Recipe | Caldo de Res

Caldo de res (beef stew) is my all-time favorite Guatemalan dish -- even over pollo frito, tapado, and pepian. I love anything I can fill with hot sauce and caldo does not disappoint. I make a nice, fresh salsa picante from onion, cilantro, lime and roasted serrano chiles that goes great. You can also top with a little sliced avocado if you're feeling rich.

Ingredients

• Beef bones with some meat on them (i.e. short ribs)
• Stew beef
• Beef broth or bouillon
• Vegetables diced large (e.g. carrots, chayote, potato, cabbage, yucca, etc.)
• 1 diced onion
• Diced tomato
• Diced garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• Cilantro

Directions

1. Boil the bones in a large pot with bay leaves and salt with enough water to cover the bones
2. When the meat around the bone is cooked you can take it out, cut it into smaller pieces, and set it aside
3. In a smaller pan, fry the onion, garlic, and tomatoes down, then add to larger pot
4. Add bouillon or beef broth to taste
5. Add the vegetables that need lots of time to cook (carrots, potatoes, etc.) to the larger pot to cook, and add more water if necessary
6. Add stew beef, and previously cooked meat from bones
7. When those vegetables are done cooking, as leafy vegetables and/or herbs (e.g. cabbage, cilantro)*
8. Adjust flavor with salt or bouillon, if necessary
9. Serve with rice in a low bowl and/or tortillas -- and lots of picante!**

*I add cilantro on the table because not everyone likes the taste sometimes.
**You can be really autentico and keep the meat and the vegetable separate from the rice and the broth when serving.

This recipe was adapted from a blog on Guate360.

I think my favorite part of caldo is the quisquil. It's called chayote in the grocery store (and probably Mexico. In Creole, it's called merliton.) We once volunteered at a food pantry in Indy, and no one but me and the Old Man had any idea what they were. The food pantry was telling people they were pears. I had to try not to laugh because I was thinking about people biting into them thinking they're pears and losing a tooth. Whatever you call it -- I do think it's a very interesting, tasty little parasitic vegetable more people should enjoy.

It's important to preserve the integrity of the vegetables, especially if you have leftovers. They can't be swimming the broth in the fridge. You should store the veggies separately without any liquid. In Guatemala, most times you'll even been served the vegetables separately from the broth and you can add whatever you'd like as you're eating.