Recipes From The Founder : Puerto Rican Sancocho Soup with Elk

Recipes From The Founder : Puerto Rican Sancocho Soup with Elk

PUERTO RICAN SANCOCHO SOUP – ELK VERSION


An amazing elk roast soup made with a Latin American flair, after the ever so famous Sancocho or otherwise known as the hangover soup. This soup goes down as one of the best comfort dishes that I have tasted from this island colony. True Beef, chicken or both would have been employed in the
traditional sense, but I choose to use wild game, because, well I have a lot of it to use and it does a great job in this context.


Ingredients:
- Elk or other wild game, preferably a tri tip or other roast cut
- Potatoes – Although the Puerto Ricans would use a root based starch, I use what’s easy to find
in the local grocery store.
- Carrots
- Celery
- Corn either on(traditional) or off cob
- Onions
- Cilantro
- Crushed Tomatoes Canned
- Lime Juice
- White Beans
- Sofrito – This is the secret Sauce to a successful Sancocho, or pretty much almost every Puerto Rican dish. It is a blend of onions, various peppers, Tomatoes, and garlic that can be made from scratch, or bought in a jar from most groceries. Think Chimichurri meets Salsa.
- Beef (2 Parts) and Chicken Broth (1 Part)
- Spices: Most important is Sazon which is a Latin multispice, salt, pepper, garlic, chicken bouillon


THE MAKING OF SANCOCHO:
Cooking the meat is the best place to start, and there are many ways to do that, none of which are wrong. For elk I like to go with the smoker at 200F for 2-2.5 hours, because I think the smoke adds a dimension to the soup as a whole. The point here is to cook the meat to medium, before removing from heat, and dice into pieces.

Cut all the vegetables into cubes (Carrots, Potatoes) and Dice the celery and cilantro into small as possible pieces.


Broth Time: Start by combining the different broths, sofrito, seasonings, and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and add the vegetables(Not the Cilantro), and meat. Continue to simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the meat starts to breakdown.


Add Lime juice, white beans and Cilantro, and simmer for 10-20 more minutes and you are ready to serve.