Brou Menorquí (Menorcan Cocido Broth)

Brou menorquí is Menorca's cocido, the island pot served in two vuelcos, two turns: first the pale broth with small pasta, then the meats, chickpeas, potatoes, cabbage, and roots lifted from the olla. This is Menorcan before it is anything else. It is lighter than a Castilian cocido, plainer than a feast-day escudella, and built on a clean caldo, not on a fried base.

The method that decides it is the fire. Start the chickpeas, bones, meats, and roots in cold water, bring them up slowly, skim well, then hold the pot at the barest tremble. A hard boil clouds the broth, batters the chickpeas, and leaves the meat dry. Low and steady gives you the clear, deep brou you came for. Cocina de cuchara, spoon food, begins here with the broth.

If you are far from Menorca, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use beef shin, chicken or hen, pork ribs, a little cured panceta, and soaked dried chickpeas. Carn-i-xulla, the Menorcan cured pork, is lovely if you find it; if not, cured panceta is the honest substitute, quieter and less peppery. Don't throw in chorizo to make it taste more Spanish. It will taste like another pot.

Cook the pasta only in the broth you are serving, so the rest keeps clean for tomorrow. My Margin beside this one says: "no lo despiertes," don't wake it. That means the pot, not the cook. Keep it gentle and it comes out. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.