Cordoba is a university city in central Argentina and a former colonial capital. Its empanadas are unlike those of the northwest: they are sweet. The beef filling includes a generous amount of sugar, raisins, green olives and boiled egg, and the dough is glazed with sugar water before baking, producing a glossy, crackly, sweet crust. The sweet-savoury combination reflects Andalusian Spanish influence. For porteños accustomed to savoury empanadas, the first bite of a Cordobesa is always a surprise.
Golden, sugar-glazed empanadas with a sweet-savoury beef filling of raisins, green olives and egg, the sugar on the crust giving a crackly finish. Sweet and salty in each bite, distinctly Cordoba.
Cordoba empanadas are defined by sweetness. The beef filling includes sugar, raisins, green olives and boiled egg, reflecting Andalusian influence. The dough is standard wheat flour and fat, but before baking the empanadas are brushed with sugar water, which caramelises in the oven into a glossy, crackly, sweet crust. The result is an empanada that reads as both a main course and a dessert, the sugar cutting the salt of the olives and the savoury of the beef.
Variations
Some add prunes. The sugar level varies by household.
On the Palate
Where Empanadas Cordobesas sits in the Argentinian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 45 min
- 17 min
Dice 400g beef; sear with 1 chopped onion, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tbsp sugar, salt and 150ml water; simmer 15 minutes.
Watch outCook the beef with the sugar down until the liquid's nearly gone — a dry, cooled filling won't soak through the dough; wet filling bursts the seams.
- 25 min
Cool the filling; stir in 50g raisins, 6 chopped green olives, 2 chopped boiled eggs and scallion.
- 37 min
Make dough from 500g flour, 80g lard, 1 tsp salt and 200ml water; rest, roll thin, cut 12cm rounds.
- 45 min
Fill, fold, crimp; brush with sugar water (1 tbsp sugar in 2 tbsp hot water).
Watch outBrush the sealed empanadas with sugar water — that's what caramelizes in the oven into the glossy, crackly sweet crust.
- 57 min
Bake at 220 degrees C for 15 to 18 minutes until deep golden and glossy.
- 63 min
Rest 5 minutes; serve warm.
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