Escudella i Carn d'Olla

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tall heavy pot, 8 to 10 litres
• •Skimming spoon
• •Fine sieve
• •Large warm platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the chickpeas

   The night before, cover the chickpeas with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak 12 hours. Drain them before cooking. Pésalo, no lo adivines: dry chickpeas swell unevenly if the amount is guessed, and this pot is already full enough.

2. 2

   Start the broth

   Put the beef, chicken, pork, ham bone, marrow bone, and trotter if using into a tall heavy pot. Add 2.8 litres cold water, bring it up slowly, and skim every bit of grey foam that rises. This is the step that decides the caldo. Skim it now and the broth stays clean; ignore it and no later trick will make it clear again.

   If the ham bone is very salty, soak it in cold water for 1 hour first, then rinse it. Salt belongs at the end, when you know what the cured bones have given.
3. 3

   Add chickpeas

   When the surface is clean, add the drained chickpeas. Keep the pot at a gentle tremble, not a rolling boil, for 1 hour. Partly cover it, and top up with hot water only if the meats start to sit above the liquid.

4. 4

   Make the pilota

   While the pot cooks, soak the breadcrumbs with the milk for 5 minutes. Mix them with the minced pork, minced beef, egg, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, and cinnamon if using. Shape into one large oval pilota, or two smaller ones if your pot is narrow, then dust lightly with flour so the surface seals in the broth.

5. 5

   Add vegetables

   Add the leek, carrots, turnip, celery, and onion to the pot. Cook at the same gentle tremble for 45 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften and the chickpeas are nearly tender. Do not stir roughly; lift and settle things with tongs if you must.

6. 6

   Poach the pilota

   Lower the floured pilota into the broth and cook 35 minutes. It should firm up but stay juicy, taking the flavour of the pot without falling apart. If the broth bubbles hard here, the pilota cracks and the caldo clouds, which is a poor trade for impatience.

7. 7

   Finish the pot

   Add the potatoes and cabbage and cook 25 minutes more. Add the botifarra blanca and botifarra negra for the final 15 minutes only, so they warm through without bursting and muddying the broth. Taste the caldo now and salt only as needed.

8. 8

   Strain the caldo

   Lift the meats, sausages, pilota, vegetables, and chickpeas onto warm platters. Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pot. Keep the chickpeas with the vegetables or serve them in a small bowl, as your table likes it. This is home cooking, not a court case.

9. 9

   Cook the galets

   Bring the strained caldo to a steady simmer and cook the galets in it until tender, usually 12 to 15 minutes, depending on their size. Cook them just before serving. Galets left waiting in the soup drink the broth and turn heavy, and after all that skimming you deserve better.

10. 10

    Serve in two courses

    Serve the escudella first, the clear caldo with galets in deep bowls. Then bring the carn d'olla to the table: sliced beef, pork, chicken, botifarra, pilota, vegetables, and chickpeas. Put a little of everything on each plate. Tal com es fa alla, as it's done there.

Chef Tips

• •Botifarra is the Catalan sausage to look for. If you can't find botifarra blanca, use a mild fresh pork sausage, not an herb-heavy one. If you can't find botifarra negra, use Spanish morcilla or plain blood sausage. The pot will be less Catalan in its seasoning, but still right in structure.
• •Do not add chorizo. It will turn the broth red with pimenton and pull the dish toward another region's pot. Escudella gets its character from botifarra, pilota, chickpeas, bones, and a clean caldo.
• •Use large galets for Christmas if you can find them. Smaller pasta will feed people just as well, but the big shells are part of the feast, and they make the first bowl feel like Nadal.
• •Salt late. Ham bones, cured pork, and sausages give salt differently every time, and an early heavy hand can ruin a pot that took all morning.
• •If you want the broth very clear, chill it overnight after straining and lift off the set fat. Reheat it gently and cook the galets fresh before serving.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the chickpeas 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water.
• •The broth and boiled meats can be cooked 1 day ahead. Strain the caldo, chill everything separately, lift off excess fat if you like, then reheat gently.
• •Mix and shape the pilota up to 12 hours ahead, cover, and refrigerate. Flour it just before lowering it into the broth.
• •Cook the galets only at serving time, or they will swell and steal the broth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 850g)