Written by: seigfredtristan on January 31, 2011

You may have eaten it. You may have consumed it more than a thousand times. You may have fed it to your innocent children. But what really is Caldereta? You may answer me, Ziggy this is a silly question.

Caldereta or Kaldereta as your mom would spell it, is a stew.

That may be your answer. Which is technically correct. But what are the ingredients involved? Ah Beef. That is your usual answer. But isn’t beef Mechado? In the strictest sense of Caldereta, what is the meat used in this dish? Now you are confused. Now you go to google and search for “how to cook kaldereta”. And you find, Beef Kaldereta… and then Pork Kaldereta… and then you scroll further down and you scream till that tiny flesh through the entry of your esophagus that looks like a little bell vibrates like that mobile you placed between your legs because – there is also Chicken Kaldereta. Oh noes, you say. Yes that’s the way you say it and that’s the way you spell it too.

Hmmm… What is Kaldereta? Kaldereta is a stew with tomatoes and potatoes and carrots.

You are sure as rock of that. Yes, you are correct. But what makes it different from Mechado? Or Afritada? Or Menudo? Then you remember this website actually answered those questions before so you see the words are now in blue because this is a link to that article and so you click this bluish part of the sentence.

You were taken to a different page, eyes wide opened now, enlightened and ready to read some more with the confidence that any question I will ask you next time will be answered with a stiff stick.

And I ask you, where did Kaldereta come from?

Now you are confused again… while I scatter your brain cells to disarray with the way I interchange to C for Caldereta and/or K for Kaldereta. You shout your mom’s first name now like a slave bought from a Roman market. She comes with curlers on her hair, biting a wooden spoon, carrying your wet dog, decorated by foams of popping bubbles. And you smell the flat iron burning whoever’s clothes. You also hear Twilight Zone’s background music. Your mom dances to it. So you shout to your mom:

Where did Calderata come from?

Her eyeballs are on all corners of her eyes. She looks at you, let’s go of the wooden spoon from her mouth, slumps her shoulders, and carries the dog back to where she came from.

Caldereta means stew in Spanish. Literally though Caldereta means “in an iron cauldron”, “in a metal pot” or “stew from a pot”. Caldereta is not exclusive to the Philippines as one of the most famous dishes of Spain is Caldereta de Cordero or Lamb stew (or casserole). A dish where the emphasis is also on the thickening of the sauce using either flour, bread crumbs, lamb’s liver or almonds. Click here for the recipe. It’s in Spanish, good luck. If you ask me, this is exactly where we got our Kaldereta dish because it is also vital to our Kaldereta to thicken the sauce using Sky Flakes (the sick cracker, no pun intended), peanut butter or chicken liver. But then you don’t want to ask me because I’ve confused you for the greater part of your exciting read. Then I tell you, there is also a Mexican Caldereta. Heck there is even a place in Mexico called Caldereta. Now you are confused again.

And I leave you to that… with a diabolical laugh that will haunt you at 3:30 in the morning.

Now you promise yourself not to go back to this site even though I am telling you now that this is the start of a Kaldereta series. You declare your hostility and promise never ever to go back here to know more about Kaldereta. But you can’t. What a predicament.

*****

Since this was posted a long time ago, here’s a discussion about Kaldereta or Caldereta Ingredients.