Cocido Madrileño

Pronounced co-see-do, Cocido Madrileño - or simply cocido - is probably one of Spain's national dishes. Cocido is based on a vast cauldron, which simmers away all day, hardly bubbling. In the old days households made it every day, for poached meat used to be the hallmark of the middle-class kitchen. From this pot comes a series of magnificient things.

First there is the caldo. This is clear stock, rich with many meat juices. Famous as clear soup with sherry in it, it is drunk world-wide. Caldo is also used in many Spanish dishes. It may be saved, but is often served as the first course before cocido, with a couple of spoonfuls of rice or noodles cooked in it.

The most important constituents of the pot are the meats, which are chosen for their diversity. Salt meat, fresh meat and sausage (preferably smoked) must all be there, for this is a dish for tough meats, full of flavour, which are made tender only by long cooking. A roasting chicken is less good than the cheaper boiling hen. Meat bones add richness to the stock.

The pot also contains vegetables, the first being chickpeas, which are the traditdional unifying element in all spanish ollas (stewpots) and have an ancient history in Spain. With them come pot herbs - onion, garlic, and leek - each with their appointed time for being added and function. There are also fresh vegetables, to make colourful, cheerful platters to serve as an entrée to the meats, or as an accompaniment.

Cocido
Recipe courtesy Rachel Ray, 2007

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, halved lengthwise then sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 small head or 1/2 large head, no more than 1 pound, savoy cabbage, shredded
2 leeks
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 fresh or dry bay leaf
1 (15-ounce) can chick peas, drained
6 cups chicken stock
3/4 to 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 pound ground beef pork and veal mix
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs or 1 slice stale bread, crumbled
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika or paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A few grates fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, 2 handfuls, and divided
1 egg, beaten
2 cups fideos or medium egg noodles
1 lemon, zested
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 firm plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

Heat a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium to medium high heat with extra-virgin olive oil. Add chorizo and render 2 to 3 minutes. To chorizo, add cabbage and begin to cook it down.

While cabbage wilts, trim the leeks of top 3 to 4 inches and root ends then halve them lengthwise and thinly slice. Soak in large bowl of water to release grit. Repeat if leeks are especially sandy. Dry the leeks on kitchen towel and add to cabbage with some grated carrot. Season with salt and pepper and bay leaf and sweat the vegetables 3 to 4 minutes.

Add chick peas and chicken stock to the pot, cover to bring up to a boil.

Uncover pot and turn heat back a bit but keep at a low boil. Stir chicken into soup.

Add ground meat to a bowl and top with bread crumbs or crumbled bread. Season the bread with paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add a handful of parsley to the bowl and an egg. Mix and form 1-inch meatballs, adding them to the soup as you work. Simmer meats 5 minutes then stir in egg pasta and simmer 5 minutes more. Turn off soup.

While the soup cooks, combine remaining parsley with lemon zest, and chopped garlic Place seeded and chopped tomatoes in a small bowl and combine with lemon-garlic-parsley mixture.

Serve Cocido in shallow bowls and top with spoonfuls of tomato topping to stir in.

Cocido Madrileño (easy method)
from www.multimadrid.com

  • 1 pound garbanzos
  • 1 pound stewing meat
  • 1 breast of stewing hen
  • 1/4 pound fat back or unsmoked bacon
  • 1 serrano ham steak
  • 1 chorizo
  • 1 morcilla with onion (blood sausage but not the kind with rice)
  • 2 stew bones
  • 1 carrots
  • 1 small onion
  • ½ of a small cabbage
  • 2 turnips
  • 6 medium-sized potatoes
  • 3 cloves
  • salt

The night before you make the cocido, put the garbanzos to soak in cold water to cover.

The next day use a large pot with a a tight fitting cover. Put in 3 liters of cold water, the stewing meat, the bones (wash them first), the bacon or fat back, and the piece of serrano ham. Put over a medium flame. When it starts to boil, remove the foam that forms on the surface of the water and then add the garbanzos in a special net bag that you can buy in the shops, the breast of hen, the carrots, the cabbage, the onion with the 3 cloves stuck in it, and the turnips. (All the vegetables peeled, of course.) Leave to cook over a low fire for an hour and a half.

After this time, add the potatoes (peeled), the chorizo and the morcilla. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

How to serve:

The meats, the vegetables and the garbanzos are served on a separate platter.

The liquid is strained to remove impurities and then used to prepare a soup with angelhair pasta (about a small handful per person) that is served as a starter.