Hispanic Heritage · Argentina

El Norte

Salta · El Carril · Cafayate · Cachi · San Salvador de Jujuy · Tilcara

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Empanadas salteñas

Descubre

Argentina’s northwest introduces empanadas salteñas, with seasoned beef and potatoes enclosed in pastry. Cumin, paprika, and chile give this version a warm, aromatic filling.

La Gente

Cut the filling ingredients evenly and cool them before shaping. Seal each empanada carefully so its juices remain inside. A batch offers plenty of chances to practice the fold, and each one need not look identical to taste good.

Sabor

The Norte cooks warm and dry-spiced: cumin first, then ají molido and paprika, with the sweetness of squash and corn underneath.

Spice DNA · Herb low · Heat medium · Sweet medium · Smoke medium · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Cumin, ground. The north's spice. In the empanadas, in the locro, in everything.
Crushed Red Pepper. Ají molido, the heat of the salteña.
Paprika. Pimentón dulce, in the filling and the locro. Sweet, not smoked, for the Norte.
Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the locro, and in the Jujuy empanada. Adds a savory garlic base.
Black Pepper, ground. In the filling.
Onion Powder. With the green onion.
Oregano, whole. A pinch in the locro.

From your market: beef for cutting by hand (chuck or sirloin tip), green onions, potatoes, eggs, empanada dough discs (tapas, sold frozen in Latin markets; a salteña uses the small size), beef fat or lard, and for the locro, white hominy corn, white beans, squash, and a piece of pork or beef with bone. Badia does not sell the tapas.

Cocina

Empanadas salteñas

Small, wet, spiced with cumin, eaten tilted. Makes a dozen. Make two dozen.

Makes 12

1 lb beef chuck, cut by hand into ¼-inch dice
3 tbsp beef fat or lard
1 white onion, minced
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
6 green onions, chopped
1 medium potato, boiled and diced small
1½ tsp Badia Cumin, ground
1 tsp Badia Paprika
1 tsp Badia Crushed Red Pepper
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
Salt
½ cup beef broth
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
12 small empanada discs (tapas)
Oil for frying, or an egg wash for baking

The filling, the day before. Melt the fat over medium. Cook the white onion and onion powder until soft. Add the beef and cook just until it loses its pink, no longer; it will finish in the oven. Add cumin, paprika, ají, pepper, and salt. Add the broth and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the green onions and potato. Cool completely, then refrigerate overnight. The fat sets and holds the juice inside the empanada until it hits the mouth. This is the salteña's trick.
Fill. Stir the egg into the cold filling. Put a heaping tablespoon on each disc. Wet the edge, fold, and seal.
The repulgue. Starting at one corner, fold a small piece of the edge over onto itself, then the next piece over the first, and continue around, pressing each fold. Aim for thirteen. Nobody will count.
Fry or bake. Salta fries them in fat at 350°F, 3 to 4 minutes, until golden. Baking at 425°F for 15 minutes with an egg wash is the city way and is forgiven.
Eat hot, standing, tilted so the juice does not escape. Torrontés if you have it. Tucumán would add a squeeze of lemon. Do not tell Salta.

Locro norteño

Soak 2 cups white hominy corn and 1 cup white beans overnight. Simmer them with a bone-in piece of pork or beef and 2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil for 2 hours, adding water as needed. Add 2 cups diced squash, 1 tsp Badia Cumin, 1 tsp Badia Paprika, and a pinch of Badia Oregano, and cook an hour more until the squash dissolves and the pot is thick. Salt. Serve with a spoon of quiquirimichi on top: oil warmed with paprika, ají molido, and chopped green onion. It is the plate of the country's May and July holidays and of any cold night in the Norte.

Pueblos del Norte

Salta · El Carril · Cafayate · Cachi · San Salvador de Jujuy · Tilcara · Humahuaca · Purmamarca · San Miguel de Tucumán · Tafí del Valle · San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca · La Rioja · Santiago del Estero · Termas de Río Hondo · Orán · Tartagal