Mechado

A pot roast with a strip of pork fat pushed through the middle of the beef.

Pork, Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, pork.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg beef chuck, in one piece
• 150 g pork back fat, in one long strip
• 400 g tomato passata
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 50 ml vinegar
• 500 ml beef broth
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 onion, quartered
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 potatoes, halved
• 2 carrots, in thick chunks
• 2 tablespoons oil

Method

1. THE FAT GOES INSIDE THE MEAT. This is the one step that makes this dish what it is, and skipping it leaves an ordinary tomato braise.
2. Push a narrow knife or a sharpening steel straight through the centre of the beef along its length to open a tunnel, then work the strip of back fat into it from both ends. Trim whatever hangs out.
3. Brown the beef all over in the oil in a heavy pot, then lift it out.
4. Soften the onion and garlic, pour in the vinegar and let it boil hard for 1 minute before anything else goes in. Raw vinegar in a long braise stays sharp.
5. Add the passata, soy, broth and bay, settle the beef back in, and simmer covered for 2 hours. Barely moving, not rolling.
6. Add the potatoes and carrots and give it 40 minutes more.
7. Lift the beef out and let it sit 15 minutes before slicing ACROSS, so each slice shows the circle of fat in the middle. Reduce the sauce if it is thin.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes