Spanish Recipe: Carcamusa
Many times we get used to the revered Mediterranean diet, exquisite Cantabrian food or the famous dishes from Andalusia. And we forget that there are also gastronomic options from inland Spain just waiting to be discovered; a rich and abundant food culture that includes dishes as satisfying as Toledo’s carcamusa.
This dish, a meat and vegetable stew, has two stories behind it. On the one hand it is said that it was created in the 1950s by the owner of a bar and its name comes from a play on words about the types of clients that frequented the bar adding the two together; the “carcass” (a way of referring to old timers in some places), and the “musas” (young girls). Another theory goes even further and takes us to the Middle Ages. “Camush” in romance languages means “arrugado” (wrinkled), and so car-camush would be “carne arrugada” (wrinkled meat), something that defines how the meat in this dish looks after it is cooked in the way we’re going share with you quite well.
Take a look at the ingredients you will need: beef, jamón (Spanish ham), chorizo, tomato sauce, onions, peas, red peppers, garlic, white wine, meat broth, chili pepper, oregano, salt and pepper and paprika.
It is simple to make. Put the meat, onion, cut into large slices, the pepper cut into strips, a few cloves of garlic, the tomato sauce and a little pepper in a pot. Sauté these ingredients for fifteen minutes and then add the white wine. Stir the mixture a few times and add the meat broth. Cook on low for another 15 minutes, add the peas and let it cook for 10 more minutes.
In another pan, sauté the garlic cloves, chili pepper and paprika (be careful with these three ingredients because they burn very easily), then add this mixture into the pot with the other ingredients and let it boil.
This is an easy recipe, but it takes time, so be patient; and even more so because of an added circumstance… true fans of carcamusa say that the dish tastes better if you let it sit overnight.