Ropa Vieja

[austin87]

I had some frozen skirt steaks and homegrown tomotoes and Bahamian goat peppers (habanero relative, so I figured I'm putting out my take on Cuban ropa vieja.

The veggies (red and white onion, yellow and red bell, poblano, and homgrown Bahamian goats)



Onions into a well oiled CIDO



Getting a sear station ready for the skirt steaks







Garlic and bay leaf



On top of some skirt



Tomatoes searing to loosen the skin





Skin removed, lightly mashed, added coriander, mustard powder, and Mexican oregano



Peppers charring



Gotta have a beer



Ended up using 3 Bahamian goats and what I think is an extra long pheno red ghost pepper from @pbe gummi bear   (yes, I wanted this spicy as all hell!)



Quarter for scale



Chopped hot peppers



Bells and poblano, skin and seeds removed, chopped



The whole shebang into the basement, also added a couple cups of beef broth for braising liquid



It's been on for a couple hours, just waiting for it to finish up and be pull-able

More to come

[austin87]

Well, I'd call this a moderate success. It took WAY longer than I thought for the meat to pull apart, next time I would use 1 cup of beef broth instead of two, I somehow forgot cumin, which I put in just about everything, and for adding 3 Bahamian goats and a bhut, the whole dish was extremely underwhelming on the spice front. I've really stepped up my game in the heat department.

When the meat was tender, I pulled off the lid and added some cherry wood chunks, so it had a nice smoke flavor. I would have liked to cook off a little more liquid (or started with less) but I was so damn hungry I couldn't wait.

I put it over yam cooked indirect on the grill - the sweetness and texture was good, but obviously not double deep fried plantain (tostones), as Grass Snake suggested last night.

For the first shot at ropa vieja I'd give it a passing grade, but could definitely improve significantly next time.

Off the grill



Over the yam and garnished with a little cilantro and lime

[pbe gummi bear]

You're really getting a knack for this cook documenting thing. Can you keep cooking it down and see if it improves? To me it seems like there is way too much veggie to meat in your recipe, making it watery and not as savory as it could be.

[austin87]

I could try to reduce it more and might, but it will be a couple days until I get around to it. Veggie/meat ratio I think is OK (more meat definitely wouldn't hurt), but as you said, too much liquid and not thick enough. It might not hurt to add the veggies an hour or two into the cook time as well, as they were almost too soft.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

That looks great @austin87!!!!  I love Ropa Vieja but have never tried it on the grill.  I usually use the recipe on the Goya website, except instead of rubbing it with powdered adobo with pepper as the recipe calls for, I rub it down with the adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers.  I think it comes out really good.  I'll have to see if I can adapt the recipe into something grillable.  Thanks for posting this!  I haven't made or eaten this in quite a while.