Pisillo Llanero

Llanero·Medium·1 day

Salted, sun-dried beef shredded into fibres, rehydrated and sautéed in a hogao of spring onion, tomato and garlic until the meat crisps at the edges. A preservation dish born of the long cattle drives across the plains.

Oil

Pisillo llanero is a meat-preservation dish born of the cattle drives of the Colombian Llanos. Beef (or sometimes chigüire capybara, or river fish) is salted and sun-dried into cecina, then shredded into fibres, rehydrated and sautéed in hogao. The technique answered the llanero's need to carry and keep meat on the long crossings of the savanna, before refrigeration. It is documented as one of the jewels of the Llanos Orientales.

Deeply savoury, fibrous shreds of beef with crisp dark edges where they hit the pan, the hogao of tomato and spring onion clinging to every fibre. Eaten with arepa or casabe, it is concentrated, salty and moreish.

The beef is salted heavily and sun-dried for two days into a hard cecina, which concentrates the flavour and removes the water. It is then beaten to soften, shredded along the grain into fine fibres, and rehydrated briefly before being sautéed in hogao. The drying is the defining step: without it, the meat would not shred cleanly or carry the intensity that defines the dish.

Variations

A chigüire version uses sun-dried capybara. A river version uses dried bocachico.

On the Palate

Where Pisillo Llanero sits in the Colombian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

6 steps · 1 day

1
10 min
Take 1kg lean beef, rub with 100g salt, and sun-dry (or refrigerate uncovered) for 48 hours until firm and darkened.
Watch out
Salt the beef heavily and dry it until firm and darkened — only fully dried meat shreds into clean fibres and carries real intensity.
2
6 min
Rinse off excess salt, soak in water 30 minutes, then drain.
3
8 min
Beat the meat with a mallet to soften, then shred it along the grain into fine fibres.
4
8 min
In oil, sauté 2 chopped spring onions, 2 seeded tomatoes diced and 3 cloves minced garlic for 5 minutes to make a hogao.
5
12 min
Add the shredded beef and fry 15 minutes, stirring, until the fibres separate and the edges begin to crisp.
Watch out
Fry the shredded beef about fifteen minutes until every fibre separates and the edges start to crisp.
6
4 min
Adjust salt, and serve with arepa or casabe.