Chef Isabel
Arròs a la Cassola
Catalonia's casserole rice is cooked in a cassola, not a paella pan: rabbit, chicken, and pork rib over a dark sofregit, finished juicy with a small picada.
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Arròs Brut Mallorquí
Created by
Arròs brut is Mallorcan spoon rice, dark from sobrasada, liver, mushrooms, and sweet spices. It should be loose and brothy, never dry like a paella.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 35 min total
Yield6 servings
Arròs brut is Mallorcan, from the Balearic kitchen, and it earns its name honestly: brut means dirty, because the broth turns deep and speckled from liver, sobrasada, mushrooms, pepper, cinnamon, clove, and saffron. This is not a clean yellow rice and it is not a paella. It is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, loose enough to eat from a deep bowl.
The method that decides it is the broth before the rice goes in. Brown the meats well, cook the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, until it turns dark and sweet, then let the spices, sobrasada, liver, and mushrooms stain the pot. Only then add the rice. If the broth tastes thin at that point, the rice will not fix it. Rice is honest that way.
If you are far from Mallorca, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a good Spanish sobrasada if you can find it; if not, use soft cured chorizo in a small amount and know it will taste smokier and less gently sweet. For mushrooms, esclata-sangs are the Mallorcan prize, but níscalos, cremini, or oyster mushrooms will do the work. Keep it brothy, serve it at once, and don't call it dry rice. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
In the Margin beside this one I keep the warning short: rice drinks while you talk. Have everyone seated before the rice is tender, because arròs brut waits for nobody.
Arròs brut belongs to Mallorca's inland home cooking, where rice stretched the animals and vegetables a household had at hand into a generous pot for the table. Its dark colour comes from the island larder: sobrasada, chicken liver or game liver, mushrooms, and the warm spice mixture often sold as espècies d'arròs brut, with pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and saffron. Older versions change with the season and the house, adding snails, game birds, artichokes, peas, or esclata-sangs when the market and the fields offer them.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks
Quantity
450g
chopped into small pieces
rabbit
Quantity
450g
bone-in, chopped into small pieces
pork ribs
Quantity
250g
cut into small pieces
chicken liver
Quantity
80g
trimmed
sobrasada
Quantity
120g
casing removed
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely chopped
green Italian frying pepper
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
250g
grated
flat green beans
Quantity
150g
cut into 3cm pieces
small artichokes
Quantity
2
trimmed and cut into eighths
frozen artichoke hearts (optional)
Quantity
150g
mushrooms, preferably esclata-sangs or níscalos
Quantity
150g
cleaned and sliced
peas
Quantity
120g
fresh or frozen
hot chicken stock
Quantity
1.8 litres, plus more if needed
short-grain rice, preferably bomba or Calasparra
Quantity
350g
bay leaf
Quantity
1
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
ground cloves
Quantity
1 small pinch
ground nutmeg
Quantity
1 small pinch
saffron threads
Quantity
12
lightly crushed
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
10g
finely chopped
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| bone-in chicken thighs or drumstickschopped into small pieces | 450g |
| rabbitbone-in, chopped into small pieces | 450g |
| pork ribscut into small pieces | 250g |
| chicken livertrimmed | 80g |
| sobrasadacasing removed | 120g |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 large |
| green Italian frying pepperfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlicfinely chopped | 3 cloves |
| ripe tomatoesgrated | 250g |
| flat green beanscut into 3cm pieces | 150g |
| small artichokestrimmed and cut into eighths | 2 |
| frozen artichoke hearts (optional) | 150g |
| mushrooms, preferably esclata-sangs or níscaloscleaned and sliced | 150g |
| peasfresh or frozen | 120g |
| hot chicken stock | 1.8 litres, plus more if needed |
| short-grain rice, preferably bomba or Calasparra | 350g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground cinnamon | 1/4 teaspoon |
| ground cloves | 1 small pinch |
| ground nutmeg | 1 small pinch |
| saffron threadslightly crushed | 12 |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 10g |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy cazuela, Dutch oven, or deep saute pan, 30cm
- •Small ladle
- •Sharp knife for chopping bone-in pieces
Instructions
- 1
Brown the meats
Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy cazuela or deep pot over medium-high heat. Salt the chicken, rabbit, and pork ribs lightly, then brown them in batches until the edges are well coloured, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Do not crowd the pot. That brown on the bones is the first broth, and without it the rice tastes flat.
Ask the butcher to chop the rabbit and chicken through the bone into small rice-pot pieces. Arròs brut is eaten with a spoon, but the bones are part of the flavour. - 2
Cook the sofrito
Lower the heat to medium and add the onion and green pepper to the same oil, scraping up the browned bits. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is dark gold and soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then add the grated tomato and cook until it thickens, darkens, and the oil begins to show at the edges, another 10 minutes. This slow sofrito is where the sweetness comes from; rush it and the whole pot tastes thinner.
- 3
Stain the pot
Push the sofrito to one side and add the chicken liver. Cook it until firm, about 3 minutes, then mash it into the sofrito with a spoon. Add the sobrasada and let it melt into the oil. Stir in the pimentón, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, saffron, and bay leaf for 30 seconds only, just until fragrant. Pimentón burns quickly, and burnt pimentón turns bitter.
- 4
Simmer the broth
Return the browned meats and their juices to the pot. Add the green beans, artichokes, mushrooms, and hot stock. Bring to a lively simmer, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 25 minutes, until the rabbit and pork are nearly tender and the broth is dark, glossy, and well seasoned. Taste it now. It should be a little stronger than soup, because the rice will take up salt and flavour.
- 5
Add the rice
Stir in the rice and peas, keeping the pot at a steady simmer. Cook 15 to 18 minutes, stirring now and then so nothing catches, until the rice is tender but still has a small bite. This is a brothy rice, not a dry arroz: add a ladle of hot stock or water if it tightens before the rice is done. The grains should move freely in the broth.
- 6
Serve at once
Take out the bay leaf, taste for salt, and stir in the parsley. Rest 3 minutes, no more. Ladle the arròs brut into deep bowls with pieces of chicken, rabbit, pork, mushrooms, and vegetables in each one. Serve immediately, while it is still loose enough for a spoon. If it sits, it becomes good leftovers, but it stops being the dish at its best.
Chef Tips
- •Use bomba or Calasparra rice if you can. Arborio works at a pinch, but it gives off more starch, so stir less and keep extra hot stock ready. It will be creamier, less clean-grained, and that is the compromise.
- •Sobrasada is not the same as chorizo. Sobrasada melts into the broth and gives it a soft pimentón sweetness. If you must substitute, use 60g soft cured Spanish chorizo, minced fine, and accept a smokier, firmer taste.
- •The spice should warm the rice, not make it taste like dessert. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the cinnamon is 1/4 teaspoon, the clove only a small pinch. More is not better here.
- •Arròs brut is best the moment the rice is done. You can make the broth base ahead, but once the rice goes in, call people to the table.
- •For a Mallorcan table, serve it with a simple green salad or pickled olives. A young red from Binissalem or a dry rosat sits well with the sobrasada and spices.
Advance Preparation
- •Brown the meats and make the sofrito base up to 1 day ahead. Add the stock, vegetables, and rice only when you are ready to serve.
- •Trim the artichokes and keep them in water with a squeeze of lemon for up to 2 hours, then drain before adding.
- •Leftovers thicken as the rice drinks the broth. Reheat gently with a little water or stock and treat it as a thick rice stew, not as freshly made arròs brut.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 560g)
Calories
670 calories
Total Fat
30 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
170 mg
Sodium
1050 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
38 g
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