Fiambre Recipe

Fiambre is a Guatemalan dish prepared once a year on November 1st for the Day of the Dead or Día de Los Muertos. Fiambre is a traditional Guatemalan food made from loads of veggies, cold cuts, cheeses, and a delicious caldillo rolled up into an elegant cold salad. Since it is a challenging recipe that may include more than 50 ingredients, you must start prepping at least one day in advance. But don’t worry! Follow my easy step-by-step fiambre recipe, and I promise you won’t regret all the hard work!

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Ingredients

Feel free to add or leave out any ingredients you do not care for. Still, my advice is to leave everything in because once mixed, even the things you wouldn’t normally eat by themselves give the dish the overall flavor (like cecina or cow’s tongue), so try to be a little adventurous here!

Vegetables

• ½ lb. asparagus
• 6 beets, sliced or julienned
• 6 carrots, sliced or julienned
• 4 cups green beans
• 1 cauliflower, cut in sections
• 1 cabbage, cut in fine long pieces
• 1 lb. Brussels sprout
• 2 cups corn (shelled)
• 25 pacayas (found fresh in Latino markets, or use canned)
• 1 jar heart of palm
• 1 jar of pickled baby corn
• 1 jar of pickled baby onions
• ½ lb. red beans (canned)
• ½ lb. white beans (canned)
• 1 can chickpeas
• 4 cups green peas
• 1 lb. fava beans (fresh)
• ¼  lb. capers
• ¼ lb. green olives
• ¼ lb. black olives
• 1 can of pimentos
• 1-2 heads of lettuce
• Radish roses for garnish

Meats

• ½ lb. butifarra (sausage made with anis and other spices)
• ½ lb. cecina (dried smoked and salted beef)
• 1 lb. chicken (cooked, removed from the bone, cut in long strips)
• 1 lb. chorizo Colorado (red chorizo sausage, sliced)
• 1 lb. black chorizo sausage, sliced
• 1 lb. yellow chorizo sausage, sliced
• ½ lb. hot dog, cooked and sliced
• 1 lb. ham, cut in long strips
• ½ lb. longaniza (sausage with mint and chile, can use Italian sausage)
• 1 lb. mortadella, cut in large cubes
• 1 lb. salami, cut into large cubes
• 1 lb. hot dog, cut lengthwise
• ½ lb. salted cow tongue

Eggs And Dairy

• 2 eggs (hard-boiled)
• ½ lb. yellow or American cheese (cut into strips)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• Queso fresco (1 small)
• ½ lb. Zacapa cheese (can use good parmesan)

Dressing Or Caldillo

• 1 bunch of parsley
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 sprig of oregano
• 1 quart of vinegar
• 1 pint of olive oil
• 6 tablespoons mustard (I like using dark, grainy mustard)
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• Salt to taste
• 5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg

Preparation

Two Days Before Serving

You will need to cook each vegetable group separately; don’t try to save time by mixing them. First, boil the beets until just cooked but still firm. Then, boil carrots and green beans together until just done. Next, boil cauliflower and cabbage. Finally, boil peas, fava beans, and corn.

Boil the chicken and parsley, adding salt and pepper to taste. Skim off the fat once it has cooled. To save time, you can buy cooked chicken and use store-bought broth. Then, shred the cooked chicken and store it.

Mix the broth in a blender with vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste, Worcestershire, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, nutmeg. Simmer for ten minutes, then chill overnight.

The Day Before

Boil the chorizos with butifarras the day before you will be serving the fiambre. And chop all of your meats so that they are ready to for the day you will be assembling your fiambre. 

Combine all veggies and pour the chicken broth mixture over it. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Early In The Day

The day you wish to serve the fiambre, place a lettuce leaf on a plate, arrange a layer of the veggie mixture and then add a layer of the meats and cheeses. Repeat at least once and decorate with pimientos, sliced cheese, asparagus, baby corn, radishes, olives, and boiled eggs. Serve chilled.

Safety Notes:

Make sure you use care in handling and storing all these ingredients. I find it easier to cut everything up and store it separately in Ziplock bags. Refrigerate washed and cut-up vegetables together, but meats and cheeses should be kept separate.

Serves: A small army

Calories: Calculating that would take more than it takes to prepare it

Estimated prep time: Days (if you take into account shopping for ingredients more like a week)

With all that said, I hope not everyone is scared off because of the amount of ingredients and time it takes to prepare this delicious Guatemalan dish. But, BELIEVE ME, THIS FIAMBRE RECIPE IS WORTH IT!