A whole piece of beef with a tunnel cut down the middle, packed with carrot, hard-boiled egg and a blended onion paste, tied, wrapped and simmered for three hours. Sliced across, every piece comes out with the filling in the centre.
Two names, one dish
This recipe was published here as capón relleno, and that is the name in the photograph filename and the name a great many people search for. Across Colombia the same dish is better known as muchacho relleno, after the cut of beef it is made from.
Muchacho is what a Colombian butcher calls the eye of round: long, lean, and the same thickness from one end to the other. That shape is not a detail. It is what makes the dish possible, because you need to be able to drive a knife down the centre of it and have the slices come out round with the filling in the middle of each one.
The English word capon means a castrated rooster. There is no bird anywhere in this recipe.
Cutting the tunnel
This is the part that goes wrong. Take a long, thin knife, a boning knife if you have one, and work it into the centre of one end of the beef. Then do the same from the other end so the two channels meet in the middle.
Working from one end only gives you a cone: wide at the opening, narrow at the far end, impossible to pack. Working from both ends gives you an even channel the whole way through.
Some meat comes out as you do this. Keep it. It goes back in as part of the filling, along with the carrot, the eggs and the onion paste.
The marinade nobody counted
Half the blended onion, scallion, garlic, salt and pepper is rubbed over the outside of the beef, which then goes into a bag and into the fridge for four to five hours.
That time used to be missing from every number on this page. The card said three hours and a quarter for a dish you cannot start after lunch and eat for dinner. The marinating now appears where it belongs, which puts the honest total at around eight hours.
Almost all of it is waiting. The work is fifteen minutes at the start and a pot that needs topping up occasionally.
Filling it so there are no gaps
Push the filling in with your fingers as you go and keep pushing it towards the far end. Air pockets are what give you slices with a hole in the middle instead of a disc of egg and carrot.
Then tie both ends closed with kitchen twine so nothing escapes during three hours in the pot.
Wrapping, and a word about the plastic
The beef is wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil before it goes into the water. This is how it is traditionally done and it keeps the shape tight.
It is worth checking the box, though. Not every plastic wrap is made to sit in simmering water for three hours. If yours does not say it is, tie the roast firmly with twine and wrap it in foil alone. The twine is doing most of the shape-holding anyway.
Cooking and resting
Covered with water and salt, lid on, medium heat, about three hours. Top up the water if the level drops below the meat.
Then it comes out and rests. Slicing it hot pushes the filling out of the centre; letting it cool to warm, or all the way to cold, gives clean rounds with the egg and carrot set in place. It is often made the day before for exactly this reason and served cold on a platter.
More Colombian beef
- Roast beef in tomato sauce — another slow beef roast.
- Beef stew — the same patience, cut smaller.
- Papas rellenas — the stuffing habit applied to potatoes.
- Grilled beef — when there is no time for three hours.
- Shredded beef — for the other end of the week.
Muchacho Relleno FAQ
No. It is beef, in one whole piece, with a tunnel cut down the centre and packed with carrot and hard-boiled egg. Capón relleno is the Spanish name this recipe carries; in English, capon means a castrated rooster, which has nothing to do with the dish.
The Colombian name for this dish. Muchacho is the Colombian butcher's name for the eye of round, a long, lean, evenly thick cut of beef, and relleno means stuffed. The dish is that cut hollowed out, filled, tied and simmered.
Eye of round, three pounds, in one piece. The cut has to be long, lean and even in thickness so a knife can be worked down the middle from end to end and the slices come out round.
With a long, thin knife, worked in from one end and then the other so the two channels meet in the middle. A short knife only makes a cone that fills from one side. Whatever meat you take out goes back in as part of the filling.
About eight hours, most of it unattended. Fifteen minutes of preparation, four to five hours marinating in the fridge, and three hours of simmering. It is a dish you start the day before.
Not every plastic wrap is rated for three hours in simmering water. Check the box. If it does not say, tie the roast firmly with kitchen twine and wrap it in foil alone, which holds the shape just as well.
Because cut hot, the filling pushes out of the middle. Warm or cold, it slices cleanly and every round comes out with the egg and carrot set in the centre, which is the whole point of the dish.
It is a dish for a table with people around it: Christmas, family lunches, anything that justifies three hours of simmering. It is often made the day before and sliced cold.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef eye of round (muchacho) (in one whole piece)
- 3 eggs (hard-boiled)
- 2 carrots (cut into small cubes)
- 1 cup onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 scallion
- A pinch of cumin
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Notas
Instructions
- Put the onion, the scallion, the garlic, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and blend to a paste. Set it aside.
- With a long, thin knife, cut a tunnel down the centre of the beef from one end to the other. Work some of the meat out from the middle and keep it: it goes into the filling.
- Rub the beef all over with half the onion paste, put it in a bag and leave it in the fridge for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight.
- Fill the tunnel with the carrot, the hard-boiled eggs, the meat you took out of the centre and the rest of the onion paste.
- Push the filling down with your fingers as you go, so that it reaches the far end and there are no gaps.
- Tie the ends closed with kitchen twine so the filling cannot escape.
- Wrap the beef in plastic wrap and then in foil, and put it in a pot.
- Cover it with water and add salt.
- Put the lid on and cook over medium heat for about 3 hours.
- Top up with more water if the level drops below the meat.
- Take it off the heat, lift it out of the water and let it rest before unwrapping and slicing.
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