Chef Isabel
Ajo Carretero de Soria
Ajo carretero is Soriano, from the pine country of Soria: lamb cooked in a plain garlicky broth, then served the old way, meat first and bread-soaked soup after.
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Sopa de Antruejo
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Sopa de Antruejo is Extremadura's Carnival bread soup from Aceuchal: pork broth from knuckle, ear, chorizo, and bone poured over day-old bread and egg before Lent begins.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Celebration
One Pot
25 min
Active Time
3 hr cook•3 hr 25 min total
Yield6 servings
Sopa de Antruejo is Extremaduran, from Aceuchal in Badajoz, and it belongs to Carnival, when the pork from the matanza still had its say before Lent quieted the table. This is not a light broth with a garnish floating politely on top. It is bread made rich with pork broth, egg, chorizo, and the gelatin of ear and knuckle. Cocina de cuchara, spoon food, and honest as a closed fist.
The bread decides it. Use pan asentado, day-old bread with some body, cut thin, and pour the hot broth over it in two passes so it swells without turning to paste. Fresh sandwich bread gives you glue. Hard toast stays stubborn. The right bread drinks the broth and still lets the spoon find slices.
If you are far from Aceuchal, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a fresh pork hock or smoked ham hock for the codillo, and a ham bone or salted pork bone for the depth. If you can't find pig's ear, use a small trotter; you lose the clean bite of the ear but keep the gelatin. For chorizo, look for Spanish cooking chorizo or Portuguese chouriço at a pinch, not fresh loose chorizo that breaks apart and takes over the pot.
The dish is slow, but not difficult. Bring the meat up gently, skim it, hold it at a quiet simmer, then let the bread rest under the broth until it becomes soup instead of soaked bread. Siempre sale, si lo sigues. In my Margin beside this one, I wrote only: "pan viejo, caldo claro," old bread, clear broth.
Sopa de Antruejo belongs to Aceuchal, in Extremadura's Tierra de Barros, where Carnival food used the pork larder before the fasting days of Cuaresma. Antruejo is an old western peninsular word for Carnival, and the soup reflects the matanza, the household slaughter that filled the year with salted bones, chorizo, tocino, ears, and knuckles. Bread was not a filler thrown in at the end; it was the household staple that turned a strong pork broth into a meal for a full table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
pork knuckle or fresh pork hock
Quantity
750g
pig's ear
Quantity
250g
cleaned
salted pork spine bone or ham bone
Quantity
350g
soaked if very salty
tocino or cured pork belly
Quantity
150g
in one piece
Spanish cooking chorizo
Quantity
200g
left whole
onion
Quantity
1 small
peeled and halved
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
lightly crushed
bay leaf
Quantity
1
cold water
Quantity
2.5 litres, plus more if needed
day-old dense country bread
Quantity
350g
thinly sliced
large eggs
Quantity
4
salt
Quantity
only if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| pork knuckle or fresh pork hock | 750g |
| pig's earcleaned | 250g |
| salted pork spine bone or ham bonesoaked if very salty | 350g |
| tocino or cured pork bellyin one piece | 150g |
| Spanish cooking chorizoleft whole | 200g |
| onionpeeled and halved | 1 small |
| garlic cloveslightly crushed | 2 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| cold water | 2.5 litres, plus more if needed |
| day-old dense country breadthinly sliced | 350g |
| large eggs | 4 |
| salt | only if needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Tall heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litres
- •Skimming spoon
- •Fine strainer
- •Deep cazuela de barro or warmed serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Soak salty pork
If your pork bone, tocino, or knuckle is heavily salted, soak it in cold water for at least 2 hours, or overnight if it tastes sharp with salt. Drain and rinse. This is not fussing; it is how you keep the broth strong without making it undrinkable.
If you are using a smoked ham hock instead of fresh codillo, soak only if it is very salty. The smoke will change the soup a little, making it deeper and less clean, but it is a real kitchen substitute. - 2
Start the broth
Put the pork knuckle, pig's ear, pork bone, tocino, onion, garlic, and bay leaf into a tall heavy pot. Add the 2.5 litres cold water and bring it up slowly over medium heat. Skim the grey foam as it rises. Once it reaches a simmer, lower the heat until the surface only trembles.
- 3
Simmer gently
Cook gently for about 2 hours, partly covered, until the knuckle begins to soften and the ear is tender but still has a little bite. Do not boil hard. A hard boil clouds the broth, breaks the fat into it, and makes the whole soup taste heavy before the bread even sees it.
- 4
Add the chorizo
Add the whole chorizo for the last 30 to 40 minutes of cooking. Keep the simmer quiet so the skin does not burst and flood the broth with too much pimentón oil. At the end you should have about 1.7 to 2 litres of broth. If it has reduced too far, add a little hot water.
- 5
Cook the eggs
While the broth finishes, put the eggs in a small pan of water, bring to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes. Cool under cold water, peel, and slice thickly. Keep them simple; the egg is there to make the soup generous, not pretty.
- 6
Strain and cut
Lift the meats out to a board. Strain the broth into a clean pan and taste before adding any salt; the cured pork may have done the work already. Pull the knuckle meat into rough pieces, cut the ear into strips, slice the chorizo into thick coins, and cut the tocino into small pieces. Discard the onion, garlic, bay, and bare bones.
- 7
Soak the bread
Lay the thin slices of day-old bread in a deep warmed cazuela or serving bowl, tucking in the egg slices, knuckle meat, ear, chorizo, and tocino as you go. Bring the strained broth back to a full heat, then pour half of it over the bread. Wait 3 minutes, then pour over the rest. That pause matters: the first broth opens the bread, the second turns it into soup instead of paste.
- 8
Rest and serve
Cover the cazuela and let it stand for 8 to 10 minutes. The bread should be swollen and spoonable, with broth still visible at the edges and red-gold oil from the chorizo shining on top. Serve hot in deep bowls, making sure every person gets bread, egg, chorizo, and a little of the pork. Tal como se hace allí, plain and filling.
Chef Tips
- •Use dense day-old bread, not soft sliced bread. Pan candeal, pan de pueblo, or a sturdy country loaf works. Fresh bread dissolves into paste, and then you are eating regret with chorizo in it.
- •The chorizo should be Spanish cooking chorizo, firm and seasoned with pimentón. Portuguese chouriço is the closest easy substitute. Fresh loose chorizo changes the broth too much and muddies the dish.
- •Pig's ear gives a clean, pleasant bite and gelatin. If you cannot find it, use one small split pig's trotter instead. The soup will be silkier and a little heavier, but it will still make sense.
- •Salt at the end only. Ham bones, tocino, and salted pork vary wildly, and a broth that seems timid at the start can become salty after three hours.
- •This is Carnival food, so serve it as the meal, not a starter. A bitter green salad or a few olives beside it are enough.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak heavily salted pork pieces overnight in cold water, changing the water once if they are very salty.
- •The broth and meats can be cooked one day ahead. Chill them separately, lift off only the excess hardened fat, and reheat the broth before soaking the bread.
- •Slice the bread the day before and leave it loosely covered so it dries a little more. For this soup, yesterday's bread is the better bread.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 600g)
Calories
810 calories
Total Fat
53 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
31 g
Cholesterol
280 mg
Sodium
1800 mg
Total Carbohydrates
32 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
48 g
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