01/02/2025
Beef Short Ribs Kaldereta
Cooked low and slow for 3 hours, this version of Kaldereta a.k.a. "Bakareta" is truly an explosion of flavors with every bite.
As I've always been saying, different people will have different ways and interpretations of cooking this classic, versus its very close relative, Beef Mechado.
Beef Mechado will always be (to me at least π) cooking with lean beef that has some strip of fat inside it, or in a more contemporary version, beef cut that has some good marbling or layers/streaks of fat so that the addition of "mitsa" (thus the name mitsa-do, now mecha-do) becomes unnecessary.
Kaldereta, on the other hand, while originally makes use of goat meat, is more of a "bone-in" type of meat cut, like short ribs or spare ribs, and has this more "festive" feel to it because of how people would add a smorgasbord of ingredients depending on who is cooking and how they give it their personal touch.
Some would add peanut butter to their Kaldereta, some will add cheese, in other places there might be gata or coconut cream, while some add biscuit crackers. Some can be a combination of one or the other. It can be as cheesy, creamy, spicy, or as diverse as you want it to be.
So is one Kaldereta more original or authentic than the other? Is one Kaldereta superior to the other? Is one family's version better than the other? To me these are all irrelevant questions.
Rather, you may want to ask, what makes your Kaldereta unique and special?
Yes it is a good thing to know the origins and the stories behind a particular dish, what the original version might have been, but this doesn't mean that we get "locked-up" in this idea that "this" is the "one and only" version or think there is only one way or a handful of ways a particular dish can be done.
There are so many factors going into the reasons why Kaldereta in one place is different from another and from one family to another. We must not limit our creativity, or be afraid or thinking outside the norms in order to come up with a dish that we can call "ours".
For this kaldereta, I used beef short ribs because it pretty much is the complete package - that well marbled meat that automatically translates rich, beefy flavors, and the bones and the connective tissues that melts and bathes the resulting sauce in decadence as it cooks low and slow, so much so that it'll leave you wanting for more.
Beef Short Ribs Kaldereta
Ingredients:
Meat:
-2 kg Beef Short Ribs, marinated in:
-1 tbsp rock salt
-2 tbsp soy sauce
-2 tbsp liquid seasoning
-2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
-1/2 tbsp to 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
Aromatics and Sauce:
-2 whole heads of garlic, roughly chopped or minced
-4 medium red onions, roughly chopped
-500g ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
-2 pcs medium bell peppers, sliced into triangles or into strips
-1 pack (70g) tomato paste
-1 small can liver pate/spread
-150g sweet pickle relish
-1 pc chorizo de Bilbao, sliced
-2 tbsp peanut butter
-1.5 liters of water or beef stock (possibly more, as needed)
***You can also use water plus beef broth cubes to make your sauce more flavorful
Toppings:
-1 large carrot, cut to your preferred shape, ideally in big chunks
-2 medium potatoes, cut to your preferred shape, ideally in big chunks
-2 medium bell peppers, cut into triangles or strips
-1 small pack of green peas
Optional ingredients:
-50g processed quickmelt cheese, grated (or about 1/3 of 1 small box)
-2 to 3 pcs of labuyo chili and or 2 pcs green chili, or a combination of both, depending on your preferred level of spicyness
Procedure:
1.) Marinate Beef in salt, pepper, soy sauce and worcestershire sauce. Give it around an hour or so to let the flavors sink in.
2.) In a hot pan or wok, on medium high heat and with sufficient oil, sear the beef, ideally in batches, until browned or caramelized on the surface. Set aside once done.
3.) On the same pan, also on medium high heat, saute the onion first, continue to cook until all liquid has evaporated and onion has browned or caramelized. Then add the garlic and saute until lightly browned. Set both aside.
4.) Saute the tomatoes and 2 of the bell peppers next, continue to cook until all liquid has evaporated and both are browned or caramelized.
5.) Add back the beef, caramelized onion, and garlic. Mix them well.
6.) Add tomato paste, spread it well over the beef and let it cook, about 3 mins, or until the tomato paste takes on a deeper or darker shade of red.
***Cooking the tomato paste helps to caramelize the natural sugars in it, giving your resulting sauce a bolder and deeper flavor, as compared to just simply mixing it straight up.
7.) Add the liver spread, sweet pickle relish, and chorizo bilbao. Give everything a good mix.
8.) Partially add some of your water/beef stock to "deglaze" your pan. This involves scraping the bottom of your pan to help release the stuck bits of caramelized flavor, also known as "fond". These flavor bombs also boosts the flavor of your finished product. Once done, add the rest of your liquid, or until the meat is more or less 3/4 submerged.
9.) Bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, immediately switch your flame to the lowest setting to get into "simmer" mode. From this point on, we will be cooking at a steady simmer or do a "low and slow" cooking of our meat. This allows for the fullest and most efficient extraction of all the flavors from meat and aromatics, while also helping to prevent stuff burning at the bottom.
In addition, cooking on a steady simmer while using the lowest flame also allows you to save in fuel consumption, even if you are cooking this dish for several hours.
***You may need to add more water/beef stock from time to time, about 1 to 2 cups at a time, if the beef is still not cooked to your preferred tenderness.
***I cooked this kaldereta for a total of 3 hours, on the lowest flame possible, and covered too. Make sure to also stir the entire thing from time to time, especially the bottom, to ensure that nothing gets stuck or burned.
10.) While waiting for the meat to be tender. Fry up your potatoes and carrots until they are browned on the exterior. You may also choose to fry and brown the bell peppers.
11.) Once meat is almost tender, add in your peanut butter and mix it well. If you wish to add grated cheese and chili peppers, you may add them at this point. Then add in the potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, and green peas. Continue simmering until beef is fully tender.
12.) Do a taste check, then season with more salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce, depending on your taste preference. Add more water/beef stock too, if necessary. Simmer for a few more minutes, and we're done!
***Ideally, you want to cook dishes like kaldereta the day or night before you intend to serve it. This is because the flavors of this dish need some time to meld together, kind of like how a steak should be rested to allow its juices to redistribute all over the meat, only in this case, it's on a much bigger scale and thus it takes longer. You can even allow it to age for at least 2 days, for best results and full flavor marriage - that is, if you have tha patience. π
Beyond the measurements, the amounts, the timing...Beyond the recipes. The only thing that matters i
