Today I welcome my friend Jairo back to the show to talk about one of his newfound labors of love: empanadas. We focus on the Colombian style of empanada, notably with a crust made of corn masa and then fried. In the first part we talk about our experience with and history of empanadas and in the second half we head to the kitchen where Jairo teaches me to make the masa crust.
Mentioned in this Episode
This isn’t Jairo’s first time on the show! He’s also stopped by in the past to talk about hot wings, sandwiches, and our favorite foods from Latin America.
It’s tough to find any authoritative sources on the history of empanadas, but there are a ton of blog posts and articles all over the internet. Here are a couple interesting ones to get you started (many have recipes as well). “What are Empanadas?” from Matero. Another interesting look from the The City Paper in Bogota, “The Empanada Story.”
Jairo shares his empanada recipe below, but if you are looking for empanadas with a pastry crust, be sure to check these out.
Not into making your own pastry but still want empanadas? Head to your local Latin grocery store and you can probably find premade empanada pastry in the freezer section (ask for “tapas para empanadas). Also great for making fruit turnovers! Looks like Target even carries them. As mentioned in the article linked above, you could even use potsticker wrappers.
For Jairo’s recipe, other ingredients you might want to source are the cornmeal flour (this is the style that Jairo recommends) and the seasoning.
Not empanadas, but some interesting food documentaries for your viewing pleasure. The Search for General Tso, and City of Gold.
The Recipe
The recipe that Jairo uses for Colombian empanadas has three main components: the filling, the shell, and the spicy Aji sauce to serve alongside. Here is the recipe in PDF form if you want to give it a shot!
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I really am excited to make empanadas now! I looked over the recipe and had a question about the filling. The meat says 1/2 pound ground pork and beef. Is that 1/2 pound total ground meat, or 1/2 pound each of ground beef and ground pork?
Thank you!
Sarah, I used 1/2 pound each of ground beef and pork, for a total of 1 pound. Worked great for me! -Roger
Jairo, I’ve been trying to make my Grandfather’s fish empanadas, (my family is Colombian) I’m still playing with recipes to try to match it as close as possible.
Do you have any recipes for fish empanadas? My grandpa used a river fish that was preserved in salt, I can’t figure out which one. At the time my Dad was growing up this fish was caught in the Rio Magdalena. Any recipe suggestions for me to continue testing with would be appreciated