Hispanic Heritage · España

Castilla

Madrid · Lavapiés · Chamberí · Alcalá de Henares · Aranjuez · Toledo

Explore this kitchen on the animated map ↗

Cocido madrileño

Descubre

Madrid’s cocido turns one pot into a meal served in stages: broth, chickpeas and vegetables, then meats. It provides a generous introduction to the stews of Spain’s central plateau.

La Gente

Plan for the long simmer and prepare the components as directed. Keeping the servings separate makes it possible to taste the same pot in several ways. Save leftovers promptly and use the broth as the recipe suggests.

Sabor

Castilla cooks with pimentón, garlic, bay, and the fat of the pig. The smoked pimentón of La Vera is the meseta's signature: in the chorizo, on the potatoes, in the garlic soup, in the sofrito that goes over the cocido's cabbage. Cumin appears in the tomato sauce beside the cocido and nowhere else. Saffron in the rice dishes of La Mancha. Cloves stuck in an onion in the pot. It is a plain, warm, smoky kitchen.

Spice DNA · Smoke high · Herb low · Sweet none · Heat low · Acid none

Seasonings to explore

Smoked Paprika. Pimentón de La Vera is the reference, and this is the closest jar on the shelf. In the sofrito, in the garlic soup, on everything.
Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the sofrito for the cabbage, in the bola, and the whole of the sopa castellana. Adds a savory garlic base.
Bay leaves, whole. In the pot.
Cloves, whole. Two, stuck into the onion in the cocido.
Cumin, ground. In the tomato sauce that Madrid serves beside the chickpeas.
Black Pepper, ground. In the bola.
Paprika. The sweet pimentón, for the houses that do not use the smoked.

From your market: dried chickpeas, beef shank with bone, a chicken quarter, a piece of slab bacon or tocino, a marrow bone, Spanish chorizo and morcilla, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, a turnip, thin soup noodles, and a stale loaf for the sopa castellana. Badia does not sell the chorizo. Buy the Spanish one, cured, and not the Mexican one, which is a different animal in every sense.

Cocina

Cocido madrileño

One pot, three courses, most of a day. Broth, then chickpeas and vegetables, then the meats. In that order.

Serves 6

1 lb dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in salted water
1½ lb beef shank with bone
1 chicken leg quarter
8 oz slab bacon or tocino
1 marrow bone
1 onion, peeled, stuck with 2 Badia Cloves
2 Badia Bay Leaves, whole
2 carrots, 1 turnip, peeled
3 potatoes, peeled and halved
1 small cabbage, quartered
2 Spanish chorizos and 1 morcilla
½ cup thin soup noodles (fideos)
Salt

The sofrito for the cabbage

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
1 tsp Badia Smoked Paprika

The tomato sauce

1 cup tomato sauce warmed with ½ tsp Badia Cumin and a pinch of salt

Morning. Put the beef, chicken, bacon, marrow bone, clove-studded onion, and bay in a large pot. Cover with cold water by three inches. Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer 1 hour.
Chickpeas. Drain them and add them to the pot in a mesh bag or loose. Simmer 1½ hours more. Add water if it drops. Do not let it boil hard; a chickpea that boils hard breaks.
Vegetables. Add the carrots, turnip, and potatoes to the pot. In a separate pot, boil the cabbage with the chorizo and morcilla in water for 30 minutes so their fat does not cloud the broth. Simmer the main pot 30 to 40 minutes more, until the chickpeas are tender and the meats fall apart. Salt the broth.
The cabbage. Drain it. Warm the oil and garlic, add the smoked paprika off the heat so it does not burn, and toss the cabbage in it.
First vuelco. Ladle broth into a pot, bring it to a boil, and cook the noodles 4 minutes. Serve the soup.
Second vuelco. Chickpeas, potatoes, carrots, turnip, and the cabbage on a platter. The tomato sauce with cumin on the side.
Third vuelco. The meats, chorizo, and morcilla sliced on another platter, the marrow spread on bread by whoever gets to it first.
Then nothing. Then a long walk, or none. It is Madrid. Nobody will judge.

Sopa castellana

Garlic soup with pimentón, bread, and an egg. The shepherds' soup of the meseta. Fifteen minutes.

Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a pot over medium. Cook 3 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil until just gold. Add 4 thick slices of stale bread torn up and a handful of diced jamón and fry 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in 1½ tsp Badia Smoked Paprika. Add 6 cups broth (the cocido's, if you have it) and a Badia Bay Leaf and simmer 10 minutes. Salt. Crack 4 eggs into the soup, cover, and poach 3 minutes. One egg per bowl. It is what a castellano eats the night after the cocido, and the morning after a long night, and on any day the meseta wind is blowing.

Pueblos de Castilla

Madrid · Lavapiés · Chamberí · Alcalá de Henares · Aranjuez · Toledo · Segovia · Ávila · Salamanca · Valladolid · Burgos · Aranda de Duero · León · Zamora · Soria · Cuenca · Guadalajara · Ciudad Real · Albacete · Cáceres · Badajoz · Mérida · Trujillo · Jaraíz de la Vera · Plasencia