Ropa Vieja

Ropa vieja, Spanish for old clothes, is a stewed and shredded beef dish with regional variants found in Spain, Latin America and the Philippines, its name likely referring either to the use of leftover ingredients or to the shredded, tattered appearance of the cooked meat. The dish is believed to have originated among Sephardic Jews on the Iberian Peninsula as a slow-cooked Sabbath stew called handrajos, later spreading to North Africa and the Canary Islands before reaching the Americas with immigrants; it was first reported cooked in Cuba in 1857 and is recognized today as one of Cuba's national dishes. It is prepared by slowly stewing beef with tomatoes and a sofrito base of aromatics until the meat is tender enough to shred, and in Cuba it is traditionally served with rice, black beans, fried plantain and fried yuca; the dish holds particular significance within Cuba's Jewish community and became difficult to obtain during the economic hardship that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.