I wanted to use what I had on hand so made a Mexican version of my Beef Ragu. Naming it was an entirely different story!
I found tons of words to replace ragu like goulash, pot-au-feu, gumbo, suey, cassoulet, chowder… You get the idea, but I couldn’t find a word in Spanish. Finding a word for word translation of RAGU was challenging.
Turns out there isn’t a DIRECT word for translation so I read until I found an acceptable translation for this Mexican version of my Beef Ragu recipe. The word soffritto is still Italian, but I found the same word with a single f and single t (sofrito) used for Puerto Rican and Latin American recipes. Close enough for me!
A Ragu is meat based with a little sauce added.
MEXICAN SOFRITO ala SLOW COOKER
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin
4 slices bacon, chopped
2 ½ -3 pound chuck roast
1 tablespoon House Seasoning (see below)
28 ounces crushed tomatoes, with cumin and chili powder to taste
1 large can chopped green chiles
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 cup beef broth
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
Cotija cheese
- Spray a large slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
- Arrange the onions, garlic, green chiles and bacon pieces in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Generously season roast with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper on both sides.
- Arrange roast on top of the onion mixture.
- Sprinkle the carrots on top of the roast.
- In a medium bowl, blend together the tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, red wine vinegar and cilantro.
- Pour over the roast.
- Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours until the beef is EXTREMELY tender and falls apart.
- Skim any fat from the top.
- Use 2 forks to shred the beef.
- Stir beef into the sauce.
- Adjust seasonings.
- Re-cover and cook for another hour to allow the flavored to meld together.
- Serve with corn tortillas and top with Cotija cheese sprinkles.
This is an adapted version of my Beef Ragu recipe.
