Cuban Ropa Vieja Kit

Brown the beef on Sunday, throw it in the bag with the sofrito and sauce ingredients, freeze. Day of: dump, pressure, shred. The brown step is the one piece of work this kit doesn’t skip — flat-frozen browned beef gives a far better final dish than skipping the sear. 15 minutes Sunday, 50 minutes Wednesday.

Heat: 1/5. Mild background warmth from cumin and (optional) jalapeño.

Bag contents

• 1.2 kg fraldinha (flank steak), kept whole, browned hard (see prep) — or peito bovino (brisket)
• 2 large onions, sliced thinly
• 2 large red bell peppers, sliced
• 2 large green bell peppers, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small jalapeño OR 1 tsp Cepera Mexicano (optional)
• The sauce mixture (see below)
• 2 bay leaves

Sauce mixture

• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
• 250ml dry white wine (or 250ml stock + 2 tbsp white vinegar)
• 250ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp paprika defumada
• 1 tsp paprika doce
• 1 tsp salt

Mix everything in a bowl.

Prep day (Sunday assembly — ~15 min)

1. Brown the fraldinha hard. Pat dry. Salt generously. In a heavy skillet, sear hot in 1 tbsp olive oil — 4 minutes per side until well browned. This step is not skippable. Pale unseared meat = pale watery ropa vieja. Cool on a plate.
2. Slice peppers and onions. Thin.
3. Mix sauce. All sauce ingredients in a bowl, whisked.
4. Bag. In a 2-gallon zip bag: cooled browned fraldinha + sliced onions + peppers + garlic + jalapeño/Cepera + bay leaves. Pour sauce over.
5. Press out air. Lay flat. Label.

Label

Cuban Ropa Vieja — 2026-05-10
Serves 6
Cook: PCC20 P14 50 min thawed / 60 min frozen
   OR P6 (Slow Cook) 8h
After cook: shred meat with two forks, stir back in
Add at end: 1 tbsp red wine vinegar + 100g green olives + chopped parsley

Cook day

Pressure cooker (PCC20, P14)

From frozen:

1. Dump frozen kit into PCC20. No extra liquid needed.
2. P14, 60 minutes, high pressure. Natural release fully.
3. Lift meat onto a board. Shred along the grain with two forks.
4. Discard bay leaves. Sauté mode reduce sauce 8-10 min uncovered.
5. Stir in 1 tbsp red wine vinegar + 100g pitted green olives (azeitona com pimentão), the shredded meat, and chopped parsley. Simmer 3 min to combine.

From thawed: same, 50 min pressure.

Slow cooker (PCC20, P6)

1. Dump frozen kit. P6, 8h.
2. Same finish: shred, reduce sauce 10 min, add vinegar + olives + parsley.

Tame it (drop to heat 0)

• Skip jalapeño/Cepera entirely

Sub: bottled chiles only

Already minimal. The 1 tsp Cepera Mexicano IS the bottled-chile version of the optional jalapeño.

Serving

Cuban plate: white rice, black beans, fried sweet plantains (banana-da-terra frita), wedge of lime. Cold lager. Dinner sit-down, no cutlery elegance required.

Notes

• The sear step has to happen on prep day, not cook day. Frozen flat with seared meat = right; trying to sear meat post-thaw or post-cook = bad texture.
• The vinegar + olives go in at the END, not in the bag. Vinegar disappears after long pressure or slow cook; olives turn mushy. Save for the finish.
• Make ahead. Day-2 ropa vieja sandwiches on Cuban bread / sourdough rolls = the leftover that justifies cooking double.
• Cross-reference: fraldinha_cuban-ropa-vieja.md for from-scratch single-session recipe.