Cocido Madrileño

Cocido Madrileño is Madrid's chickpea pot, and what makes it Madrid's is the service as much as the pot: three vuelcos, three turns at the table. First the fideo soup, then the garbanzos with cabbage, potato, and carrot, then the meats, beef shin, hen, tocino, chorizo, morcilla, and jamón. Many regions have a cocido. This one belongs to Madrid, tal como se hace allí.

There's no sofrito hiding here and no browning to flatter the cook. The method that decides it is the simmer. Start the meats in cold water, skim well, add the soaked chickpeas only once the water is hot, and then keep the pot at a bare tremble. Boil it hard and the broth clouds, the chickpeas crack, and the meats turn stringy. Low heat gives you clear soup and chickpeas with their skins still decent.

If you're far from Madrid, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a large dried chickpea, a kabuli if that is what your market has; it will be a touch less creamy than garbanzo castellano but still right if it is fresh and soaked. Beef shin is morcillo by another name. A prosciutto bone or unsmoked ham hock can stand in for jamón, though a smoked hock will make the broth smokier than Madrid asks for.

Serve it in the three vuelcos and don't rush the table. In the Margin beside mine I wrote: "caldo claro, fuego bajo," clear broth, low heat. That is the whole warning. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.