Moving to a Latin American country, I spent an unnecessarily long time shopping for ordinary groceries. I stressed over not having the proper vocabulary to ask what I’m looking for, especially because the words differ slightly for every Spanish-speaking country and I couldn’t find one for Panamanian Spanish! Now that I’ve (mostly) conquered this problem, I hope this simplified guide is able to help someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\nFirst up is MEATS, only because I struggled the most with all the different names for cuts.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Some basic words<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Beef:<\/strong> carne de res<\/strong><\/em> <\/td>
To shred:<\/strong> deshebrar<\/em> <\/td>
Frito: <\/strong>fried<\/em> <\/td><\/tr>
Ground beef<\/strong>: carne molida<\/em> or molida de res<\/em> <\/td>
Boneless:<\/strong> deshuesada\/o, pulpa,<\/em> or en trozo<\/em> <\/td>
Cocido: <\/strong><\/em> cooked <\/em> <\/td>
Meat for stewing:<\/strong> carne para guisar<\/em> <\/td><\/tr>
Very finely chopped:<\/strong> picada<\/em> <\/td>
A la plancha: <\/strong><\/em> grilled<\/em> <\/td>
Meat for shredding (for tacos<\/em>)<\/strong>: carne para deshebrar<\/em> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Bistec de primera (prime cut)<\/strong> : solomillo (tenderloin), lomo alto (top loin) \/ lomo bajo (bottom loin), babilla, cadera, tapa, contratapa (these are all round cuts) |*[carne molida de primera (first-grade ground beef) is taken from these cuts]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bistec de segunda (secondary cut):<\/strong> aguja, espaldilla, morcillo (these are rib cuts) * [carne molida de segunda (second-grade ground beef) is taken from these cuts]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Beef Cuts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Chuck<\/em>:<\/strong> pot roast, stew meat, hamburger<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pescuezo<\/em> (neck): for soup<\/li>
Paleta<\/em>: shoulder<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Brisket<\/em>:<\/strong> corned beef and barbecued beef<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pecho<\/em>: Cooked, soup, or as asado (roast)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Rib<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Costilla<\/em><\/strong>: rib<\/li>
Rib Eye<\/em><\/strong>: This is usually labeled \u201cBistec Rib Eye\u201d<\/li>
Agujas cortas: short ribs<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Plate<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Entra<\/em><\/strong>\u00f1a<\/em><\/strong>: the skirt steak. A popular Argentinian cut; it is extremely tender, served rare\/medium rare, and rich and full of flavor<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Loin: <\/em><\/strong>A very common cut in supermarkets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filete<\/em><\/strong> (Bistec de Filete<\/em><\/strong>): Short loin\/tenderloin<\/li>
Solomillo<\/em>: Tenderloin, premium. Juicy and soft.<\/li>
Palomilla<\/em><\/strong>: Loin\/Sirloin<\/li>
Lomo<\/em><\/strong> (Bistec de lomo): Loin, usually top loin (strip) steak. (deshuesado would mean boneless)<\/li>
T-bone<\/em>: T-Bone steak(same in Spanish)<\/li>
Chuleta de lomos<\/em>: Porterhouse<\/li>
Lomo alto<\/em>: top loin<\/li>
Lomo bajo<\/em>: bottom loin<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Flank<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Babilla:<\/em><\/strong> the rump end of the thigh meat including the tendons. A more tender cut that can be braised, stewed.<\/li>
Ropa Vieja<\/em>: <\/strong>Means \u201cold clothes.\u201d Flank steak, also the name of an authentic Cuban dish which is shredded flank steak braised in tomato sauce.<\/li>
Falda: falda<\/em>means “skirt” in Spanish, but this is really a flank steak. Fibrous and gelatinous. Good in stews or as stuffing<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Round:<\/strong> Top round can be roasted; other cuts cooked using moist-heat methods. Sometimes, cuts are roasted and served very thin, as in deli-style roast beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulpa Negra<\/em><\/strong>: Top Round<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Shank, or leg:<\/strong> is best braised, stewed, or in stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jarrete<\/em><\/strong>: beef shank. Generally it\u2019s used for stews and can get very soft with a pressure cooker. However, it can be a little game-y, with tendons\/collagen remaining<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Ground beef<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carne molida de primera : <\/em>first-grade ground beef<\/li>
Carne molida de segunda<\/em>: <\/em>second-grade ground beef<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Pork is generally labeled by how it\u2019s cleaned, rather than specific cut. Most common are Puerco liso (boneless), chuleta (pork chop), or en trozos (pieces of pork).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chicken is very popular in this country. Despite this, boneless chicken is not easily found. People thought I was crazy or didn\u2019t understand me every time I asked for it. The correct way to ask is for deshuesado (<\/em>boneless). Otherwise the packaging labeled Filete<\/em> is boneless (filete de encuentro<\/em> is boneless thigh, filete de pechuga<\/em> is boneless breast). Otherwise there are only four different types of cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filete de Pechuga<\/em>: boneless breast meat<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Other Meats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Duck: pato<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lamb: cordero<\/p>\n\n\n\n[vc_cta h2=”Next Up…” h4=”Fish and Seafood” txt_align=”center” style=”outline” color=”turquoise”]Find out how to look for all the common grocery store items [seafood edition][\/vc_cta][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meats Moving to a Latin American country, I spent an unnecessarily long time shopping for ordinary groceries. I stressed over not having the proper vocabulary to ask what I’m looking for, especially because the words differ slightly for every Spanish-speaking country and I couldn’t find one for Panamanian Spanish! Now that I’ve (mostly) conquered this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,64,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-residents","category-tips","category-uncategorized","content-box content-box-wrapper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3021,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions\/3021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivavenao.com\/v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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