Ropa vieja is a meaty Cuban classic that’s still evolving

Countless cooks have stories of learning family recipes at the apron strings of their parents, passing culinary traditions down from one generation to the next. That was not the case for food writer Kiera Wright-Ruiz.

“Even though I am first-generation American, that never existed for me because I didn’t have my parents cooking my lunch for me,” she told me over a video call from her home in Tokyo. The child of a Korean mother and an Ecuadorian father, she grew up with various sets of guardians, including time in foster care, where learning to prepare family-favorite dishes wasn’t a priority.

Wright-Ruiz’s mixed ethnicity and occasional disconnection from family led her on a winding path to understanding her identity. With her debut cookbook, “My (Half) Latinx Kitchen,” she documents through vibrant recipes and beautifully written and, at times, incredibly vulnerable essays how being half can lead to being whole.

“I’m pushing the idea that you can be someone of a mixed background and still fully claim the ethnicity of whatever you are,” she said. “I feel like there’s more stories to be told that are in between sort of those margins. And I think mine is an example of that.”

Wright-Ruiz spent years trying to force herself into a box of what society told her it meant to be Latinx, she said. But over time, she learned that Latinx people — and Latinx food — “doesn’t have to fit within that box at all. It can be all the million degrees in between.” Many of Wright-Ruiz’s caregivers were from various parts of Latin America, so “My (Half) Latinx Kitchen” is a love letter to the food of the diaspora and how she interprets it as her full self now.

One such recipe is ropa vieja, a classic Cuban dish (with Spanish origins) of shredded beef in a tomato-based sauce with bell peppers. Its name translates to “old clothes” because the shreds of meat are thought to resemble ripped clothing.

“I think it’s a dish that everybody loves,” Wright-Ruiz said. In fact, it was the recipe she chose to serve at a pop-up in Japan to promote the book and introduce people to Latin American food who may never have tried it before. “People from Eastern Europe, other parts of Asia — it made people feel nostalgic for these hearty, meaty, saucy dishes of their own country,” she said.

Ropa vieja recipes are varied. It can be made with different cuts of meat that can be cooked to a range of textures; the viscosity of the sauce can be soupy or thick; recipes omit the tomatoes completely; and even the way it’s prepared can change. (In “Gran Cucina Latina: The Food of Latin America” by Maricel E. Presilla, “A piece of meat first used to make soup is recycled, pulled into shreds like an old garment, and then braised in a savory sauce.” More modern versions typically sear the meat, braise it in liquid and then reduce that liquid into a sauce.)

The version Wright-Ruiz created is an amalgamation of many she’s eaten over the years, cherry-picking her favorite aspects, such as the brininess of olives, a sauce that’s “not too brothy” and finishing with a “kick of vinegar because I feel like it really like brightens the tomato.”

I took things a step further by adapting her recipe for the Instant Pot to cut down on the braising time and make ropa vieja more weeknight-friendly. But in my unfamiliarity with the dish and lack of experience with multicookers, it took me more tries than usual to dial in the recipe to get the texture just right.

The challenge primarily lies in the cut of beef most often used in ropa vieja: flank steak. It’s lean and has long, thick muscle fibers that are typically thinly cut against the grain to reduce chewiness. But that toothsome quality is exactly what this dish is meant to possess.

My first attempt failed due to equipment failure, user error or a combination of the two in which the appliance didn’t properly come to pressure. In my second try, the meat was tougher than I thought it should be. But I needed a better target. So I made Wright-Ruiz’s ropa vieja following the traditional stovetop method and prepared it alongside my Instant Pot version to compare the two. The traditional method is more savory, while the Instant Pot version is brighter, due to a different ratio of ingredients — but both are delicious. The biggest difference is that it took about two hours of braising time on the stovetop compared with 45 minutes of pressure cooking with the countertop appliance for the meat to achieve the proper texture.

“Once it’s easy to shred, I feel like that’s a good sign. I mean, I personally like it when there’s a little bit of texture to the meat still, because I feel like if it goes too long, it kind of gets lost a little in the sauce,” Wright-Ruiz said. “You can tell you’re still eating parts of a steak, but it shouldn’t require a knife.” All that’s left is to make a pot of rice to sop up the rich, tomatoey sauce speckled with briny olives.

Though it’s important to acknowledge the history of a recipe, any beloved dish will continue to evolve; cooks adapt and refashion the classic formula as cooking equipment progresses or access to ingredients changes, or to highlight what they love most about it.

“Like culture at large, [a recipe is] not stuck in time,” Wright-Ruiz said. Its evolution doesn’t negate its identity — nor that of a culture or a person.

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Instant Pot Ropa Vieja

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 large green bell pepper (9 ounces), stemmed, seeded and sliced ¼-inch thick

1 large red bell pepper (9 ounces), stemmed, seeded and sliced ¼-inch thick

1 large yellow bell pepper (9 ounces), stemmed, seeded and sliced ¼-inch thick

1 medium yellow onion (9 ounces), halved and sliced ¼-inch thick

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

¾ teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

½ cup no-salt-added or low-sodium beef broth or stock

½ cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio

⅓ cup (3 ounces) tomato paste

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1½ teaspoons dried oregano

1 pound flank steak, halved

⅓ cup pimiento-stuffed Manzanilla olives, drained and halved crosswise

1½ teaspoons distilled white vinegar

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

Set a programmable multicooker (such as an Instant Pot) to SAUTE (HIGH). When it signals it’s ready, after about 2 minutes, add the oil. (If your model doesn’t have a signal, heat the oil until shimmering, then proceed.) Add the bell peppers, onion, garlic, pepper and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 7 minutes.

Add the broth or stock, wine, tomato paste, bay leaves, cumin, and oregano, and stir to combine. Nestle the steak into the vegetables and liquid, making sure both halves are mostly submerged. Press CANCEL to turn off the heat.

Lock the lid in place, and set the pressure-release knob to “sealing.” Select PRESSURE COOK (HIGH), and set the cook time to 45 minutes. (It takes about 10 minutes for the appliance to come to pressure before cooking begins.)

Once the cooking cycle is finished, release the pressure manually by moving the pressure-release handle to “venting,” covering your hand with a towel and making sure to keep your hand and face away from the vent when the steam releases.

Transfer the steak to a large plate. Set the multicooker to SAUTE (HIGH), bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces by about half to a thick, saucelike consistency, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the steak with two forks.

Discard the bay leaves. Return the shredded steak to the multicooker. (The mixture should be saucy but not soupy. If it’s still too wet, continue to reduce the liquid until it reaches the desired consistency.) Add the olives, vinegar and sugar, and stir to combine. Taste, and season with more salt, as desired. Serve warm.

4 servings

Substitutions: For extra-virgin olive oil, use regular olive oil or a neutral oil, such as canola or peanut. For the specified mix of bell peppers, use any combination of bell peppers. For yellow onion, use any onion. For white wine, use beef broth or stock. For flank steak, use skirt steak, brisket or chuck. For distilled white vinegar, use apple cider or white wine vinegar. For granulated sugar, use brown sugar, honey or agave.

Variations: To make this on the stovetop: Pat the steak dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Place a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and heat 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil until shimmering. Cook the steak until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side; remove the steak and set aside. To the same Dutch oven, add another 1 tablespoon extra-virgin oil, the bell peppers, onion and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently to avoid browning, until the onion starts to turn translucent and the mixture is fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, until it darkens in color, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio, and scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add 4 cups no-salt-added or low-sodium beef broth or stock, the bay leaves, cumin, and oregano, and stir to combine.

Return the steak along with any accumulated juices to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid is at a simmer, partially cover, and cook, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a simmer and stirring occasionally, until the steak is tender and can easily be shredded, 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. Transfer the steak to a large plate.

Uncover the Dutch oven, increase the heat to bring the liquid to a boil, and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid reduces by about half to a thick, saucelike consistency, about 15 minutes. Discard the bay leaves, return the shredded steak to the sauce and stir to combine. (The mixture should be saucy but not soupy. If it’s still too wet, continue to reduce the liquid until it reaches the desired consistency.) Stir in the olives, vinegar and sugar. Taste, and season with more salt, as desired. Serve warm.

Nutritional information per serving (1 cup) | 335 Calories: 24g Carbohydrates, 78mg Cholesterol, 12g Fat, 6g Fiber, 29g Protein, 4g Saturated Fat, 698 mg Sodium, 12g Sugar

— Adapted from “My (Half) Latinx Kitchen” by Kiera Wright-Ruiz (Harvest, 2025)