flipEmpanadas salteñas (Beef Turnovers to Go)
Empanadas salteñas (Beef Turnovers to Go)
Why this dish? The empanada is Argentine food in motion: you grab it with one hand and go. For Piazzolla, a musician constantly on tour, in rehearsal, in café-concerts, it was the practical meal between pieces.
Small pastry turnovers filled with hand-chopped beef, melted onion, cumin and mild chili, sealed with a twisted fold (repulgue) and baked. Eaten hot, on the go.
The empanada is the companion of the musician who has no time to sit. I swear, che, how many I ate standing, the bandoneón still warm on the chair! The secret is the fold—the repulgue—that my grandmother made with her fingertips like folding a bellows. You add cumin, a little mild paprika, never too strong, and the onion must melt quietly. And you eat it hot, otherwise it's worthless.
- •Lard-based flour dough — for a dozen (wrapper)
- •Knife-chopped beef — a good portion (filling)
- •Onion — abundant (melted base)
- •Cumin, mild paprika — to taste (signature spices)
- •Hard-boiled egg, olives — a few (traditional garnish)
Empanadas salteñas (Beef Turnovers to Go)
Small pastry turnovers filled with hand-chopped beef, melted onion, cumin and mild chili, sealed with a twisted fold (repulgue) and baked. Eaten hot, on the go.
Why this dish? The empanada is Argentine food in motion: you grab it with one hand and go. For Piazzolla, a musician constantly on tour, in rehearsal, in café-concerts, it was the practical meal between pieces.
The empanada is the companion of the musician who has no time to sit. I swear, che, how many I ate standing, the bandoneón still warm on the chair! The secret is the fold—the repulgue—that my grandmother made with her fingertips like folding a bellows. You add cumin, a little mild paprika, never too strong, and the onion must melt quietly. And you eat it hot, otherwise it's worthless.
Ingredients (period version)
- Lard-based flour dough — for a dozen (wrapper)
- Knife-chopped beef — a good portion (filling)
- Onion — abundant (melted base)
- Cumin, mild paprika — to taste (signature spices)
- Hard-boiled egg, olives — a few (traditional garnish)
Ingredients
- Empanada dough discs (or shortcrust pastry) — 12 discs (wrapper)
- Ground beef — 400 g (filling)
- Sliced onion — 2 large (melted base)
- Ground cumin — 1 tsp (spice)
- Paprika (sweet) — 1 tsp (signature spice)
- Hard-boiled eggs + green olives — 2 eggs, handful of olives (garnish)
- 1 egg yolk for glazing — 1 (glaze)
Method
- Gently melt the onions, add beef, cumin and paprika; season and let cool (cold filling prevents dough from tearing).
- Fill each disc, add a piece of hard-boiled egg and an olive.
- Fold into a half-moon and seal with a twisted edge (repulgue) or with a fork.
- Brush with egg yolk and bake at 200°C for 20-25 min until golden.
- Serve hot, by hand.
How it was made : Brought by Spanish colonists and adapted region by region, the Argentine empanada comes in endless varieties: the salteña spiced with cumin from the North, the mendocina milder. Baked in wood-fired ovens in the provinces, fried in others. The twisted fold once indicated the filling according to the house code.
The contemporary twist : Arrange three empanadas in a fan like an open bandoneón bellows, each fold pointing toward the center.
Astor Piazzolla · Charactorium
