Cuban Meat & Potatoes (Carne con Papas)

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Let’s talk Cuban Cuisine. Specifically Meat and Potatoes aka Carne con Papas.

Growing up Cuban meant lots of Cuban meals, every single day! We had lots of sweet plantains and “tostones” along with yucca, picadillo, and boniato, among other things. I often felt that was such a normal everyday meal until I realized that a lot of the people around me didn’t eat that every day.

I never knew what Chicken Pot Pie, Biscuits, and Gravy, Shepherd’s Pie, or any other typical American meal was. We ate lots of red meat, rice, and beans. Although I don’t eat a lot of red meat anymore (I just prefer chicken, ha!), one of those great red meat recipes is this one. It is basically Meat and Potatoes, which we call Carne con Papas (pronounced: car-nay cone pah-pahs). It’s seasoned with typical Cuban seasonings and is positively amazing.

My mom and grandma used to make it in the pressure cooker, but I make it in a normal stock pot. It just speeds up the process if you do that. I don’t own a pressure cooker, so I just give it extra cook time. It’s really simple and makes for a great dish when having guests over.

My best tip for this recipe: let it simmer away for hours so the meat becomes really tender!

The recipe I’m going to share is from a cookbook that my grandma gave my mom, and my mom passed on to me. It is a Cuban cookbook written entirely in Spanish. Although I am fluent in Spanish, every now and then even I need to call my mom to ask her what in the world something means. The recipes in the book are delicious, but the directions are not clear at all. So I will do my best to give you more details in the instructions of this recipe. ;)

Interesting note: When my mom gave me her copy of the cookbook, she looked online to buy a few more for my sisters and realized it is out of print and goes for over$300 on eBay. Insane!! I think I’m going to have to scan the book and email it to my sisters so we can all keep it for years to come!

If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to drop them below! And if you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram or hashtag #toeatdrinkandbemarried. I want to see it!