Empanadas Salteñas de Carne

The filling is cooked a day ahead so its fat sets; warm relleno melts into the dough and the seams open in the oven.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Cast-iron skillet, 12 cm round cutter, Baking steel or heavy sheet pan
Allergens: Wheat, Egg
Method: 26 steps · 20 photographed · 6 filmed
Components: 4 made from scratch
Films: 3, 29 min

4 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Rendered grasa de pecho

Beef brisket fat cut small and melted slowly to a clear fat, then strained and set cold.

It carries flavour and gives the dough a short, flaky bite that butter or shortening cannot.

Beef brisket fat000 g
Water000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 5
Time: 2.5 h
Hands-on: 20 min

Makes 600 g; 1 month chilled, 6 months frozen

Any time in the week before

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Masa criolla

Film

A hot-water dough of plain flour, rendered beef fat and salted water, kneaded briefly and rested.

Shop pastry discs are made with shortening and tear at the repulgue; this dough stretches and seals.

Plain flour (000)000 g
Rendered beef fat000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 6
Time: 1.5 h
Hands-on: 30 min

Makes 1.1 kg, 24 discs; 2 days chilled, 1 month frozen as discs

Same day, rested at least an hour before rolling

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Relleno de carne cortada a cuchillo

Film

Hand-cut beef shoulder cooked with a great deal of onion, paprika and cumin, then chilled solid.

Minced beef gives up water and goes grainy; knife-cut meat keeps texture and holds its juice.

Beef shoulder000 g
White onions000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 8
Time: 3 h
Hands-on: 60 min

Makes 1.6 kg, 24 empanadas; 2 days chilled

The day before, without exception; it must be cold and set

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Salsa de aji picante

Dried red chillies soaked and pounded with garlic, cumin and vinegar into a loose table sauce.

Salta puts the heat beside the empanada, not inside it, and bottled sauces are mostly vinegar.

Dried red chillies000 g
Garlic000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 4
Time: 40 min
Hands-on: 15 min

Makes 250 ml; 3 weeks chilled

Two or three days ahead

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Beef shoulder (bola de lomo)000 g
Beef suet (grasa de pecho)000 g
Plain flour (000)000 g
White and spring onions000 g
Boiled potato000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

3 films · 29 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING9:00

Choosing a Cut for Knife-Cut Filling

TECHNIQUE12:00

The Repulgue, Fold by Fold

KIT8:00

Home Oven Against the Horno de Barro

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 26 STEPS

20 photographed · 6 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 20 of the 26 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 6 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: folding the repulgue without tearing — step 16 of 26.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 20 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

3 things Rosana Villalba watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
Mincing the beef instead of cutting it by hand
What to do about it
02
Filling the discs while the relleno is still soft
What to do about it
03
Baking before the oven and the steel are properly hot
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The seal depends on the temperature of the filling, not on how tightly you fold the repulgue.

Written by Rosana Villalba. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $6.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

452 verified cooks · 89% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $6.99 ONCE

452 people cooked it, 89% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $6.99 rather than nothing. In 48 more cooks the price becomes $14.99. Your copy never does.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription