Chef Isabel
Berza Gaditana
Berza gaditana is Cádiz spoon food: chickpeas and white beans with the green the season gives, plus chorizo, morcilla, and pork, simmered until the broth turns thick and honest.
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Olla de Cerdo Murciana
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Olla de cerdo murciana is Murcia's everyday pork pot: white beans, fresh and cured pork, potatoes, and vegetables simmered slow, with the sofrito stirred in near the end.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•3 hr 10 min total
Yield6 servings
Olla de cerdo murciana belongs to Murcia, and it is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, in the plainest and best sense: white beans, pork from the household larder, potatoes, vegetables, and a broth that thickens because you let it. It is not a northern fabada. Murcia's pot is lighter in the bean, more vegetable-minded, and the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, comes in near the end to round the broth instead of taking over the whole dish.
The method that decides it is the bean cooking. Start the soaked beans with the tougher pork in cold water and keep the pot at a soft tremble, not a boil. A hard boil breaks the beans and roughens the broth. The morcilla goes in late so it stays whole, and the sofrito goes in late too, dark and sweet from the pan, because that is where the pot stops tasting boiled and starts tasting cooked.
If you're far from Murcia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use dried cannellini or another medium white bean if you can't find Spanish alubias blancas, and use a Spanish cooking chorizo if Murcian embutido is out of reach. What changes is the perfume: less local pimentón and pork fat, still a good honest pot. Siempre sale, si lo sigues. In my Margin beside this one I wrote only, "no lo apures," don't hurry it.
Olla de cerdo murciana comes from the inland Murcian larder, where dried beans, potatoes, garden vegetables, and pork from the matanza made a filling winter pot for ordinary houses. Murcia's huerta shaped the dish as much as the pig did, so vegetables and a tomato-based sofrito sit naturally beside the cured meats. It belongs to the same family of Spanish ollas and cocidos, but its late sofrito and modest, vegetable-rich broth mark it as Murcian rather than Asturian or Castilian.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried white beans
Quantity
400g
soaked overnight
fresh pork ribs or pork shoulder
Quantity
300g
cut into large pieces
panceta or fresh pork belly
Quantity
150g
in one piece
Spanish cooking chorizo
Quantity
150g
left whole
morcilla
Quantity
1 (about 150g)
left whole
pork bone or ham bone (optional)
Quantity
1
potatoes
Quantity
250g
peeled and cut into chunks
green beans or flat beans
Quantity
200g
trimmed and cut into pieces
pumpkin or squash
Quantity
150g
peeled and cut into chunks
turnip
Quantity
1 (about 120g)
peeled and quartered
bay leaf
Quantity
1
cold water
Quantity
1.8 litres, plus more as needed
olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomato
Quantity
2 tomatoes or 200g canned
grated
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried white beanssoaked overnight | 400g |
| fresh pork ribs or pork shouldercut into large pieces | 300g |
| panceta or fresh pork bellyin one piece | 150g |
| Spanish cooking chorizoleft whole | 150g |
| morcillaleft whole | 1 (about 150g) |
| pork bone or ham bone (optional) | 1 |
| potatoespeeled and cut into chunks | 250g |
| green beans or flat beanstrimmed and cut into pieces | 200g |
| pumpkin or squashpeeled and cut into chunks | 150g |
| turnippeeled and quartered | 1 (about 120g) |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| cold water | 1.8 litres, plus more as needed |
| olive oil | 3 tablespoons |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 2 |
| ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatograted | 2 tomatoes or 200g canned |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5 to 6 litre olla or Dutch oven
- •Skimming spoon
- •Small frying pan for the sofrito
Instructions
- 1
Start the beans
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a heavy olla or wide pot with the pork ribs, panceta, chorizo, pork bone if using, bay leaf, and 1.8 litres cold water. Bring it up slowly over medium heat. Skim the grey foam that rises, then lower the heat until the surface barely trembles.
Start with cold water. Beans heated gently from cold cook more evenly and keep their skins better than beans dropped into boiling water. - 2
Simmer gently
Cook for about 1 hour 45 minutes, keeping the beans covered by a finger of liquid. Add a splash of cold water if the level drops. Do not boil hard and do not stir with a spoon; shake the pot by the handles now and then. The beans should soften without bursting.
- 3
Add the vegetables
Add the potatoes, green beans, pumpkin, and turnip. Simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the pumpkin has begun to soften into the broth. Salt lightly now, remembering that the cured pork and morcilla still have their say.
- 4
Cook the sofrito
While the vegetables cook, warm the olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook it low and slow for 15 minutes, until dark gold and sweet. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the grated tomato. Cook until the tomato has lost its water and the oil shows at the edges. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón, and let it bloom without scorching.
- 5
Finish the pot
Stir the sofrito into the olla, moving gently so you do not break the beans. Add the morcilla whole and simmer 12 to 15 minutes more, just enough for it to flavor the broth and stay intact. Taste for salt. The broth should be loose but full, glossy at the surface, with some pumpkin and potato thickening it naturally.
- 6
Rest and serve
Lift out the chorizo, morcilla, and panceta, slice them thickly, and return them to the pot or divide them among the bowls. Let the olla rest off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. Spoon beans, vegetables, pork, and broth into deep bowls. Tal como se hace allí, this is food for bread and a quiet table.
Chef Tips
- •Use dried beans, not canned, for this pot. Canned beans are useful in many kitchens, but here they miss the slow exchange between bean, pork, and broth.
- •If you cannot find Murcian morcilla, use a Spanish onion morcilla or leave it out and add a little more panceta. Do not replace it with a sweet breakfast sausage. That makes another dish.
- •The sofrito must be cooked until the tomato is thick and the oil comes back to the surface. If it goes in watery, the whole pot tastes thin. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and cook it properly.
- •This is better after a rest. Make it in the morning for lunch, or the day before if you like. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water if the beans have drunk too much broth.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the white beans overnight in plenty of cold water, at least 10 to 12 hours. Drain them before cooking.
- •The finished olla keeps well for 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat slowly, adding a splash of water to loosen the broth.
- •You can cook the sofrito a day ahead and refrigerate it, but stir it into the pot only near the end so its flavor stays clear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 650g)
Calories
820 calories
Total Fat
48 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
32 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
1200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
60 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
38 g
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