The Southern Cone · Volume 27, Cassava, Maté and the Chaco's Second Kitchen
Mbaipy so'o
Eastern Paraguay
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 1 hour
- Researched
- 49 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6. About 1 hour.
Ingredients
- 500g beef or pork (rump, loin, or shoulder/rib)
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 locote (bell pepper), diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- to taste salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 litres hot water
- 150g pre-cooked maize flour
- 80g queso Paraguay or a similar melting cheese
- to taste cumin and spring onion, optional
Method
- Brown the beef or pork in a heavy pot, then add the onion, pepper and garlic, and cook until softened.
- Season with salt and pepper, add the hot water, and simmer until the meat is tender, the meat dominant by proportion.
- Pre-hydrate the maize flour in a little cold water, then stir it into the pot, cooking until thickened to a soft porridge consistency.
- Stir in the queso Paraguay off the heat, finish with cumin and spring onion, if using.
Notes
Quantities sourced to a Paraguayan home cook's own recipe, moderate confidence.
What a modern chef changes
The meat cooked separately under sous vide, then folded through the finished porridge
Rung 1
Method
- Cook the meat separately under sous vide at a temperature suited to the cut, well done and fully tender in the Paraguayan style rather than pink, then shred or dice it and fold it through the finished maize porridge rather than simmering it for the full hour, which keeps the meat's texture distinct rather than stewed to uniformity.
- Build the porridge base with the browning fond from searing the meat before sous viding it, so the porridge itself still carries the depth a long simmer would have given, without the meat itself overcooking.