Mechado

• 2 lbs. beef, lean
• 4 big onions, whole
• ½ cup vinegar
• Strips of pork fat
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 6 potatoes
• 1/3 laurel leaf (bay leaf)
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 or 2 hard cooked eggs
• Strips of sweet gherkins
• Pork sausage

Peel potatoes and cut in halves. Have lean beef cut into a rectangular sheet about ¼ inch thick. Rub with salt and pepper to taste and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Place strips of fat over one end of sheet together with sausage, pickles and and hardboiled eggs, first cut into strips. Roll beef as you would a jelly roll. Tie around with a string.

Place roll of beef in a deep saucepan with a heavy cover. Add onions, potatoes, laurel leaf, tomato sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. water to cover meat. Cover saucepan.

Bring to a boil, lower heat and allow to simmer until tender. Add paprika. Simmer down the broth by removing the cover of the container. When most of the broth has evaporated, add the ½ cup fat and allow the roll to brown on all sides.

Serve it hot, sliced crosswise.