If there is any question about my striking impressions of the Asturias of Northern Spanish, I won’t hesitate to say that it is the grandiose Picos de Europa and the favorable climate, which can attract you to go on a tour there whenever you are exhausted.
However, when it comes to the most memorable one, it must be the authentic local cachopos with ham and melting cheese covered with the crunchy deep-fried veal fillets or beefsteaks, all leaving an unforgettable experience.
About the dish
This dish has many versions since there is no exact document mentioning the original version of this dish, so you may have seen a lot of versions with different covers. However, the most notable one is beef and veal.
During the time I spent recovering in Asturias, veal is the more popular ingredient used by locals when cooking Cachopo. As for me, I fairly prefer veal as if it’s not choice beef and above, the meat may be tough when deep fried. Unlike beef, the veal’s flavor will even be sweeter and juicier when deep fried.
This dish is partially similar to a tapas that I have shared on the website Manzanilla, the dish called San Jacobo – a favorite dish of all ages. However, unlike San Jacobo, Cachopo will be served as a main dish because the fillet quantity is larger, and the veal fillet is somewhat juicier and tastier than the pork.
Ingredients
- 2 veal tenderloin fillets
- 3 slices of jamón serrano
- Semi-cured manchego cheese
- 2 eggs
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Flour
- Breadcrumbs
You are open to choose either beef fillet or veal fillet. With some taste similarities, you can certainly use either of these two ingredients as soon as they are fresh; it’s easy to purchase them and pick the suitable one for your taste.
Likewise, choose the most affordable type of ham and cheese. I believe that there is no difficulty in preparing ingredients and processing this dish. You completely can replace serrano jamon with ham and manchego cheese with any kind of easy-melting cheese while deep-frying, for instance, cheddar cheese.
Cachopo Step-by-step Instruction
Let’s start with seasoning the veal fillet to strengthen the taste of the cover and impress the eater with the smell. Salt and pepper will be your company during this process. Season both sides with salt and black pepper. Simple, not sophisticated, mild but very subtle. Complication is unwanted as the taste of the premium fillet may be hidden, just like beefsteak.
Especially pay attention to the initial salting. Regardless of ham or jamón serrano, when deep-fried and becomes drier, it will release the salt in the ingredient. Done seasoning already? Now you will just have to cover the fillet with slices of ham; in my situation, it is my hometown’s serrano ham, and of course, sliced cheese. Depending on your own taste, adjust a suitable amount of cheese for the dish.
Here, with the first slice of fillet, I will put 3 pieces of ham and slices of cheese. I will use Manchego – a traditional kind of cheese. Its shape is a cylinder, so I will have to slice it into thin wedged-shaped slices. I chose Manchego as it is my favorite cheese, made from sheep milk aged for one year. This cheese has a strong taste of milk and a specific smell that I adore. Wedges of cheese must be really thin, with a thickness of around 1 cm to make sure that they will melt when deep-fried.
If you use cheddar cheese, this process will be a lot easier since the cheese is sliced. You can completely use this kind of cheese or any kind of cheese that is easily melting
Now, put the second slice of fillet right on the cheese layer of the first one and move to the next stage. A tiny tip is that you should press or use a fork to poke at the edge of the fillet to make sure that 2 slices of fillet stick to each other and are inseparable while soaked in egg, flour, and deep-frying. Remember, as tight as possible.
Now, you will just have to coat the raw cachopo with the stirred egg and the flour. With the chicken eggs, I suggest you should only use the egg yolk to stir as this will make the deep-fried process less messy. If you stir both egg white and egg yolk and soak the fillet in, there will be lots of bubbles when deep-fried and you must adjust the heat instantly to prevent the overflow of the olive oil.
When soaking, remember to be gentle. If you don’t want the ham and cheese to fall out of these 2 fillets, you’d better put on gloves and calmly turn the fillet with your own hands. Evenly coat the fillets with the egg, flour, and breadcrumbs so that both sides of the fillet’s texture can be as alike as possible.
Now let’s fry. Pour olive oil into the pan so as to deep-fry the cachopo, and make sure that the olive oil has boiled before adding the cachopo. If there is not enough olive oil, pour more until the cachopo is totally covered with oil.
When the olive oil is boiling, reduce to medium heat (about 350°F) before beginning the deep-fried process of the cachopo. The breadcrumbs layer outside the cachopo is always well-cooked before the inside meat. so it is essential to fry it at medium or low heat, you don’t want the food to be burnt right?
Another tip when entering the deep-fried process is that you should fry until cooked on each side instead of evenly stirring as usual. Each side will take around 3-4 minutes to be browned. When both sides of the fillet turn brown, you will have to put them in separate dishes and be ready to serve it. Before frying the cachopo, remember to filter out the breadcrumbs in the pan to avoid them sticking to the next cachopo.
Serving Cachopo
A deep-fried dish is always suitable for all ages from adults to children. This dish promises to bring the best experience for your family, especially when it is veal fillet instead of pork, which is fascinating for a main dish
For the best experience, this dish should be served with fried chips and salad as a side dish that can neutralize the taste like melon con jamon or any kind of salad, which is especially important to a greasy dish like cachopo.
More Recipes To Explore
Cachopo Recipe
Equipment
- Pan if you got wok in your kitchen, it would be really nice
- Plates
- Cooking Gloves
- Spatula
- Separate Dishes
- Knife
- Fork
Ingredients
- 2 veal tenderloin fillets
- 3 slices of jamón serrano
- Semi-cured manchego cheese
- 2 eggs
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Flour
- Breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Seasoning the veal fillet with salt and black pepper
- Covering the fillet with ham and cheese
- Pressing another fillet in the seasoned and covered fillet
- Coating the fillets with stirred egg yolk, flour, and breadcrumbs
- Boiling the olive oil
- Frying each side of the fillet at medium heat until both of them are well-cooked
Notes
- Veal is known to be the best version of this dish. Have some slices of veal fillet if you have a chance, and of course, take the rawest and freshest.
- Any kind of ham and cheese is acceptable as soon as they are the freshest ingredients. In addition, the thinner the slices of cheese are, the tastier the dish is.
- Subtlety is essential. Therefore, remember to be as gentle as possible when coating the fillet with egg, flour, and breadcrumbs so as not to break the connection between ingredients.
- This dish reaches the highest quality when the cachopo is deep-fried. Adjust a suitable amount of olive oil when beginning to fry so that the eaters can enjoy the dish at its best.
