Photo: Obsidian Soul · CC0
Kaldereta (Goat Stew Finished with Liver Paste)
A Filipino goat stew. Bone-in goat simmers with tomato for the better part of two hours, then potato, carrot, pepper and olives go in, and last of all a liver paste is stirred through to thicken it. The liver is what gives the sauce its body and its deep, dark savour — and since liver turns chalky with long heat, in a dish that simmers for two hours it goes in last.
Ingredients
- Meat
- goat · bone-in, cut into 4cm pieces; ribs, neck or shoulder1 kg
- salt1 tsp
- black pepper0.5 tsp
- neutral oil3 tbsp
- Braise
- garlic · chopped6 cloves
- onion · chopped1
- tomato sauce · or 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped250 ml
- bay leaves2
- water750 ml
- potatoes · in large chunks2
- carrot · in large chunks1
- To finish
- liver spread (liver paste) · one small tin; or 150g chicken livers, cooked and blended smooth85 g
- red pepper · in thick strips1
- green olives50 g
- small chillies · heat to taste2
- cheddar · grated; optional40 g
Steps
Pat the goat dry with kitchen paper and season it with the salt and pepper.
- ⏲ 8 min
Heat the oil in a pot and brown the goat in batches on high heat for 8 minutes, until the outside is brown. Lift it out.
- ⏲ 3 min
In the same pot, cook the garlic and onion for 3 minutes.
- ⏲ 90 min
Add the tomato sauce, bay leaves, meat and water and bring to the boil. Turn it down low, cover and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes, until the meat comes off the bone without resistance. Add a little hot water if it reduces too far.
- ⏲ 20 min
Add the potatoes and carrot and simmer 20 minutes more.
- ⏲ 5 min
Loosen the liver spread in a ladleful of the cooking liquid until smooth, then pour it into the pot. Add the pepper, olives and chillies and stir at a gentle simmer for 5 minutes, until the sauce coats a spoon.
Just before taking it off the heat, stir in the cheese to melt, and season with salt and pepper. Serve with rice.
Tips & Variations
Variations
- With beef: the commonest swap. The braise is a little shorter.
- A spoonful of peanut butter: many households add it with the liver spread. More body and a touch of sweetness.
- Your own liver: instead of the tin, cook chicken livers in butter and blend them smooth. They still go in at the end of the braise.
- Hotter: crush the chillies, or put them in from the start.
Tips
- The liver goes in last. Haggis limits its liver and says why: "Liver is strong and turns chalky with long heat." Its method follows from that: "The liver is strong and cooks fast, so it goes in for the last twenty minutes only." Kaldereta cooks for the better part of two hours, and the liver meets the heat only in the last five minutes.
- Tinned liver spread is already cooked. So its job in the pot is not to cook but to disperse, which is why it is loosened in a ladle of liquid first. Dropped in as a lump, it warms on the outside and the middle stays a lump.
- The liver is the thickener. Thickening sauces sorts the ways a sauce thickens with nothing added for the purpose. The walnuts in fesenjan "collapse over a long simmer and their oil and fine particles emulsify into the liquid." In egusi soup the seed sets instead of dissolving, because "Egusi is close to 30% protein". Liver spread is neither. The grinding was finished before it reached the pot, so it needs no long simmer, and it was cooked in the tin, so there is no protein left to set. It thickens the moment it is stirred in. The walnuts need time and the liver cannot stand it, which is why kaldereta can leave its thickener to the end.
- Goat takes time. Rogan josh notes that goat "takes about 30 minutes longer and gives a deeper sauce." The meat is cut on the bone for the same reason, to give the collagen around it time to melt (braising).
- Tomato, potato, carrot and pepper alone do not make kaldereta. ko.wikipedia names afritada and mechado as close Filipino relatives sharing those ingredients. The liver paste is what sets it apart.
- The name comes from the Spanish caldera, a cauldron. Spain has lamb and seafood stews called caldereta too, but this goat stew thickened with liver is the Filipino one.
The basics behind this dish
- Browning and the Maillard ReactionMeat fails to brown for one of three reasons: it is wet, the pan is cool, or you put too much in at once. Plus how the brown film stuck to the pan becomes your sauce.
- Cooking Meat: Temperature, Resting, and Cutting Against the GrainDoneness is a core temperature, not a number of minutes. What resting actually does, how to handle a thick cut, and why the direction you slice changes the texture.
- Knife Skills: Grip, Cuts, and Why Size MattersHow you hold the knife matters more than how fast you cut. The pinch grip, the claw hand, and why uniform size is a cooking decision rather than a cosmetic one.
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