Pimental Family Cacoila Recipe

This recipe comes from my vovó (grandmother) on my mother’s side of the family. It seems that every family has their own recipe for how to make cacoila. My favorite dish from my childhood.

My grandmother used beef, pork and pork liver, but I leave the liver out. Generally you use an inexpensive cut of beef or pork, and then simmered for several hours to absolute tenderness and perfection. In fact, a more expensive cut of meat like pork tenderloin, for example, will not work as well. It will lack the fat needed to keep the meat juicy during the long cooking process. Budget friendly cuts of meat like pork butt and pork shoulder will work beautifully for this recipe. Beef is equally delicious in this recipe and you can use a cheap piece of steak or stew beef.

I cook mine in a crock pot and cook for hours. The results are amazing and using the crock pot makes it a great recipe for not only a lazy weekend but also during a busy work week or school schedule.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds stew beef
• 1 pound of pork cut into cubes
• 1 link of chourico, skin removed cut into 1 inch pieces (optional)
• ½ pound of pork liver (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, diced or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of Portuguese allspice
• ½ teaspoon Portuguese safflower
• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon hot crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup red wine (red port)
• 1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce

1. Mix all ingredients together in crock-pot.
2. Cook for 5 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
3. When done meat should be very tender. Remove bay leaves.
4. Break meat apart and mix.
5. Meat will at first have a lot of liquid, but as you break meat apart and mix in, it will get to a pulled pork consistency.