Puchero Andaluz
Andalusian (South Spain) Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb of beef shank
- 1/2 chicken or chicken without skin
- 1 fresh veal bone or beef
- 1 piece of fresh bacon
- 1 ham bone
- 1 salted spine bone
- 1 aged pork rind
- 1 salted rib
- 1 salted cane bone
- 1/2 lb chickpeas (soaked from the previous night)
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 potatos
- 1 leek
- 1 turnip
- 1 handful of noodles or rice
- Several leaves of Spearmint (around 2 for each person)
Servings: people
Instructions
- We put the meat and bones in a large pot over high heat and cover them with water. Must foam the broth very well when the boil starts and wait for it to stop having foam to add the vegetables.
- Chickpeas and vegetables are added, peeled and cut into regular and medium pieces (they can be put in vegetable bag which will facilitate after being able to remove them from the broth). It is advisable "cascar" the potatoes instead of cutting them. For this we split the end of each piece. That is to say separating them by prying with the knife before finishing the cut, instead of continuing to cut with the knife. In this way we get an irregular and torn area in the potato to form which facilitates that with the cooking the starch is released gradually and progressively and therefore the broth is thick at the end of the preparation.
- Once we have added the vegetables we boil them for about 10 to 15 minutes and then cover the pot, reduce to medium low heat and cook for at least 2 hours.
- The meat should be very tender and if the water is consumed we will add more water without stopping the boil so that the chickpeas are not encased.
- When we open the pot we take out the meat and the legume bag with the chickpeas and vegetables, strain the broth and put it back to the fire.
- To the strained broth, rice or noodles are added to taste, and when they are ready we incorporate again the chickpeas, chopped potatoes and carrots and some spearmint leaves. It is served hot.
- Preparing and serving the "pringá"
- When we remove the pot we take out the bacon and put it on a tray next to the meats. It is what is called "la pringá" and the most traditional way of preparing it's:
- On our plate, we serve a piece of bacon and a piece of each meat (veal and chicken or chicken), chickpeas (and you can also add a piece of carrot and a piece of potato). With a fork we are mixing and crushing everything to form a kind of mash with all these ingredients (this is what we call "pringá")
- The "refined" way of eating it in public is to eat it with a fork next to pieces of bread. But the"private" way and how you eat in Andalusian houses is to eat it using your fingers and bread.
- Buen provecho.
