Mechado (Beef Braised in Soy, Calamansi and Tomato)

Name: Mechado (Beef Braised in Soy, Calamansi and Tomato)
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 5
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: 1 kg Beef chuck or brisket, in 4 cm chunks; 60 ml Soy sauce; 3 tbsp Calamansi juice (or lemon); 6 Garlic cloves, crushed; 1 Onion, sliced; 250 ml Tomato sauce (or passata); 1 tbsp Tomato paste; 500 ml Beef stock or water; 2 Bay leaves; 1 tsp Black peppercorns, cracked; 3 Potatoes, in chunks; 2 Carrots, in chunks; 1 Red bell pepper, in strips; 3 tbsp Neutral oil; 1 tbsp Fish sauce

Once a larded beef roulade — a 'wick' of pork fat threaded through the meat — now the everyday Filipino beef stew: chunks braised in soy sauce, calamansi and tomato until they fall apart, with potatoes and carrots soaking up the sauce.

แหล่งที่มา

สูตรโดย Filipino home kitchens · 🏺 ดั้งเดิม · Cooking that turns on three levers — vinegar, salt from fish or shrimp, and fat — and a table where sour, salty and rich are balanced by the eater, not the cook.

Philippines · the larded beef braise — An ownerless everyday dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms mechado as a Filipino beef stew braised in soy sauce and calamansi with a tomato-based sauce, originally larded with a 'wick' of pork fat that gave it its name, and now commonly made with potatoes and carrots. The browning step, the marinade, timings and quantities are this book's own.

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ดูวิธีทำเป็นวิดีโอ · 2 วิดีโอ

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⏱ 120 นาที🍽 5 ที่🔥 450 แคล🇵🇭 ฟิลิปปินส์

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วิธีทำ

Marinate the beef in the soy sauce, calamansi juice and half the garlic for 30 minutes.
Lift the beef out (keep the marinade), pat dry, and brown in the oil in batches over high heat until dark at the edges.
💡 Dry and in batches. Wet beef in a crowded pan steams grey; you want the dark crust, because that is where the colour of the sauce comes from.
In the same pot, soften the onion and remaining garlic, then stir in the tomato paste for a minute.
Return the beef with the marinade, tomato sauce, stock, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer very gently 75–90 minutes until the beef is fork-tender.
Add the potatoes and carrots and cook 20 minutes more until tender and the sauce has thickened.
Stir in the bell pepper and fish sauce, cook 3 minutes, and serve over rice.

💡 เคล็ดลับ

The name is from mecha, Spanish for 'wick': a strip of pork fat was threaded through a whole cut before braising. Do it with a larding needle for the old version, and cook the piece whole, then slice.
Kaldereta, afritada and mechado are cousins; mechado is the one with soy and calamansi and no liver paste.