Traditional cachopo recipe
Ingredients 4 people:
- 2 large beef fillets
- Serrano ham
- Sliced cheese
- Bread crumbs
- Wheat
- 6 eggs
- Virgin Olive Oil
We also need three buckets, one with the beaten eggs, another with the flour and another with the breadcrumbs.
Recipe Step by Step:
- 1 · We beat the 6 eggs. We throw them in a large rectangular bucket-the size of this will depend on the size of the fillets.
- 2 · In one dish, we spread out one of the fillets by hand.
- 3 · Place the slices of cheese on top, which cover all the fillet well, the more generous we are, the richer it will be.
- 4 · Place the Serrano ham, which also covers all the cheese.
- 5 · Put the second filet of beef on top.
- 6 · In a bucket we have the flour, put our cachopo and flour well.
- 7 · Then we put our cachopo in the bowl of beaten eggs.
- 8 · We passed the cachopo to the breadcrumbs and we plowed.
- 9 In a large frying pan, heat the oil, when it is very hot we put the cap. We brown well.
*** In our video you will see everything step by step.
Tips for making a good cachopo
Beef · We want it to be pure butter, we'll choose a good cut of beef.
Ham · There are hams and then there are hams: Iberian, grain-fed, regular, and York ham (not ideal in principle), the better the ham…
Cheese · There are cheeses with a protected designation of origin that taste heavenly, and simple sliced cheeses or cheese wedges. Cheese is one of the highlights , so it should be well distributed and melt at the edges at first, when it's hottest.
The breading is not a trivial matter. It can happen that it falls apart and doesn't stick to the meat. This is not what we want. It must remain attached to the steak at all times, and its texture should be crispy, well-toasted but not too dark, with a pleasant, non-greasy appearance but not overly dry. Homemade breadcrumbs are available with care, and there is even a special Japanese bread (panko) that doesn't absorb too much oil.
Frying · We fry it well but without burning it, in clean oil (this is very important) and very hot so that the cachopo cooks quickly on both sides without getting soggy. This way, the cheese doesn't have time to melt too much or ooze out of the sandwich prematurely.
The potatoes · They are another basic ingredient of the Asturian cachopo. These should not be, under any circumstances, frozen potatoes. On the contrary, they must be of the earth, of homemade cut, fat, well fried, in their point of salt, tasty, without they remain oily or stiff.
That there are few potatoes is a blunder, according to the experts. The quantity must be proportional to the size of the cachopo and the number of diners. If the dimensions of the dish do not fit the necessary potatoes, they can always be buried under the meat or taken out in a separate source.
Peppers · The classic Asturian cachopo also benefits from peppers. The pepper is the icing on the cake. Ideally, it should be freshly cooked and hot.
Book «Of cachopos and other Asturian dishes»
If you want to know first-hand Asturian recipes, simple but very rich, we recommend you buy the book «Of cachopos and other Asturian dishes», written by Juanjo Cima; Y the book «Recipes to love Asturias» scored by Jose Antonio Fidalgo.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
