Empanadas recipe

Argentine empanadas are built on knife-cut beef, cumin and paprika, a beef-fat dough, and a filling chilled solid before it is sealed in.

14 hours and 15 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 800 g beef chuck
• 240 g beef fat
• 700 g all-purpose flour
• 400 g onion
• 1.5 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 100 g green olives
• 4 green onion
• 12 g salt
• 290 ml water

How to make Empanadas

1. Melt 240 g of beef fat. Mound 700 g of flour, make a well, pour in 240 g of the melted fat with about 290 ml of warm water and 12 g of salt, knead to a smooth dough and rest it 30 minutes. Butter is not the fat used here.
2. Cut 800 g of beef chuck into small dice with a knife. Ground beef turns to paste; knife-cut meat is what gives the filling its bite.
3. Sweat 400 g of diced onion in the remaining 240 g of beef fat over low heat until soft and sweet.
4. Pull the pot off the direct heat and stir in 1½ tablespoons of sweet paprika and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes so they bloom in the fat without scorching.
5. Add the diced beef, stir, pour in a little water and simmer about 30 minutes, then season at the end with 1½ teaspoons of ground cumin, salt and pepper.
6. Chill the filling completely, several hours or overnight, until the fat sets solid. Skipping this is why empanadas leak and come out dry.
7. Just before filling, scatter 3 chopped hard boiled eggs, 4 sliced green onions and 100 g of green olives over the cold mixture. Black olives are not used.
8. Roll the dough into 12 cm discs, spoon filling onto each, fold over and seal with a pleated repulgue — thirteen folds is the Tucumán count.
9. Bake at 200 °C for 18 to 20 minutes until blistered and golden, or deep-fry them in beef fat.

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