DOMINICAN CARIBBEAN SANCOCHO WITH 3 MEATS

I learned about sancocho in the Dominican Republic, so although there are also Puerto Rican and Colombian sancochos, this is a modified Dominican sancocho. According to the history, the traditonal sancocho came to the Caribbean at the time of colonization from the Canary Islands, and the number 7 of the very fancy and ideal sancocho is the number of the Canary Islands. Some people will insist that a real sancocho has to have 7 kinds of meat,, others have let it down to 5. The minimum is 3, beef, chicken and pork, though adding goat meat is great. A sancocho is considered special and for holidays and company. It does take a lot of time to do, and because of the number of ingredients it is impossible to make just a little bit. I have modified the recipe a bit, using beef broth instead of stew beef, and a small chorizo instead of a lot of pork. Traditionalists raise an eyebrow at this,, but.. then nod a reserved approval. Another must is to use the roots that are native to the area, such as yuca, malanga/ yautia, nyame, and, from among these I have chosen my favorites. Malanga coco has little purple flecks in the flesh; yuca long and carrot shaped with a brown peel; calabaza is a pumpkin like squash; chayote is a light green pear-shaped kind of squash. Usually a green plantain is used, but I like mine to ripen just a bit to having a hint of yellow. A sour liquid is added called naranja agria, or sour orange, and this helps food in the tropics to be keep. Meats are marinated in lemon juice. Since naranja agria is hard to find in my area, then some use alcaparrado, green olives and capers and some of the liquid from the bottle, or a bit of lemon juice can be used. Cilantro is considered an essential, although I don't really like cilantro and prefer something called recao, or cilantro ancho, which is a long leaf. Parsley has a kind of different flavor and so is not considered a good substitute for cilantro. To peel the malanga, yuca and calabaza we need a good knife and it is done by placing the object on a cutting board and then cutting down to the board,, not by holding in the hand and using a paring knife. The list of ingredients is very flexible in quantity, so the quantity that I put down is not meant to be mandatory but to just get an idea. The computer does not recognize malanga coco, or sazon packets, and put pumpkin and not calabaza. I've heard that many native foods from outside North America and Europe have not been entered into the computer. I hope Recipezaar adds them in. I'm having a bit of a problem with estimating the total amount for the nutritional content. I put 1 - 2 gallons because it is that flexible, but the computer put it at 1 gallon. I'm going to try to put 1 1/2 gallons because the computer did not add in a few of the ingredients which are substantial. I'm going to omit the 'salt & pepper' because the bouillion cubes add salt.

Provided by Rainbow - Chef 5368

Categories     Meat

Time 2h30m

Yield 1 1/2-2 gallons, 16-24 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 18

• Ingredients