Empanadas de Pino
Chile's national pastry: large half-moon empanadas filled with pino - finely-chopped beef, onion cooked deep, hard-boiled egg, a black olive and a couple of raisins - folded into a rich butter-and-egg-yolk dough and baked until deep gold. Eaten with red wine on Independence Day and most Sunday lunches.
Overview
Chile's national pastry, the half-moon empanada that turns up at every Independence Day asado and most Sunday lunches. The pino filling is the dish's identity: knife-chopped beef (not minced - the texture matters), browned, then slow-cooked with three times its weight of onion until the onion melts into the meat and the whole mixture turns dark and sweet. Cumin, paprika, oregano and ají de color season it, and the filling rests overnight ideally so it firms up and slices cleanly. The dough is rich and buttery, made with flour, butter, lard, egg yolks, salt and warm milk. Each empanada wraps a generous spoonful of pino with a hard-boiled egg quarter, a black olive and a couple of raisins, then folds, seals, and bakes at 200°C until deeply burnished. Eaten with a glass of Chilean red.
Ingredients
Pino filling
- 700 g beef chuck (or skirt, cut into 5 mm dice with a knife - don't mince)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 onions (large, finely chopped - about 1 ½ kg)
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons plain flour (for thickening)
- 200 ml hot beef stock
Filling extras (one of each per empanada)
- 12 black olives (Chilean or Kalamata, pitted)
- 30 raisins (about 2-3 per empanada)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs (quartered)
Dough
- 600 g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 100 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 60 g lard (or shortening, melted)
- 2 egg yolks (large, plus 1 for egg wash)
- 280 ml warm whole milk
Method
Stage 1 - Pino
- Heat oil in a wide heavy pan over medium-high.
- Brown the diced beef hard, in batches, 4 minutes per batch. Set aside.
- Add the onion to the same pan; soften over medium 25 minutes until very soft and lightly gold.
- Stir in garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, ají, salt, pepper; cook 1 minute.
- Sprinkle in the flour; toast 1 minute.
- Return the beef and any juices; pour in hot stock; simmer 10 minutes, until thick and sticky.
- Cool completely. Best made the day before and refrigerated (the filling firms up and is easier to handle).
Stage 2 - Dough
- Whisk flour and salt in a bowl.
- In a measuring jug, whisk melted butter, melted lard, egg yolks and warm milk.
- Pour into the flour; mix to a soft dough.
- Knead 3-4 minutes until smooth.
- Cover; rest 30 minutes.
Stage 3 - Shape
- Divide dough into 12 pieces (about 80 g each).
- Roll each piece into a 16 cm circle, 3 mm thick.
- Place 2 generous tablespoons of cooled pino in the centre of each.
- Top with 1 olive, 2-3 raisins, 1 piece of hard-boiled egg.
- Fold in half; press the edges with damp fingers to seal.
- Crimp with a fork or pleat by folding the edge over itself.
Stage 4 - Bake
- Heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Place empanadas on a lined baking tray.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Bake 22-25 minutes until deep gold and shiny.
Stage 5 - Serve
- Eat warm with red wine or pebre on the side.
Notes
- Knife-chop the beef: Chilean tradition is finely chopped, not minced. The texture difference is real.
- Onion 3:1: A pino with the right ratio looks like more onion than beef. The onion melts down to a soft sweetness that defines the filling.
- Make filling ahead: Warm pino is too loose to fold cleanly. Overnight refrigeration sets it.
Storage
- Refrigerate 3 days; re-warm at 180°C for 8 minutes.
- Freeze unbaked 2 months. Bake from frozen, adding 8 minutes.
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