Chef Isabel
Fabada Asturiana
Fabada Asturiana is Asturias in a pot: fat fabes de la granja, cured compango, and a slow tremble on the stove until the beans turn creamy and the broth shines.
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Fabes con Uñes de Gochu
Created by
Asturias keeps this stew plain and deep: fabes de la granja, pig's trotters, salted ear, and a low tremble until the pork gives its gelatin and the broth turns silky.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
One Pot
30 min
Active Time
3 hr 30 min cook•4 hr total
Yield6 servings
Fabes con uñes de gochu is Asturian, not just a bean stew with pork dropped in. It is fabes de la granja cooked with pig's trotters and ear, the cheap cuts from the matanza that give the broth its body. A fabada leans on compango. This one leans on gelatin, pimentón, and a pot kept quiet.
The method that decides it is the simmer. Start the soaked fabes and the pork in cold water, bring them up slowly, then keep the surface at the barest tremble. A boil breaks the beans and shakes the gelatin into a cloudy broth; a low tremble lets the skins stay whole while the broth turns glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon. Don't stir. Shake the pot by the handles if you must.
If you can't find fabes where you are, use judión or a good large cannellini, and know the texture will be a little less buttery. If salted ear is hard to find, use fresh pig's ear with a small piece of salt pork, and salt late. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need the trotters split, the beans soaked, and patience enough not to rush the pot.
In my Margin beside this dish I wrote one thing: taste before salting. The salted ear can carry more than you think. Do that, keep the simmer low, and siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Fabes con uñes de gochu belongs to Asturias and to the cocina de cuchara, spoon food, that made a full meal from dried beans and the pig after the matanza, the household pig slaughter. In Asturian, gochu means pig and uñes are the trotters, the parts that cost little but carry enough collagen to thicken a pot without flour. It sits beside fabada in the Asturian bean family, plainer in its pork and very much a home dish of nothing wasted.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried fabes de la granja
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight; use judión or large cannellini if needed
pig's trotters
Quantity
2 (about 900g)
split lengthwise, fresh or salted
salted pig's ear
Quantity
250g
soaked to desalt
onion
Quantity
1 medium (about 150g)
peeled, left whole
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
peeled
bay leaf
Quantity
1
parsley sprigs
Quantity
3
olive oil
Quantity
60ml
divided
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 pinch
cold water
Quantity
2.5L, plus more as needed
salt
Quantity
to taste
added near the end
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried fabes de la granjasoaked overnight; use judión or large cannellini if needed | 500g |
| pig's trotterssplit lengthwise, fresh or salted | 2 (about 900g) |
| salted pig's earsoaked to desalt | 250g |
| onionpeeled, left whole | 1 medium (about 150g) |
| garlicpeeled | 3 cloves |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| parsley sprigs | 3 |
| olive oildivided | 60ml |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 pinch |
| cold water | 2.5L, plus more as needed |
| saltadded near the end | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large soaking bowls
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litres
- •Skimming spoon
- •Small frying pan
- •Tongs
Instructions
- 1
Soak and desalt
The night before, put the fabes in a large bowl and cover them with at least 8cm cold water. In a separate bowl, soak the salted ear, and the trotters too if they are salted, in cold water for 12 to 24 hours, changing the water once or twice. Keep the beans and pork separate; the pork is losing salt while the beans are drinking water, and they do not need the same bath.
If your trotters are fresh, skip the long soak for them, but still blanch them before they go into the bean pot. - 2
Blanch the pork
Drain the ear and trotters. Put them in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse well, and scrape away any rough bits. This first boil is cleaning, not cooking. With salted cuts it keeps the broth clean and lets you control the salt later.
- 3
Start the pot
Drain the soaked fabes and put them in a wide, heavy pot with the blanched trotters and ear. Add the whole onion, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, 30ml of the olive oil, and enough cold water to cover everything by about 4cm. Bring it up slowly over medium-low heat and skim the foam that rises. Start cold, not hot; the beans cook more evenly and their skins have a better chance of staying whole.
- 4
Keep a tremble
Lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, adding small splashes of cold water when the liquid drops below the beans or the pot threatens to boil. This is asustar las fabes, startling the beans, and it helps keep the skins from splitting. Do not stir with a spoon. Move the pot by the handles now and then, gently, like you mean it.
- 5
Add pimentón oil
When the fabes are nearly tender, warm the remaining 30ml olive oil in a small pan. Take it off the heat, stir in the pimentón until it smells sweet and turns brick red, then pour it into the pot. If using saffron, crumble it into a spoonful of hot broth and add it now. Lift out the onion and garlic, mash them with a ladleful of fabes, and return the paste to the pot. Do not fry pimentón over the flame; scorched pimentón makes the whole stew bitter.
- 6
Salt and rest
Taste before adding salt. The salted ear may have done half the work already. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes more, still low, until the fabes are creamy and the broth coats a spoon with a glossy film. Lift out the trotters and ear, remove any large bones, cut the ear and trotter meat into spoonable pieces, and return them to the pot. Let the stew rest off the heat for 20 minutes before serving in deep bowls with bread for the broth.
Chef Tips
- •Ask the butcher to split the trotters lengthwise. Whole trotters take longer, give less of themselves to the broth, and make a clumsy job at the table.
- •Fabes de la granja are the bean to look for: large, white, thin-skinned, and creamy. Judión works well if that is what you can get. Cannellini will cook a little faster and give a lighter, less buttery stew.
- •Do not salt early. Salted ear is not polite about how much salt it brings, so taste the broth near the end and season only then. Pésalo, no lo adivines for the beans; taste, don't guess, for the salt.
- •Do not add chorizo and morcilla by habit. That turns the pot toward fabada, and this dish is about trotters, ear, and the quiet richness of gelatin. Let it be what it is.
- •This is better the next day. Chill it, lift off any heavy fat if you like, and reheat gently with a splash of water. Never boil it hard on the second day or the beans will suffer for your impatience.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the fabes overnight in plenty of cold water so they cook evenly without splitting.
- •Soak salted ear, and salted trotters if using them, for 12 to 24 hours in a separate bowl, changing the water once or twice.
- •The stew can be made 1 day ahead and reheated very gently. It keeps 3 days covered in the refrigerator and thickens as it rests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 480g)
Calories
645 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
110 mg
Sodium
1250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
53 g
Dietary Fiber
13 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
48 g
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