Camto Soup

Camto Soup is a type of Filipino beef soup primarily prepared with “camto” or flank steak and is usually served popularly on noodles on Pares eateries

This is not your ordinary nilagang baka, it starts like it but ends up even much better. Camto Soup is a main stay dish on pares joints in the Philippines where its soup is served on the side with pares and it can also be consumed on its own with beef and pares sauce together with rice or noodles. Basically it is two dishes in one, a wonderful combination of nilagang baka and pares. It’s one hell of a comforting dish, imagine slurping that beefy broth with hints of sweetness and savouriness from the pares sauce made with garlic, soy sauce and brown sugar, it’s one of those dishes that makes pares patrons go back again and again.

Camto Soup

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hours 15 mins
• Total Time: 3 hours 35 mins
• Yield: 6-8 1x
• Category: Main Dish
• Cuisine: Filipino

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Description

Camto Soup is a type of Filipino beef soup primarily prepared with “camto” or flank steak and is usually served popularly on noodles on Pares eateries

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Soup

• 1 1/2 kg beef leg bones
• 700 g beef flank steak or brisket, chopped into small strips or cubes
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 pcs star anise
• 2 pcs dried bay leaves
• 2 tbsp cornstarch, mixed in 4 tbsp water
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 white onions, quartered
• 2 whole head garlic, minced
• fish sauce
• salt
• oil

Garnishes

• ½ head of Chinese cabbage, chopped
• 6 pcs hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
• chopped spring onions, to garnish
• fried garlic, to garnish

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Instructions

1. In a pot add oil then sauté half of the garlic and onions.
2. Add beef pieces and beef leg bones then brown on all sides.
3. Add water then season with a bit of salt (remember main flavours will come from the pares sauce which is on the next steps), bring to a boil then simmer for 1 1/2 hours in low heat, check liquid levels topping up with water to retain the liquid level.
4. Remove from pot flank steak/brisket pieces leaving the beef leg bones. Continue to simmer for 1 hour in very low heat.
5. In another pot add oil then sauté remaining garlic until it is golden brown. Remove garlic then set it aside.
6. In that same pot where garlic was sautéed, add 1 cup of beef broth from the beef leg bones pot, separated flank steak/brisket, soy sauce, brown sugar (adjust according to your liking, this is meant to be sweet), star anise, bay leaf, black pepper and cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes until the beef pieces are really tender up to a point it’s nearly falling apart. Season with fish sauce to your liking, turn heat off.
7. Back to the pot with beef bones, add chopped cabbage then cook for 5 more minutes. Turn heat off.
8. Prepare individual bowls then fill it with the soup with cabbage from the beef bones, scoop a good amount of seasoned flank steak/brisket together with its sauce. Add hard boiled eggs then garnish with spring onions and fried garlic.
9. Serve with rice or noodles.

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