The story
Silpancho is a Cochabamba dish whose name comes from the Quechua sillp'anchu, meaning flattened and thin. An older plate of pounded, breaded beef was known simply as bisté. Celia La Fuente Peredo, a Cochabamba cook born in 1928, is credited with turning it into silpancho by adding rice and fried eggs; accounts date her creation to the mid-20th century, at an eatery on Calle Lanza that her family still runs. The plate-sized cutlet sits over rice and potatoes under a salsa of tomato, onion and locoto chilli. Cochabamba also stuffs it into a sandwich called trancapecho, and silpancho is now eaten throughout Bolivia.
Also known as sillp'anchu, silpancho cochabambino.
On the Meridish menu
Silpancho was the main course on menu No. 12 on October 12, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
A plate-sized, paper-thin breaded beef cutlet over rice and potatoes, topped with fried eggs and a tomato-onion salsa. Its name means 'flattened' in Quechua.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
