Two large, thin veal fillets sandwiched around ham and cheese, breadcrumbed and fried, and served big enough to share, with chips and peppers.
What makes it cachopo
Two thin veal fillets, one on top of the other.
Ham and cheese inside.
Breadcrumbed, fried, and very large.
Where it comes from
It has been cooked in Asturias for decades, but only in the 2010s did it become a craze, with sidrerías competing on size and fillings and holding contests for the best. Its story before then is thinly written and much argued.
Its relations are plain to see — the cordon bleu, the Milanese — but the Asturian touch is in the filling, often a local cheese, sometimes Cabrales, and in the sheer size of it.