Cocido con Pelotas Murciano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8 to 10 litre heavy olla or stockpot
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Fine-mesh skimmer
• •Slotted spoon
• •Mesh garbanzo bag, optional
• •Small saucepan for the fideo broth, optional

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the chickpeas

   The night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl with warm water to cover by at least 8cm and stir in the 12g coarse salt. Leave them 10 to 12 hours, then drain. Chickpeas are not fabes; they go into hot broth after soaking, not cold water, or they cook unevenly and keep a chalky heart.

   If your chickpeas are old, give them the full 12 hours. Old chickpeas are stubborn, and no amount of Christmas patience fixes a bag that should have been cooked last year.
2. 2

   Start the broth

   Put the hen or turkey, beef shin, pork bones, ham bone, and tocino in an 8 to 10 litre olla or heavy pot with 3.5L cold water. Bring it up slowly, then skim the grey foam for 15 minutes until the surface looks clean. Add the leek, carrots, celery, turnip, bay leaf, and saffron if using. Keep it at a quiet simmer, not a boil; a clean broth starts with calm heat.

3. 3

   Add the chickpeas

   Once the broth is hot and settled, add the drained chickpeas, in a mesh bag if you have one. Simmer gently for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, until they are nearly tender but not collapsing. Top up with hot water if the chickpeas are exposed, and do not salt the broth yet; the ham and tocino are still speaking.

   A mesh bag is not fancy. It just lets you lift the chickpeas without breaking them when the pot is crowded with bones, vegetables, and pelotas.
4. 4

   Mix the pelotas

   Pour the hot broth or milk over the bread crumb and leave it 5 minutes, then squeeze it soft, not dry. In a wide bowl, mix the pork, turkey or chicken, blanco murciano or longaniza blanca, soaked bread, eggs, garlic, parsley, hierbabuena, pine nuts, lemon zest, pepper, and 8g fine salt. Mix with your fingers only until it holds together. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the bread and salt are what keep the pelota tender without falling apart.

5. 5

   Shape and test

   Poach a teaspoon of the mixture in the simmering broth for 2 minutes and taste it. If the mixture frays, add fine breadcrumbs 10g at a time, only enough to hold. With wet hands, shape 10 to 12 large oval pelotas, about 75 to 85g each. Do not pack them hard; they should feel held together, not clenched.

6. 6

   Poach the pelotas

   When the chickpeas are nearly tender, add the potatoes, cardoon, and pumpkin to the pot. Slide in the pelotas one by one, leaving space between them. The broth must only tremble. A rolling boil breaks the meatballs; hard kneading makes them tight. Cook 30 to 35 minutes, without stirring, until the pelotas are firm and cooked through at the centre. Shake the pot gently by the handles if you need to move anything.

7. 7

   Rest the cocido

   Lift the large meats and bones to a tray. Remove bones and cut the meat into serving pieces. Skim excess fat from the broth if you like, then taste and salt only now. Return the meat to the pot and let everything rest off the heat for 15 minutes. The broth settles, the pelotas drink a little of it, and the whole pot tastes rounder.

8. 8

   Serve in vuelcos

   For the old order, ladle about 1.2L broth into a small pan, bring it to a simmer, and cook the fideos for 4 to 5 minutes. Serve that broth first. Then serve the chickpeas, vegetables, meats, and pelotas, with more broth spooned over. If your table wants one deep bowl, do that and don't apologize. No hace falta haber pisado España. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

Chef Tips

• •The pelota wants blanco murciano or longaniza blanca. Abroad, choose mild fresh pork sausage, unsmoked and without fennel; smoky sausage takes the pot somewhere else. You will miss a little of the Murcian sweetness, but the texture works.
• •Use dried chickpeas if you can. Canned chickpeas are a rescue, not the same dish: use three 400g cans, rinsed, and add them only for the final 20 minutes with the pelotas. The broth will be lighter and the skins softer.
• •Fresh cardoon is right for Christmas but asks for trimming. Jarred Spanish cardoon, rinsed well, is a good home shortcut. If you have none, celery heart or chard stems give the vegetal edge, though they won't have cardoon's faint bitterness.
• •Keep the broth low once the pelotas go in. A hard boil tears the surface and turns tender balls into crumbs. Shake the pot by the handles instead of stirring through it with a spoon.
• •This cocido is better after a short rest and still good the next day. Reheat it gently, with a splash of water if the chickpeas have drunk too much broth in the fridge.
• •A young Monastrell from Jumilla stands up to the pork, chickpeas, and mint. Bread for the broth matters more than a grand bottle, and that is not a joke.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the chickpeas 10 to 12 hours ahead in warm salted water, then drain before cooking.
• •The pelotas can be mixed and shaped up to 24 hours ahead. Keep them covered and chilled, then take them out 20 minutes before poaching so they do not chill the broth too hard.
• •The broth, meats, and chickpeas can be cooked the day before. Chill overnight, lift off the fat if you like, then reheat gently and add the potatoes, pumpkin, cardoon, and pelotas on the day you serve it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 820g)