Sopa de Cocido Madrileño

Sopa de Cocido Madrileño is Madrid's first vuelco, the first serving from the cocido pot: strained broth with fine fideos, not a separate little noodle soup pretending to be something grander. The chickpeas, beef, hen, jamón bone, tocino, and vegetables give the broth its weight. The bowl itself stays plain. Clear broth, fine noodles, enough depth to tell you the pot worked.

The method that decides it is not the noodle. It is the broth. Bring the meats up slowly, skim hard at the beginning, then keep the pot at a steady murmur. A violent boil clouds the broth and throws fat through it; patience gives you a clean, amber soup. After that, strain it, skim the fat, and cook the fideos only at the end. Leave them sitting in the pot and they swell like they've been left unsupervised, because they have.

If you are far from Madrid, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a good dried chickpea, a beef shin or shank, chicken leg, a piece of cured ham or prosciutto end if you cannot find a jamón bone, and Spanish chorizo only if it tastes of pimentón, not smokehouse sugar. A small smoked ham hock will do at a pinch, but it makes the broth saltier and smokier, so soak it first and salt late. Siempre sale, si lo sigues: clean broth first, fideos last.