Fabada Asturiana

Asturian White Bean Stew with Chorizo, Morcilla and Pork

Large, buttery white beans cooked very slowly with smoked chorizo, smoked morcilla and salted pork until the broth turns orange and thick. Nothing is fried and almost nothing is done to it. The skill is in keeping the beans whole, which means low heat and never stirring.

The Spanish recipe read soaks 450 g of fabes overnight, covers them with water by two fingers with a whole onion, garlic, bay and a little oil, and brings them to the boil. It then adds a splash of cold water three times during cooking, which Asturians call scaring the beans, simmers for three hours and salts only at the end. The meats are known together as the compango.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 450 g dried large white beans (fabes, judión or butter beans), soaked in cold water for 12 hours
  • 2 smoked cooking chorizo sausages (about 200 g)
  • 2 Asturian morcillas or 200 g black pudding in its skin
  • 200 g unsmoked gammon or salted pork shoulder, soaked in cold water for 12 hours
  • 200 g unsmoked streaky bacon or pork belly, in one piece
  • 1 onion, peeled and left whole
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • Fine sea salt

Method

  1. Boil the beans Drain the beans and put them in a wide, heavy casserole with the onion, garlic, bay leaf and oil. Cover with cold water by about 3 cm. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes, skimming off the foam.
  2. Add the meats Add the drained gammon, the bacon, chorizo and morcilla, pushing them down among the beans. Lower the heat until the surface barely trembles.
  3. Scare the beans Cook for about 3 hours, uncovered or with the lid ajar. Three times during the first 2 hours, add a small glass (about 100 ml) of cold water to stop the boil. Do not stir: shake the casserole gently by its handles now and then, and keep the beans just covered with liquid.
  4. Finish The beans are done when they are creamy all the way through and still whole. Remove the onion and bay leaf. Taste and add salt only now; the meats may have provided enough. Rest for 20 minutes off the heat, during which the broth thickens.
  5. Serve Slice the meats and serve them on top of the beans in deep plates, with bread.

Food safety

Dried beans must be soaked and then boiled hard for at least 10 minutes at the start of cooking before the heat is lowered. Do not cook unboiled dried beans in a slow cooker.

Stirring breaks the beans. Shake the pan.

It is better the next day, reheated gently.

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