Every Argentine province claims the best empanada and every family claims the best recipe within it, which makes the empanada one of the few subjects in Argentina debated as hotly as football. The beef version is the common ground: hand cut or coarsely chopped beef cooked down with a great deal of onion, spiced with cumin and paprika, then studded with hard boiled egg and green olives. The edge is sealed with the repulgue, a braided fold that doubles as a label, since bakeries use different patterns to tell the fillings apart.

They are bought by the dozen for parties, delivered on Sunday evenings, and eaten in two or three bites standing up, which makes them close to the perfect food for watching a race. Ours are baked rather than fried and use a sturdy homemade pastry; store bought empanada discs work just as well and halve the work.

The beef filling

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) beef chuck or sirloin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ají molido or mild chili flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) beef stock or water
• 3 green onions
• 1/3 cup (50 g) pitted green olives

The pastry

Ingredients

• 4 cups (500 g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 cup (115 g) cold unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) ice cold water

Filling, folding and baking

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 small bowl water

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