Heritage Recipe Contest Winner

Congratulations to Carina Naranjilla, winner of Legacy’s Heritage Recipe Contest!

As the judge and recipe tester for the contest, I couldn’t resist her story. I wanted to run right over to her kitchen and make Beef Mechado with her. I wanted to learn what she had learned from her lola [grandmother] and from her mother.

—Pat Myers, Legacy food columnist

My Lola’s Beef Mechado

 by Carina Naranjilla

Spain’s colonization of the Philippines left a deep influence on Filipino heritage, including our culinary heritage. Mechado, which is essentially our version of beef stew, originated from a Spanish recipe whose name referred to the strips of pork backfat that are threaded (mecha meaning “wick”) through pieces of cheaper beef cut to make them more tender and moist.

My lola (grandmother), who cooked mechado until she was in her 80s, deviated from the stripping and threading of fat, and instead used a more tender and more expensive beef cut. Although mechado was usually served on special family gatherings, we didn’t have to wait for a special celebration to have it. I vividly remember our lola gathering us young cousins in her patio on an ordinary weekday afternoon after school. We feasted on thin slices of tender meat covered with the thick tasty mechado sauce, all on open-faced pandesal (traditional Filipino buns) for an afternoon merienda (snack)—when, in fact, we should be having it for supper with traditional steamed white rice!

My lack of culinary skills when I first moved to Canada left me unable to prepare and eat this dish until two years later, when my mom came to visit and showed me how she and her mother did it a little differently—in fact, more simply. She placed almost all the ingredients in a pot and let the beef boil until somewhat tender. This seals the flavour in the meat, helps produce the dark brown colour and the rich beefy taste. She then removed the beef roast, cut it into thin slices, put them back into the pot, and added tomato sauce.  The slow, long braising process that follows tenderizes the meat, liquefies the onions and tomatoes, and thickens the sauce. A pinch of sugar, the use of soy sauce and vinegar and serving it with steamed white rice gives this recipe its distinct Filipino taste.

It took another visit from my mom four years ago, and several cooking attempts of my

own, before I was able to master the process and develop that sense of when the taste is just right. I have been cooking it regularly since then and I can’t wait to serve it next time my mom comes to visit. I know she (and my lola) will be proud of me.

My Lola’s Beef Mechado

1 kg inside round beef roast

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 tbs. vinegar

3 tbs. soy sauce

2 bay leaves

1 small can plain tomato sauce

plus 1 can water

3 medium potatoes peeled and quartered

1 tsp. sugar

1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

Marinate beef in a pot with the tomatoes, onion, vinegar, soy sauce and bay leaves for half an hour.

Boil beef on medium heat just until the outside of the roast is no longer red.

Lower the temperature and remove the beef from the pot. Slice it into thin slices and return the slices to the pot. Cook on low for 30 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce and cook for another 30 minutes.

Season with a little sugar.

Add the potatoes and continue cooking on low for about an hour. Make sure the mechado doesn’t go dry and the potatoes are not overcooked

Add more water or tomato sauce if necessary and lower the heat.

Add the red bell pepper. Let it cook until tender.

Serve mechado with steamed white rice.