Ropa Vieja

The steak itself weighed in at about a pound and a half. After marinating it in a rub of garlic, hot chilis, and fresh oregano overnight, I took it out the next day and scraped off the rub after preheating the oven to 275 (yep, that's all). I took out my Dutch oven and seared the steak on both sides in the tiniest bit of oil (since the searing also rendered some of what little fat there was on the steak). After the searing, I removed the steak, then threw in a diced onion and let that brown in the oil / rendered tallow. After about 8-10 minutes, I threw in some bell peppers (one red, one green) and let those soften -- another 8 minutes or so. Then I tossed in the rub that I'd scraped off, gave it all a stir, and let it cook down a little further. When that was ready, I threw in a quarter cup of dry sherry and scraped up the fond on the bottom of the put while it bubbled. Last, I threw in one 28-once can of tomatoes, drained beforehand of most of their liquid. And finally in went the pre-seared steak, nestled in beneath all of those goodies. Then it went into the oven, there to sit (at only 275, remember) for the next four and a half hours, with the steak turned every hour or so. According to Daniel Boulud, from whose "Braise" book I cribbed the outline of this recipe, the low slow heat helps melt the connective tissues in the muscle, leaving you muscle tissue that's completely fallen apart (hence the raggedy "old clothes" texture), all stewing in an incredibly rich sauce. This ropa sure didn't disappoint. After starring in a few meals in which it was backed up by fried plantains and green salad, it coasted through the rest of the week as a lunch-time sandwich filler, kind of akin to pulled pork with a little Caribbean tang.