allowed to cool, and stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. It will improve in texture and flavor with time.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,431 user ratings
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Comments

Maria O.

I grew up in a Cuban household and ate delicious ropa vieja on a regular basis. My mom never added olives and raisins to ropa vieja, that was reserved for picadillo. I've seen this before in different recipes and I don't know if they are an American melding of the two dishes of if my mother's recipe was just more straightforward.

Teresa B.

In our Cuban household we enjoyed two meals from the one cut of meat. My mom would boil the beef first so that it could be shredded. The stock would later be used for soup. For Ropa Vieja she would sauté onions, peppers, couple of mashed garlic cloves and then add a can of tomato sauce. Salt, bay leaf, dry white wine or vinegar would then be added. The shredded beef would be added and simmered for about 20 minutes. Never raisens, capers, olives, or chicken stock. She garnished with pimentos.

victor p.

I and four others who I served it to were underwhelmed by this dish. It was a bit sweet and lacking much complexity for a dish of this nature. Frankly, we would have been better off just marinating the flank steaks or covering the, with a dry rub, grilling them and then serving it with the peppers and onions, black beans and maybe a pico de gallo. Again, not bad, but not the best use of these ingredients and time.

Sai

The end result is too sweet in my opinion. I’d suggest subbing 1/2 a cup of the stock with red wine, and putting in the raisins in the last 15 minutes so that they keep their sweetness concentrated, not disintegrate and become part of the sauce. As an added touch, I’d also fry the raisins in some oil or maybe even reserved beef fat to directly caramelize their sugars. This is what people making pulao or biriyani do to darken the character of the raisins. It makes them meld better with red meat.

jokiebodie

This recipe is outstanding with venison. We’re a family of hunters and we are always looking for a new way to cook venison. And it’s fool proof and freezable.

RoadhouseBlueGunnar

While not traditional, I thought the golden raisins added something interesting when combined with a tbl or two of Sherry Vinegar (did not go full picadillo by also using the olives and capers). Also used smashed garlic cloves in the onions/peppers base to prevent risk of burning while softening everything else. Turned a supermarket "London Broil" into something much more.

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