Sobrebarriga en Salsa Criolla

Bogotá flank steak simmered until yielding and smothered in a slow-cooked onion and tomato criolla

Origin: Bogotá & the Colombian Andes

From the journey of Onion.

Sobrebarriga means over the belly, and it is the flank: a long, flat, coarse-grained cut with a seam of gristle running through it that most cuisines mince and Colombia treats as a centrepiece. It gets there by patience. The flank is simmered for two to three hours with aromatics until the connective tissue has wholly converted to gelatine and the meat can be cut with the side of a fork. Only then is it dressed, and in Bogotá the dressing is salsa criolla: a great quantity of cebolla cabezona, the head onion, cooked down slowly with tomato, garlic, and cumin until it collapses into something thick, sweet, and dark. The distinction between this and the country's other great onion preparation matters. Hogao is made with cebolla larga, the long green stalk, and it tastes fresh and sharp. The criolla for sobrebarriga is built on the bulb, and slow cooking a bulb onion does something a green one cannot: its stored fructans break down to simple sugars and it browns, so the sauce turns sweet and deep where hogao stays bright. Colombian cooks use both, for different jobs, and would not substitute one for the other. The grandest version is sobrebarriga al horno, in which the simmered flank is spread with breadcrumbs and finished under a fierce heat until the top is crisp, the sauce spooned round rather than over so the crust survives. It arrives with papas criollas, the small yellow Andean potatoes that collapse to a floury gold, and with rice, and it is Sunday food in Bogotá.

Ingredients

Beef

1.5 kg beef flank (sobrebarriga), in one piece

Poaching

2 litres water, to cover
1 whole onion, halved
2 whole carrots, halved
2 whole bay leaves
1 bunch coriander stalks
2 tsp salt
1 bottle dark beer, 330 ml, optional

Criolla

4 tbsp neutral oil
4 whole large onions (cebolla cabezona), halved and thinly sliced
6 whole ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 400 g tinned
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt, or to taste

To Finish

60 g dried breadcrumbs, for the al horno finish
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Method

Put the flank in a large pan with the water, the halved onion, carrots, bay, coriander stalks, and salt. Add the beer if using. Bring slowly to the boil and skim.
Reduce to the barest simmer, cover, and cook for two and a half to three hours, until a fork pushed into the meat meets no resistance.
Meanwhile, warm the oil in a wide heavy pan and add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt. Cook over a low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring now and then.
When the onions are soft, golden, and much reduced, add the garlic and cumin and cook for a further two minutes.
Add the tomatoes, the pepper, and a ladleful of the beef cooking liquor, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until thick and glossy and no longer watery.
Lift the cooked flank out, pat it dry, and lay it in a roasting dish. Strain and reserve the remaining cooking liquor.
Spoon a third of the criolla over the meat, scatter the breadcrumbs evenly across the top, and grill under a high heat for six to eight minutes until crisp and deep brown.
Taste the remaining criolla and adjust the salt. Loosen it with a little more of the cooking liquor if it has become too thick to spoon.
Slice the flank across the grain into thick strips, spoon the criolla around rather than over so the crust stays crisp, and scatter with coriander.

Notes

Flank is the correct cut and the whole point. Brisket or skirt work by the same method; a lean cut such as topside will simply dry out over three hours. Four large onions to a kilo and a half of beef looks like a great deal and is right. The criolla should be an onion sauce with tomato in it rather than the reverse. The dark beer in the poaching liquid is a common Bogotá addition and gives a deeper, faintly bitter background. Water alone is perfectly traditional. Do not discard the cooking liquor. What is left after the sauce is an excellent beef broth and is the base for sopa de sobrebarriga the following day. Serve with papas criollas (small yellow Andean potatoes, boiled whole), plain white rice, sliced avocado, and ají at the table. Colombian Sunday lunch in full.

The Gastrographer

Name: Sobrebarriga en Salsa Criolla
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 25 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Bogotá & the Colombian Andes
Ingredients: 1.5 kg beef flank (sobrebarriga), in one piece; 2 litres water, to cover; 1 whole onion, halved; 2 whole carrots, halved; 2 whole bay leaves; 1 bunch coriander stalks; 2 tsp salt; 1 bottle dark beer, 330 ml, optional; 4 tbsp neutral oil; 4 whole large onions (cebolla cabezona), halved and thinly sliced; 6 whole ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 400 g tinned; 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 tsp ground cumin; 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 60 g dried breadcrumbs, for the al horno finish; 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control