Colombian · meal

Carne desmechada

Name: Carne desmechada
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Colombian
Ingredients: 1 lb Flank steak; 2 stalks Scallions; 3 whole Tomatoes; 3 cloves Garlic; ½ tsp Cumin; ½ tsp Achiote; 1 whole Bell pepper; 2 leaves Bay leaves; 2 tbsp Olive oil; Salt and pepper (to taste)

Shredded beef in hogao. You cook it once and it stretches to three meals: on a plate, in eggs, in a salad.

Serves

2 people

Amount

2 servings

Time

45 min

Steps

Why this one and not another

Forty-five minutes: it's the longest dish of the hundred and fifty-five, and thirty of those are the pot on its own with the flank inside. You pay for it once, on day 26, and by 29 it is already made: it's the only dish in the plan that waits three days instead of two, and it gets that slot precisely because shredded flank loses nothing sitting in the fridge. In the last week that is exactly what you're glad of.

Where it comes from

«Desmechar» is the Colombian verb for pulling meat open into threads with two forks, and it's what gets done to the tough cheap cuts: flank, sobrebarriga. The technique comes out of thrift, not out of luxury: a pound of tough meat, cooked slowly and pulled apart into shreds, goes further than the same pound cut into steaks. Carne desmechada gets eaten on its own, but mostly as a filling — arepa, bread, potato — and here it fills nothing: it stays in the hogao with half a cup of the broth it cooked in, which is the only thing that gives back the juice it lost when it was shredded.

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

Never the same board for raw meat and for what goes in the juicer. If you only have one, vegetables first and meat after. And don't wash the chicken: it splatters.

1Ingredients and how to prep them

Ingredient	Amount	How to prep it
Flank steak	1 lb	In one piece. It's the cut that shreds: don't swap it for steaks.
Scallions	2 stalks	Finely chopped. If you can't find them, thick scallions or half a white onion.
Tomatoes	3 whole	Grated or very finely chopped, skins off if you can.
Garlic	3 cloves	Chopped.
Cumin	½ tsp	—
Achiote	½ tsp	also sold as «color»
Bell pepper	1 whole	In strips.
Bay leaves	2 leaves	—
Olive oil	2 tbsp	—
Salt and pepper	to taste	—

Flank steak1 lb
In one piece. It's the cut that shreds: don't swap it for steaks.
Scallions2 stalks
Finely chopped. If you can't find them, thick scallions or half a white onion.
Tomatoes3 whole
Grated or very finely chopped, skins off if you can.
Garlic3 cloves
Chopped.
Cumin½ tsp
—
Achiote½ tsp
also sold as «color»
Bell pepper1 whole
In strips.
Bay leaves2 leaves
—
Olive oil2 tbsp
—
Salt and pepperto taste
—

2Steps

In this order. The box on each step is the specific pitfall: what goes wrong there and why.

1
Simmer the meat with bay leaves
30 min
The whole flank in water to cover it, with salt and bay leaves. Low heat, 30 minutes.
Heads up
Cold water to start and low heat the whole time. At a rolling boil the meat tightens up and afterwards nobody can shred it.
2
Pull it out and shred it with two forks
6 min
Let it cool down for five minutes and open it along the grain.
Heads up
Warm, it shreds itself; cold, it goes stiff and takes twice the work. And keep the broth: it gets used in step 4.
3
Make the hogao with the bell pepper
8 min
Oil with annatto, green onions, garlic, bell pepper and the tomato last. Until it thickens.
Heads up
Until it's a paste. Watery hogao ruins the dish.
4
Bring the meat together with a little of its broth
6 min
The shredded meat into the hogao, with half a cup of the broth it cooked in.
Heads up
That broth has all the flavor of the meat in it. Throwing it out and using water is the most common waste in this recipe.

3If something goes wrong

What happens	Why	What to do
It won't shred	It needed more time in the pot, or it boiled too hard.	Low heat and fifteen minutes more. Flank needs time, not heat.
It came out dry	You didn't put broth in at the end.	Half a cup of the cooking broth. That's what you kept it for.

It won't shred
Why: It needed more time in the pot, or it boiled too hard.
What to do: Low heat and fifteen minutes more. Flank needs time, not heat.
It came out dry
Why: You didn't put broth in at the end.
What to do: Half a cup of the cooking broth. That's what you kept it for.

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

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Why this one and not another

Where it comes from

▲Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

1Ingredients and how to prep them

2Steps

Simmer the meat with bay leaves

Pull it out and shred it with two forks

Make the hogao with the bell pepper

Bring the meat together with a little of its broth

3If something goes wrong

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen