Two large veal cutlets sandwiching jamón serrano and cheese, breaded and deep-fried until the cheese melts inside the crust — Asturian tavern plate served with chips.
Cachopo is a postwar Asturian invention — popularized in Oviedo taverns from the 1940s onward as an oversized stuffed schnitzel built for sharing. It draws on the central-European breaded-cutlet lineage (cordon bleu, milanesa) but uses Asturian dairy and jamón as the fillings, and the proportions are deliberately enormous. Cachopo competitions in Oviedo restaurants now stuff up to 1.5kg of meat per portion.
Postwar Oviedo invention from the 1940s — outsized stuffed schnitzel built for sharing, drawing on cordon bleu and milanesa lineage but using Asturian cheese and jamón. Modern Oviedo competition cuts run up to 1.5kg per portion. Oil at 170°C is the window where the crust browns as the centre hits 60°C.
A plate-sized golden brick that thunks when you set it down. Crack the crust with a knife and steam puffs out — molten cheese strings between the veal slices, salty jamón embedded in the cheese. The veal is thin enough to be tender but holds together; the crust shatters audibly. Asturians order one between two. If the crust is pale or the cheese hasn't melted, the oil ran cold; if cheese has burst out, it ran too hot.
The two-plate construction is load-bearing: the outer crust shields the cheese from direct oil contact while the meat shields the cheese from direct heat. That's why the cheese melts but doesn't fry. Sealing the edges firmly is non-negotiable — any gap and the cheese leaches into the oil, ruining both. Oil at 170°C is the window where the crust browns in the time it takes the centre to reach 60°C — exactly when soft cheese flows.
Variations
Casa Pedro in Oviedo runs the canonical 800g version; Casa Marcial does a refined small-plate translation; Tineo's mountain bars use cabrales blue cheese for a sharper interior; chains now sell a 1.5kg «cachopón» as a sharing record.
On the Palate
Where Cachopo sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Seal the two meat slices firmly around every edge — any gap lets the cheese leak into the oil and ruins both — then fry at 170°C, the window where the crust browns just as the centre reaches the temperature where soft cheese flows.
Ingredients
Serves 2How it's made
5 steps · 25 min active + 5 min waiting
- 16 min
Pound 2 large veal top-round slices (about 200g each, 1cm thick) between sheets of cling film with a meat mallet to 4-5mm. Season both sides lightly with salt — the jamón will add more.
Watch outPound the slices to an even four to five millimetres; thin and uniform means they cook through evenly.
- 24 min
Lay one veal slice flat. Cover with 3 thin slices jamón serrano, then 80g sliced semi-cured cow's-milk cheese (queso de Afuega'l Pitu or a young Asturian tetilla). Top with the second veal slice. Press the edges firmly to seal — a leaky cachopo loses cheese into the oil.
Watch outPress the two slices together all around until the edges bond; this seal keeps the cheese in.
- 36 min
Set up three plates: 80g flour; 2 beaten eggs; 150g coarse breadcrumbs (panko works). Dredge the cachopo in flour (tap off excess), then egg (let drain), then breadcrumbs — press firmly so the crumb coats every edge. Rest 5 minutes so the crumb adheres.
- 46 min
Heat 4cm of sunflower oil in a wide deep pan to 170°C. Lower the cachopo in carefully — it should bubble steadily, not violently. Fry 3 minutes one side, flip, 2-3 minutes the other side. The crust turns deep gold; cheese should just be melted, not bursting.
Watch outThe oil should bubble steadily, not violently; deep gold crust with cheese just melted, not bursting out.
- 53 min
Lift onto a rack (not paper — paper steams the underside). Rest 2 minutes so the cheese sets enough to slice. Serve whole on a plank with a heap of fried potatoes and roasted piquillo peppers.
Watch outRest on a rack a couple of minutes so the cheese sets just enough to slice cleanly.
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