“Old Clothes”

Ropa vieja is a traditional Spanish dish that has migrated to many Latin American countries including Cuba, Peru, and Mexico. Each country has its own version, with different ingredients and presentations, but all involve some kind of shredded cooked meat—sometimes beef, sometimes pork. This version comes from Kika, my housekeeper in El Paso when I was first married. She had also been the nanny of my stepdaughter, Marissa, who used to follo