The pepito is a

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

prepared with

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

, pork, or chickenpepito
in the ''

Diccionario de la lengua española The ''Diccionario de la lengua española'' (DLE; ; en, Dictionary of the Spanish language), previously known as ''Diccionario de la Real Academia Española'' (DRAE; en, Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy), is produced, edited, and publish ...

, Real Academia Española, 23.ª ed. Madrid: Espasa, 2014. originating from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and also very popular in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. It is a common

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...

in Venezuela and is also available at some U.S. restaurants. For the beef version, various

cuts of beef During butchering, beef is first divided into primal cuts, pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work ...

are used, and myriad additional ingredients can also be used in its preparation.

Preparation

The pepito is prepared with grilled

beef tenderloin A beef tenderloin (US English), known as an eye fillet in Australasia, filet in France, filé mignon in Brazil, and fillet in the United Kingdom and South Africa, is cut from the loin of beef. Description As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin ...

flank steak Flank steak is a cut of beef steak taken from the abdominal muscles of the cow, located just behind the plate and in front of the rear quarter. It is a long, flat cut with a significant grain, and is known for its bold flavor and chewiness. Te ...

rib eye steak The rib eye or ribeye (known as Scotch fillet in Australia and New Zealand) is a boneless rib steak from the Beef ribs, rib section. Description Ribeye steaks are mostly composed of the longissimus dorsi muscle but also contain the complexus ...

strip steak The strip steak (sirloin in Britain, Australia, and South Africa) is a cut of beef steaks from the short loin of a cow. It consists of a muscle that does little work, the longissimus, making the meat particularly tender, although not as tend ...

refried beans Refried beans (from es, frijoles refritos, ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular ...

, black beans or pinto beans, and a soft roll, bun or baguette as primary ingredients.

Chicken meat Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat (commonly called just "chicken") and chicken eggs have becom ...

is also used sometimes. Additional ingredients used can be myriad, including but not limited to eggs, cheese, lettuce, sliced or diced tomato, sliced avocado, guacamole, guasacaca (an avocado-based

relish A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...

), garlic, cilantro, olives, jalapeño or pickled jalapeño peppers, onions,

caramelized Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and ca ...

onions, or sautéed onions, crema or mayonnaise, butter, olive oil, fresh lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, mustard, cumin, salt and pepper. Some versions of the sandwich have a significant amount of toppings and garnishes, while others are simpler preparations using only the base ingredients and a few additional ingredients.

In Latin America

The pepito is a common

in Venezuela and originates in

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; guc, Watkisimeeta) is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the f ...

, the capital of the state of

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los In ...

in Venezuela. The pepito is one of the most popular street foods in Venezuela. It is purveyed at some restaurants and department stores in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. In Venezuela, they are sometimes sold by

street vendors A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether statio ...

, who often provide several sauces that can be added atop the sandwich. The customer can typically tell the vendor what ingredients and toppings to use on the sandwich in Venezuela.

In Spain

Bars with a kitchen often offer a ''pepito de ternera'' (beef sandwich), cooked on demand. The name has extended to other sandwiches. Those made of cured pork tenderloin are also called '' montado de lomo''. Variations adding pressed ham and cheese, bacon, fried, roasted or preserved

peppers Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

are also common. Teodoro Bardají Mas, a cuisine historian and cook, offered an

origin story In entertainment, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a Character (arts), character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist, and it adds to the overall interest and complexity of a narrative, often giving reason ...

in an article in the weekly ''Ellas''.Eduardo Martín Mazas, (2008), ''«Teodoro Bardají Mas, el precursor de la cocina moderna en España»''.

In the United States

Some restaurants in the United States purvey the pepito, such as in Miami, Chicago, Illinois, California, Atlanta and other U.S. cities.

Other meanings

In Spanish, a ''pepito'' can also be an elongated

bun A bun is a type of bread roll, typically filled with savory fillings (for example hamburger). A bun may also refer to a sweet cake in certain parts of the world. Though they come in many shapes and sizes, buns are most commonly round, and are g ...

filled with

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

Notes

References

{{Street food Mexican cuisine Venezuelan cuisine Street food Beef steak dishes Olive dishes Beef sandwiches Pork sandwiches Chicken sandwiches Spanish cuisine Avocado dishes