Quarantine Cooking: Ropa Vieja

Photo by Patrick Jones. Ropa Vieja tacos. 11 Apr 2020.

On Saturday, I made ropa vieja for the family on the smoker. This was a bit of an experiment and a combination of several recipes I found online. Fortunately, it turned out awesome and I will definitely make this again for a larger group once shelter-in-place ends. I started with a 3.75 lb brisket from our local butcher. I cooked the brisket low & slow to start, at 225 F until it reached 165 F.

Like last week's lamb shoulder tacos, here is a step-by-step photo review, with more ingredients so that I can recreate this next time.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Seasoned brisket, about to place on the grill.

I seasoned the brisket in olive oil, kosher salt & cracked pepper, covering it the night before and wrapping it in parchment paper and foil. I set it out this morning for two hours before I put it on the grill.

For the vegetables, I took one large sweet onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 4 carrots, peeled and diced/chopped. You can also use yellow pepper & bell pepper to make it more Cuban, but half my household doesn't love too many peppers. I lined the pan in olive oil, and prepared the veggies as the brisket reached 165 F, which took about 4 hours.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Chopped veggies & olive oil. 

While the veggies waited in the pan, I made the ropa vieja base:
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
1/3 cup pimentos
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs oregano
1 tbs thyme
2 tsp paprika
1 squeezed lime
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 cup beef stock (replaced w 1 cup fresh homemade chicken stock from another meal this week)
1 cup red wine (I used 2011 Pierre Prieur & Fils Sancerre Pinot Noir, but you can also use a white wine)
(I left out 2 tbs fresh chopped cilantro and sliced olives)

Photo by Patrick Jones. Vegetable & seasoning prep.

Here are the steps:
1. Cover the meet the night before with olive oil, salt & pepper
2. Bring to room temperature for an hour to two hours before putting on the grill
3. Bring the smoker up to 225 or 250 F, place seasoned meat directly on the smoker. Smoke for 3-4 hours, or until you reach meat temperature 165 F.
4. While the meat is cooking and nearing 165, chop vegetables.
5. Mix tomatoes, wine, beef stock (in my case, chicken stock) & seasonings into a bowl
6. When ready, place meat in roasting pan with vegetables, top with tomato & seasoning mixture. Crank up the smoker to 325 F & place back on the grill in the roasting pan, cover with foil. Depending on the smoker you have and the size & toughness of the meat, this step may take 3 to 4+ hours. I cooked the meat about 4 to 4 & a half hours.

It should look like this when you reach this stage:

Photo by Patrick Jones. Brisket in the tomato & veggie mixture.

7. Take the roasting pan off the grill and shred the meat. I have insanely sharp meat claws, but two large forks will probably be sufficient. I covered the shredded meat & placed it back on the grill for another 45 minutes or so while I made the other sides.

I served this with yellow rice, black beans, radish & avocado. If I had more time, I could have also served this with fried plantains and it would have been awesome.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Shredded, steaming ropa vieja.

This recipe isn't entirely Cuban or Spanish. It is certainly missing olives if you like those. To create this on the Traeger, I combined some inspirations from "Easy Cuban Ropa Vieja Beef", posted 9 July 2014 on SmokingMeatForums.com, Williams Sonoma's Ropa Vieja with Fried Plantains recipe, and the Hirshon Cuban Ropa Vieja, posted 12 April 2015. There are not that many recipes for ropa vieja from brisket for the Traeger. This was actually really easy and I will cook this again. I'm blogging this to save the recipe for next time.