Alubias Rojas de Ibeas

Alubias Rojas de Ibeas are Burgos through and through: small purple-red beans from Ibeas de Juarros, cooked slowly with chorizo, morcilla de Burgos, and tocino until the broth turns dark, thick, and glossy. This is not the grand olla podrida, heavy with every sacramento from the pig. This is the home pot, the everyday cuchara, spoon food, and it has its own dignity.

The method that decides it is gentleness. Soak the beans overnight, start them in cold water, and keep them at a low tremble. A hard boil breaks the skins and muddies the broth. Don't stir with a spoon. Shake the pot by the handles now and then, and the beans will thicken their own sauce without falling apart.

If you can't find alubia roja de Ibeas, use a good small dried red bean, cranberry bean, or a small pinto at a pinch. It won't have quite the same thin skin or deep wine-coloured broth, but it will still give you a proper Castilian pot if the cured pork is good. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need the right patience, and the morcilla matters.

Add the morcilla near the end so it perfumes the pot without bursting into it. That line is in my Margin twice, which means I learned it the hard way. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.