Chef Isabel
Alubias de La Bañeza con Boletus
This León guiso pairs La Bañeza beans with wild boletus, a quiet autumn stew where the beans simmer gently and the mushrooms go in near the end, while they still have bite and perfume.
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Alubias de Tolosa
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Alubias de Tolosa are Gipuzkoa's near-black beans, cooked low in water and olive oil until the broth turns glossy, then served with the sacramentos, berza, and sharp Ibarra guindillas.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Batch Cooking
One Pot
25 min
Active Time
3 hr cook•3 hr 25 min total
Yield6 servings
Alubias de Tolosa are Basque, from Gipuzkoa, and they are not a cousin of Asturian fabada wearing a darker coat. The bean is smaller, near-black, with a fine skin and a broth that turns dark and silky from the bean itself. The sacramentos, chorizo, morcilla, and tocino, belong with it, as do berza and guindillas de Ibarra in vinegar. That sharp little pepper matters. It cuts through the richness and wakes up the bowl.
The method that decides it is simple: never bully the bean. Start cold, bring it up slowly, and keep the pot at a quiet tremble. Stir with a spoon and the fine skins split; shake the pot by the handles and the broth thickens without turning muddy. Salt near the end, after the beans are tender. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess.
If you are far from Tolosa, look for Alubia de Tolosa by name first. If not, choose another small dark bean, caparrón riojano or alubia negra if you can find them, black turtle beans if that is what the shop gives you. They need the soak, their skins are a little firmer, and the broth will be less violet and less silky, but the dish still stands. No hace falta haber pisado España. Con buenos ingredientes y paciencia, siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Alubias de Tolosa belong to Tolosa in Gipuzkoa, a Basque market town in the Oria valley where the dark bean, babarruna in Basque, became one of the region's great winter spoon dishes. The traditional alubiada serves the beans with sacramentos, usually chorizo, morcilla, tocino, or pork ribs, plus berza and pickled guindillas de Ibarra to cut the fat. Unlike Asturian fabada, the Basque bean is the centre of the plate; the meats are companions, not the thing that defines the broth.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried alubias de Tolosa
Quantity
500g
rinsed and picked over
cold water
Quantity
1.7L, plus up to 250ml more as needed
onion
Quantity
1 small, about 150g
peeled and left whole
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
peeled
bay leaf
Quantity
1
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
tocino, salt pork, or panceta curada
Quantity
200g
rinsed if very salty
Spanish cooking chorizo
Quantity
250g
morcilla de cebolla or morcilla de Beasain
Quantity
250g
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g, plus more to taste
berza, collard greens, or Savoy cabbage
Quantity
500g
thick ribs removed, leaves sliced
olive oil, for the berza
Quantity
1 tablespoon
guindillas de Ibarra en vinagre
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried alubias de Tolosarinsed and picked over | 500g |
| cold water | 1.7L, plus up to 250ml more as needed |
| onionpeeled and left whole | 1 small, about 150g |
| garlicpeeled | 2 cloves |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| tocino, salt pork, or panceta curadarinsed if very salty | 200g |
| Spanish cooking chorizo | 250g |
| morcilla de cebolla or morcilla de Beasain | 250g |
| fine sea salt | 10g, plus more to taste |
| berza, collard greens, or Savoy cabbagethick ribs removed, leaves sliced | 500g |
| olive oil, for the berza | 1 tablespoon |
| guindillas de Ibarra en vinagre | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litres
- •Small saucepan for the berza
- •Skimming spoon
- •Colander
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
Rinse the beans and pick out any stones or broken ones. Put them in a large bowl with 1.7L cold water and soak 8 to 12 hours. In Tolosa, a good new-season bean often goes straight to the pot; far from there, you don't know how long the sack sat on a shelf, so soak it. Keep the soaking water if it is clean and dark, because it helps give the broth its colour.
If you use black turtle beans, give them the full 12 hours. Their skins are thicker and they need the help. - 2
Start cold
Tip the beans and their soaking water into a wide heavy pot. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf, olive oil, and tocino. The water should cover the beans by about 3cm; add a little more cold water if needed. Bring it up slowly over medium-low heat, skimming off any grey foam that rises. Do not salt yet.
- 3
Keep it quiet
Lower the heat until the pot barely trembles, then leave the lid slightly ajar. Cook for about 1 hour 30 minutes, checking now and then that the beans stay covered. Do not stir. Every 20 minutes, lift the pot and give it a short, firm shake by the handles. That movement thickens the broth while keeping the skins whole.
- 4
Add the chorizo
When the beans are beginning to soften but still have a firm centre, usually after 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, nestle in the chorizo. Keep cooking at the same low tremble for 30 to 45 minutes more. If the liquid drops below the beans, add 100ml cold water down the side of the pot. Taste three beans from different spots; if one is chalky, keep going.
- 5
Salt and morcilla
When the beans are creamy all the way through, add the 10g salt and shake the pot to settle it in. Lay the morcilla on top for the last 15 to 20 minutes, keeping the heat low so it warms through without splitting. Do not stab it and do not boil it hard. Burst morcilla makes a muddy pot, and nobody asked for that.
- 6
Cook the berza
While the morcilla warms, cook the sliced berza in a separate pan of salted boiling water until tender, 8 to 10 minutes for berza or collards, 5 to 6 minutes for Savoy cabbage. Drain it well and dress it with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt. It is served beside the beans, not hidden inside them.
- 7
Rest and serve
Turn off the heat and let the beans rest 20 minutes. Lift out the onion, garlic, and bay leaf. If the broth seems thin, crush 2 tablespoons of beans with a ladleful of broth, return them to the pot, and shake the pot once more. Slice the chorizo, morcilla, and tocino. Serve deep bowls of beans with a piece of each sacramento, a spoonful of berza, and guindillas de Ibarra at the table.
Chef Tips
- •Buy Alubia de Tolosa if you can: small, glossy, deep purple-black beans with fine skins. Old beans stay chalky no matter how politely you speak to them, so buy from a shop with good turnover.
- •Do not add tomato, pimentón, or a sofrito, the slow onion base used in many other dishes. Here the colour and body come from the bean. Add those things and you have made another pot of beans, not Tolosa's.
- •For a substitute, use caparrón riojano or another small dark alubia first. Black turtle beans work far from Spain, but they keep a firmer skin and need a little more time. The broth will be darker brown than violet-black.
- •Use morcilla de cebolla or morcilla de Beasain if you can. Morcilla de Burgos works at a pinch, but the rice makes it more fragile, so add it for only the last 10 minutes and handle it like an egg.
- •The guindillas de Ibarra are not decoration. Their vinegar and mild bite cut the fat of the sacramentos. If you cannot find them, use small mild pickled green peppers, not hot chillies.
- •These beans are better the next day. Reheat them gently with a splash of water and shake the pot as they loosen. A hard boil after resting will undo the patience you already gave them.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans 8 to 12 hours ahead in cold water. If you have true new-season Alubia de Tolosa, you may skip the soak, but expect the cooking time to run longer.
- •The stew can be cooked one day ahead and chilled. Reheat slowly with a little water, never at a hard boil, and slice the sacramentos after reheating so they stay neat.
- •Cook the berza the day you serve it. It loses its clean green flavour if it sits overnight in the bean pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 540g)
Calories
940 calories
Total Fat
59 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
40 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
2400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
63 g
Dietary Fiber
17 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
40 g
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