Culinary Explorer
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Pepito de Ternera Madrileño
Created by Chef Isabel
Pepito de ternera is Madrid's quick steak bocadillo: thin beef, hot plancha, good barra, and the pan juices pressed into the bread before they escape.
Pepito de ternera is Madrileño, a bar sandwich from Madrid that lives on speed and good sense: thin beef steak, a split barra, salt, olive oil, and the juices caught in the bread. It isn't a dressed-up sandwich with a pile of things hiding the meat. The steak is the point.
The method that decides it is the sear. The meat must be thin, dry, and cooked fast on a very hot plancha or heavy pan, just long enough to brown outside and stay tender inside. Put pale meat into a lukewarm pan and it boils in its own water. Then you have shoe leather in bread, and nobody needs that.
If you're far from Madrid, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a good crusty baguette if you can't get barra, and choose thin beef sirloin, top round, or veal cutlets pounded to 5 mm. The bread will be a little lighter and the bite less sturdy, but the sandwich still works if the pan is hot and the juices go into the crumb. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Ingredients
small barras or crusty demi-baguettes
Quantity
2 (about 120g each)
split lengthwise
thin beef or veal steaks
Quantity
300g
cut 5 mm thick
olive oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon
for the pan and bread
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small barras or crusty demi-baguettessplit lengthwise | 2 (about 120g each) |
| thin beef or veal steakscut 5 mm thick | 300g |
| olive oilfor the pan and bread | 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon |
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