I'll start by acknowledging that I am fully aware ropa vieja is most widely considered a Cuban dish. The wikipedia list of national dishes, however, describes the national dish of the Dominican Republic as white rice topped with stewed kidney beans and braised beef, served with a side of salad. The dish is known as bandera nacional, or national flag. I have no idea how they came up with that.
Either way, when I started looking for recipes for a braised beef dish unique to the Dominican Republic I kept running across recipes for Dominican ropa vieja. All of those recipes looked quite similar to the so called Cuban ones. I also learned that ropa vieja is quite popular in countries throughout the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, Panama and Puerto Rico. Besides, no one claims it as their national dish so I thought I'd give it a go. (Cuba claims a pork and vegetable stew called ajiaco.)
There are apparently varying stories about where the name ropa vieja - which means old clothes in Spanish - came from, but one of the most popular is about a poor old man who could not afford to buy food for his family. So he went to his closet, got some old clothes and cooked them. His love for his family turned them into a beef stew. Impressive.
I once again turned to the man himself, Emeril Lagasse for a ropa vieja recipe. I probably cheated a little because the meat isn't so much braised as it is boiled and simmered for hours. There was no searing or oven involved. And yes it definitely took hours to cook. Three hours for the initial simmering, and then another 30 to 40 minutes after you shredded the beef (which this recipe called for brisket). The result though is a nice pot of tender, shredded beef in a thick sauce flavored with peppers, onions and tomatoes. I'll be curious to try the leftovers and see how it tastes once the flavors melded. I served the ropa vieja with the white beans and kidney beans.
Now, on to Tunisia...
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