Olla Podrida Burgalesa

Olla podrida Burgalesa belongs to Burgos and to the red beans of Ibeas de Juarros, not to any plain stew with pork thrown in. It is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but a grand one: alubias rojas, chorizo, morcilla de Burgos, ribs, ear, panceta, and sometimes a relleno of bread and egg. Heavy food, yes. Burgos did not build this for a polite little lunch.

The method that decides it is the simmer. Soak the beans properly, start them cold, and once they begin to move, keep the pot at the barest tremble. A hard boil splits the skins and clouds the broth, and then you have red bean paste with meat in it. Good beans, patience, and no spoon digging through the pot. Shake the olla by the handles if you must move anything.

If you are far from Burgos, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a good dried red kidney bean or a small red bean with a creamy center, and know it will cook a little firmer than alubia roja de Ibeas. For morcilla, the closest real substitute is a Spanish rice morcilla; if you cannot find it, leave it out before you use a sweet breakfast blood sausage and call it the same dish. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

My Margin beside this one is short: rest it overnight. The beans drink in the pork, the broth settles, and the whole pot stops shouting and starts speaking clearly. Serve it in two vuelcos, beans first and the sacramentos, the pork pieces, after. Tal como se hace allí.