Simple Carne Guisada Fills Your Kitchen With Lovely Aromas

Carne guisada simply means means “stewed meat” in Spanish. Eduardo Lopez/Shutterstock

By Gretchen McKay From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When it comes to one-pot meals, you rarely go wrong with a dish built around chuck roast.

The budget cut requires long and slow cooking to turn it into a tender, fork-friendly meal. But if you have a few hours to kill on the weekend and love to fill your kitchen with wonderful aromas, you’ll be rewarded with a dish full of rich, beefy flavor.

This recipe from America’s Test Kitchen’s latest cookbook, “When Southern Women Cook,” puts a Latin American spin on a boneless beef chuck-eye roast by combining it with chiles, diced tomatoes, and an array of Mexican spices, then slow-braising it into a stew.

Carne guisada, which means “stewed meat” in Spanish, is perfect for cool weather comfort dining because it’s so simple and satisfying. A classic of Puerto Rican cuisine (where the dish is thought to have originated), it features the same aromatic base as many Latin American dishes—an heady mix of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cumin, and garlic.

Adaptations of the dish also show up in communities along the Texas-Mexico border, where the stew gets extra heft from potatoes, is thickened with flour and served as a taco filling.

You can serve the savory chunks of meat and veggies over a simple bed of white rice, with beans, or atop noodles, or simply eat it by the spoonful from a bowl. (You’ll need some crusty bread to soak up all that wonderful gravy.) Or, take the cookbook’s suggestion and tuck it into warm flour tortillas to enjoy as a burrito or tacos.

If your Dutch oven is on the small side (less than 6 quarts), brown the beef in batches to avoid overcrowding. I used fire-roasted tomatoes for extra flavor.

Carne Guisada

PG tested

Serves 8-10

• 3 pounds boneless beef chuck-eye roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 24 (6-inch) flour tortillas, warmed
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat beef dry with paper towels and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Heat oil in Dutch oven until just smoking. Add half of beef and cook until browned on all sides, 7-10 minutes; transfer to plate.

Reduce heat to medium-low, add onions and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, chili powder, oregano, coriander, and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and broth and bring to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in all beef and any accumulated juices. Cover, transfer pot to oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove pot from oven and stir in potatoes and bell peppers. Cover, return pot to oven, and continue to cook until beef and potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes longer.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon small amount of stew into center of each tortilla, top with cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.

Recipe from “When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes” by America’s Test Kitchen ($40) Copyright 2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Dear Readers: We would love to hear from you. What topics would you like to read about? Please send your feedback and tips to [email protected].