Hello dear lovers of good cuisine, in this opportunity, I want to share with you, some of the traditional dishes of my beloved Venezuelan land. Every time I prepare it, it takes me back to those happy childhood years in my native Carúpano. It is a Osobuco Sancocho, this is one of the dishes belonging to the eastern Venezuelan cuisine. It is traditionally cooked on wood, in the heat of a weekend family gathering, which gives it a very special flavor. But preparing it in the normal kitchen as I will show you, it is equally delicious.

The preparation process is relatively simple, although it has a few ingredients, but they are not difficult to get normally we have it at home, then I detail them, and then I will explain how I prepare, I the Osobuco Sancocho, Carupanero style:

Step 1: The "Sofrito"

The first thing we must do is chop all the green condiments in Brunoise, or in logo terms, into very small pieces. Before I go any further I'll share a secret with you, normally when I buy my seasonings or green vegetables, I cut them all at once, mix them up and put them in containers, in the freezer. That way, they don't get damaged and I have them available ready to add to the different preparations. Next, we put some oil to heat in the cooking pot, add a teaspoon of ground "onoto". We wait for it to heat up a little bit so that the oil turns red and we add the vegetables so that they start frying.

Step 2: Sealing the Flesh

When the vegetables have started to brown, we add the meat to seal it, at this point we must be very careful not to burn the vegetables.

Once the meat is sealed on both sides we add cold water until it covers all the meat and stir trying to remove all the residues that stuck to the pot. This is the moment to add the salt, a small touch of sugar, just to enhance the flavors and if it is your taste you can add some meat seasoning.

Step 3: Softening the meat

Next, we cover the pot, lower it to a medium flame and let it cook for between 30 and 40 minutes, so that the meat softens. Of course, if we are using a pressure stove, this cooking time is reduced to approximately 15 or 20 minutes. We should check and stir our preparation from time to time, to prevent it from sticking to the bottom and to watch that the liquid does not evaporate too much, in which case we add more liquid.

Step 4:

When the meat is already soft, it is time to complete the water of our "sancocho" we fill the pot until ¾ approximately, of course, it is time to correct the flavors. In my case I let the water boil again before adding the vegetables, now I explain the reason. It turns out, that just like the seasonings I keep the vegetables frozen, when I buy them, I remove all the shell and beak in medium cubes. Then I separate them into plastic bags in portions to have them ready for each soup. When it is time to add it to the soup, I simply take it out of the freezer, tap it against the counter so that it separates and I add it, frozen as well. For this reason, it is essential that the water is boiling, otherwise the vegetable will have a rubbery and unpleasant texture.

Step 5:

Once the vegetable is added we let it soften, when it is almost ready we correct the flavor, because the vegetables such cooking adsorb the flavors of the broth. Sometimes it is necessary to correct the flavor, so that our "sancocho" does not remain insipid. Once the vegetables are cooked, our rich "sancocho" will be ready to taste, we serve it and if we have avocado or "cazabe", they would be the ideal complements for our delicious lunch.

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