Picadillo (, "mince") is a traditional dish in many

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n countries including

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, as well as the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is made with

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...

(most commonly

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es (

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (; ; ) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes. In some countries the term refers to a sauce to be served as part of a dish, in others it is a condiment. Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high water content, s ...

may be used as a substitute), and also raisins, olives, and other ingredients that vary by region. The name comes from the Spanish word ''picar'', meaning "to mince". Picadillo can be eaten alone, though it is usually served with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. It can also be used as a filling in

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and fing ...

empanada An empanada is a type of baked or fried turnover (food), turnover consisting of pastry and stuffing, filling, common in Culture of Spain, Spain, other Southern European countries, North African countries, South Asian countries, Latin American c ...

alcapurria ''Alcapurria'' is a popular fritter dish from Puerto Rico. Origin It may have influence from Middle Eastern ''kibbeh'' due to the immigration of Levantine Arabs as well as Armenians throughout Latin America. Preparation The dough surrounding ...

s, and other savory

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

or croquettes. It can also be incorporated into other dishes, like pastelón (

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

), chiles en nogada (Mexico), and '' arroz a la cubana'' (Philippines).

History

Although the dish was common in Hispanic cultures before the 19th century, a 19th-century recipe from California for pasteles ''a la argentina'' is given for a filled pastry with layers of beef picadillo and chicken cooked in a green chili and onion sauce with olive oil and raisins. "Picadillo" was not always made with beef; "picadillo de ave" was a minced

fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl ( Galliformes) and the waterfowl ( Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; toget ...

with

white sauce White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

. ''Pasteles de pollos y pichones'' (chicken and squab pastry) was made as a savory pie with alternating layers of chicken and squab with a picadillo of minced veal,

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

, ham fried in lard with onion, mushrooms, apples, artichokes, tomatoes, and a layer of seasonings.''El cocinero español'' by Encarnación Pinedo, 1898

By region

Americas

Costa Rica

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n versions always include the name of the vegetable that represents the main ingredient to the dish (potato picadillo, ayote picadillo, etc.) and that is chopped and cooked with

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

, herbs and spices. It can include some type of protein but that is not essential. It is often served with

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread from Mesoamerica originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indi ...

s or

Cuba

n picadillo is made with ground beef and includes bell pepper or ají cachucha, onions,

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate climate, temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a ...

cumin Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...

bay leaf The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay lea ...

, tomato sauce,

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

s, and capers, and is usually sauteed in

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

and

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without undergoing the process of Maceration (wine), maceration, which involves prolonged contact between the juice with the grape skins, seeds, and pulp. The wine color, colou ...

. Raisins are a traditional ingredient, but are often omitted according to taste. Cuban picadillo is served over long grain white rice or used as a stuffing for papa rellena, empanadas, and ''pastelitos de carne'' (meat-filled puff pastries).

Dominican Republic

In the

, it includes peppers, onions, cilantro, garlic, tomato paste,

bouillon cube A bouillon cube (also known as a stock cube) is dehydrated broth or stock formed into a small cube or other cuboid shape. The most common format is a cube about wide. It is typically made from dehydrated vegetables or meat stock, a small port ...

, and may include olives, capers, raisins, hard-boiled egg. It is served over rice or used as a filling for pasteles, empanadas,

kibbeh Kibbeh (, also kubba and other spellings; ; ) is a popular dish in the Arab world and the Levant in particular based on spiced lean ground meat and bulgur wheat. Kibbeh is considered to be a national dish of Lebanon and Syria. In Levantine ...

, and cabbage rolls.

Mexico

picadillo is a classic '' antojito'' of the national cuisine. The most basic and popular set of ingredients of picadillo in Mexico are

ground beef Ground beef, hamburger, hamburger meat (North American English), minced beef or beef mince (Commonwealth English; often just generically referred to as ground meat, ''mince'' or ''mincemeat'') is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife or ...

carrots The carrot (''Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the Daucus ...

and

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

, all cooked in a

made from blended

tomatoes The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from and was d ...

and

, usually seasoned with

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, pepper, and

but its preparation and ingredients can vary slightly from one region to another. For example, a Mexican picadillo can also include squash or

peas Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum ...

. Mexican picadillo is typically eaten with tortillas, tostadas or tortilla chips and usually accompanied with

beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

. It can be used as filling for chiles rellenos, chiles en nogada, tamales or gorditas.

Pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

is also a popular meat to use for picadillo in Mexico, as well as a mixture of pork and beef.

Peru

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, it is used as a filling for

s, caigua rellenas as well as a main dish served with rice called arroz tapado. The ground meat is sauteed with garlic, hard boiled egg, raisins, olives, spices and herbs. Peruvian picadillo varies from family to family.

Puerto Rico

, it is used as a filling for

, piononos and other

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

s. It can also be served with rice and beans. The ground meat is sauteed with annatto, diced ham, oregano,

, '' recaito'', tomato sauce and on occasion cumin, cheese, raisins, beans, sweet peas, olives, capers, diced potato, other spices and herbs. Puerto Rican picadillo varies from family to family.

Asia

Philippines

In the

, picadillo is also known as ''giniling'', which is Tagalog for "ground eat. Picadillo is cooked in two different ways. The version more commonly referred to as "picadillo" is a soupy stew made with ground or minced beef (also pork or sometimes, chicken), potatoes or chayote, green peas, carrots, onions, garlic, bell peppers, black pepper, and raisins in a tomato-based broth seasoned with '' patis'' (fish sauce),

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

, and sometimes chilis. Hard-boiled eggs (chicken or

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

) are also commonly added, and it is eaten with white rice. It does not include olives or capers as in the Latin American version. The second variant uses the same ingredients as the first version but is drier, like the Latin American version. This version is more widely known as ''giniling''. Like the stew version, it is also usually eaten paired with white rice or is commonly used as stuffing, like for Filipino ''

s''. When served with white rice, sunny-side up eggs, and fried saba bananas, it becomes the Filipino version of the dish '' arroz a la cubana''. Although in Filipino ''arroz a la cubana'', the meat component can be made with just simple ground meat and peas in tomato sauce, not necessarily cooked picadillo-style. It differs from the Spanish version of ''arroz a la cubana'' which does not include ground beef at all.

References

{{Filipino food Beef dishes Californian cuisine Chilean cuisine Costa Rican cuisine Cuban cuisine Dominican Republic cuisine Mexican cuisine Filipino cuisine Puerto Rican cuisine Meat-based sauces Tuna dishes Olive dishes