Chef Isabel
Cocido Aragonés con Cardo
Cocido Aragonés is Aragón's chickpea stew, marked by cardo from the Ebro garden and a bread-and-meat pelota. Keep the pot gentle and the garbanzos stay whole.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Cocido Gallego
Created by
Cocido Gallego is Galicia's winter and Carnival pot: desalted matanza pork, garbanzos, grelos, and cachelos cooked in one broth until every platter tastes of the same deep, clean pot.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Celebration
35 min
Active Time
3 hr 30 min cook•4 hr 5 min total
Yield8 servings
Cocido Gallego belongs to Galicia, and Galicia makes it with grelos, cachelos, garbanzos, and the cured pork of the matanza, the household pig slaughter. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but it comes to the table in abundance: chickpeas, greens, potatoes, chorizo, lacón, ribs, belly, each one tasting of the same pot. No sofrito here. No browning. The broth is built from cured pork, water, and time.
The step that decides it is not glamorous: desalt the pork properly. If the lacón and ribs go into the pot too salty, no clever hand can fix the broth later. Soak them a full day, changing the water, then cook them slowly before the chickpeas and vegetables join. The chickpeas need a steady simmer in already hot broth; shock them with cold water and they sulk. Nadie nace sabiendo, but this one is kind if you follow the order.
If you are far from Galicia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use turnip greens first in place of grelos, broccoli rabe at a pinch, or collards if that is what your market gives you. Collards need longer and taste rounder, less bitter. If lacón salado is impossible, use a meaty smoked ham hock with a piece of fresh pork shoulder, and know what changes: the broth will taste smokier and less cleanly cured. Keep the chorizo cured and Spanish if you can. Fresh raw chorizo melts into grease and gives you another dish.
Serve the broth first if you like, then the chickpeas, potatoes, greens, and sliced meats on big platters. My Margin for this one says only: "no sal hasta el final," no salt until the end. The pork has already spoken. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Cocido Gallego belongs to Galicia's inland winter table and is closely tied to Entroido, Carnival, when the cured pork from the matanza meets the season's grelos before spring changes the market. Lalín, in the comarca of Deza, is the town most associated with the dish, and its Festa do Cocido made the local version a point of Galician pride. The dish is less a single fixed pot than a record of a household larder: salted shoulder, ribs, belly, chorizo, chickpeas, potatoes, and bitter greens cooked in the order each one needs.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
lacón salado (salt-cured pork shoulder)
Quantity
700g
soaked 24 to 36 hours
salted pork ribs
Quantity
400g
soaked 24 hours
panceta salada or tocino
Quantity
250g
soaked 24 hours
pig's ear (optional)
Quantity
1, about 180g
soaked 24 hours
dried chickpeas
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight
cold water
Quantity
3.5L, plus hot water as needed
chorizos gallegos or other cured Spanish chorizos
Quantity
4, about 320g
left whole
unto (Galician cured pork fat) (optional)
Quantity
30g
waxy potatoes
Quantity
1.2kg
peeled and cut into large cachelos
grelos or turnip greens
Quantity
800g
tough stems removed and washed well
fine salt
Quantity
only if needed at the end
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lacón salado (salt-cured pork shoulder)soaked 24 to 36 hours | 700g |
| salted pork ribssoaked 24 hours | 400g |
| panceta salada or tocinosoaked 24 hours | 250g |
| pig's ear (optional)soaked 24 hours | 1, about 180g |
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 500g |
| cold water | 3.5L, plus hot water as needed |
| chorizos gallegos or other cured Spanish chorizosleft whole | 4, about 320g |
| unto (Galician cured pork fat) (optional) | 30g |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into large cachelos | 1.2kg |
| grelos or turnip greenstough stems removed and washed well | 800g |
| fine salt | only if needed at the end |
Equipment Needed
- •8 to 10 litre heavy stockpot or olla
- •Large bowl for desalting the pork
- •Large bowl for soaking chickpeas
- •Skimming spoon
- •Legume net for chickpeas, optional
- •Tongs and a slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Desalt the pork
The day before cooking, put the lacón, salted ribs, panceta or tocino, and pig's ear if using into a large bowl and cover with plenty of cold water. Change the water every 8 hours. The last water should taste only faintly salty; if it tastes like the sea, give the pork another change. This is the step that decides the cocido. Too much salt now and the whole pot shouts.
Soak the chickpeas separately overnight in plenty of cold water. They swell more than you think, so give them a bowl three times their volume. - 2
Start the broth
Drain the desalted pork and put it in an 8 to 10 litre heavy pot with 3.5 litres cold water and the unto, if using. Bring it up slowly over medium heat, skimming the grey foam that rises. Once it reaches a gentle simmer, lower the heat and cook for 45 minutes. Do not add salt. The cured meat is already seasoning the broth.
- 3
Add the chickpeas
Drain the soaked chickpeas and add them to the simmering broth, ideally in a legume net if you have one. Chickpeas like to enter hot liquid, not cold, so keep the broth moving gently when they go in. Simmer uncovered or half-covered for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, until the chickpeas are nearly tender but still hold their shape. Add hot water if the level drops below the chickpeas and meat.
- 4
Cook chorizo and potatoes
Add the whole chorizos and the potatoes. Keep the simmer steady and quiet for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced but not falling apart. Leave the chorizos whole for cooking; if you slice them now, they bleed too much fat into the pot and the broth gets heavy.
- 5
Finish the grelos
Tuck in the grelos or turnip greens, pressing them down into the broth as they soften. Cook 10 to 15 minutes for tender turnip greens, or 20 minutes for sturdier collards. Taste the broth only now and add a little fine salt if it truly needs it. Pésalo, no lo adivines, but with salt here, taste first because the pork varies from butcher to butcher.
- 6
Slice and serve
Lift out the pork cuts and chorizos. Slice the lacón, ribs, belly, ear, and chorizo into generous pieces. Spoon the chickpeas into a warm dish, set the potatoes and grelos beside them, and arrange the meats on a separate platter, or pile everything together for the table. Ladle a little broth over the chickpeas so they shine. Serve the broth first in bowls if that is how your table likes it, then the platters. Tal como se hace allí: abundant, plain, and enough for everyone.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the pork first, then decide how much salt the recipe needs. Lacón salado and salted ribs vary wildly. If the soaking water still tastes fierce after a day, keep soaking and change the water again. A cocido should taste deep, not punishing.
- •Grelos are the Galician green for this pot, pleasantly bitter and made for pork. Outside Galicia, use turnip greens first. Broccoli rabe works but is sharper; collards work but need 5 to 10 minutes longer and give a rounder, less bitter finish.
- •Use cured Spanish chorizo, not fresh raw chorizo. The cured sausage slices cleanly and gives the broth pimentón colour without falling apart. Fresh raw chorizo clouds the pot and turns it greasy.
- •Canned chickpeas can rescue dinner, but they are the second road. Use three 400g cans, drained and rinsed, and add them with the potatoes for the last 25 minutes. The broth will be a little thinner, because dried chickpeas give it body as they cook.
- •Leftover broth is gold. Strain it and use it the next day for a small caldo with chopped greens and a few chickpeas. Do not throw away what the pot spent three hours making.
Advance Preparation
- •Start 24 to 36 hours ahead by desalting the cured pork in cold water, changing the water every 8 hours.
- •Soak the chickpeas overnight in a separate bowl with plenty of cold water.
- •The pork, broth, and chickpeas can be cooked a day ahead and chilled together. Reheat gently, then add the potatoes, chorizo, and grelos the day you serve it so the vegetables stay clean and not tired.
- •Wash the grelos ahead if you like, but dry and chill them wrapped in a cloth. Grit hides in the stems, and nobody wants Galicia crunching between their teeth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 750g)
Calories
1085 calories
Total Fat
63 g
Saturated Fat
21 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
42 g
Cholesterol
160 mg
Sodium
2400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
72 g
Dietary Fiber
17 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
57 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Cocidos de Madrid, el Norte y la Meseta
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Cocido Castellano
Cocido Castellano is the chickpea stew of the Castilian meseta: clear broth first, garbanzos and cabbage next, meats and fried relleno last.
Chef Isabel
Cocido Lebaniego
Cocido Lebaniego is Liébana's mountain pot from Cantabria: small chickpeas, pork from the larder, cabbage, potato, and a fried bread-and-egg relleno. Hold it at a tremble.
Chef Isabel
Cocido Madrileño
Cocido Madrileño is Madrid's winter pot: chickpeas, beef, hen, pork, cabbage, and fideos served in three vuelcos. Keep it at a bare simmer and the broth stays clear.