Chef Isabel
Callos a la Madrileña
Callos a la Madrileña is Madrid's spoon dish for cold days: beef tripe, snout, and foot cooked slow until the sauce turns brick-red, glossy, and almost sticky.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Cachopo Asturiano
Created by
Cachopo is Asturian comfort food with no mystery: two thin veal fillets, jamon, melting cheese, a firm seal, and enough oil to fry it golden without leaking.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
Celebration
25 min
Active Time
12 min cook•1 hr 7 min total
Yield4 servings
Cachopo is Asturian, from the cattle country of the green north: two thin veal fillets folded around jamon and cheese, breaded, and fried until the crust turns deep gold. It is generous food, the kind set down in the middle of the table with fried potatoes and peppers, not a delicate little cutlet pretending to be something else.
The method that decides it is the seal. Pound the veal thin but don't tear it, leave a clean border around the filling, press the edges hard, and chill the parcel before breading. If the cheese escapes, it isn't bad luck. The edges were not sealed, or the oil was too shallow and too cool. Deep oil protects the crust and sets it fast.
If you can't find Asturian veal where you are, use tender young veal scaloppine, or thin beef top round at a pinch. It will taste a little stronger and need a more careful pounding, but the dish still works. For the cheese, choose one that melts without flooding the pan: queso de nata, mild Manchego, or a young cow's milk cheese. Cabrales is Asturian too, but use it only if you want that sharp blue bite, and use less.
Pésalo, no lo adivines. Weigh the filling and keep it inside the meat where it belongs. Fry it calmly, rest it a minute, then cut through the crust and let the cheese show itself. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Cachopo belongs to Asturias, where good veal, cured ham, and cow's milk cheeses sit naturally in the same kitchen. The name is tied to the Asturian word for a hollowed tree trunk or split piece of wood, a plain image for two pieces holding something inside. It grew from home and chigre cooking into one of Asturias's great shared plates, served large, breaded, and usually flanked by fried potatoes and roasted peppers.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
thin veal fillets
Quantity
4 fillets, 150g each
pounded thin, about 600g total
jamon serrano
Quantity
120g
thinly sliced
melting cow's milk cheese
Quantity
160g
thinly sliced
fine salt
Quantity
8g
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
2g
plain flour
Quantity
60g
large eggs
Quantity
2
beaten
fine dry breadcrumbs
Quantity
150g
olive oil or mild olive oil
Quantity
700ml
for frying
potatoes
Quantity
600g
peeled and cut for frying
roasted piquillo peppers
Quantity
200g
drained
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| thin veal filletspounded thin, about 600g total | 4 fillets, 150g each |
| jamon serranothinly sliced | 120g |
| melting cow's milk cheesethinly sliced | 160g |
| fine salt | 8g |
| freshly ground black pepper | 2g |
| plain flour | 60g |
| large eggsbeaten | 2 |
| fine dry breadcrumbs | 150g |
| olive oil or mild olive oilfor frying | 700ml |
| potatoespeeled and cut for frying | 600g |
| roasted piquillo peppersdrained | 200g |
Equipment Needed
- •Meat mallet or rolling pin
- •Wide heavy frying pan, at least 28cm
- •Kitchen thermometer
- •Wire rack
- •Tongs or wide fish spatula
Instructions
- 1
Pound the veal
Lay the veal fillets between two sheets of baking paper and pound them gently to about 4mm thick. Work from the centre outward and stop before the meat tears. Season both sides with the salt and pepper. Thin meat cooks before the crust darkens too far; torn meat leaks cheese, and then the pan tells on you.
If your fillets are small, make two smaller cachopos instead of one huge one. Asturias likes them generous, yes, but the pan has to hold them. - 2
Fill and seal
Set two fillets on the board. Cover each with half the jamon and half the cheese, leaving a clean 1.5cm border all the way around. Lay the remaining fillets on top and press the edges firmly with your fingers, then with the flat side of a knife. The seal is the whole trick here: a clean border grips, a stuffed edge opens.
Keep the cheese in thin slices and away from the edge. A thick block melts slowly in the middle and pushes its way out before the crust has set. - 3
Chill the parcels
Put the sealed cachopos on a tray and chill them for 20 minutes. This little rest costs you almost nothing and helps the meat hold its shape through flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.
- 4
Bread them well
Set out three shallow dishes: flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs. Coat each cachopo lightly in flour and shake off the excess, dip it fully in egg, then press it into the breadcrumbs until the whole surface and edges are covered. Press the crumbs on with your palms. A bare patch is where the cheese will try to escape.
- 5
Fry in deep oil
Heat the oil in a wide heavy pan to 175C. It should be deep enough to come at least halfway up the cachopo, better if it nearly covers it. Fry one at a time for 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning carefully, until the crust is deep gold and firm. Keep the heat steady; cool oil soaks the crumbs, fierce oil burns them before the cheese melts.
- 6
Rest and serve
Lift the cachopo to a rack or paper towels and rest it for 2 minutes. Cut each one in half only after that short rest, so the cheese settles instead of running across the board. Serve with fried potatoes and roasted piquillo peppers. Tal como se hace alli, plain and generous.
Chef Tips
- •Ask for veal fillets cut for escalopes, not stew meat. If veal is hard to find, thin beef top round works, but pound it carefully and expect a fuller, less delicate flavour.
- •Use jamon serrano sliced thin. Thick ham makes the layers slide and keeps the edges from closing. If the ham is very salty, season the veal a little less.
- •Queso de nata, young Manchego, or another mild cow's milk cheese melts cleanly. Cabrales gives an Asturian bite, but it is strong and salty, so use about 80g and pair it with a milder cheese.
- •Fry in enough oil. A shallow smear in the pan gives you a greasy breaded cutlet and a leaking filling. The crust needs to set quickly, all around.
- •Cachopo is best eaten just fried. Leftovers can be reheated on a rack in a 180C oven until the crust firms again, but the cheese will never behave quite as neatly the second time.
Advance Preparation
- •The cachopos can be filled, sealed, and chilled up to 6 hours ahead, covered well in the refrigerator.
- •Bread them no more than 1 hour before frying. Longer than that and the crumbs soften against the meat.
- •Potatoes can be cut and held in cold water for 2 hours; dry them very well before frying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 440g)
Calories
1045 calories
Total Fat
60 g
Saturated Fat
16 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
44 g
Cholesterol
270 mg
Sodium
2250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
65 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
63 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Beef, Braises & Guisos
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Cap i Pota Català
Cap i Pota is Catalan market-day cocina de cuchara: veal head, trotter, and tripe slowly warmed through a dark sofregit, then held low until their own gelatin gives the sauce its body.
Chef Isabel
Carne Compuesta Palmera (Canarian Spiced Beef Stew)
Carne Compuesta Palmera is La Palma's beef guiso: añojo browned hard, then stewed thick with onion, tomato, cumin, thyme, clove, wine, and pimentón until the sauce clings to the spoon.
Chef Isabel
Carne Mechá a la Andaluza
Carne mechá is Andaluz, especially loved around Cádiz and Sevilla: a larded beef round browned well, braised slowly in wine, then served cold in thin slices with its own sauce.