Never confuse mechado, menudo, afritada, and kaldereta again. We break down the differences of these tomato-based Filipino stews.
Which classic Filipino dish has meat braised in a tomato-based sauce with potatoes and carrots?
Your answer might be one of these four: menudo, mechado, kaldereta, and afritada. And all are plausible!
We know their names, but telling these dishes apart can get a little confusing. All are tomato-based stews with Spanish influence and a red sauce. Most have potatoes, carrots, sometimes bell peppers. Two make use of pork liver; one in spread form. One has sliced hotdogs sometimes?? Which stew is which?
A valid question, even if you've been eating all four your entire life. To break down the differences, we’ll take a good look at each dish and their components:
As a bonus, we’ll also look into pochero—the one with tomato sauce, not the Visayan version. Never confuse your Filipino tomato-based stews again!
Mechado has two possible origins for its name. The first comes from Spanish mechar, meaning lard; the second from mecha, meaning “wick”.
Traditionally, mechado involves a culinary technique called larding, where beef is threaded with strips of lard resembling candle wicks. This added fat made the lean beef richer and more flavorful. Larding can be fussy, however, so it's more common to see this style of mechado prepared by sticking a big plank of fat through the center of a beef roll.
These days, home cooks skip the fat-inserting process and make mechado out of cubed beef instead. The beef is simmered in tomato sauce flavored with soy sauce and vinegar, sometimes with potatoes and carrots in the mix. Far from tradition, but much, much easier.
Pork is cubed into bite-sized pieces to make menudo, Spanish for “small pieces”. Some recipes include pork or chicken liver for a richer taste. Vegetable like potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers are diced to match the size of the cubed meat. Smaller pieces = faster cooking time, making menudo a speedy, quick-cooking dish.
Some Filipino households make menudo with larger cuts of pork—not the usual bite-sized pieces. This gets you more distinct bites of meat and veg, where you can taste each ingredient in tandem, instead of everything blending into a soft, homogenous mush (which can happen with smaller cuts).
But if menudo means "small pieces," is this still considered menudo? Some argue that the core of menudo is pork simmered in tomato sauce, whether or not you use small cuts. We say yes—still menudo!
Afritada stems from the Spanish word fritada, meaning “fried”. The dish starts by searing chicken or pork until lightly browned, then braising it in tomato sauce and water until tender. Add-ins like potatoes, carrots, and onions may also be fried or roasted before being simmered in the sauce.
Compared to tangy mechado and sweet-savory menudo, afritada has a mild, straightforward tomato flavor and a thinner sauce. Generally, there are no bells and whistles like soy sauce or vinegar in the braising liquid—just tomato sauce and water.
Check out our recipe for a lazy, one-pot chicken afritada here.
Kaldereta gets its name from the kaldero the dish is cooked in. This is not a simple stew—kaldereta is a bold, hearty showstopper meant to wow your guests. Back then, you’d save kalderetang kambing for special occasions because of the ingredients, time, and effort needed to prepare it. And when you make kaldereta, you have to go all in!
Kaldereta develops a rich tomato sauce from long, slow simmering. Liver spread makes it richer and thicker, lending a unique depth and slight creaminess. Some variations include cheese, peanut butter, even red wine! Luxurious ingredients like green olives and chorizo can be added as an extra treat.
Check out our recipe for beef rib kaldereta here!
Pochero is a meat stew with vegetables and sweet saba bananas. Note that this dish has two versions. We're not talking about Visayan pochero, which resembles nilaga and bulalo with its clear broth and fall-off-the-bone meat.
The pochero we're talking about in this list is Tagalog pochero, which has a tomato-based broth and a reddish-orange appearance like mechado, menudo, afritada, and kaldereta. But unlike the others, pochero has unique and very specific ingredients that make it easy to identify. Our tip: Look for the sliced saba, pechay, and/or chorizo. Does it have beans? Even easier. That’s pochero!
