Antioquian platter: red beans, white rice, chicharrón, fried egg, sweet plantain, avocado, chorizo, arepa, hogao on one plate.
Antioquia mountain-muleteer food, formalized as a single platter in mid-20th-century Medellín fondas. Proposed as Colombia's national dish in 2005 (under the name bandeja montañera), but the move was opposed and never officially adopted; ajiaco is often held to be more representative. The name only entered cookbooks around 1950.
Antioquia's regional assembly declared bandeja paisa the official typical plate by Ordinance 002 in 2005. The chicharrón cut is panceado — pork belly with skin and three meat layers, never lean.
Nine components, no sauce pooled, each touching the next. Beans creamy with pork-rind gloss, chicharrón cracker-crisp on top and chewy beneath, plantain caramel-sweet against the runny yolk. Eat by combining bites; no single forkful is the dish.
Beans cook with hogao and a piece of pork hock for body. Chicharrón panceado must rest after the first boil so the skin dries before the second fry, or it bubbles instead of blistering. Plate hot — congealed beans kill it.
Variations
Bandeja Trifásica (Medellín tourist version) adds a third protein — usually grilled steak. Bandeja Montañera in Manizales swaps chorizo for morcilla and uses red kidney instead of cargamanto beans.
On the Palate
Where Bandeja Paisa sits in the Colombian flavor cloud
Rest the boiled chicharrón until its skin dries before the second fry — dry skin blisters into crackling, wet skin just bubbles and stays chewy.
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
5 steps · 2 hours 20 min
- 190 min
Cook 200 g red kidney beans 1.5 hr with bacon and onion.
Watch outSimmer the beans low and long until the broth thickens and clings — thin bean liquid means they aren't done.
- 220 min
Cook 200 g white rice; keep warm.
- 315 min
Fry chicharrón crispy; brown chorizo; fry sweet plantain.
Watch outFry the chicharrón until the skin puffs and crackles, and brown the chorizo until its fat renders and edges char.
- 410 min
Make hogao (#2491); cook arepa.
- 55 min
Arrange all components on a large platter with avocado and fried egg.
Watch outAssemble fast while every component is hot; the fried egg goes on last with a runny yolk.
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