The Casado

The concept is simple, a plate of food with a little meat, some rice, vegetable product, perhaps some beans and whatever else the cook dreams up to make this their signature dish. Generally you can order your casado with chicken, beef, pork or fish. The fun part is you never really know what you are going to get until it arrives. Some casados are very basic, a little bland but still quite edible. And sometimes, when you least expect it, you are served a feast!

Take for instance the casado in the picture below that was served at a roadside "soda". The "soda" didn't look like much from the outside, but it was clean and the people were friendly. In the picture you can see the grilled chicken at the bottom and the rice in the middle of the plate. The beans are on the left and the salad on the far right. But what else? There is a corn tortilla, fried plantains, some green beans in an egg batter and piccadillo (a succotash type dish made with ground beef and a potato like vegetable known as chayote. You can order a casado at just about any place that serves food and generally it is only about $2-3. Quite a bargain either for lunch or dinner. My hope is to sample as many casados as possible in our visit here.