This dish dates back centuries introduced by the sephardic jews. A peasants stew, it was made with the cheapest cuts from a pig, cow and chicken. It’s these fatty, throw away pieces that nourished them and kept their immunities strong throughout the colder months.
Real animal fats, pastured as God intended keep our bodies alive and strong as they build our brain development and keep our hormones in balance. Digestion is impossible without fats. Fat and protein are found together in nature because our bodies need the fat to help us digest the protein. Fat also helps the body to absorb nutrients, calcium, and the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
Our ancestors didn’t know all of this nutritional information, however, they did understand that by including these pieces of meat they stayed alive, strong and developed the most amazing flavors that only real animal fats can create.
Below are the cuts of meat needed for a traditional Puchero Andaluz. I only used a few as many of these are optional.
Meats Needed
1. Pork
It comes to no surprise that in order to create the richest flavors, different pieces of the hog are required. My families traditional recipe includes a ham hock or ham bone, pork belly, one white rib and a spine of a hog.
You can begin to see why this simple, basic meal is a powerhouse of nutrients with rich and complex flavors.
This meal is also frugal. Our ancestors knew how to stretch their meals and this is no exception.
Freeze your bone broth for other nourishing meals and save the shreds of meat for dishes such as Spanish croquetas or even Mexican enchiladas.
I’m excited to share my family’s traditional recipe for Puchero Andaluz in a video. This is my video entry for Project Food Blog Challenge #7: Video 411.
- ham hock (smoked is great) or bone of a jamon serrano
- 2 chicken legs with thighs, preferably free range
- 4 oz pork belly
- 1 white rib of a pig (optional)
- 1 spine of a pig (optional)
- 1 beef soup bone with marrow
- 1 cup dried garbanzo beans, soaked overnight
- 1 celery heart
- 3 carrots
- 3 turnips, diced
- 1 leek
- 1 onion, quartered
- 2 potatoes, diced
- 1/2 green cabbage
- handful pak choi or other leafy green such as swiss chard
- In a large stock pot, add all of your meats, garbanzo beans, celery heart, carrots, turnips, leek, and onions.
- Fill with water 2 inches above ingredients.
- Add 2 tbls raw apple cider vinegar to extract minerals from the bones.
- Bring to a boil and simmer.
- Within the first 15 minutes remove any scum that floats to the top.
- Cover and simmer for an additional 1 hour and 15 minutes or until garbanzo beans are tender.
- Add the potatoes, cover and simmer for an additional 20 – 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- Remove all meat from the pot and set aside.
- Using a colander separate the broth from the vegetables into a second pot.
- Bring the broth in the second pot back to a boil and add the green cabbage and pak choi.
- Boil for five minutes.
- Serve all the meats and vegetables on a platter and ladle with broth.
- Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
- Serve
Thank you to everyone that has voted for me and kept me in the project thus far. Your support is greatly appreciated. If you enjoyed this post and video and would like to see me move onto challenge #8, please vote for me starting Monday, November 15th by clicking here.
This post is a part of the Hearth and Soul blog hop and Real Food Wednesdays.
You look gorgeous and so does the food! Love all the info you've included here, Diana, and you did a terrific job with the overall production. Fantastic 😉
Excellent post !!! Real cooking!! I grew up eating this puchero, since all my family is from Spain (the north, though) It is also very well made and you are super-natural! Congrats!
Great video! I loved how you included the history bits and community farm too. Looks like a comforting and delicious hearty dish. Good luck w/ PFB!
you look so lovely! and you're fantastic on camera, plus this dish has my mouth watering! i love seeing the good fats emphasized and i learned a new traditional recipe. good luck – you know i'll be supporting you!
Esta es la mejor comida del mundo. Deliciosa.
SAludos
You are not as adorable as I thought you'd be. In fact you are TWICE as adorable. And one heck of a cook. But that was a given. GREG
I haven't had a chance to watch the video but you sure look gorgeous in the picture. You cooked one of the best dishes that reflect comfort food to many in Spain, Portugal and the Americas.
I just posted the Mexican version in my blog last night. 🙂
Saludos,
Mely
adorable, knowledgeable, and such a great chef 🙂
You did amazing! So natural and your video is very professional. Well done!
I really enjoyed the historical background behind this traditional meal and nutritional information. Some of the best recipes and practices are those passed down through generations. Your warm personality shone through. Well done.
This is such a great post – so insightful on where to get these ingredients, which are certainly not that common around where I am!
Diana. I have tears coming down my face right now…that was gorgeous. You are a natural and I just felt so proud (lol, I don't know why, just did)…I hope you go all the way, mi amiga 🙂 …oh yes, and I'm drooling as well. Big. Wet. Slobbery. Mess. 😉
Amazing food and agree with you; it's not the food that kills us, it's the lack of physical work that fails to keep our bodies function at top form. I love and cook peasant food; it's healthier, taste better and is less expensive. Why more people don't cook like this is a mystery to me. No band width to see the video but hope you're able to go as far as you want.
What a delicious recipe! Your video is great, and so cute. Best of luck and continued success on the FB Challenge.
Thank you so much for your comments. This post is near and dear to my heart so it's great to get such wonderful feedback.
Heather, you made me cry just reading your comment. Big hugs my friend, love ya!! XOXO!!!
wow you are so pretty a true star great stew and amazing clip so proud of you Rebecca
You've captured the spirit of your blog here so well. I love your attention to the nutrition of this dish. It looks very tasty.
The food looks wonderful, and you look amazing. Thank you for such a great recipe.
I think there is one inaccuracy in your description of the dishes' origins. You are probably referring to the traditional Sephardic (Spanish) Jews' Sabbath meal of HAMIN, what Eastern European Jews call CHOLENT. It's a dish made to be kept warm without adding heat, as on gas stovetop with a metal plate set on top for even heat. As traditional Jews, pork would not have been included.
I make this dish in the European way with short ribs of beef, dried prunes, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas, only I use my Crockpot..:)
Tukki
Diana! This is an amazing video! It is true you are a natural, and you've brilliantly conveyed your culture and your philosophy in this video.
Tukki, Thank you and thanks for stopping by and commenting 😀 In the video I did explain that it was originally made without pork, however, after the Spanish inquisition, the jews were forced to include pork to show that they were turning from their Jewish religion to Christianity. It was a horrible time for Jews to be in Spain or any European country. I do have a beautiful Jewish Sephardic cookbook and the tribulations they had to endure. Praise the Lord, they have overcome these times.
As far as the crockpot, I use mine as well 😉 This dish translates great to the crock… he he!!!
Have a great week!!!
Christine – Thank you so much!!! I hope your feeling well and I'll be in touch with you soon 😀
Diana,
You should really think about doing a weekly video post! I love how clearly you explain each step, why you do it then, or why that part of the vegetable is best, etc. Those tips are what turn a good cook into a great one!
Best of luck!
Diana, the camera just loves you! I loved your video, it was informative and delightful to watch. I so want to go to Spain! Best of luck in the challenge, y Salud! 😉
I too just learned the difference between gallina and pollo, from my Spanish boyfriend's mother & father! Interesting, isn't it?
You've got a great screen presence and, of course, I enjoyed watching you make what in my family is called 'cocido'. I, too, cook with vino tinto en mi mano!
Good luck.
Brava Diana! Brava! You are such a NATURAL! I want to make Puchero now! xoxo
You look gorgeous and the video was very nicely done. Go my vote!
What realy drew me to read the article was the chicken..lol. I love chicken.
This looks amazing! I just voted for ya! 🙂
A diva in a kitchen i must say. Very informative video. Great quality too. I love the intro, how you tackled the history behind the dish, the produce needed for the recipe. Felt like watching a professional cooking show. It was actually more than a cooking show. You have my vote!
Diana you would be the one food network show I would watch. You are a natural! This was amazing, as are you and your fabulous food and family. Good luck sweetie!
xo, Annette
Diana! WOW! what a wonderful video and your voice, presence and energy are simply divine! The recipe looks amazing too. I am SO proud of you!!! I can definitely see Food television as a possibility for you! You got "it"! All the best and thanks for sharing this on the hearth and soul hop this week. I will also be sharing your foodbuzz stuff on my thoughts on friday link love at a moderate life! Cheering you on girl! Alex
You are adorable-ville! Thank you for sharing your lovely personality for all of us. Best of luck!
It was such a pleasure to meet you. You are a delightful person and your recipe is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Miz Helen
Big hugs to you, too…and I'm so glad you shared yourself with the hearth and soul hop this week, too…this is exactly the essence of you and I hope everybody stops by to see it! 😀
You did a wonderful job. I was so anxious and excited to see your video and I'm glad you chose the route where we get to see your personalty. Kind of feel like I'm getting to meet you for the first time! 🙂
This is my first time checking out your blog. I love Spanish food – I've never prepared "fresh from the farm" meat, but I'm game and think this real food recipe looks awesome! Count me in as your newest follower!
Also, I'm hosting a CSN giveaway this week and I'd love it if you checked it out!
Oh my goodness, this dish looks amazing! Great job on your video!!
Your recipe is like coming home for me – using all the lowly parts of the animals is the essence of old-country cooking.
I cannot wait to raise my own chickens, but in the meantime I'll live vicariously through your life:)
The video was educational, and well made, your voice articulate, your personality so exuberant, and your message loud and clear.
Hi Diana – super video! So glad to learn how to make puchero! Great choice for the challenge, good luck, this is awesome!
LL
This food is awesome. I love eating it. Thanks babe.
Wow, Diana, not only does this dish look insanely delicious, but so incredibly healthy. I always marvel at how much our ancestors knew about nutrition just by eating instinctly and being so connected with their bodies. Interesting now that in a world where we have some much more knowledge at our disposal, so many people generally make poorer food choices.
Thanks for a great post and for sharing such a wonderful recipe and family tradition with us.
By the way I'm voting for you. Good luck.
Sue 🙂
beautifully executed video. I want to tivo you right now, and would happily watch many more episodes.=) The puchero looks/sounds mouthwatering. This is exactly the kind of food that i love to eat at home. Nicely done. Best of luck to you! Hope to see us both in round 8!!! =)
I have to agree with everyone – the camera does love you. You have a wonderful presence and ease, and your sister is an excellent camera woman! You make a great team. Loved this post – very informative, and the dish reminds me of many dishes in the Philippines that have the Spanish influence. I just love this style of cooking!
wow this is a great informative video- you're incredibly natural on camera! and i love the fact that you got your ingredients from the community garden. this looks so delicious! i also feel the need to go back to spain, asap!
Great video and so informative! I feel like I just took a trip to Spain! Your food looks absolutely mouthwatering and I love how fresh everything is. Good luck in the challenge!
Something about this video completely drew me in and hooked me, you have such a great presence on camera. Well done, you have my vote!
Great job! Beautiful and informative!
I love the farm-to-table feel of this video and recipe. And one-pot meals are my favorite. Great job and you look absolutely beautiful. My vote's in. Good luck!
Lovely video! I was interested to see how you made puchero, as it was one of my favorite dishes when I was studying in Spain years ago. My senora served it as a thick stew, full of garbanzos, chicken and potatoes–heaven! Your version looks equally delicious.