Mute Santandereano: Traditional Colombian Multi-Meat & Corn Soup
Mute Santandereano is without a doubt one of the most important and monumental culinary masterpieces from the Santander department. This incredibly thick, robust, and delicious soup is a veritable feast, bringing together an intricate mix of different meats (like beef tripe, beef foot, and pork), starches, and pasta to create the ultimate flagship dish of the region’s gastronomy!
The secret to this 2-hour recipe (which actually requires overnight prep) is the slow-cooking of the toughest proteins and the corn. By boiling the mondongo (beef tripe), the beef foot, the dried chickpeas, and the specially threshed maíz mute for hours, you extract a dense, gelatinous, and profoundly flavorful base. This broth is later enriched with a traditional hogao and aromatic guasca leaves to tie the whole feast together.
Mute Santandereano (Traditional Multi-Meat & Corn Soup)
The undisputed king of Andean soups! A rich, monumental stew packed with beef foot, tripe, pork, chickpeas, pasta, and traditional threshed corn.
Ingredients
- 1 Beef foot Mano de res
- 2 lbs Beef tripe Callo de res o mondongo
- 2 lbs Pork meat
- 1 lb Beef ribs
- 1/2 lb Longaniza or Chorizo
- 1 lb Maíz mute Traditional threshed white corn
- 1 lb Dried chickpeas
- 1 Squash / Pumpkin Ahuyama
- 1 lb Potatoes
- 1/2 lb Short pasta Macaroni, shells, etc.
- 4 Scallions / Long onions
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 2 Ripe tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons Cooking oil
- 1 pinch Achiote or natural food coloring
- 1 sprig Fresh cilantro
- 6 Guasca leaves A traditional Andean herb
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep the meats: The very first step is to wash all ingredients thoroughly. Cut the meats accordingly: the beef foot into cubes, the tripe (mondongo) into small squares, the pork and beef ribs into manageable pieces, and slice the longaniza or chorizo.
- The overnight boil (The Base): The night before, place the tripe, the beef foot, the maíz mute, and the dried chickpeas into a massive pot with plenty of water. Boil them for roughly 4 hours without adding any salt. Once the time is up, remove from the heat and reserve for the next day. (Chef's Hack: If you don't want to cook overnight, you can use a pressure cooker! Pressure cook the tripe and beef foot for 40 minutes, and separately pressure cook the soaked corn and chickpeas!)
- Cook the secondary meats: The next day, place the large pot back over medium heat. Add the pork meat and the beef ribs. Let them simmer until the meats are completely tender.
- Add the starches: Once the pork and ribs are soft, carefully remove them from the pot and set them aside. Into the actively boiling broth (which still contains the chickpeas and corn), add the squash and potatoes (previously diced). Finally, add the short pasta. Leave it boiling.
- Make the Hogao & sear the meats: In a separate large pan, heat the cooking oil. Add the achiote for color, followed by the finely chopped scallions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Once this rich hogao base has fried together, toss in the reserved cooked meats (pork, ribs) and the sliced chorizo. Sauté everything together.
- Combine and thicken: Transfer the meaty hogao mixture directly into the massive soup pot. Stir everything thoroughly. Let it continue cooking until the pasta is perfectly al dente and the soup thickens. (Crucial: Watch it closely so the pasta doesn't turn into mush!)
- Final touch: Remove the massive pot from the heat. Toss in the 6 guasca leaves, let the soup rest for a few minutes so the herbal aromas infuse the broth, and serve immediately!
Video
Notes
- A Dish of Many Faces: Because Santander is so large, the exact preparation of Mute varies wildly depending on the specific municipality!
- Guanentá Province: In this area, locals often prepare it using thick pork loin, chicken, tender sweet corn, papa criolla (small yellow potatoes), and arracacha.
- Zapatoca Variation: In the municipality of Zapatoca, the soup often uniquely includes eggplant, green beans, and yellow corn alongside the white maíz mute.
- Bucaramanga Style: In the capital city, recipes frequently incorporate cabbage leaves, corn on the cob, and papa criolla.
- Norte de Santander: If you head to the neighboring department of Norte de Santander, their version of Mute goes even further, often adding pork head/snout, goat, chicken, sun-dried meats, bell peppers, and capers!
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