Fabes con Jabalí

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large nonreactive bowl or container for marinating
• •Wide heavy pot or olla for the beans
• •Heavy casserole or cazuela for the boar
• •Skimming spoon
• •Fine sieve

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and marinate

   Put the fabes in a large bowl and cover them with at least 8cm cold water. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the boar, wine, sliced onion, carrot, leek, crushed garlic, 2 bay leaves, peppercorns, and thyme. Cover both bowls and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. The soak gives the beans an even start; the wine pulls the hard edge from the jabalí before the long cook begins.

   Use inspected wild boar from a butcher or game dealer. If it came from a hunter, it must have been tested for trichinella; this is not a place for guessing.
2. 2

   Cook the fabes

   Drain the beans and put them in a wide, heavy pot. Cover with fresh cold water by 4cm, then add the whole onion, 2 peeled garlic cloves, and 1 bay leaf. Bring up slowly over medium-low heat, skim the grey foam, then lower the heat to the barest tremble. Cook until the fabes are almost tender, 2 to 3 hours depending on their age. Add small splashes of cold water if the beans peek above the surface. Don't stir with a spoon; shake the pot by the handles. When they are nearly tender, season with about 4g of the salt.

3. 3

   Brown the boar

   Lift the boar from the marinade, scrape off the vegetables, and pat the meat very dry. Strain the marinade through a sieve; keep the wine and discard the spent vegetables. Heat 30ml of the olive oil in a heavy casserole and brown the boar in batches, 5 to 7 minutes per batch, until well coloured on two or three sides. Season the browned meat with about 6g salt and move it to a plate.

4. 4

   Build the sofrito

   Add the remaining 30ml olive oil to the same casserole. Add the chopped onion, carrot, and green pepper and cook low and slow for 25 to 30 minutes, scraping the browned bits from the base, until the onion is dark gold and jammy. Add the minced garlic for 2 minutes, then the grated tomato, and cook until thick and almost dry, 10 to 12 minutes. Pull the pan off the heat and stir in the pimentón so it blooms without burning.

5. 5

   Braise the jabalí

   Return the browned boar and its juices to the sofrito. Add the strained wine marinade and the stock or water, bring to a quiet simmer, then cover with the lid slightly ajar. Braise gently until the meat yields when pressed with a spoon, 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes. If the sauce reduces before the meat is tender, add a ladle of bean cooking liquid or water.

6. 6

   Marry the pots

   When the fabes are creamy and the jabalí is spoon-tender, remove the whole onion and bay leaf from the bean pot. Add the boar and its sauce to the beans, along with enough bean cooking liquid to barely cover everything. Simmer at that same bare tremble for 25 to 30 minutes, shaking the pot now and then so the broth thickens without breaking the beans. Taste for salt.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Take the pot off the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes. The sauce should coat a spoon but still move like a stew, not a paste; loosen with a little hot water if needed. Serve in deep bowls with plenty of fabes, a few pieces of jabalí, and bread for the dark sauce. Con buenos ingredientes y paciencia, this is all it asks.

Chef Tips

• •Buy true fabes de la granja if you can. If not, judión de La Granja or a large cannellini gets you closest, but cannellini cook faster and give a broth that is less buttery. Start checking them after 90 minutes.
• •Venison shoulder is the nearest substitute for jabalí. Pork shoulder works when that is what the market gives you, but it is sweeter and gentler, so the stew loses the wild edge that makes the Asturian dish what it is.
• •Do not add chorizo or morcilla to make it taste bigger. That makes a confused fabada. Here the flavour belongs to the jabalí, the wine, and the slow sofrito.
• •Keep the wine away from the beans until they are tender. Acid tightens bean skins, and no amount of scolding the pot fixes that. Cook apart, then join them.
• •This is better the next day. Chill it covered, lift off any excess fat if you like, and reheat gently with a splash of water or bean cooking liquid. A hard boil will break the fabes you took care to keep whole.
• •Drink Asturian sidra natural with it if you can find it. A young red wine, not a heavy oaky one, also sits well with the jabalí.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the fabes and marinate the jabalí 12 to 24 hours before cooking. This is not extra work; it is the dish setting itself up properly.
• •The jabalí can be braised one day ahead and kept in its sauce. Cook the beans the next day, then marry the two for the final simmer.
• •The finished stew keeps 3 days covered in the refrigerator. Reheat gently and loosen with water or reserved bean cooking liquid if it has thickened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)