Knife-Cut Beef and Pork Empanadas
Hand-cut roast beef and pork, cooked with slow-melted onion and just the right amount of spice, finished with fresh scallion and egg. The real texture of a proper beef empanada, not ground meat.
- 250 g (9 oz) roast beef, hand-cut into 5 to 7 mm (¼ in) cubes, with a thin layer of its natural fat
- 250 g (9 oz) pork (lean shoulder or loin), hand-cut into 5 to 7 mm (¼ in) cubes
- 750 g (1.65 lb) white onion, finely diced
- 125 g (4.4 oz) beef fat (or butter, if you can't get it)
- 7 g (1.25 tsp) fine sea salt
- 7 g (1 tbsp) sweet paprika
- 3 g (1 tsp) cumin
- A pinch of crushed red pepper
- 60 g (2.1 oz) green onion, green part only, finely chopped
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 12 empanada dough rounds (store-bought or from the Empanada Dough recipe)
- Butter, just a little, to grease the tray
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1
Cut the meat
Put the roast beef and pork in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes before starting: firmer meat is much easier to hand-cut into even cubes, about the size of a corn kernel (5 to 7 mm / ¼ in). Don't grind or process it: that hand-cut texture is what makes this empanada what it is.
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2
Cook the onion
In a large pot, melt the beef fat over medium-low heat. Add the diced onion, cover the pot and cook until it starts releasing liquid. Uncover, lower the heat all the way down, and keep cooking low and slow for 35 to 45 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and almost caramelized, not just translucent: that deep sweetness is what flavors the whole filling.
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3
Add the meat and season
Raise the heat a bit and add the meat cubes. Mix well and, as soon as they change color (from red to opaque gray), add the salt, paprika, cumin and crushed red pepper. The meat needs no more than 10 minutes total in the pot: it's not meant to fully cook here, it finishes in the oven, which is what keeps it juicy instead of dry.
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4
Let it rest
Transfer the filling to a wide dish so it cools quickly, then refrigerate. Ideally, let it rest overnight: the fat solidifies, traps the juices in, and the filling becomes much easier to work with when you fill the dough.
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5
Add the fresh ingredients
Once the filling is fully cold, add the green part of the scallion and the chopped hard-boiled eggs. Never cook these in the pot: that's what keeps the scallion's color and crunch, and keeps those fresh flavors from fading.
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6
Fill and pleat
Put a heaping spoonful of filling on each dough round. Close it, pressing the edge firmly to push out all the air, just as important as with the ham and cheese empanadas, but this time with the classic braided pleat: fold small triangles of dough inward, one over the other, all the way to the tip.
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7
Prep the tray
Grease the tray with a very thin layer of butter and wipe off the excess with a paper towel: that thin layer is what keeps them from sticking, tearing when you lift them, and coming out pale on the bottom instead of golden.
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8
Bake
Hot oven, 210°C (410°F), with the tray preheated if you can. Bake for 12 minutes, no more, no less, until the dough is well browned and you can tell the filling is bubbling inside.
- Cutting the meat while semi-frozen isn't just a nice touch: it's what lets you get even cubes without the meat shredding or getting squashed under the knife.
- The overnight rest in the fridge changes the result completely: without it, the filling stays loose and is much harder to work with.
- That thin layer of butter on the tray (with the excess wiped off) is what keeps the bottom of the empanada from coming out pale, stuck, or torn when you lift it.
- If you like a heartier filling, set aside a bit of extra egg to add one more piece to each empanada as you fill them.
- Grinding the meat instead of hand-cutting it: it loses this recipe's signature texture
- Overcooking the meat in the pot (it finishes cooking in the oven)
- Skipping the overnight rest in the fridge
- Cooking the scallion or eggs in the pot instead of adding them raw and cold at the end