Cooking (probably) The Most Flavorful Stew in the World

Beef Kaldereta is a Filipino beef stew that slowly simmers chuck roast in a tomato-based sauce flavored with soy, calamansi juice, and spices. Warm, hearty, and savory, it’s what Filipino comfort food is all about. When I’m not serving it on special occasions, I’ll make it for a cozy Sunday dinner.

→ Recipe: PRINT THIS RECIPE: https://www.billyparisi.com/beef-kaldereta/

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→ Ingredients
• 3 ½ pound chuck roast, cut into 1” to 2” inch cubes
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup calamansi juice, substitute with lime or lemon
• 8 tablespoons cooking oil
• 5 peeled large cut Yukon gold potatoes
• 3 peeled thickly sliced carrots
• 1 cup thickly sliced green beans
• 2 seeded red bell peppers, cut into 1” squares
• 1 seeded green bell pepper, cut into 1” squares
• 2 peeled small diced red onions
• 8 finely minced garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 cups tomato puree
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup liver spread, optional
• ¼ cup creamy peanut butter, optional
• coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Watch more recipe videos:
Lumpia: https://youtu.be/u1Z3Qj5klWU
Pork Adobo: https://youtu.be/LnbKQSPTX70

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Classical culinary expertise meets home cooking!

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Beef caldera is a Filipino classic slowcooked to perfection stew in a rich tomato umami based broth with veggies, herbs, and marinated seared beef until it’s fork tender and melts in your mouth. But I’ve got a few insider cooking techniques to make it even better. First, you have to pick the right cut of beef. Sound good? Let’s cook. I’m going to be using a 3 and 1/2 lb chuck roast. A little lighter or a little heavier is totally fine. Now, other cuts that you could use and would be classical are brisket, short ribs, or even beef shanks. Okay, paging Dr. Chef Paresi. And at this stage, all I’m looking to do is simply cut the beef down into smaller pieces that are roughly 1 to 1 and 1/2 in cubes. And for all that fat on there, my friends from the Philippines always inform me to leave it on there. That’s flavor right there. And once it’s all cubed up, just add all that cut chuck roast right to a large bowl. Now, I did talk to my good friend Sam, who is Filipino, and he told me he loves to marinate the beef just to give it more flavor. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. And I promise I’ve been listening to y’all because we’re out with the dati and in with the silver swan, which I will admit is infinitely more flavorful. Y’all are right. You can pick this up from an Asian market or just order it online like I did. The closest you’ll get to this is a dark soy sauce. However, regular soy sauce or tamari will work fine as well. Make it easy and use what you’ve got. We’re going to add in a/2 cup. And then, I’m super excited about this. Pour in 14 cup of calaman sea juice. I was able to snag some on this. And oh my gosh, is it delicious. I would drink it right as is. And you’re right, there’s nothing quite like it. It’s sweet. It’s gently acidic. However, if you have no access to fresh calamani like I do, feel free to sub in with lime juice. You’ll be good. I promise you’ve got this. And we’re almost ready for marinating. But first, let’s get all those flavors married up and move everything until all the ingredients are completely combined. Once you’ve worked it enough to where the soy and calamani are soaked up into the meat, we’re good. Let’s cover it up with plastic wrap. And then we’re heading over to the fridge to marinate for as little as 4 hours and all the way up to 24 hours. Now, the closer you can get to that 24-hour period, the more flavorful this is going to be. So, however long you decide to marinate it for, when you’re ready to start cooking, let’s just pull it out and let it sit at room temperature. Just want to take the chill off before cooking it. And I have to admit, it’s extremely aromatic and it smells awesome. And I haven’t even cooked a thing. Let’s set it to the side and knock out some really quick prep. Beginning with four large-sized Yukon Gold potatoes. Just give them a quick peel and slice them down to roughly 1 in size cubes. Oh, and I usually hold these in cold water to keep them from oxidizing and turning brown. Next up, I’ve got three large carrots that I’m going to peel and then cut into 1in slices at the skinny end and maybe 1/2 in slices at the fatter end so that they cook evenly when we add them in. At this point, we’re going to seed and slice two red bell peppers into 1 in square pieces. And then, and I hate to say this cuz I do hate them because, sorry, they lack flavor and aren’t nearly as tasty as red, yellow, or orange, but I digress because I’m a traditionalist and well, this is what’s commonly used. We’re doing the same cut on one of these green bells. Now, in this stew, if you were going to use them, you’d sometimes see or boy beans, but well, I can’t get either where I’m at. So, I’m just going to slice up some hair coars, which are just French green beans. Of course, you could use regular green beans. into roughly one inch slices. Simple. Now, let’s set those to the side. And we are so close to finishing up the prep and start cooking up this deliciousness. But first, we’re going to small to mediumsiz dice two mediumsiz red onions. And yes, of course, you can substitute with white, yellow, or sweet onions. Then, last but not least, I’m going to smash and finally mince up eight garlic cloves. So, at this point in the recipe, we want to make sure we do two important things. First, we want to bring out as much flavor as we can. And the best way I know how to do that is to cook things in stages instead of just dumping everything in a pot and hoping you can just bring out flavor. Secondly, we want to ensure nothing is overcooked. So, here’s how we’re going to do both those things. Let’s first quickly drain off the water from the potatoes and bring them and the carrots over to the cook top. And I’m going to be using a big old 10 C cast iron pot. And I’ll tell you why exactly I’m using this in a minute. But first, add in 3 to four tablespoons of neutral flavored oil and crank the heat all the way up to high until it begins to smoke. Just like this. Then I’m adding in the potatoes and carrots. I’m going to spread them out as much as possible to cover as much surface area as possible to try and get a little sear on these. Then give it a gentle season with salt. Immediately turn the heat down to medium. And I’m going to sauté this for about 4 to 5 minutes. The goal again is to get them lightly browned and cooked about 75% of the way. And I’ll show you why at the end. You won’t want to miss it. But for now, once they are looking like this and brown on the edges, I’m going to set these aside using a hand strainer because, well, this pot is way too dang heavy and hot to pick up. Place the veggies on a platter plate or you know me, I’m a culinary fool, so everything is sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Sorry, can’t help myself. Anyways, back to the pot. Let’s add in the sliced air and meas bell peppers. Then again, a gentle season of salt. We want to sauté these over medium to mediumigh heatish for just 3 to 4 minutes. And again, I’m looking similarly for a light sear on these and to cook them about 3/4 of the way. Also, totally cool to add more oil if you need to. And it’s important to cook the peppers at this stage because one, they’re way more delicious when roasted, but also they can cause a lot of bitterness if they’re cooked for far too long. So, just as soon as they’re lightly browned along with the beans, remove them with the same strainer and place them right on that same sheet tray with the potatoes and carrots. These at room temperature for a few minutes to the side while we finish everything else. We’ll keep cooking so that they’re perfect in the end. Good technique always wins out, my friends. You can do this. I promise. Now, in the same pan over medium heat, add in a bit more oil. And then, let’s caramelize up some onions. Give them a gentle season of salt. And this is going to help them release some moisture so that they brown more quickly, but also that moisture will help easily remove some of the fond from the bottom of the pan for us to scrape up. We’re going to sauté these for 5 to 7 minutes or until they’re lightly brown, just like this. Then simply cut the heat down to low and cook them for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every few minutes just to keep things moving. Now, the reason I’m using a big pot instead of a walk is because caldereta comes from the Spanish word caldera, meaning cauldron. And over time in the Philippines, it became the name for this rich tomato-based stew. It’s one of those dishes where history meets the table. Simple, hardy, and made to be shared. All right, so at this point, the onions are looking great. Nice and caramelized up. Now, let’s stir in the garlic. All right, seriously, totally just kidding. But Filipinos do tend to love garlic more than Italians, so this probably isn’t too far off. For real though, stir in the minced garlic and we’re going to cook it just until it becomes fragrant, which really only takes about 30 to 45 seconds. Okay, I’m feeling strong. I’m going to pick this monster up and scrape every last little bit onto a separate plate. This thing is heavy, so feel free to just use a spoon. No problem. Now, at this stage, add that pot back to the burner. Add enough oil just to coat the bottom of the pot, nothing more. And turn the heat back up to medium high. Then once it’s lightly smoking, add in the beef and spread it out to cover as much surface area as possible. Again, to get a good sear. We’re going to cook it untouched for 3 minutes. The goal here is to build up that brown mayard crust, which is going to go further and make this even tastier. So, it should look like this. Delicious. Then, move everything around and cook it until it’s as browned up on as many sides as possible. Again, this does not need to be perfect, you guys, but little browning techniques like this will go a long way in the flavor department. And just as an FYI, it’s totally okay if you need to cook this in batches. No sweat. Just set the sear beef to the side and repeat the same process. Now, once you’re done searing, you could add some MSG at this point if you want because my Filipino friends are always asking me where is it at my recipe. So, there you go. Okay, it’s just about time to start brazing. First though, add back in the onions, garlic, and first round of seared beef. And for a little insider chef tip, I’m going to add in 3 tablespoons of tomato paste here. Turn the heat down to low and then mix it in and cook it for 3 to 4 minutes. This is going to deepen the tomato and umami flavors in this and pair insanely well with that soy marinated beef. Like insanely well. After those few minutes, everything should be much darker and any juices from the meat will have thickened up. This right here looks glorious. Stick with me because now let’s delaze with four cups of beeftock. And most folks just use water, but this is going to make this so much richer and delicious. Now, let’s pour in two cups of tomato puree. And I like to add one cup of water to that same measuring cup and swirl some things around to get everything out of there. Then I’m adding in two bay leaves, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and coarse salt. Marry up all that goodness. Then of course, let’s give it a taste and see where we’re at. Need more salt? Good to go. You be the judge here. We’re now going to cook all this tastiness together over low to low medium heat for about two and a half to three hours, coming back every hour just to check on everything, get some smells, and start getting excited. You know what I mean? Also, make sure you put the se your veg in the fridge during the braze. Totally forgot to mention that. My bad. Okay. You’ll know you’re good when you just take one piece of beef and it can easily be smashed with the fork and it falls apart just like this. Perfection. All righty. So, at this point, we’ve got about 20 minutes left, but we still have one, all right, two crucial ingredients. But for the first one, and for my American friends, you may not want to do this or even be able to find it. Now, for my Filipino friends out there, I know what’s up. And it’s liver spread. Pick this up at any Filipino market or even Amazon like I did. Or if you want, you can make it yourself at home. And you can see my recipe on how to do that on my website. It’s dang tasty. Then decide if you want to add it. You know me, I’ll stick with tradition. So, I’m adding in a third cup of the liver paste. It’s a natural thickener and makes a velvety almost saucy like consistency. Plus all the umami richness you’ll get from it. Just look at that. Amazing. Now, one more thing to add, and while not completely traditional, but 100% acceptable, is 1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter. It will add some nuttiness and some additional velvetiness to the sauce. Is that a word? Velvetiness? I don’t know. And this version kind of steals a bit from another classic Filipino dish, Cary. Carrie. Maybe I should make that in another video. We’ll see. Once both of these are mixed in, you should immediately see the richness of the sauce. I mean, my goodness, just look at it. It’s incredible. Okay, so now is when we want to add back in all the veg. This your potatoes, carrots, green beans, and bell peppers. And seriously, the smells coming off this while I add it in there are just so dang good. Let’s mix in everything and have a taste. All righty, I’m going to put my chef head on here and maybe ruffle some Filipino feathers. But this needs a hint of clean acid for some balance. So, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon or about 1 and 1/2 tsps. Then, adjust any seasonings with salt and pepper. And you could also add in some sliced green olives at this point if you’d like since this does have a lot of Spanish influence or even some more new school ingredients like sweet relish or even cheese. But for me, I’m totally happy where I’m at. Let’s take it off the heat. But of course, don’t forget about how to serve this. And that of course starts with rice. You can use my method on the stove or hey, just put it in a rice cooker and forget about. And now to plate this up. Pour the stew in a bowl and garnish with a very untraditional sliced green onions. But hey, I love the freshness look. And gosh, does this just look ridiculous. So, hey, real quick. A lot of folks ask me, “How can I support your channel?” So, I recently launched channel memberships. All you have to do is click the join button next to the subscribe button and follow all the prompts. There you’ll get more insider info, history, tips, side dishes, early access to videos, and a whole lot more. And in the end, no matter if you subscribe or not, I’m super appreciative that you’ve helped grow this channel to what it is. I simply can’t do it without you all. Thank you. Yo, with those veggies. Ooh. [Music]