Cuba's soul-food masterpiece — flank steak slowly braised until it shreds into tender ribbons, then simmered in a vivid sofrito of tomatoes, peppers, olives and wine. Served over white rice with sweet fried plantains.
Ropa vieja means "old clothes" — a reference to the shredded meat's resemblance to tattered rags. But this dish is anything but ragged. It is the national dish of Cuba, the dinner mothers make for homecomings, the plate that appears at every quinceañera and family Sunday. The recipe traveled from the Canary Islands to Cuba with Spanish settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries, was transformed by African cooking techniques and local ingredients, and emerged as something entirely Cuban — a dish that tells the whole complicated, beautiful story of the island's history in a single pot. The key is the sofrito: onion, garlic, tomato, and peppers cooked down into a fragrant paste that becomes the sauce's foundation. The flank steak braises until it surrenders completely, then gets pulled apart by hand and returned to the pot. At Havana's Floridita bar — where Hemingway drank his daiquiris — ropa vieja was always on the menu. It is humble food elevated to the level of ceremony by patience and care.
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