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Cocido madrileño (Madrid chickpea and meat stew in three courses)

65

Madrid's Sunday feast from a single pot, served the proper way in three courses: first the golden broth with fine noodles, then the chickpeas with potato, carrot and garlicky cabbage, and last the tender beef, chicken, ham, chorizo and morcilla. One serving is the whole meal, all three courses.

Time
200 min (20 prep + 180 cook)
Servings
4
Per serving
892 kcal
Protein
69 g

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups dried (8 1/2 oz) chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water with a handful of coarse salt, then rinsed
  • 8 1/2 cups water
  • 14 oz beef shank, boneless beef shin (morcillo), in one piece; weighed raw (about 280 g once cooked), plus 1–2 beef or ham bones if you can get them
  • 4 small boneless, skinless thighs (11 oz) chicken thigh
  • 2 oz jamón serrano, serrano ham, one thick slice or an end piece
  • 3/4 oz pancetta, or tocino, in one piece
  • 4 small gold potatoes, peeled, left whole
  • 3 medium carrots, peeled, in big pieces

Cooked apart

  • 3 oz pasta, fine soup noodles (fideos)
  • 1 tsp salt, to taste, at the end

Steps

  1. Put the beef, ham, pancetta and any bones in a large pot with the cold water. Bring slowly to a simmer and skim off the foam for a few minutes.
  2. Add the drained chickpeas, ideally in a net bag so they stay together. Keep at the gentlest simmer, lid ajar, for 1 hour, adding hot water if the level falls below the chickpeas. Add the chicken and simmer on, about 2 hours in all, until the chickpeas are tender and the beef gives easily and the chicken reaches 165°F.
  3. About 30 minutes before the end, add the potatoes and carrots to the pot.
  4. Meanwhile, simmer the chorizo and morcilla for 20 minutes in a small pan of water, which keeps their fat and colour out of the broth. In another pan, boil the cabbage in salted water for 12–15 minutes and drain it well.
  5. Warm the oil with the sliced garlic in a frying pan until it just turns golden, add the drained cabbage and toss for 2–3 minutes.
  6. Strain off the broth into a saucepan, taste and salt it, bring it to the boil and cook the noodles for 2–3 minutes. Serve this soup first.
  7. Next bring out the chickpeas with the potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Last, a platter of the beef, chicken, ham, chorizo and morcilla, cut into pieces. Keeps 4 days in the fridge, broth and solids stored separately; the broth freezes 3 months.

Good to know

Can I make it in a pressure cooker?

Yes, it is how most Madrid homes do it now. Cook the beef, ham, pancetta and soaked chickpeas under pressure for 25 minutes, release, then add the chicken, potatoes and carrots and cook another 8 minutes under pressure.

Can I use a piece of hen or skin-on chicken, like the original?

Yes, it makes a deeper, more golden broth, at about the same score.

Per

Calories
90
Protein
(33%)
7 g
Fat
(35%)
3 g
Carbohydrates
(33%)
8 g
of which sugar
2 g
Fiber
2 g
Sodium
187 mg

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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 3568 kcal goes into the pot and 4302 g of ingredients comes out as about 3950 g of food: 90 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.