Chef Isabel
Brou Menorquí (Menorcan Cocido Broth)
Brou menorquí is Menorca's Wednesday cocido, a quiet two-turn pot: pale broth with small pasta first, then chickpeas, potatoes, cabbage, and meats cooked low enough to stay clear.
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Berza Gaditana
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Berza gaditana is Cádiz spoon food: chickpeas and white beans with the green the season gives, plus chorizo, morcilla, and pork, simmered until the broth turns thick and honest.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•11 hr 10 min total
Yield6 servings
Berza gaditana belongs to Cádiz, especially the kitchens around Jerez, and it is not just any pot of greens. Chickpeas and white beans cook together with pork, chorizo, morcilla, and the green the market gives you: tagarninas if you can find them, cabbage, chard, or cardoons if you can't. The two legumes and the greens make it Cádiz. The pringá, the meats served after or beside the stew, makes the table go quiet for a minute.
The method that decides it is the simmer. Soak the legumes overnight, start them with the meats, and keep the pot at a low, steady bubble until the chickpeas are tender and the beans give up enough starch to thicken the broth. A hard boil breaks the beans and leaves the chickpeas sulking in the middle, hard as little stones. Low and patient. Con buenos ingredientes y paciencia.
The greens go in after the legumes have begun to soften, not at the start, or they lose themselves before the pot is ready. Then a small majado, garlic, cumin, pimentón, and a little bread or potato crushed into a paste, goes in near the end to bind the broth and give it that Cádiz warmth. No hace falta haber pisado España. If tagarninas are impossible where you are, use sturdy green cabbage with a little chard; the taste will be less wild and bitter, but the dish still knows where it's going.
My Margin for this one is plain: don't be timid with the greens, and don't salt early. The cured meats bring salt as they cook, and the pot tells you what it needs at the end. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Berza gaditana belongs to the cocina de cuchara, spoon food, of Cádiz and the countryside around Jerez, where winter greens, dried legumes, and the pig larder met in one sustaining pot. The stew is also called berza jerezana or berza gitana in many homes, with tagarninas, cardillos, cabbage, or chard changing according to what the season offered. Its pringá, the cooked meats lifted from the pot and eaten with bread, connects it to the Andalusian habit of making one stew serve as both first plate and second.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
250g
soaked overnight
dried small white beans
Quantity
200g
soaked overnight
tagarninas, or green cabbage plus chard
Quantity
300g
cleaned and chopped
pork shoulder or pork rib
Quantity
250g
in large pieces
pork belly or tocino
Quantity
150g
in one piece
Spanish cooking chorizo
Quantity
1, about 120g
morcilla
Quantity
1, about 120g
ham bone or jamón end (optional)
Quantity
1 bone or 150g
onion
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and halved
carrot
Quantity
1 large
peeled
bay leaf
Quantity
1
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground cumin
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
day-old bread, or one small cooked potato from the pot
Quantity
30g
for the majado
olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
salt
Quantity
to taste
water
Quantity
enough to cover by 4cm
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 250g |
| dried small white beanssoaked overnight | 200g |
| tagarninas, or green cabbage plus chardcleaned and chopped | 300g |
| pork shoulder or pork ribin large pieces | 250g |
| pork belly or tocinoin one piece | 150g |
| Spanish cooking chorizo | 1, about 120g |
| morcilla | 1, about 120g |
| ham bone or jamón end (optional) | 1 bone or 150g |
| onionpeeled and halved | 1 medium |
| carrotpeeled | 1 large |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| garlic | 3 cloves |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| ground cumin | 1/2 teaspoon |
| day-old bread, or one small cooked potato from the potfor the majado | 30g |
| olive oil | 3 tablespoons |
| salt | to taste |
| water | enough to cover by 4cm |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litres
- •Skimming spoon
- •Mortar and pestle, or a small bowl and fork
- •Small frying pan
Instructions
- 1
Soak the legumes
The night before, put the chickpeas and white beans in separate bowls and cover each with plenty of cold water. They need the full soak so they cook evenly in the same pot. In the morning, drain them well. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the balance of chickpeas to beans is what gives berza gaditana its thick body without turning it into bean paste.
If your beans are old, they may take longer than the recipe says. Dried legumes are not immortal. Buy them from a shop with good turnover. - 2
Start the pot
Put the drained chickpeas and beans in a heavy pot with the pork shoulder, pork belly, ham bone if using, onion, carrot, and bay leaf. Cover with fresh water by about 4cm and bring it slowly to a boil. Skim the foam that rises, then lower the heat until the pot holds a steady, gentle bubble. Do not salt yet; the cured pork will speak first.
- 3
Simmer until tender
Cook gently for about 1 hour 15 minutes, checking that the legumes stay just covered. Add hot water if the level drops too far. Keep the heat calm. A hard boil breaks the white beans before the chickpeas are ready, and then you have a cloudy pot with hard centers. This is the step that decides the dish.
- 4
Add meats and greens
Prick the chorizo and morcilla once with a knife and add them to the pot with the chopped greens. Press the greens down gently as they wilt. Cook another 45 to 60 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender all the way through, the beans are creamy, and the greens have softened into the broth without disappearing.
- 5
Make the majado
Warm the olive oil in a small pan and fry the garlic cloves until pale gold, then lift them into a mortar. Fry the bread in the same oil until golden, then add it to the mortar. Take the pan off the heat and stir the pimentón into the oil for a few seconds only, just until it smells sweet. Crush the garlic, bread, cumin, and a ladle of broth into a paste, then scrape it all back into the pot. If you use potato instead of bread, mash it with the garlic and cumin and add the pimentón oil.
- 6
Finish and rest
Simmer 15 minutes more so the majado thickens the broth and the pimentón settles into the pot. Taste now and salt carefully. Lift out the chorizo, morcilla, pork, and tocino, slice them into thick pieces, and return some to the stew or serve them separately as pringá with bread. Let the berza rest 10 minutes before serving; it should be thick enough to mound softly on the spoon, not run like soup.
Chef Tips
- •Tagarninas are the green to buy if you can find them, especially in season. They have a wild, slightly bitter edge that makes the Cádiz pot taste like itself. If you can't get them, use sturdy green cabbage with chard. Spinach is too soft on its own and vanishes before the legumes are ready.
- •Use Spanish cooking chorizo and morcilla if at all possible. Mexican fresh chorizo is a different sausage and will push the pot somewhere else. If morcilla is impossible, leave it out and add a little more pork belly; the stew will be less dark and rounded, but still good.
- •Do not salt at the start. Chorizo, morcilla, tocino, and jamón all give salt differently, and some give more than you think. Taste near the end, when the broth has reduced and the meats have done their work.
- •Berza gaditana is better after a rest and often better the next day. Reheat it gently and loosen it with a splash of water if it thickens too much in the fridge. Don't drown it. This is a stew, not a broth.
- •Serve the pringá with good bread. Some homes mash the meats onto bread after the first bowl of stew, and that is not decoration. That is lunch finishing properly.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas and white beans separately overnight, 8 to 12 hours, in plenty of cold water.
- •The stew can be cooked one day ahead. Chill it covered, then reheat slowly over low heat, adding a little water only if the broth has set too thick.
- •The greens can be washed and chopped a day ahead. Keep them wrapped in a clean towel in the refrigerator so they do not sit wet and tired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
805 calories
Total Fat
47 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
32 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
1720 mg
Total Carbohydrates
57 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
42 g
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