Tapado Olanchano

the inland Honduran pot: salt beef, ribs and sausage layered under green plantain, yuca and cabbage and left covered until everything is done at once

Origin: Juticalpa & Olancho

From the journey of Banana.

Tapado means covered, and the name is the method: everything goes into a tall pot in layers, the lid goes on, and it is not lifted again until the whole thing is done. Honduras makes two versions that are frequently confused. The coastal Garifuna tapado is built on coconut milk and seafood; the olanchano, from the cattle department of Olancho in the interior, has no coconut in it at all and is built on beef, salted meat, and green plantain in water. Olancho is the largest department of Honduras, it is ranching country, and its cooking reflects that: salted and dried beef, chorizo, ribs, and whatever roots the household has. The green plantain is the starch of the pot and does two jobs, some of it going in whole to be eaten and some grated in to thicken the broth, which is the standard thickening method along the whole Central American Caribbean rim. The layering is not arbitrary. The meats that need longest go at the bottom, closest to the heat; the roots go over them; the plantain and the quick vegetables go on top, where they steam rather than boil. It is a technique for cooking a large mixed pot on a wood fire without watching it, and it produces a broth that has taken something from every layer. The salted beef, carne seca or tasajo, has to be soaked and its water changed, and Honduran cooks are unequivocal about this. Beef that has been dried in the Olancho sun carries a great deal of salt, and a pot made with unsoaked tasajo is inedible.

Ingredients

Meat

500 g salted dried beef (tasajo or carne seca), soaked overnight
600 g beef short ribs
300 g chorizo or coarse pork sausage

Body

3 green plantains, two in thick chunks and one grated
500 g yuca, peeled and in chunks
2 ears of corn, cut into rounds
0.5 white cabbage, in thick wedges

Aromatics

2 onions, thickly sliced
8 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 red pepper, sliced
1 large handful culantro or coriander
2 bay leaves

Seasoning

1 tsp ground cumin
1 salt, to taste
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Liquid

1.8 litres water

To serve

2 limes, in wedges

Method

Soak the salted beef overnight in at least three changes of cold water, then drain, cover with fresh water, boil for ten minutes, and drain again.
Three changes of soaking water and one hard boil. Tasajo that has not been treated this way will make the whole pot too salty to eat.
Cut the soaked beef into pieces.
Build the pot in layers: the onions, garlic, tomatoes, pepper, and bay leaves on the bottom, then the salted beef and the short ribs on top of them.
Scatter the grated green plantain over the meat, then add the yuca, then the plantain chunks and corn rounds.
Lay the cabbage wedges and the sausage on the very top, where they will steam rather than boil.
Pour in the water down the side of the pot so the layers are not disturbed, and add the cumin and pepper. Do not salt it yet.
Bring to the boil, then cover tightly and cook on a low heat for an hour and three quarters. Do not lift the lid and do not stir.
The pot is called covered for a reason: lifting the lid lets out the steam that is cooking the top layer, and stirring turns the layers to mush.
After that time, check the beef; it should pull apart easily. Give it another twenty minutes if not.
Taste the broth now and only now, and add salt if it needs it. The dried beef will have given up a good deal.
Press the culantro into the pot, cover for three minutes, and serve in deep bowls with a piece of everything, plenty of broth, and lime wedges.

Notes

This is the inland version and has no coconut milk; the Garifuna coastal tapado is a different dish. Soak the salted beef properly and salt the pot only at the end. Layer it and leave it alone: no stirring and no lifting the lid. Grated green plantain thickens the broth, so do not skip that part in favour of chunks alone. Culantro is the correct herb and coriander stands in. It reheats well, and Olancho households treat it as a dish for a crowd.

The Gastrographer

Name: Tapado Olanchano
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 15 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Juticalpa & Olancho
Ingredients: 500 g salted dried beef (tasajo or carne seca), soaked overnight; 600 g beef short ribs; 300 g chorizo or coarse pork sausage; 3 green plantains, two in thick chunks and one grated; 500 g yuca, peeled and in chunks; 2 ears of corn, cut into rounds; 0.5 white cabbage, in thick wedges; 2 onions, thickly sliced; 8 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tomatoes, quartered; 1 red pepper, sliced; 1 large handful culantro or coriander; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1.8 litres water; 1 salt, to taste; 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 2 limes, in wedges

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control